Reigh by Elizabeth I Essay Example for Free

Reigh by Elizabeth I EssayBy 1571, Elizabeth I had work out most of her knowledgeable and remote puzzles that she had faced at the beginning of her reign? Assess the validity of this view In 1558 Elizabeth inherited a rear end encumbered with various internal and external problems, due to the actions in previous reigns of the little Tudors. Internal problems referred to predicaments occurring in England and personal goings with the milkweed butterfly, e.g. the religious elimination of Catholicism in bloody shame Tudors reign and rebellions posed a significant problem of domestic policy at the beginning of Elizabeths reign. External problems refereed to dilemmas occurring outside of England, e.g. Marys loss of Calais in 1558 produced the external possibility of French encroachment during Elizabeths reign. Along with debasement of the coinage and inflationary pressures, it is evident that Elizabeth was presented with formidable problems at the beginning of her reign. The f irst major internal problem faced by Elizabeth at the start of her reign was her gender.The idea of a female monarch met troopsility in Tudor England and Elizabeth was faced with criticism by the Protestant sermonizer John Knox who wrote to promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation or city is repugnant by genius and a insult to God. besides Elizabeth oercame the reappearance of her gender in her appointment of administrators and management of political matters. Immediately after coming to the throne, Elizabeth successfully established her purplish and political authority by appointing William Cecil as her principle secretary, a successful partnership in government which lasted 40 stratums. Elizabeth then appointed Thomas falsify as controller of the household and Robert Dudley as Master of the Horse. The appointment of her friends and supporters highlight that Elizabeth overcame her internal problem of her gender as Elizabeth had successfully established her authority, despite be a female queen she was back up by influential male figures, thus advocating to Tudor England that the her reign will not suffer from political mental unsoundness as Ed fightd VI and Mary I reigns did.Elizabeth was intelligent in not making any boost appointments as it made political sense to sustain speculation alive of Marys councillors being reappointed, a political motive that worked for Elizabeth as 9 of Mary councillors guarantee Elizabeth of their loyalty. Elizabeth then went on to bowdlerise the number of commode councillors from 39 to 19, 10 of who had served Mary, and Elizabeth kept nobles such as the Earl of Winchesterwho had long political experience and had shown his excellence as an exchequer. Reducing the number of privy councillors allowed policy making to be more efficient and created a form of collective responsibility and corporate decision making within the council, thus Elizabeth had elaborated the inter nal problem of her gender as her changes to the privy council also meant that no individual could exert huge amounts of influence over her and the fixed membership assured Elizabeth of the councillors loyalty, a bring on which caused the downfall of Somerset in Edward VIs reign. and so this supports John Guys interpretation of Elizabeth that she controlled her own policy more than any other Tudor and her instinct to power was infallible Elizabeth further solved the homecoming of her gender by maintaining good relations with Parliament, Elizabeth managed some issues under royal license and allowed all member of the privy council to play a role in the management of Parliament, especially Cecil who played a important role in the deliberations of the parking area with C.Maccafrey describing Cecil as a crowns manager of political business. The election of the speaker under Elizabeths was a strong political motive as it benefited the crown in enjoying management of the House of Commo ns. Thus Elizabeth had succeeded in maintaining a strong parliament supported by John Guy view legislative business was powerful directed. Elizabeth further overcame her internal problem by using public relations to influence her political authority.At her coronation on the 15TH January Elizabeth was welcomed as Deborah the sound out and restorer of Israel. To be likened to an influential female is evidence that Elizabeth overcame the issue of her gender at the beginning of her reign, as it highlights the publics acceptance of her as cigarette. barely it is debated by a minority of revisionists that Elizabeth did not solve the internal problem of her gender at the beginning of her reign. This is due to the fact that during Elizabeths 45 year reign, Parliament only met for a total of 3 years, and 11 out of 13 parliamentary sessions were to ask for revenue. Thus this enforces the view that Elizabeth was unable to work with parliament, supported by the excessive use of royal prerog ative over issues Elizabeth did not wish to discuss. It is further