ELISABETH I

Indrumator:
Profesor Badau Ramona

Propunator:
Mucea Larisa Maria clasa a XII-a SNE


An scolar:2012-2013
Colegiul National Avram Iancu Campeni
Lucrare de atestare a competentelor lingvisice
FOREWORD

I have chosen Queen Elisabeth I as the subject because I believe she
is the most representative personality in the British history. Elizabeth was
the longest-reigning English monarch in nearly two centuries and the first
woman to successfully occupy the English throne. The reign of Queen
Elisabeth I was an important age in the history of England. Called Glorianna
and Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth enjoyed enormous popularity during her
life and became an even greater legend after her death. I have structured
my paper in 4 chapters and I have developed in some of them in
subsections.
In the first chapter named ELISABETH I CHILDHOOD I presented
the queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and
his second wife Anne Boleyn. This chapter is structurated in two
subsections: .THE BIRTH OF A PRINCESS in the which I have presented
Elisabeth I which born at Greenwich Palace in London on September 7,
1533.Her parents, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, wanted a son as heir and
were not pleased with the birth of a daughter. In the second subsection:
THE EARLY YEARS I have described the childhood of Elisabeth who was
later placed under the protection of Catherine Parr, Henrys sixth wife,.
.Elizabeths experiences as a child and young adult helped her develop
keen political instincts that allowed her to skillfully balance aristocratic
factions and court favorites during her long reign.
The second chapter named POWER AND GOVERNMENT presents the
difficulties Elizabeth experienced governing the English state were
enhanced by prejudices against women rulers. In the subsection THE
ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT I have described the queen who presented
herself in the traditional images of the monarchy, such as carrying the
sword of state, commissioning a portrait showing her bestriding the counties
of England, and even appearing in armor.

The subsection ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT
presents the Elizabethan government that faced several challenges
because of population growth. This caused the standard of living to drop
and vagrancy became a problem in all areas of life. The most drastic
economic change that effected the sixteenth century was a noticeable rise
in prices.
In the third chapter: ELISABETHAN RELIGION Elizabeths accession
marked the final change in the nations official religion. Her father and half-
brother established Protestantism in England, but her half-sister, Mary,
attempted forcibly to restore Catholicism. The subsection QUEEN
ELISABETH AND THE CHURCH I have presented the queen who inherited
a highly charged religious situation, which she handled with great skill.
Elizabeth had to contend with opposition from both Catholics and radical
Protestants.The second subsection : ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN
GOVERNMENT presents England under Elizabeth ,which again broke with
the pope, Catholic services were forbidden, priests were allowed to marry,
and relics and decorations were removed from.
In chapter four: ROBERT DUDLEY,I have presented her childhood
sweetheart and perhaps her lover, turned her head so powerfully with his
passion and his good looks, that she put her throne and herself in jeopardy
for him, in the first years of her reign. Only when it became apparent even to
a young woman passionately in love, that the affair would cause a rebellion,
did she step back, and it was then that she swore she would marry no-
one.Of course, no-one believed her.. But who would make the offer which
would tempt a woman who needed support but would not sacrifice her
independence, a woman who wanted to be loved as a woman but must be
acknowledged as a Queen?




I
CHAPTER I
ELISABETH I CHILDHOOD
1. THE BIRTH OF A PRINCESS
King Henry VIII was thus desperate to father a son to succeed him,
but while he had many children with Catherine of Aragon, only one survived
infancy: a daughter, Princess Mary. It was clear to Henry that he would
never have a son by Catherine and this troubled Henry considerably. he
had fallen deeply in love with the young and dazzling Anne Boleyn and
wanted to make her his bride . In the January of 1533 he married Anne
Boleyn, who was already expecting his child. Both Henry and Anne believed
with their whole heart that the child she was expecting was a boy but the
baby born proved to be a girl. However, Elizabeth was given a magnificent
Christening at Greenwich when she was only three days old. When
Catherine of Aragon died, possibly of cancer, Henry was free to dispose of
Anne without facing petitions to have him take Catherine back. Anne's days
were numbered. She was accused (probably falsely) of witchcraft, adultery,
and incest, and was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. She was
put on trial and found guilty on all accounts, and condemned to death
2. THE EARLY YEARS
After the disgrace and execution of her mother, Elizabeth's life was
never to be quite the same again. . Henry had married again, this time to
Jane Seymour who died a few days after giving birth to Henry's longed for
son, Prince Edward. Like Elizabeth, Edward too had to grow up motherless,
and from an early age, the two children formed a close bond.
Henry had ulcer on his leg
that troubled him immensely and
his enormous weight hindered his
mobility considerably. He died on
28 January 1547. Elizabeth was
with her brother, Edward, at the
royal Palace of Enfield (London)
when they were told of their
father's death, Both were now
orphans. Elizabeth was thirteen
years of age, and Edward was
King of England at the age of only
nine.
In these troubled years,
Elizabeth's relationship with her
brother suffered. Following the
disgrace and death of his brother,
Thomas, Edward Seymour was
replaced as Protector by John
Dudley, Earl of Warwick, soon to
be the Duke of Northumberland.
He was the father of Elizabeth's
childhood friend, Robert Dudley,
and they may have seen each
other a number of times during the
Duke's government
Elisabeth I at the age of 15

