Context
In the 15th century, England had been wracked
by succession disputes: the House of York and the House of Lancaster
were battling for the throne, and England suffered under a bloody
thirty-year period of civil war called the Wars of the Roses (1455–1485).
When the dust finally settled, the Tudor family emerged as the
rulers of England. It was partly the memory of the horrors of disputed
succession that caused King Henry VIII, a Tudor, to care so obsessively
about producing a male heir; famously, he went through six wives
and only Jane Seymour (his third) produced a male child. However,
the male heir died young, and in 1558 the 25-year-old Elizabeth
(later Elizabeth I, or Elizabeth the Great) was the last of his
children still alive. The whole nation feared the consequences were
she to die, for succession would again be disputed. Both Mary Queen
of Scots and the Plantagenet family stood openly ready to seize
the throne in Elizabeth's absence; should Elizabeth die or prove
a weak ruler, civil war seemed again inevitable.
Much of the political conflict and complexity of the Elizabethan era
derived from the religious struggles of the time, which took the form
of the Reformation
and the Counter-Reformation. Europe was split in a
war between Catholic countries and Protestant countries: the Catholic
side included Spain and Italy and most of France, while the Protestant
opposition included many of the German states of the Holy Roman
Empire, as well as the Netherlands, embroiled in a bloody battle
for independence with its Spanish Hapsburg overlords. Henry VIII
had founded a Church of England during his reign, but England remained
divided between Catholics and Protestants. The two sides were
nearly even in strength, with the Protestants having a slight advantage.
Thus, while all politics are characterized by intrigue and factionalism,
the Catholic-Protestant conflict made Elizabethan politics particularly
intense. Zealous Catholics considered the battle against Protestants
to be a battle against heresy, a holy war; a series of popes encouraged
Elizabeth's assassination or overthrow.
When Elizabeth came to the throne in the midst of this
strife, it seemed that England was in for some trouble. Not only
was she a woman in a time when women were considered inferior;
but she was also a mere youth of 25 and lacked siblings who could
step in for her were she to fail in her task. Yet contrary to
the expectations of many, Elizabeth reigned for half a century,
proving one of England's strongest rulers ever. She greatly contributed
to the tradition of stability in English government, and served
as an icon for later English nationalism. She inspired an age
of prosperity economically, providing a materially well-off society
that could turn its attention to art and culture; Elizabethan England
produced some of the world's greatest literature, including that
of Shakespeare.
Elizabeth served England amazingly well in all but one
respect. Since Elizabeth (the "Virgin Queen") never married, she
left behind no Tudor heir. As a result, James I, a Stuart, gained
the throne at her death. However, the Stuarts were Catholic and
strong believers in absolutist divine monarchy; in the mid- 17th
century they were thus overthrown; Parliament executed Charles I,
now king, and established the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell.
Elizabeth, a sixteenth-century ruler of immense intelligence,
ability, and success, was perhaps one of the most powerful women
of all time. While she could be crafty and Machiavellian (she
called herself a great "Prince") when it came to foreign affairs
and matters of national security, she was also a compassionate
Queen who cared first and foremost for the welfare of her people.
She also displayed her power in her personal life, playing by
her own rules in matters of love: although she never married, and
thus never conceded any power to a husband, it seems almost certain
that Elizabeth did not merit the title "Virgin Queen." As a sexually
liberated, powerful, yet still compassionate woman, Elizabeth the
Great was a feminist long before the concept of feminism even existed.
