Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Queen Elizabeth I
Vanin, Alicia






Queen Elizabeth of England I
Vanin, Alicia
Elizabeth Tudor was born on 7 September 1533 at Greenwich Palace. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry had defied the papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor to marry Anne, because he was driven on by love, and the need for a reasonable male heir. Because of this fact; Elizabeth's birth was one of the most exciting political events in Europe’s sixteenth century. Sadly, when Elizabeth was only three young years old, her mother; Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Even though her mother’s death left her no hereditary title to the throne Elizabeth was well educated with Edward VI, and was third in line for the throne. Her childhood friend Edward VI died at the young age of sixteen leaving Mary to take the throne, and having Elizabeth pushed into the background. It was a very distressing fact that Mary’s rein lasted until shortly after Sir Thomas Wyat the Younger’s Rebellion in 1554. Mary’s death left the throne for Elizabeth to sit upon. Thus begins her rein on January Fifteenth 1559, and the commencement of the golden age she produced.
Many, many things happened during Elizabeth’s rein, and not all of them were golden hued, and sugar lined. One of the first main things that Elizabeth did was create a protestant/Christian settlement, and once Mary’s husband the French King Francis II died, Elizabeth kept Mary the Queen of the Scots, prisoner for eighteen years after she(Mary) came pleading to her for help. What was the reason behind this seemingly unjustified imprisonment? Elizabeth was simply suspicious that Mary –because Elizabeth was protestant and Mary was Christian- was trying to sneak into her inner circle and plant catholic support to try to take the throne of England. Appallingly, because Elizabeth imprisoned Mary, Pope Pius issued an Interdict against Elizabeth in 1570. After all this, for a whole year a plot was led by Roberto di Ridolfi to overthrow Elizabeth and install Mary Queen of Scots upon the throne. Happily, this plot was a major fail, and Elizabeth continued her supremacy. Oddly, in 1557 Leicester had entertained Elizabeth in Kenilworth Castle, and later in 1579 Leicester secretly married Elizabeth’s cousin Lettice Knollys. Also, the French king’s brother, Anjou had unsuccessfully courted Elizabeth up until this same year, and the pope Gregory XII had sadly announced that killing Queen Elizabeth was not a sin. This unorthodox exception would soon be putting the queen in peril for the rest of her life. In that time and era, people did not stand by their morals all too well. To kill thy neighbor is a sin, yet, in 1582 the Duke de Guise plot took action. This terrible assassination was led by a secret horde of church going Catholics. Once again the terribly lucky Queen Elizabeth escaped unscathed.
There was another long year, and another unsuccessful marriage arrangement. This time the year was 1583, and the courtier was Duke de Alencon. During the Elizabethan era there were many a prosperous days, but also, there were many a dark corners, secrets, and assassinations on the queen’s behalf. William the silent was one of these poor victims who, in the end, met their maker for making trouble. In 1884 William had fought hard and long to have independent Netherlands. Queen Elizabeth was becoming not only a target for media and scandal, but an increasing target for the rebelling working class’ wrath. Because of this fact the bond of association was enacted in 1584. This bond that was made by the Parliament decreed that all English men shall sign a pledge that, in the event of Elizabeth’s assassination, they had to hunt down the culprit. Even this surprisingly drastic measure of safety precaution did not stop the townsfolk from daring to rebel. So, in a scampering final endeavor to keep the “beloved” queen safe, the act for the preservation for the queen’s safety was enacted in 1585. This act was intended to squash all the conspiracies against the Queen, and it was enacted in response to the earlier rebellions such as the Duke de Guise plot and the earlier Ridolfi plot. First there was the bond of association, and second there was the act for the preservation for the queen’s safety. Even with all these laws, the amazingly idiotic mutineers tried to perform a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots in 1586. Sadly, because of this last unsuccessful endeavor, Mary was executed but a year later, and it was said her head hit the ground with an extremely justifying thump.
Not much happened until 1590 when Francis Walsingham died, and William Cecil soon joined him in 1598. It is not these two deaths that are interesting it is that two years later, as Queen Elizabeth lay sick and elderly, her one truly trusted companion led an extremely short rebellion that quickly died out like a flickering match. It was Needless to say that her backstabbing companion Robery Devereaux was brokenheartedly executed in 1601. The once strong willed, and fiery spirited Queen Elizabeth I now laid on her deathbed, unable to even gather enough strength to raise her head. It was this sad, sad, day on March 24th 1603 that the Elizabethan reign came to a pitiful end.