History

Queen Elizabeth I of England is considered to be one of the greatest monarchs in the history of the royal England. She had a tough childhood experience with her mother being executed when she was only three and her father engaging in numerous relationships with different women. Elizabeth was born in the year 1533 being daughter to King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn. Elizabeths challenges started even before she was born with most people opposed to her mothers marriage to the King who was in search for a male heir. Her birth as a girl child did not go down well in the power circles. Her birth was contrary to the predictions of astrologers and physicians who had unanimously predicted it to be the birth of a prince. Some people described her birth as a great disappointment to the King, the Lady herself and to others of her party (Harington and Antiquae, para 2). At a tender age of 25, Elizabeth ascended to the throne to provide timely leadership that England required at the moment. Much credit is owed to her for having steered England back to economic and political prosperity after many years of poor leadership from her predecessors (Britannia, para 1).
Elizabeth and the position of women in her times
    The position of women during the Elizabeth times was very low considering that it was a male dominated society. This is clearly demonstrated by how Elizabeths father, King Henry VIII treated his wives. He divorced and imprisoned his first wife Katherine of Aragon for not bearing him a son. His marriage to Anne Boleyn was motivated by the search for a son. This clearly indicates how women were disregarded as possible heirs to the throne. Women were treated with a lot of contempt in the sense that the King at one time called upon his elder daughter Mary who had fled to become the Princess of Wales to relinquish her title and acknowledge the annulment of her mothers marriage to him and the validity of his new marriage. Meanwhile, Marys mother was in prison. In an attempt to rid Elizabeths own mother for failing to bear a son to the King, she was imprisoned on false allegations including treason and later executed in May 1536 (Harington and Antiquae, para 4). Women, as we can see, were mistreated by the male dominant society who could not stop at anything in search for their demands. Elizabeth herself experienced the wrath of being a woman when even her father could not refer to her as princess but instead called her Lady Elizabeth, the daughter of the King.
    Despite all these trials and tribulations, Elizabeth was not deterred to achieve what she ever wanted in life. At the age of 10 under the care of Katherine, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth was enrolled in school where she distinguished herself as one of the promising young stars. One of her tutors observed that she did not exhibit weaknesses most associated with women. This was an exceptional performance putting in mind that women were considered to be inferior to men (Harington and Antiquae, para 8).
    Elizabeths character came to the limelight when she ascended to power upon the death of her elder stepsister Queen Mary in 1558. By this time, the politics and the economy of the English empire were in shambles. There were also sharp divisions amongst the religious groups in the country.  Elizabeth, having known all the problems ahead of her, proved to be calm and calculative, employing capable and distinguished men to carry out the royal prerogatives (Britannia, para 2). Her first priority was to eliminate the religious unrest thereby establishing the Henrician reforms and leaning towards the Protestantism in response to the persecutions carried out by the strongly catholic France and Spain. Queen Elizabeth was reluctantly forced to support wars in France, Scotland in aid of Protestants who were being persecuted, and also supported Belgium in its bid to gain independence from Spain (Britannia, para 5). In the year 1588, the Queen was put to test when England went to war with the much feared Armada of Spain. This was the opportunity that the Queen used to demonstrate those qualities of heart that nobody expected to find in women (MacCaffrey, p 17).
    Queen Elizabeth was a courageous woman considering that she faced the authorities in some of the most intriguing situations. She cleverly defended herself against Thomas Seymour who became husband to her stepmother after her fathers death on allegations of being his mistress when she was only 15 (Ruggeri, para 4). During her sisters reign, she was imprisoned for allegedly participating in a revolt led by Sir Thomas Wyatt Harington. She endured three months in custody at the Tower of London and a whole year under a house arrest (Antiquae, para 49).
    During her reign as a Queen of England many issues stood in the way of the young Queen. She was not married at that time and many people around her wanted her married considering that her council composed of males who were not used to working with an unmarried Queen. She showed a strong mental character in not allowing the issues of her successor bother to influence her reign. Elizabeth was determined to be an exceptional Queen and she stood her ground despite many attempts of engagement. She ruled and died unmarried and famously became known as the Virgin Queen (Ruggeri, para 8).
    Elizabeth was a dedicated scholar who devoted much of her time learning in school. She studied Greek, theology, and classical subjects such as rhetoric, languages, philosophy and history. In her time as the Queen of England, literature blossomed considering the works of Spenser, Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. The English influence expanded with the efforts from Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh in exploring the new worlds. Her time saw the prosperity of the economy and the general welfare of the people. She was not a hardliner on religious matters as her stepsiblings who had preceded her and this was crucial in stabilizing and defusing the tensions that previously existed between the Catholics and the Protestants (Eliza and Elana, para 6).
    Elizabeths rule had its share of challenges just like any other. For many years, she had a problem with the Queen of Scotland, Mary, who happened to be her cousin. Mary claimed that she was the rightful Queen of England and she launched numerous attempts to overthrow Elizabeth. Eventually, Mary was captured and held in prison for 19 years. When revealing evidence linking her with an overthrow and life attempts on Elizabeth, she was finally executed. In one of the plots, commonly known as the Babington plot, young catholic gentlemen loyal to Mary of Scotland were captured and executed by Elizabeth having faced full punishment (Ruggeri, para10). These incidences showed that Elizabeth was a firm and patient leader who would depend on her head in making politically important decisions.
    She had unique leadership qualities that helped her stay in power. She was popular with all the people - the rich and the poor. Elizabeth was graceful in public and was never aloof and constantly kept in touch with common people. She was also careful and always cautious in her approach to political matters. The Queen never rushed in making decisions that could be unpopular to the public. She stood by her principles and decisions as evidenced by the council interrogations concerning the two scandals touching on her. The first one was on Seymour and the second one was during the reign of her stepsister when she was accused of conspiring to overthrow her.  She can be described as a determined politician, a practical who could not yield to unpopular issues. For instance, she is said to have backed down to the public opposition on the policies that granted monopolies in 1601 (FAQ, para 5). Elizabeth was a master of politics and knew that she required the devotion of her councils advice. The council was comprised of men who were astonished by the Queens character of holding back until the last minute to come up with a decision. By this, she refused to be manipulated and only acted when she saw it necessary based on her own judgment. She appointed intelligent men in the council who included Sir Robert Cecil, Sir William Cecil, and Sir Francis Walsingham who gave her good advice on political matters (Harington and Antiquae, para 16).
    Perhaps the most memorable thing that Queen Elizabeth is remembered for is the defeat of the Spanish Army that was regarded as the best army in the world at the time. The triumph was a major breakthrough as English army took the crown of the most dreaded army from Spain. England became a very powerful nation in Europe under Elizabeth. In one of her speeches to the army before the war with Spain, the Queen showed her firmness and assertiveness previously associated with men. She is on record for having said that she was aware of her status as a woman but in real sense she knew that she had the qualities of a King (Harington and Antiquae, para 35).
Conclusion
    Queen Elizabeth I shall be remembered for her greatest contribution to the success of the English empire during her years in power. She had inherited a virtually bankrupt kingdom which was religiously torn apart, coupled by many allegations that she was not the rightful queen for England. She rose to the occasion and provided sober governance that was yet to be witnessed in England, especially from a woman. Her sister had offered disastrous leadership but Elizabeth overcame the contemporary prejudices about women leadership to show that she had incredible strength. Elizabeths years at the helm saw Renaissance flourish in England and the general prosperity of England as a nation. England became a leading nation in Europe having overtaken Spain and France that had previously dominated Europe. She was a woman of character that fought all odds to establish herself in the male dominated society.