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Elizabeth Tudor
''The Virgin Queen''
Born during a hot summer day on September 7, 1533, Elizabeth Tudor, later called formally Queen Elizabeth the First, was Anne Boleyn’s only child. She was cherished by the English kingdom, but her father, Henry VIII, the King was utterly disappointed, since he was hoping for a male heir to continue with the dynasty.
When she was two years old, her mother was executed for alleged adultery. Just a week later, her father got married again, making her an illegitimate child, unable to inherit the throne. That remained the same until her father’s last wife, Catherine Parr, made sure she and her half-sister Mary had the best of educations.
When she turned 25, and after both of her step-siblings Mary and Edward, died, Elizabeth became England’s queen. The country was wrecked because of a religious strife caused by the former ruler. Mary tried to restore Catholicism as the kingdom’s main belief. The young monarch, a devoted Protestant, brought back the Church of England, and became its head.
the monarch imprisoned her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots inside the Chartley Hall, for conspiring against her, and trying to overrule her as a Catholic head of state. After weeks of trials and plenty of spying on the Scottish court, Mary was found guilty. She was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle, on February 8th, 1587.
After the Scottish Queen was dead, England had another enemy to worry about. King Philip the Second, from Spain was given a request from the Pope himself. The mission was to invade England, and once again, to restore Catholicism. The ruler accepted, since the relationship between both countries was not exactly the best, so he sent a fleet of 130 ships, called the Spanish Armada to the English territory.
Guiding the Royal Fleet, with ‘The heart of a King’, Elizabeth was adamant that England would never be under the influence of Rome ever again.
Protestant, brought back the Church of England, and became its head.
Her time as a queen was rather successful, until 1566, when the Parliament refused to give her any more funds, until the subject of her marriage was settled. Afraid that she would lose her beloved power, Elizabeth used her rhetorical skills and convinced the noblemen under her that the welfare of England was her priority, and that she was married to her kingdom. Convinced, the Parliament stopped pestering her.
Another of Elizabeth’s greatest accomplishments was to finance various travels all over the world. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh traveled to North America, and settled a colony of about 100 men in what he called Virginia, after Elizabeth, ‘The Virgin Queen’.
4 / BASTIDE Elizabeth the First
called Virginia, after Elizabeth, ‘The Virgin Queen’. That territory was the beginning of the United States, a nation that declared its Independence 191 years later.
England and Scotland’s relationship is decaying, since the monarch imprisoned her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots inside the Chartley Hall, for conspiring against her, and trying to overrule her as a Catholic head of state.