Elizabeth I at the Tower of London

As a princess, Elizabeth was sent to the Tower of London by her half-sister, Queen Mary I. She was
suspected of involvement in a plot against the Queen, led by the traitor Sir Thomas Wyatt. Oh Lord!
said Elizabeth, as she entered the Tower, I never thought to have come here as a prisoner.
In 1559, Elizabeth returned to the Tower under very different circumstances. On 14 January, after
the traditional celebrations, she left the fortress to ride through the City of London to her coronation
at Westminster Abbey.
Elizabeth has become an admired, national heroine. She single-handedly rallied troops to inspire
victory over the invading Spanish Armada. She nurtured a golden age of playwrights and poets and
steered the country towards its Protestant destiny.
Despite her iconic status, Elizabeth I can also be seen as a parsimonious, dictatorial, inconsistent
prevaricator whose financial incompetence plunged the country toward economic ruin toward the
end of her reign.
Elizabeth was also, quite possibly, not a virgin after all.
Scandalous rumours of her liaison with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, existed at the time, and are
not just the product of ratings-seeking latter-day TV dramas. In 1561, such rumours were fuelled by
the Queen moving Dudley into a room close to her own at Hampton Court Palace.
Elizabeth was the last of the Tudors and when she died James VI of Scotland (I of England) came to
the throne.

The Spanish Armada

In May 1588 a massive invasion fleet or 'Armada' sailed from the port of Lisbon. It was made up of
130 ships fitted with 2,500 guns. They carried 30,000 soldiers and sailors. This great war fleet was
bound for England.
Why is the 1588 battle with the Spanish Armada so famous?
The Armada is famous because at that time England was a small nation with a little navy and they
were facing the greatest power in the world (Spain). They defeated Spain, with help from Mother
Nature. It marked the beginning of England's mastery of the seas.
The great history of the English navy began, as did serious English exploration and colonization.
Why was the Spanish Armada launched against England?
The Spanish monarch, Philip II, was angry that Queen Elizabeth had not punished Sir Francis Drake
and other English seadogs for plundering Spanish ships.
Philip was a devout Catholic. He felt it was his duty to invade and conquer England in order to
convert the country back to the Church of Rome.
Where did the Spanish fleet meet the English fleet?
The two fleets met in the English Channel. There were many more Spanish ships than the English
ships but the English ships were smaller and easy to manoeuvre. This would turn out to be a great
advantage for the English.
How did Queen Elizabeth I's fire ships help to defeat the Spanish Armada?
On 6 August 1588, the Spanish Armada anchored at Calais. The English filled eighty ships with
flammable material and set fire to them. They sent in fireships to panic the Spaniards and scatter the
Armada's formation. (The Armada's formation, the famous crescent, had proved extremely
successful in previous campaign as it allowed all ships to fire their heavy guns simultaneously.) The
Spanish panicked and fled to the open sea, straight into the gunfire of the waiting English.
In the open sea, the Armada wasnt in formation, so the Spanish ships were easy targets for the
English artillery.
What also aided the English in defeating the Armada?
An important reason why the English were able to defeat the Armada was that the wind blew the
Spanish ships northwards. Strong winds and terrible rain forced many ships onto rocks near
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Ireland.
The English celebrated their victory with a medal saying 'God Blew and they were Scattered'