CHAPTER II
POWER AND GOVERNMENT
1.THE ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT
The England of Elizabeth I was a very structured place, and had a
rather complicated system of government. First there were the national
bodies of government such as the Privy Council and Parliament, then the
regional bodies such as the Council of the Marches and the North, and then
county and community bodies. National, or rather Central, government,
consisted of: Monarch, Privy Council, Parliament .
The main function of Parliament was to pass laws and grant the
Queen money when she needed it. However, the Queen could make laws
without Parliament's consent, in what were called ROYAL
PROCLAMATIONS, if she wanted, and so if for some reason she and the
Privy Council could not get Parliament to pass certain measures, they could
resort to proclamations. Tudor monarchs tended only to summon
Parliament for major governmental reforms or for money, and money was
the main reason that Elizabeth summoned hers. Parliament did not have
anywhere near as much of the power it has today, and there was no Prime
minister or any political parties. It was up to the Queen when a Parliament
was called, and over the course of her long reign, she only had ten
Parliaments
Queen Elizabeth seated at the
head of Parliament
Elizabethan Sixpence Coin
2. ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT
The Elizabethan government faced several challenges because of
population growth. The number of the poor grew simply because people
were living longer and infant mortality rates dropped. This caused the
standard of living to drop and vagrancy became a problem in all areas of
life. The most drastic economic change that effected the sixteenth century
was a noticeable rise in prices..
One thing Elizabeth did do was to restore the purity of the coinage,
and restored confidence both in the economy and in the monarchy. With the
monarch's image on a coin assured people of its worth. Before Elizabeth,
her father, brother, and sister all mixed base metal into the coins in order to
make their money go further. This caused inflation and severe lack of faith
in Englands' monetary system. Elizabeth effectively expanded royal
government by increasing the role of sheriffs in the counties and by relying
upon justices of the peace to perform the basic administrative work of local
government. Thousands of gentlemen served in this capacity, each an
official, if unpaid, member of the regime. Meeting in quarter sessions
justices enforced everything from the Poor Laws to statutes against theft .
1. QUEEN ELISABETH I AND THE QUEEN
When Elizabeth became Queen in the November of 1558, it was
widely believed that she would restore the Protestant faith in England.
Although Elizabeth had adhered to the Catholic faith during her sister's
reign, she had been raised a Protestant, and was committed to that faith.
Elizabeth's religious views were remarkably tolerant for the age in which she
lived. She believed sincerely in her own faith, but she also believed in
religious toleration, and that Catholics and Protestants were both part of the
same faith. "There is only one Christ, J esus, one faith" she exclaimed
later in her reign, "all else is a dispute over trifles." She also declared that
she had "no desire to make windows into men's souls".
Throughout her reign, Elizabeth's main concern was the peace and
stability of the realm, and religious persecution was only adopted when
certain religious groups threatened this peace. Elizabeth wanted a Church
that would appeal to both Catholics and Protestants, and did not want to
move the Church in a more Protestant direction, thus making it more difficult
for Catholics to accept the Church than it was already.
2. THE ELISABETHAN RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT
Like her father, Elizabeth was a Protestant. When she first became
Queen, one of the first things it was necessary for her to do, was restore the
Protestant Church of England. Events that led to the restoration of the
Church of England is known as "The Elizabeth Religious Settlement". It
was comprised of two Acts:
THE ACT OF SUPREMACY It was this act that gave Elizabeth
ultimate control of the Church of England. In the reign of her father and
brother, the monarch had been "Head of the Church in England", but under
Elizabeth, this was modified to "Supreme Governor of the Church in
England".
THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY This was the crux of the Elizabethan
Church, establishing a set form of worship. The Prayer books of Edward VI
were fused into one, and were to be used in every church in the land.
Church attendance on Sundays and holy days was made compulsory, with
a twelve pence fine to be collected if people did not attend, the money to be
given to the poor. The wording of the Communion was to be vague so that
Protestants and Catholics could both participate
THE ACT OF SUPREMACY THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY
CHAPTER IV