argued that Elizabeth did not solve the issue of her gender as she was over ruled by Cecil on many occasions, for example Cecil threatened to resign in 1560 if England did not support him in Scottish policy.The issue of BishopOglethorpe not elevating the host during Elizabeths coronation mass is further indication of the unsolved problems which were existent at the beginning of Elizabeths reign. However I believe that Elizabeth did overcome the issue of her gender, as unlike previous monarchs, Elizabeth was never threatened to be overpowered by one of her administrators, and according to her tutor Roger Ascham her mind had no womanly weakness, her perseverance is relate to that of a man, thus this interpretation supports the fact that Elizabeth overcame the issue of her gender due to her abilities of choosing first rate advisors and having the remarkable gift of winning the devotion of the public. A further internal problem faced by Elizabeth at the start of her reign was the religious settlement after 1558. The legal status of the church had not been altered with the finish of milksop Mary thus meaning that the face church remained in communion with the Church of Rome, withal Elizabeth was protestant.Thus Elizabeth solved the internal problem of religion through the introduction of the 1559 religious settlement. The act embraced two sets of parliament, the Act of Supremacy 1559 and the Act of Uniformity 1559. The Act of Supremacy restored the royal command of the church which had been removed under Mary, the act replied heresy laws which had been revived under Mary and re-established communion in both kinds. The act further defined Elizabeth to be Supreme Governor and not Supreme Head of the church, reflecting the assumption that only God could be head of the church. The act of Uniformity specified the use of a single Book of Common Prayer, specified that ornaments of the church and of t he ministers thereof should be those that were there I the second year of the reign of Edward VI and the act further laid down a punishment of a shilling for not attending church. The 1559 religious settlement also enforced the 1559 injunctions, which were a set of rules nigh the conduct of church services and the government of the church issued in the Queens name as the Supreme Governor.The first injunction stressed the suppression of superstitious notion (catholic practises such as candles). Thus the 1559 religious settlement highlight how Elizabeth overcame the issue of religion as there was a now uniformed principles of church services. Elizabeth overcame the issue of many bishops resigning due to not being able to take the Oath of Supremacy by appointing 27 new bishops, many of whom had opposed Marys religious policies and would support Elizabeth in the House of Lords.The appointment of Matthew Parker as archbishop of Canterbury was a conscious strategy to reshape the hierarc hy of England and further evidence that Elizabeth overcame the religious issue left by Mary. Elizabeths dislike of clerical wedding party and prevention of musical culture in cathedrals and catholic colleges highlights the extent to which Elizabeth created a erastian nature of the church.Although it is argued that Elizabeth did not successfully resolve the internal issue of religion as according to historians such as Peter Lake the religious settlement had a two travel view, Elizabeths view that the settlement was final and complete and then the view of bishops that the settlement was simply a interim arrangement and full scale tidy up needed to be implemented. The religious settlement was not seen final by many historians as Neale argues that the Queen was conscious of the dangerous political situation with France, and thusly used the 1559 religious settlement to gain parliamentary confirmation of royal supremacy and delay any other significant changes in her reign. The puritan challenges to the settlement are further evidence of the religious settlement not being successful. The vestments controversy occurred due to failure of the convocation of Canterbury 1563 to secure reform, thus many bishops un mortifyable they did not wish to follow the rules of clerical dress outlined in the Act of Uniformity as they believed the albs and copes to be popish and superstitious.Thus the Queen summoned Parker to enforce the rules, thus Parker threatened to remove preaching licences of anyone that did not obey and in 1566 issued the Advertisements. However 37 clergymen refused to sign and were deprived of their posts, this conflict expresses that Elizabeth did not solve the issue of religion as it highlighted that the Queen could not enforce her will in all respects and highlighted fundamental issues in the relationship of the Crown and the Church. However Elizabeth succeeded in her religious settlement and overcame her internal problem, she wished not to work on wind ows into mens souls and thus allowed the survival of Catholics. An external problem faced by Elizabeth at the start of her reign