Born in
Greenwich, Sept. 7, 1533; daughter of Henry VIII.
and
Anne Boleyn.
Under the tuition of
Roger Ascham she acquired much proficiency in classical learning, and before she was seventeen years of age she was mistress of the
Latin,
French, and
Italian languages, and had read several works in
Greek.
By education she was attached to the Protestant Church, and was persecuted by her half-sister, Mary, who was a
Roman Catholic.
Elizabeth never married.
When quite young her father negotiated for her nuptials with the son of Francis I.
of
France, but it failed.
She flirted awhile with the ambitious Lord Seymour.
In 1558 she declined an offer of marriage from
Eric,
King of
Sweden, and also from Philip of
Spain.
Her sister Mary died Nov. 17, 1558, when Elizabeth was proclaimed
Queen of
England.
With caution she proceeded to restore the Protestant religion to ascendency in her kingdom.
Her reform began by ordering a large part of the church service to be read in
English, and forbade the elevation of the host in her presence.
Of the
Roman Catholic bishops, only one consented to officiate at her coronation.
In 1559 Parliament passed a bill which vested in the crown the supremacy claimed by the pope; the mass was abolished, and the liturgy of Edward VI.
restored. In one session the whole system of religion in
England was altered by the will of a single young woman.
When Francis II.
of
France assumed the arms and title of
King of
England in right of his wife,
Mary Stuart,
Elizabeth sent an army to
Scotland which drove the
French out of the kingdom.
She supported the
French Huguenots with money and troops in their struggle with the
Roman Catholics in 1562.
In 1563 the Parliament, in an address to the
Queen, entreated her to choose a husband, so as to secure a Protestant succession to the crown.
She returned an evasive answer.
She gave encouragement to several suitors, after she rejected Philip, among them
Archduke Charles of
Austria, the
Duke of Anjou, and
Robert Dudley,
Earl of
Leicester.
The latter remained her favorite until his death in 1588.
During the greater part of
Elizabeth's reign,
Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was her prime minister.
For more than twenty years from 1564
England was at peace with foreign nations, and enjoyed great prosperity.
Because of the opposite interests in religion, and possibly because of matrimonial affairs,
Elizabeth and Philip of
Spain were mutually hostile, and in 1588 the latter sent the “invincible Armada” for the invasion of
England.
It consisted of over 130 vessels and 30,000 men. It was defeated and dispersed (Aug. 8), and in a gale more than fifty of the Spanish ships were wrecked.
On the death of Leicester the
Queen showed decided partiality for the
Earl of
Essex.
Her treatment and final consent to the execution, by beheading, of Mary,
Queen of Scots, has left a stain on the memory of Elizabeth.
She assisted the
Protestant Henry IV.
of
France in his struggle with the
French Roman Catholics, whom Philip of
Spain subsidized.
Her reign was vigorous, and is regarded as exceedingly beneficial to the
British nation.
Literature was fostered, and it was illustrated during her reign by such men as
Spenser,
Shakespeare, Sidney,
Bacon, and
Raleigh.
Elizabeth was possessed of eminent ability and courage, but her personal character was deformed by selfishness, inconstancy, deceit, heartlessness, and other un-
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Queen Elizabeth. |
womanly faults.
She signified her will on her death-bed that James VI.
of
Scotland, son of the beheaded
Mary, should be her successor, and he was accordingly crowned as such.
She died March 24, 1603.
