Elizabeth I: History Summary. Life, Thoughts and Laws of the Virgin Queen of England.Elizabeth I , daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn , is a historical figure of considerable charm and interest, as the strong and confident personality of the Queen of England is accompanied by the problems and uncertainties of a 16th century woman, highlighted above all by the video watched in class. Elizabeth receives the English kingdom from the hands of her half-sister Mary in 1533, with heavy problems, difficulties and clear divisions within it, the one between Catholics and Protestants being very important.
The first and decisive decision of the new queen is therefore to impose the same religion on everyone, that is, Protestantism, harshly persecuting recidivist Christians. This first choice is already heavily criticized by the nobility and receives approval by only a few votes, won thanks to a speech focused on the precariousness of the English situation .
Once this law was approved, Elizabeth was convinced to marry by her advisors who saw marriage as the only hope for easing the Spanish pressure on the borders, and it is precisely in this period that one can most notice the dual personality of the woman-queen who found herself having to choose between her personal happiness or the strengthening, through a marriage of convenience, of a state in full crisis like England at that time.
THE VIRGIN QUEEN
Elizabeth finally decides to marry her beloved Robert, Earl of Leicester, convinced that she can find other solutions to lift her state from the abyss in which she found herself, but when the choice seems official, she is given new information that Robert is already tied to another woman. Elizabeth, feeling exploited and betrayed even by the one she trusted the most, realizes that she can never be sure of the love of a man because everyone will see her first as the queen of the woman and it is in this difficult period of her life that she decides not to marry, but to sacrifice her whole life for England . For this reason she will also go down in history as the virgin queen.
ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
After his consecration to England , under his reign we have a notable improvement in the economic situation of the country which in this period experienced its maximum splendor, creating illustrious men of letters such as Shakespeare , promoting new discoveries and settlements overseas and even, on a military level, the victory in 1588 against what had been defined as the invincible Spanish navy.
After having bloodily put down various rebellions of nobles, put her cousin Mary Stewart to death , and ruled for over forty years, Elizabeth I died in 1603, leaving James Stewart, King of Scotland, the throne of a kingdom completely renewed compared to the one she had had almost half a century before. Elizabeth I’s actions can therefore certainly be defined as a triumph from a political and governmental point of view, but equally certainly it can be defined as a heavy defeat from the point of view of private life.
