Rough Draft

Queen Elizabeth I was one of England's most influential rulers; so influential that the Elizabethan age is named after her.  She was the last in the line of Tudors, and ruled from 1559 to 1603.  She remains one of the best examples of a politque, one who will compromise their personal gain for the good of their people, that the world has ever seen.  Elizabeth I's brutal childhood, riddled with being raped by Thomas Seymour and living under constant threat from her sister, was the cause of her becoming an unmarried politique who gave up her own desires for a peaceful reign.

Elizabeth was born into England’s most powerful family: the Tudors.  She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.  Her parents were married when her mother was six months pregnant.  Their marriage started off well with Henry declaring all of his children illegitimate except those produced by Anne and forcing Mary, Elizabeth’s half sister and future queen of England, to serve Elizabeth as a maidservant.  However, Elizabeth’s life took a turn for the worse when Anne failed to produce a male heir and was executed, causing Henry to bastardize Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when Anne was executed.  Although she had been bastardized, she was still useful in foreign relations, which caused her to be shown naked to French diplomats at the age of six for the purpose of being a future wife for their children.  In 1537, her half-brother Edward was born, the first male heir of Henry VIII.  They lived together at a place called Hatfield House that acted as both their home and their school.  Elizabeth studied under a governess and became extremely well-educated in a variety of subjects.  She was kept away from her father for her own safety, but always looked up to him.

Henry VIII died in 1547, which meant that no more heirs would be produced and that Elizabeth had lost her father.  The line of succession in his will named Elizabeth the heir after Edward and Mary.  Shortly after his death, Elizabeth moved out of Hatfield House and in with Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s widow.  Katherine married a man named Thomas Seymour, who moved in with both of them.  Although he was in his forties, Seymour started taking an interest in Elizabeth, who was a young teenager.  He would go into her room while she was asleep to have sex with her, which was made easier by the fact that people in those times did not wear clothes to bed.  Katherine occasionally took part in these sexual escapades as well.  However, she grew tired of her husband’s affections for Elizabeth and threw her out of the house.  Elizabeth returned to Hatfield.  After Katherine Parr died, Seymour wanted to marry Elizabeth.  While she never directly rejected him, Elizabeth avoided marrying him until 1549, when he was executed.  His charges were trying to marry Elizabeth in order to gain power and overthrow his brother.

Edward, who had never been very healthy, died in 1553.  Lady Jane Grey was declared queen, but only lasted nine days in power.  Mary and Elizabeth travelled to London for Mary to claim her crown together, as a show of solidarity.  However, that ended when Mary, who was Catholic, started making laws ordering everyone to attend mass.  Elizabeth followed her sister’s laws, even though she was a Protestant.  Mary planned on marrying Prince Philip of Spain, which made her even more unpopular among the people.  Rebels started plotting against Mary while using Elizabeth as their cause, even though Elizabeth didn’t have anything to do with the rebellions.  Wyatt’s Rebellion was one example of Elizabeth being used a face for a rebellion that she knew nothing about.  Mary put Elizabeth in the Tower, but it was proven that she was not plotting against her.  Elizabeth was allowed to go back to Hatfield House.  Mary had two miscarriages, and her husband went back to Spain.  Right before she died in November of 1558, she named and accepted Elizabeth as her heir. 

After Mary’s death, Elizabeth was named queen.  Her first reform was religion, in which she returned England to being a Protestant country.  However, unlike her sister, she did not try to obliterate all traces of other religions. 

Elizabeth was unorthodox in that she refused to marry.  The main aim of every monarch in that time was to produce and heir, but she had no interest in that.  In 1556 Parliament threatened to cut off her funds, but she addressed them harshly and told them that her priority was England.  In 1559, Elizabeth made it clear that she had feelings for her childhood friend, Robert Dudley by saying that if his wife were to die (she was sick), that she would like to marry him.  Instead of dying of illness, Amy Dudley died by falling down the stairs.  Although the coroner said that it was an accident, scandal surrounded her death, and people suspected Robert Dudley of killing her so that he could marry Elizabeth.  Elizabeth wanted to marry Dudley, but like a true politique, resisted his courtship so that England was not affected.  Because she did not have a husband, people started referring to her and thinking of her as the “Virgin Queen,” although she wasn’t.

  Throughout her reign, Elizabeth was almost always defending her country, and very rarely started battles.  In 1585, she sent and army to aid the Protestant Dutch rebels against Philip II.  She also defended England against the Spanish Armada in 1588, which was by far the most significant battle of her reign.  In 1589, she sent support to Henry IV, who had recently inherited the French throne and was Protestant.

Elizabeth had to learn to survive when she was still young, and didn’t put down her guard from the time she knew that she was in danger.  The trials of her life kept her from marrying and following her heart, but they made her a queen who could handle any situation.  As a politique, she was unrivaled, as a queen, she is legend.