Elizabeth the First
Queen Elizabeth the First is widely seen as one of England's greatest rulers, and for good reason: she was smart, cunning, charismatic, and everything else people look for in a good king or queen. She was born to King Henry and his first wife, Anne Boleyn, and was living the royal life. But then, WHAM! her mother was executed, and she was thrown out. But did that stop Elizabeth? Of course not! She made a comeback and later became queen of England for a whopping 45 years!
Early Life
If you read the page about Henry the Eighth, or know anything about Elizabeth, you known that she was Henry the Eighth's daughter. Her half-sister was Mary (later known as "bloody" Mary), born to Henry's previous wife, Catherine of Aragorn. Henry had moved on to his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and Anne had given birth to Elizabeth. Henry wasn't very happy, having wanted a son. So Henry later decided to have Anne executed, on accusations of treason, adultery, and withchcraft. Elizabeth was three years old. And what's more, she was forced to watch her own mother's beheading!
Henry wasn't a nice father at all, and eleven days later married his third wife. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was completely stripped of her royalty and pretty much abandoned.
Quest for Queendom
Elizabeth was a very smart girl, and even after being abandoned by her father she still had many caretakers and tutors. She could fluently speak and write English, Latin, Italian, and even some French and Greek! Her teachers loved her, and she was a free spirit. For much of her childhood, she lived as a handmaiden to her new half-brother, Edward, who was of course supposed to be king some day.
Then her father, Henry, died, but naturally, she wasn't sympathetic. She was thirteen years old. Soon after, her half-brother Edward died too, leaving no successors to the English throne. You think this is where she steps in, right? WRONG!
To the right: Guess who this is? That's right, Elizabeth. Good job.
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (And Bloody)
After Prince Edward died, Elizabeth and Mary decided to rule together. But it didn't last long. Mary soon decided to become the only Queen of England. For the second time in her life, Elizabeth was robbed of the chance to be queen. Mary loathed her father's choice of creating the Church of England, and ordered all of the people to become Catholic. This stirred up quite a storm, with about half of the English residents wanting to stay Anglican, and the other half wanting to convert back to Catholicism. Bloody Mary then started REALLY getting bloody, having people being burned alive left and right for being heretics. She ruled for all of four years like this, then the country decided they'd had enough. Mary was imprisoned in the infamous Tower of London, and the people of England turned to Elizabeth. Finally, now was her time!
Above: Queen Elizabeth's coat or arms. Her motto, "Semper Eadem," means "Always the Same" in English.
Elizabeth, the Queen
Elizabeth officially was queen in 1558, at the age of 25. And she was the greatest ruler England ever had. First off, unlike her father (only Protestant) and her sister (only Catholic), Elizabeth was accepting of all forms of Christianity, even signing treaties that gave equal rights to both denominations. She was unbiased and thoughtful. She also never got married, which was virtually unheard of back then. Although she had many suitors, she politely refused them all, stating that she was "married to England." Having a husband would only distract her from her social and political duties as Queen of her country.
Another cool thing Elizabeth did was hire pirates! Or at least, she hired a privateer named Francis Drake to take his ship and start pestering the Spaniards. Drake had been attacked and nearly killed by the Spanish earlier, and for that, hated the Spaniards. England and Spain were of course, at war, so Elizabeth put two and two together and hired him to attack and plunder the Spanish Armada. Francis Drake went on a world-wide pirating spree where he attacked Spanish ships and generally helped England win the war against Spain.
When the war was over and Drake was done with his pirating, he came home to England with the modern equivalent of 100 million dollars that he had taken! One time, it even took his crew four whole days just to move the bounty from one ship onto his. No wonder Elizabeth knighted him as Sir Francis Drake. He become the most honored pirate and a national hero, at least in England.
Elizabeth: The Fashionista
Elizabeth, being a famous queen and all, also seemed to set many fashion trends. Start with her hair. It was a gorgeous and coppery red. Soon, every woman in England wanted red hair just like their red-headed heroine. Many people went to crazy steps to get that hair, making dyes of water, lead, sulfur, and quicklime. Unfortunately, that kind of stuff put it in your hair usually causes scalp burns and blinding headaches, so its too bad women back then didn't know that!
Elizabeth was also famous for her pale skin, which was as white as... well, the color white. Ever wondered by the Brothers Grimm stories featured Snow White? Because that was what every woman wanted to look like; the lighter your skin, the more beautiful you were said to be. Unfortunately, the conctonction used to make your skin snowy white was actually white lead that was ground into powder. That much lead on many a woman's face led to extreme poisoning, and sometimes even death.
Later Years as Queen
Even when she got older, Elizabeth was no less clever or charismatic. However, she started relying more on monopolies and price-fixing, as there was a drought at that time in England and the country's economy was suffering greatly.
But at the same time, the English Renaissance was at its peak, with great authors such as William Shakespeare delighting audiences all over England. Many poets, artists, and musicians became active in her time, and England became an even better place.
Death and Succession
Elizabeth was overall a fantastic queen. But like all great things, she had to go eventually. Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603, mainly from depression at the sudden deaths of many great friends. She passed away at the ripe old age of 70, which was truly amazing for back then. At her funeral, her coffin was carried in a hearth led by four horses draped in black velvet. Elizabeth was then succeeeded by James the First, who she had already appointed to take over after she had passed on.
On the right is King James, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth after her death. He was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and became king in 1603.
Legacy of the Queen
Elizabeth was one of England's greatest rulers. She was fair with religious views, won the war against Spain, chose a worthy successor, and loved and was loved by her people. Almost no other king or queen in any country was as successful as she was.
