Queen Elizabeth's Influence

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.

Queen Elizabeth’s reign lasted from 1558-1603 during the Protestant Reformation, the Counter Reformation, and the Renaissance (when it was brought to England). She achieved major successes and established a stabilized nation during her reign. When she assumes the throne, after the death of her half sister, Queen Mary I, she faced many challenges, such as the bankruptcy of England, European powers that were trying to reestablish Catholicism, such as Spain and France, and negative criticism denouncing her as a ruler and as the head of the Church of England. It was against church teaching and Bible teachings, for any woman to rule over a country. Elizabeth I inherited the responsibility of governing the kingdom of England despite criticism. In

Simply put, promoting a women to a superior position is forbidden according to God’s law and the interpretation of the Holy Ghost. But he was a Scottish religious reformer which is why he would dislike Elizabeth I even more because of her religion with writing this piece. However, naturally, people who were Catholic or in any religion would find a bit of displeasure because it is proved by God’s law that somehow, women in any power or superiority is almost like a taboo. Document 3 is from “The Second Book of Homilies” by bishops of the Church of England and authorized by Elizabeth I which is less on the theme of religion but displays the misogyny even in families. It explains that the husband is the leader and the wives must listen to their husbands, almost like as if women were objects.

The English Reformation was a detailed process, in 16th-century England, where the Church of England broke ties with the authority of the pope and the Roman Catholic Church. It all began with King Henry VIII marriage with Catherine of Aragon. After years of marriage Catherine had not produced a male heir who survived into adulthood angering the King. With this in mind King Henry will set his eyes own Anne Boleyn who was a maid of honor to Queen Catherine. By the late 1520s, Henry wanted his marriage to Catherine annulled, claiming it to be invalid due to the fact that Catherine was his late brothers wife making it wrong for Henry VIII to be allowed to marry her. In 1527 Henry asked the Pope, Pope Clement VII, to annul his marriage. The pope refused in fear of the Queen’s nephew, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. this

Elizabeth I’s ability to imprison allowed her to control parliamentary outcomes to some degree, in 1559 she imprisoned Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, leading to a loss of votes and the passing of the Act of Uniformity. This is a key example of how Elizabeth used her royal power to manage parliament, rid of awkward members and secure her desired outcome. The queen used her power to prorogue efficiently, such as during the push for the 1559 Religious Settlement. This gave Elizabeth time to plan and listen to the advice Cecil; allowing her to be careful and shrewd decisions when managing parliament. Elizabeth argued her status as a monarch to control Parliament’s demands. In 1556, the Commons petitioned Elizabeth to marry and name a successor, in which she stated “I am your anointed Queen, I will never be...constrained to do anything”; this effectively controlled Parliament and successfully forbade further discussion. Elizabeth’s success was further strengthened by her personal tactics in controlling parliament.

Along similar lines, according to author Alison Weir in her article “The Life of Elizabeth I” illustrates, “Elizabeth intended to be the head of the new Anglican Church, but Parliament, England’s legislative body, objected strongly to a woman serving in this role. Elizabeth compromised calling herself the supreme governor of the church and leaving final decisions on religious matters to the church authorities”(Weir 18).

She took care of the churches that were apart of the religion. She donated a lot of money to the year annually for the poor. She was described be very caring and generous person. Everyone was happy about her and the time she spent within the church. The parliament had a different perspective. The Whigs don't like how Queen Anne favored the Tory politicians over the Whig politicians since Tory politicians had shared her Anglican religious views. The Whig politicians did not think it was alright to favor one party over another because of religious views. Over all England ultimately became a constitutional monarchy because Queen Anne created a two-party system where her beliefs wouldn’t matter as much since their are parties were to decide the

While Catholics saw her as an unworthy member of society and Queen, Protestants did not see this as immoral and wrong as the Catholics. Elizabeth then obviously chose to embrace Protestantism over Catholicism. Elizabeth also managed during her reign to do what many before her on the throne had failed to do she created a stable society. While earlier eras in English history were full of bloodshed and wars between the two religions, the persecution of Catholics under Edward VI, and of Protestants under Mary I, it finally came a time of peace and tranquility. It appears to have had a moderating effect of England.

Following this, Elizabeth took on the role religion played in the struggle for equal rights for women. With her daughter, she published The Woman's Bible (biography.com).What Elizabeth values as her beliefs are similar to the beliefs of the Transcendentalists. There is actually a transcendentalist tenet that supports the belief of being individual and not conforming to society’s standards. It reads, “The idea of thinking of oneself without the rules of society inspires free thought.” The abolitionist movement and the women’s rights movement embodies this tenet by showing that they will not obey the rules that say they can’t contribute to society because they are just women, and these women choose to express their thoughts and

Though Elizabeth’s aim was to return England to the Protestant faith, she declared that she did

In 1559 Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was crowned Queen. Elizabeth sought to find a middle ground during her rein (1558-1603) in England, by allowing both Catholics and Protestants to worship without fear of any repercussions. However, Gilbert (1976) that ‘Elizabeth I and her successors had legislated to make Anglican worship compulsory’ (p. 4). By introducing the Act of Uniformity of 1559 it laid out the rules of worship that both religions were to follow and reissued the Book of Common Prayer for use in worship. The Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 also set to define the doctrine of the Church of England which set out a middle path between the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church and the Protestants (Wolffe, 2008). By the end of Elizabeth’s I forty five year reign, the majority of people in English society were Protestant. As the older, mainly Catholic members of society had died through old age (Christianity in Britain, 2011). Knight and Mason (2006) describe a dissenter during

During the Elizabethan Era, England underwent a continuing crisis between the Protestant Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Queen Elizabeth had inherited a nation that had already been suffering from oppositions of Religion. In previous years, England had undergone many changes between which faiths they practiced. England had experienced 25 years of religious troubles, they had been Protestant under King Edward VI and Catholic under Queen Mary I. During her reign of England, Queen Elizabeth I wanted peace, stability, and wanted her nation’s government and church to be free from decisions based off of influential power.

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

While these were the main causes of Reformation in continental Europe, in England, King Henry VIII initiated the Reformation. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after she had failed to produce a male heir to the throne. However, a divorce was not a simple issue. Henry VIII was a Roman Catholic and the Roman Catholic faith believed in marriage for life. It did not recognise, let alone support, divorce. He also wanted to prevent the interference of foreign powers in the national and international affairs of the country.

Queen Elizabeth had to be harsh and strict with Catholics, more than she would have preferred in order to maintain peace in England (Elizabeth R). Although Queen Elizabeth was nice, she could also be very strict. When Catholics rebelled she reacted quickly, she had them killed, took away their properties, or imprisoned them. After years of rebellion and fighting, England became a Protestant Country in the early 1600’s (Pitchard 103). “The significance of the Elizabethan religious settlement is that it was able to hold the vast majority of the people together, despite being a compromise few would have chosen” (Elizabeth I).