Elizabeth I: Religion's Role In Politics

In July 1559, Mary and Francis assumed the royal titles of King and Queen of France since Henry II had died. Her happiness was short, after she learned the death of her mother in June 1560. Six months later, her husband King Francis II was also dead. Mary was devastated and extremely depressed. In spite of these personal tragedies, Mary chose to return to Scotland although it was a different country from the one she had left 13 years ago. In Mary’s absence the Protestant party had gained power in Scotland by abolishing the authority of the pope and forbidding the celebration of the Mass.

At the beginning of her reign, she made the Church of England the official religion of England and she fashioned her court after that of her fathers. For a woman during that era, Elizabeth was a very daring and smart ruler. For example, she secretly encouraged sailors such as Francis Drake to make raids on Spanish shipping and challenge their naval superiority. When she was a little girl, she was well educated and was able to speak several languages, including French, Spanish, and Latin. In addition, throughout Elizabeth's reign, there was always the threat of hostilities in some form or another. Elizabeth kept the peace between rival leaders of different religions by dominating her court so she could keep the balance of power.2 She was smart enough to come up with a plan which kept the church at bay with their questions of marriage.3 She also calmed the Spanish and the French by entertaining suitors of each respective country; Philip II of Spain and Duke of Anjou of France, but she never married either of them and was therefore known as " the Virgin queen".4 Elizabeth was a Protestant queen who was not always on good terms with most Catholic rulers of Europe. Because of that, there were several assassination plots against her so the Catholics could put Mary, Queen of Scots, in her place. During the 1580's, Elizabeth began to bring her full weight onto the catholic rebels. Hundreds of Catholics died at the stake just as the

When going into more detail about the failed attempts at marriage between both Mary and Elizabeth it is basically repeating the same thing. Which would be that Elizabeth tried but eventually said that she did not want to forsake her virginity to anyone so she had declined any request for her hand and stated that she was married to her country. Mary though did not want to be a virgin she did have three marriages that all failed and even died because someone wasn’t happy or someone cheated on someone. According to both sources by Harmon and Warnicke, both Mary and Elizabeth had some bad encounters with some trouble when they were younger. For Elizabeth it was when Elizabeth found out how Mary had come to get her way into the throne, and Elizabeth found out that Mary was working with people that was attempting to either assassinate or kidnap Elizabeth. Elizabeth kept Mary alive for many years moving her around from prison to prison, and eventually she found out that Mary was plotting once again against Elizabeth so she ordered that Mary, be executed even though she really didn’t want to. Mary too had run into some trouble multiple times in her younger days such as she had multiple threats of abductions against her life. According to Warnicke, “noblemen viewed women rulers as naturally subordinate to them and susceptible, like minors, to their authority if

Desiring marriage to his mistress Anne Boleyn, and a subsequent male heir to the throne, King Henry VIII of England stood before the pope with a plea. He wanted to divorce his then wife Catherine of Aragon, who he had come to despise for failing to produce a male heir, and instead marry Anne. However, this request was met with adamant refusal by the pope, who deemed the divorce unholy as it was against the Catholic faith. Upon hearing that his request was denied, Henry became livid and, in with the Act of Supremacy, ordained himself the head of the Anglican Church. He then proceeded to divorce Catherine and take Anne as his new bride. But Henry’s actions against the Catholic Church did not stop there.

To begin with, King Henry VIII had married Catherine and had a child named Mary. After many

The major cause of the execution was the threat that Mary posed to Elizabeth's rule. Mary was of Tudor decent on both her mothers and fathers side, therefore she was a legitimate Catholic heir to the throne of England. The execution of Mary resulted diminished Catholic sympathy, war with Spain, and James VI inheriting the English throne

England, too, experienced political upheaval. When King Edward VII died in 1553, Protestant ministers sought to prevent his Catholic sister Mary I from succeeding him, and so crowned his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Nine days later, however, Mary and her supporters gained power and Jane was executed. Mary sought to re-establish Catholicism through the executions of many Protestants, giving her the infamous title of "Bloody Mary." In 1558 her Protestant sister Elizabeth would succeed her, and Protestantism and stability would return to

