Queen_Elizabeth_I

Good Morning/Afternoon, My name is XXX and today, I’m going to talk to you about one of the world’s greatest-ever female leaders, Queen Elizabeth the first of England. First, some background information, to help set the scene. Elizabeth’s father was King Henry the Eighth, a very important figure in world history. It was Henry who changed England from a Catholic nation to a Protestant one, although many of his subjects disagreed with him. The principal reason that Henry did this was that the Pope would not grant him a divorce from his first wife, Katherine, who had borne him only a daughter, Mary. Becoming the leader of the Protestant church however, he obtained a divorce and promptly married Anne Boleyn. Soon after, Elizabeth was born – the year was 1533. Unfortunately, Anne could not give Henry a son either, so he trumped up adultery charges against Anne and had her executed. Henry’s next wife bore him the much required son, Edward, who would become the next king; unfortunately, she died soon after. Henry had 3 more wives before he finally died – none of which gave him any more children. Elizabeth was third in line for the throne, and received a magnificent education in rhetoric, languages, philosophy and history, under the tutelage of Robert Ascham; this was very unusual for the time, as women were generally regarded as inferior to men. Now, Edward and Elizabeth had been raised in the Protestant faith, but the first-born, Mary, had been raised a Catholic. This resulted in a division in the land, as all the Catholics didn’t recognise Elizabeth as a true daughter of Henry (as his marriage to Anne Boleyn had not been legitimate). Edward became king at the age of 10, and after many illnesses, died 6 years later. Henry’s sister’s grand-Daughter, Lady Jane Grey, then took the throne, but was overthrown by Mary, who had her executed. Mary then became queen, eventually marrying Phillip the Second of Spain, who was a devout Catholic. Mary went on a rampage that earned her the nickname, “Bloody Mary”, killing over 600 Protestants for treason against God. She even imprisoned her half-sister Elizabeth for almost a year. Elizabeth thus spent a good deal of time worrying that any time, Mary would have her executed. However, Mary too succumbed to illness, and Elizabeth became the Queen of England in 1558, at the age of 25. So, here’s her position. She is alone (she never married), she is the ruler of a country divided over religion, and there’s no money left in the royal treasury. The Catholic citizens of the land were determined to overthrow her and put her cousin, Mary – Queen of Scots, on the throne. Phillip of Spain was on the warpath, and the French (also Catholics) were at war with the Protestants in Europe. Elizabeth needed stability and prosperity – and that’s what she aimed for. She endorsed her naval captains, Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh to attack and plunder Spanish ships, which were returning from the Americas with looted gold. She announced that Englishmen should be loyal to their country first, then God, thus cooling down the religious instability. She fostered the arts, in particular literature, championing such men as Spenser, Marlowe and of course, Shakespeare. In Europe meanwhile, both Spain and France were trying to exterminate the Protestants. Particularly in Holland, where they were led by William of Orange, the Protestants were putting up fierce resistance. Elizabeth sent aid, but it was not enough. Soon, she was the only Protestant ruler left in all of Europe, and things were not looking good, as the Catholics recognised Mary Queen of Scots as the legitimate Queen of England, and not Elizabeth. Things became even worse for Elizabeth when Mary left Scotland to ask her for help in Scotland. The plots against Elizabeth were discovered and thwarted, but over the next nineteen years, Elizabeth took to sleeping with a sword under her pillow in case of an attack. Finally, Elizabeth was presented with evidence that Mary herself was part of the plotting, and she had her executed. This was the final straw for Spain – Phillip amassed a huge fleet, or Armada, intent on sailing to England and getting rid of Elizabeth. Fortunately, Elizabeth’s spy master, Francis Walsingham, had found out about it in plenty of time, and Elizabeth’s smaller and faster ships undertook a cunning raid on the Armada, taking out a huge chunk before they even set sail. The weather in the English Channel did the rest, and not one Spanish ship made it to England. Elizabeth now had control of the seas, and was the supreme power in Europe. Elizabeth’s mastery of political science had enabled her to become the most powerful ruler in the world, with a country that, now Mary was gone, was united behind her, and once again prospering. When she finally died at the age of 70, she was loved by all, thousands joining in her funeral procession. Pictures of her tomb were painted in many churches, and only a short time into James the First’s rule, people were already ringing bells and remembering how much better things were when Elizabeth was queen. Bibliography: http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/ http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon45.html http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/eliz2.html http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/queen-elizabeth-i.htm