Elisabeth Anger of England

Elisabeth Ire of England (September 7th 1533 with Greenwich - March 24th 1603 with Richmond) was one of the most famous sovereigns of England. Also named " Gloriana" or " Good Queen Bess" by its partisans, Élizabeth Ire was Queen of England, France (only in title) and Ireland of the November 17th 1558 until its death. Not beautiful but vain, she spoke the Latin , the Greek , the French and the Italian . Its accession with the throne marks the beginning of the period élisabéthaine , during which England rises with the row of great power and poses the bases of an hegemonic maritime empire.

Biography

The accession with the throne

Girl of the king Henri VIII of England and Anne Boleyn, Elisabeth was the fifth and last representing of the dynasty of the Tudor. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother, it nevertheless is restored in its rights to the throne by the Parliament in 1544. With died of Henri VIII, it was however only the third in the order of succession with the crown. In 1554, it is implied in a plot and is imprisoned, before withdrawing itself with Hartfield House. Successive deaths of his/her half-brother, Edouard VI, then of his/her elder half-sister, Marie I {{Re}}, gave access to him the throne in November 1558 for a 45 years reign. Although Marie Ire, enthusiastic catholic, opposed a long time so that Elisabeth succeeds to him, she died while the future queen was kept only under house arrest. She was crowned in the Abbaye of Westminster to London, the January 15th 1559 by Owen Oglethorpe, bishop of Carlisle.

The virgin queen

Elisabeth is sometimes called the “virgin queen” ( The Virgin Queen ), because it was never married, fearing to lose its capacity with the profit of an unspecified husband. She refused the advances of many sighing, of which those of the king Philippe II of Spain. The queen of France Catherine de Médicis, for its part, proposed to him successively, like husband, two of her sons: the duke of Anjou - become, thereafter, king de France under the name of Henri III -, then the duke of Alençon, 22 years the junior by Elisabeth. One can also quote parmis his applicants the crown prince Eric to Sweden, or the archduke Charles de Habsbourg. Single person and without child, the Queen of England had nevertheless, seems it, a rather active love life in the secrecy of the alcoves. The favorites of Elisabeth were in particular Robert Dudley, Robert of Essex and even the admiral Thomas Seymour.

The legend wants that Sir Walter Raleigh, other sighing of Élizabeth, posed its sumptuous coat on a water puddle pool in order not to wet the queen. As from 1588, the relations between Elisabeth and Essex worsen and make the delights of the gossip of the court. The age does not deteriorate of anything the coquettery queen, even if it loses her teeth. Nevertheless, its character worsens, in particular towards its lady-in-waitings. The day when a young lady of the court declares herself pregnant of Raleigh, the queen punishes this inaccuracy by sending her old favorite to the Tour of London.

The confirmation of England Anglican

Girl of Henri VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elisabeth is with the eyes of the catholics only one bastard of the late king. It is thus quite naturally that Elisabeth supports the Anglicanisme of her father, with however a great preoccupation with a moderation.

Sovereign energetic and authoritative, it equipped England with a religion of State, by the Acte of Supremacy in 1559, which requires bishops an oath of fidelity to the queen, “supreme governor” of the Church. With the bill of the Thirty-nine Articles in 1563, it constitutes a true charter of the Anglicanism: the episcopal hierarchy and part of the catholic ceremonial are maintained, while giving up the use of the Latin and the obligation of the Célibat of the priests.

But it ran up against the opposition of the puritan , that it pursued. The Calvin strict ists, close to the reformer John Knox and the Scottish movement presbytérien of which he is the founder, wish to purify the Anglicanism of the Papisme.

Elisabeth must also face the catholics, who protest against the rupture with Rome. The bishops set up by Marie Tudor are catholic, and so refuse to lend oath to a queen whom they judge heretic. They then are placed under house arrest and are replaced by a clergy Anglican. In 1570, Elisabeth is officially Excommuniée by the pope Pie V, who only accepts like sovereign only Marie Stuart, the queen of Scotland. The catholics are then judged like traitors with the Crown and a violent repression begins. Until 1603, 200 catholics, priests or laymen, are carried out.

Relation with Ireland

By the rupture with the pope, the queen worsens the diplomatic situation of England with Ireland, where the Catholicisme is very majority. When Henri VIII had been made proclaim king d' Irlande in 1541, the island was still far from being conquered. Ireland, allied of the Spain, resists the English domination, but its attempts at rising are crushed. Violent repressions which take place between 1594 and 1603 mark the beginning of a rather cruel domination in a context of hostility, unfavourable with any attempt at conciliation.

