Elizabeth
Mary Tudor died childless and was succeeded by Elizabeth, the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The lawful heir to the throne was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, granddaughter of Henry's elder sister Margaret. But Mary Stuart was betrothed to the Dauphin of France, and the English, who were averse to French rule, decided in favor of Elizabeth. As the child of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's personal interests coincided with the cause of Protestantism. Elizabeth was crowned according to the Catholic rite and took the oath to uphold the Catholic faith. To her sister, Mary, and the Spanish ambassador, she had a few days before sworn that she was a Catholic,—" May God let the earth open and swallow me, if I am not a true Roman Catholic."
But as she was not able to obtain recognition from Pope Paul IV, she embraced Protestantism and undertook to establish it by force. The oath of royal supremacy was again imposed upon the clergy as a test of loyalty; but the bishops refused to take it. Mathew Parker, a former teacher of the queen's, was appointed to the see of Canterbury, and his consecration took place in an invalid form [from the perspective of the Bishop of Rome]. He proceeded to consecrate other bishops of the Established Church, using an invalid form [again, from a Romish perspective].
The accession of Elizabeth to the throne, was hailed bv the nation with joyful acclamations. She had a long and auspicious reign, during which tranquillity was maintained in her dominions, while the neighboring nations were convulsed with dissensions ; and England rose from the rank of a secondary kingdom, to a level with the first states of Europe. The Protestant religion was again restored and protected ; the church of England was established in its present form ; and the nation attained a higher state of prosperity than it had ever before known, in agriculture, commerce, arts, and literature. This reign, which some have considered as the Augustan age of English literature, was illustrated by the great names of Hooker, Bacon, Spenser, and Shakspeare.
A remarkable circumstance in this period of English history relates to the repeated and sudden changes with respect to religion, in accordance with the views of the sovereign and the court. Many who had been Protestants under Edward, became persecuting Romanists under Mary ; and under Elizabeth, they were again transformed into zealous promoters of the Reformation. Religion, it would seem, hung so loose upon a great part, that they were equally ready to conform to popery or protestantism, as might best suit their temporal interests. Of 9,000 beneficed clergymen, the number of those who preferred, on the accession of Elizabeth, to quit their preferments rather than popery, was less than 200.
Elizabeth warmly espoused the cause of the Netherlands, in their revolt against the authority of Philip II. of Spain ; and her admiral, Sir Francis Drake, had taken some of the Spanish possessions in South America. To avenge these offences, and to subjugate the leading Protestant power, the Spanish "Invincible Armada," a more formidable fleet than Europe had ever before witnessed, was fitted out for the invasion of England. This armament consisted of 150 ships, 3,000 pieces of cannon, and 27,000 men. It entered the English channel in the form of a crescent, extending its two extremities to the distance of seven miles. It was met by the English fleet, consisting of 108 ships, commanded by those distinguished maritime chiefs, Howard, Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and Raleigh. Being gradually weakened, and finally overtaken by a storm, it suffered an entire defeat. Only 50 vessels, with 6,000 men, returned to Spain.
The age of Elizabeth was fruitful in men of talents, and she was assisted in her government by eminent statesmen, among whom were Bacon, Burleigh, and Walsingham, men wholly devoted to the interests of the nation. But her chief personal favorites were unworthy. Of these, in the early part of her reign, the principal was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester: after his death, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, a young nobleman of accomplishments, talents, and high spirit, possessed the first place in her affections. The queen and Essex had many quarrels and reconciliations ; at last he broke into open rebellion, was convicted of treason, and beheaded.
Elizabeth, who had surprised the nations of Europe by the splendor of her course, was destined to close the evening of her life in gloom and sorrow. Some ascribe the deep depression and mental suffering which she, at this period, endured, to the neglect which she imagined she experienced on account of her age and infirmities, when, to use her own expression, " men would turn their backs on the setting, to worship the rising sun ;" others to the revival of her regret for the death of Essex, whom she had given up for his invincible obstinacy, but who, she now discovered, had actually thrown himself upon her clemency, while his enemies had found means to conceal his application.
Her private character is less to be admired, being tarnished with insincerity and cruelty, and destitute of the milder and softer virtues of her sex. Her manners were haughty and overbearing, and her conversation grossly profane. Vain of her beauty, which she only could discover ; delighted with the praise of her charms, even at the age of 65; jealous of every female competitor, to a degree which the youngest and silliest of her sex might despise ; and subject to sallies of anger which no sense of dignity could restrain ; she furnishes a remarkable instance of great moral weaknesses united with high intellectual superiority.
Elizabeth is charged with treachery and cruelty in her treatment of Mary Queen of Scots [not to be confused with Elizabeth's sister Mary], a woman whose extraordinary beauty and misfortunes seem, in the minds of many, to have thrown a veil over all the defects of her character. Mary was great-granddaughter of Henry VII., and next heir to Elizabeth to the throne of England. She had been educated in France as a Catholic, and married, when very young, to the dauphin, afterwards Francis II. She had been persuaded, imprudently, to assume the title of queen of England, a circumstance which proved fatal to her peace. On the death of Francis, she returned to Scotland, at the age of 18 years. At this period the Reformation, by the zealous labors of John Knox, had made great progress in that country ; and the people regarded their Catholic queen with abhorrence. Mary married, for her second husband, her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who soon became disagreeable to her, and was not long afterwards murdered; she then married the Earl of Bothwell, who was stigmatized as the murderer of Darnley. Her conduct excited against her the whole kingdom of Scotland ; and, being deserted by her followers she was at length compelled to resign the crown to her infant son, who was proclaimed James VI. After being detained a prisoner 18 years, in Fotheringay Castle, she was condemne and beheaded in one of the rooms of her prison, in the 45th year of her age.
For more than a hundred years the Welsh House of Tudor ruled England. Now, on Elizabeth's death, was to come the turn of the Scottish House of Stuart. Elizabeth, on the approach of death, nominated for her successor, the son of her rival Mary, James VI. of Scotland, who was the rightful heir by descent. He took the title of James I. of England; and in him the two crowns were united. He was the first of the Stuarts.
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