ROBERT DUDLEY
Robert Dudley was the son of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke of
Northumberland, and Protector of England during the reign of Edward VI.
Robert first met Elizabeth when he was eight years old, perhaps when they
were both pupils in the royal classroom. They became good friends, and
their friendship lasted throughout their lives. With the accession of Elizabeth
to the throne in 1558, his fortunes changed. He was made Master of the
Queen's horse, a prestigious position that required much personal
attendance on the Queen, as well as organizing her public appearances,
progresses, and her personal entertainment. With the accession of
Elizabeth to the throne in 1558, his fortunes changed. He was made Master
of the Queen's horse, a prestigious position that required much personal
attendance on the Queen, as well as organizing her public appearances,
progresses, and her personal entertainment.
In 1550, Robert married Amy Robsart, the daughter of a Norfolk
squire. Traditionally, their marriage has been seen as a love match, but a
clause in the marriage treaty suggests that it may have been for less
romantic reasons. The insuperable bar to their marriage lay in the
circumstances of his wife's death. She was found dead of a broken neck at
the bottom of a stair case, and many pointed the finger at Robert. For a long
time people had been saying he meant to kill her so that he would be free to
marry the Queen
If the Queen would married him, people would have believed the
gossip, even that Elizabeth herself had been involved. Also, as Robert was
hated only because of his monopoly of royal favour, promoting him to prince
consort may have provoked a rebellion against the Queen. However, for
some years, it seems that both entertained the possibility of marriage, and
Robert in particular continued to hope for it for many years. He did not
remarry until 1578 when it seemed certain that the Queen would not marry
him. In 1575, during the glorious entertainments at Kenilworth Castle,
Warwickshire, Robert made his last proposal of marriage to the Queen. As
she had done in the past, she refused him.
In 1578, he married the Queen's cousin, Lettice Devereux, Countess
of Essex. He may well have been in love with her, as she was certainly a
very vivacious, attractive woman, but in all probability he married her
because she was pregnant, and was pressurized into making an honest
woman of her by her influential family. She gave birth to a son ,who she
named Robert. However, the child was not healthy and died in 1584. Robert
was devastated. He had idolised his little son, and with his death, died his
dream of perpetuating his dynasty.
He died at his house in Oxfordshire on the 4th September, 1588.
Elizabeth was devastated at the loss of her old friend and companion, and
reputedly locked herself in her apartment for hours, if not days. She
treasured the letter he had sent her only days before his death, and wrote
on it "His Last letter". She put it in her treasure box, and it was still there
when she died 15 years later.
CONCLUSIONS
Elizabeth Tudor is undoubtedly one of the most famous English
monarchs. Her life and reign have inspired many biographies, histories,
novels, and dramatic works. In order to study the factors exerting an
influence on the perception of Elizabeth by her contemporaries, it is
necessary to look at the development and changes in her reputation from
the moment of her birth to her death. Elizabeth's early reputation is far from
clear, and it has not been sufficiently examined in relation to the reputation
of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn's reputation in the last years of
her life, is itself ambiguous. Certainly she was detested in Catholic Europe,
but it is unclear how she was perceived in England. This perception is of
paramount significance in understanding the nature of Elizabeth's early
reputation. In Catholic Europe, Elizabeth, simply by being Anne's daughter,
was abhorred as "the concubine's little bastard",
The history of the reputation of Queen Elizabeth as a woman and a
monarch, both during her life and after, thus has the potential to yield a
wealth of information about this enigmatic, controversial historical figure, her
age, and succeeding generations.To understand Elizabeth's "popularity"
and "success", it is perhaps necessary to place her in cultural context. On
reflection, it perhaps matters little if we in the twentieth century consider
Elizabeth to have been a successful monarch or not - that perhaps says
more about modern understandings of political success - but only the way
she was viewed in her own lifetime, by her own people, who shared her
cultural existence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. The reign of Elizabeth 1558-1603 - J.B.
Black
2. Monarchy and Matrimony: The
Courtships of Elizabeth I - Susan Doran
3. Elizabeth and Leicester - Elizabeth
Jenkins
4.English dictionary published by Teora
5.www.wikipedia.com
6.www.british history.com