Introduction: Provides background on Mary Queen of Scots and explains why her execution was controversial

Henry the 8th found no other way out of the marriage so he cut off the head of his wife, and the 7 other wives after that until he could finally find someone to give him an heir. Henry the 8th started the fight for power between the Protestants and the Catholics after he died. After his death his catholic daughter, Mary took over the throne and planned to marry another catholic King Philip. With hopes of restoring her catholic nation, Mary kills all of the protestants and gets the name Bloody Mary. Mary eventually dies then her protestant sister Elizabeth takes over. King Philip also tries to marry Elizabeth and she declines his offer. King Philip was mad about her rejection so he unleashed he Spanish Armada on England. King Philip was unsuccessful and England became a protestant anglican nation. This English Victory allowed the arts to flourish and become less about the church and more about the actual people. People began to realize that the church would be helpful with dealing with spiritual problems. However, everyday human problems could have human solutions and be dealt with by other

The Pope is outraged by Henry’s move to break with the Catholic church and he is excommunicated for breaking with Papal authority. King Henry and Queen Anne produce a daughter shortly after their secret marriage. Their daughter Elizabeth would be their only surviving child. Once again, there was an issue with the failure to produce a male heir. He soon grew tired of Anne. In 1536, she was accused of adultery and executed. In 1537, Henry took a third wife, Jane Seymour. With Jane, Henry finally produces a male heir, Arthur. Unfortunately, Jane dies shortly after the baby’s birth due to complications with the birth.

Then on February 18, 1516, Henry VIII and his wife Catherine had their first child . They named their little girl Mary, who later became known as “Bloody Mary”. Princess Mary of England was their first child to survive infancy, and she was Catherine’s only child. Later in Mary’s life she became the Queen of England and the Queen of Ireland .

After Edwards’s death in 1553 his half-sister Mary I (1516-58) became Queen. Mary who was a devout Catholic began to undo the changes that Edward and Henry had started and set the nation back to the Catholic faith. During her reign (1553-1558) hundreds of Protestants, who refused to turn Catholic, were burned at the stake, this led to Mary acquiring the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ (Steele & MacDonald, 2007).

politically. Although she had, at times, a horrible temper and a disagreeable personality, and suffered through many physical and psychological problems as an adult, Elizabeth proved to be one of the most remarkable monarchs in English history. Firstly, I will discuss Elizabeth’s family (including her many stepmothers), and then I will talk about her relationship with her siblings under their power. Thirdly, I will examine religion and how it affected her opinions and politics during her reign. Lastly, I will look at foreign politics of the time and some of Elizabeth’s decisions

As things continued to heated-up between parliament and Mary’s father James II, she married the Dutch Protestant prince, William of Orange. William desperately feared an alliance between James II and the Catholic French King. William and Mary were prepared to lead armed forces into England and take over the throne. When James’ II second wife gave birth to a son who would be raised Catholic and be the heir to the throne, Parliament got worried. Seven members of parliament signed a letter asking Mary and William to bring an army and drive out James II.

Mary immediately started passing acts and reforms to bring back the Catholic religion. She also realized, in order to maintain her power she must get married, and she chose Phillip of Spain to be her husband. Many were apprehensive and upset about her choosing Phillip as a husband, but she argued it would be best not only for her, but also for England. However, in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion to prevent their marriage, he thought it would cause England to be controlled by Spain. This rebellion was known as the Wyatt’s Rebellion. During this rebellion, 3000 followers marched from Mainstone to West Minister, but they had to surrender to Mary’s troops. Many of the rebels were arrested for treason and hanged and 300 were burned at the stake. This mass execution is what caused Mary to gain her nickname Bloody Mary. Though Mary thought Elizabeth was involved and came close to executing her half-sister, she instead put Elizabeth in the tower.