Competition with Marie Stuart

The partisans of its cousin and heiress, the catholic Marie Stuart, queen of Scotland, are at the origin of a power struggle between the two sovereign ones. Marie Stuart is queen of Scotland as of her birth in 1542, but is high in France. Of return in Scotland in 1560, it controls a country very anchored in the Presbytérianisme. After a time of compromise, it multiplies the errors and is forced to abdicate in 1567, in favor of her Jacques son. Taken refuge in England, she is suspected of plotting against Elisabeth. Stopped, judged in 1587, it finalemant is condemned by the Parliament and is decapitated. This quarrel with Marie Stuart will be exploited thereafter like symbol of hardness and cruelty élizabéthaine.

Birth of British colonialism and marine supremacy

The execution of Marie Stuart started the hostilities between England and the Spain, of which the king badly supports the incursions and repressions towards its ally, Ireland. At the time of its round the world tour in 1577 - 1580, Francis Drake intercepts a Spanish convoy and seizes sound gold. It will thereafter be armed knight by the queen. In front of this political offense, the king of Spain decides to gather a considerable fleet for the time: the Invincible Armada. May 20th 1588: 10300 sailors and: 19000 soldiers piled up out of 130 buildings leave the port of Lisbon. This formidable naval army is however overcome by England. The Spaniards know a rout without precedent: only 63 ships return to Spain. This victory caused to devote the maritime supremacy of England and to encourage its Expansionnisme. The year 1600 sees the creation of the Company of the Eastern Indies, the colonization of the North America is started by Sir Walter Raleigh which founds the Virginia.

The English sailors then begin a systematic exploration following the example Spaniards at the beginning of the century. As of 1562, the Corsaire John Hawkins attacked the Portuguese and Spanish ships. Seeking to reach the China by the North-East, Jean Davis arrives in the middle of the Russia by the waterways, thus opening the road with the explorers. Ralph Ficht goes until the Euphrate, reached the India and is received at large the Moghol. Of 1591 with 1594, Jacques Lancaster reiterates the exploit of Vasco de Gama by making the turn of the Africa.

The era élizabéthaine

Cultural rise

The period élisabéthaine was marked by a cultural and artistic rise of first order, which consists of the concretization of the English rebirth (??).

Architecture is characterized by the manors of Tudor styles, with their large lattice windows, associating with the Gothic style Renaissance elements.

The English language knows its noble letters with poets like Spenser, which publishes the Queen of the fairies between 1590 and 1596, in homage to the queen. The theater is also a great success of the era élisabéthaine. In 1598, the famous Théâtre of the Earth opens its doors in London, on southern bank of the the Thames. The parts of Christopher Marlowe ( Doctor Faust ), and of Ben Jonson ( Volpone ) are a true success. But it is Shakespeare which is affirmed like the uncontested Master of the English literature.

Economic advancement and financial

The great demographic dynamism of England under Elisabeth Anger as well as the confirmation of its military supremacy result in to start again the economy.

At the industrial level, manufactures clothiers develop and the exploitation of the Houille and the Fer progresses in a spectacular way, which brings to a multiplication of the mines. The trade with the foreign countries is supported by a better control of navigation and the opening of many shipyards.

Finances of the crown tend to post surpluses: the royal field, the confiscations, the customs (of which the product believes with the rise of the trade), ensures the crown of the comfortable receipts. It is besides under Elisabeth Ière that is founded the Bourse of London.

A company in change

The land aristocracy, from which the main incomes come from agriculture and the breeding, is forced to adapt vis-a-vis the competition of the maritime trade. Thus is born the movement from the enclosures (fences of the fields), which substitutes for the collective exploitation of the ground a system of great personal properties. The gentry (minor nobility), is characterized by a good performance from its capital without to control industry. The middle-class, which thrives in the cities and the ports, grows rich thanks to industrialization and with the evolution by the trade, which enables him to take an active part in the local policy.

The fate of the popular classes is more difficult. In 1563, the statute of the craftsmen constitutes a true code of work. In the countryside, the yeomen (small and average owners and farmers), form a rather easy farming community, but the enclosures drive out poorest which must take refuge downtown. The laws on the poor ones of 1572 and 1601 try to solve this new situation.

Succession

The son of Marie Stuart, the king Jacques VI of Scotland, succeeded to him under the name of Jacques Ist.

With Elisabeth the Maison Tudor dies out.

See too

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