Elizabeth_the_First

Elizabeth l of England Elizabeth was born on the 7th of September 1533, daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn his second wife. Her birth was a shame to her father because he wanted a son heir. After two years of Elizabeth’s birth Anne Boleyn was executed because of treason and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. After Anne’s execution, King Henry married Jane Seymour who gave birth to a male heir, Prince Edward IV, Jane Seymour died after 12 days of Edward’s birth. Queen Mary: When Edward became king after his father’s death he excluded Mary and Elizabeth from the succession of the throne and he declared Lady Jane Grey as his heir. When he died Mary became queen executing lady Jane grey. Mary married Prince Philip of Spain and she made England catholic again. When mary died in 1558, Elizabeth was crowned queen of England. The golden age: Elizabeth returned England to the English protestant church. But she had some difficulties to keep England protestant such as the Spanish armada which was sent by Philip II to stop England from raiding his ships and to return England to the Catholic Church. So the Spanish armada was destroyed and defeated by the English. Elizabeth’s reign was called the golden age because it was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of English poetry, music and literature. This was also the time during which Elizabethan theatre flourished, and William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of plays and theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad.