THE ELIZABETHAN AGE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Elizabethan Age – the period during which Elizabeth I (1558–1603) was England’s
ruling monarch – is often thought of as a golden age in the country’s history. It was the
highpoint, for example, of the English Renaissance, and poetry and literature truly thrived. It
was the time of Elizabethan theatre, when William Shakespeare and his contemporaries wrote
new, dynamic, groundbreaking plays. Moreover, the Elizabethan era was one of
unprecedented expansion and exploration abroad, while within England itself, the Protestant
Reformation was influencing the thought and approach of the population as a whole.

It is true that at this time England had a well-organised, centralised, government –

mainly resulting from the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII in the first half of the 16th
century. Economically, moreover, the country was beginning to benefit enormously from the
new horizons offered by trans- Atlantic trade. Inevitably, however, the term ‘golden age’
does require some qualification: the rural working classes (who constituted the vast majority
of the population at that time) endured severe,

lasting poverty; the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) was far from successful and
economically debilitating; Elizabethan England had an active role in the slave trade and the
repression of Catholic Ireland; despite the great achievements seen during the Elizabethan era
its1elf, it is worth noting that the country descended into the Civil War (1642-51) less than
forty years after Elizabeth’s death.

The Elizabethan Age is generally recalled more favourably, however – partly because of how
it contrasted with the period before it and the one that was to follow: a brief but colourful
interlude of relative internal peace, between the English Reformation and the conflict
between Protestants and Catholics and between Parliament and the Monarchy that straddled
the 17th century. The Protestant- Catholic divide was settled, for a while at least, by the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and Parliament still lacked the power to effectively
challenge the authority of the Monarchy. Furthermore, England was relatively well-off, in
many important respects, compared to other European countries. The Italian Renaissance, for
instance, had faded, stifled by the Peninsula’s domination by foreign powers. France,
meanwhile, had internal religious battles of its own to worry about, a problem that continued
until the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Consequently, and also due to the fact that the English had

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been expelled from their last remaining outposts on the continent, the centuries-long conflict
between England and France was in large part suspended for most of the 2Elizabethan era.

England’s chief rivals at this time were, of course, the Spaniards: England’s clashes with
Spain both in Europe and in the Americas culminated in the Anglo-Spanish War. Despite the
defeat of Philip II 3

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