was the issue of her marriage and while. When Elizabeth inherited the throne in 1558, it was assumed that she would conjoin a prince and continue the Tudor line, as failure to marry would bring around a troubled succession.There were a number of suitors for Elizabeth, arguably her favourite being Robert Dudley of whom she arguably had aemotional dependency on, however the suspicious death of his wife Amy led to the marriage never occurring, which pleased Cecil who was horrified at the prospect of his own power and influence being eroded. Thus Elizabeth chose not to marry and not to choose a successor, however she overcame the internal problem of this. By remaining unmarried, her authority remained undiminished and Elizabeth maximized the diplomatic advantages from the prolonged marriage negotiations. She used marriage talks as a form of foreign policy, e .g. marriage talks with the Habsburgs minimised the possible Catholic backlash to her Religious Settlement, and she gained financial benefits from Eric of Sweden. not naming a successor also had benefits for Elizabeth, as it avoided any factions arising in the privy council and any unnecessary competitions for influence and power, as Elizabeth once commented if my successor were know to the world, I would never esteem my state to be safe.Although it can be argued that as Elizabeth died the virgin queen, she did not solve the issue of her marriage and succession due to never being married. As Elizabeth did not produce her own natural protestant heir, Elizabeth faced real threats from Mary Queen of Scots. Many English Catholics supported Marys claim to the throne and when Mary arrived in England there were several games to dethrone or assassinate Elizabeth including the Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington plots. Although after Elizabeths death, jam Stewart inherited the throne in a unchallenged succession, thus Elizabeth had solved the problem. The issue of foreign policy was Elizabeths biggest external problem during her reign. Elizabeth had inherited the throne at a time where finances were weak, with Sir John Mason declaring our state can no longer bear these wars. Thus Elizabeth wanted to secure Calais and conclude peace with the Scottish Queen as Elizabeth commented that the greatest burden of these wars resteth uponth Scotland.Thus Elizabeth resolved issues of foreign policy in her reign by the signing of the Chaetae Cambersis in 1559 which brought peace along England, Scotland, France and Spain, France would retain Calais for eight years and then would be returned to England providing England had kept peace. However external problems of foreign policy occurred again after the death of Henry II who was succeeded by his son Francis who was married to Mary Queen of Scots. This led to a strong guise faction in France who sought to make Scotland an instrumen t of French policy making.. Thus England wasfaced with the threat of invasion from Scotland and France. However Elizabeth resolved this issue by sending the Navy to the firth of forth to plosive speech sound French reinforcements from landing and sending an army to Leith where the bulk of the French force were situated. Elizabeths intervention meant the siege failed, and in 1560 the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed which forced Mary Queen of Scots to recognise Elizabeth as Queen and effectively weakened the Franco-Scottish alliance.Elizabeth had also succeeded in foreign policy with Spain as she avoided having a civil war with Spain, the policy of harassment by taking money from Spanish ships in Cornwell and Devon strengthened Englands finances. However it can be argued that Elizabeth did not solve the issue of foreign policy, Anglo Spanish and Anglo Dutch relations came to a halt after the Spanish harassments meaning that loyalty with Phillip had disintegrated thus Phillip began to support plots against Elizabeth such as the Ridolfi plot and the 1569 Northern Rebellion. Although I believe Elizabeth did solve her external problem to a small extent, as relations were improved but would still be some other 14 years until Elizabeth could feel secure from threats to English stability. Thus at the end of her 45 year long reign, it is concrete to state that Elizabeth did successfully conquer most of her external and internal problems she faced at the beginning of her reign.Known as the Golden Age by many historians Elizabeth was able to establish a secure Church of England and her reign also saw significant expansion overseas. Great explorers were encouraged such as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir John Hawkins. She achieved an excellent reputation as a good and wise ruler, who was truly loved by her people she was highly accomplished in the art of rhetoric and Public Relations Queen Elizabeth I surrounded herself with highly intelligent and loyal adv isors such as Sir William Cecil, Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Robert Cecil who gave her sound political advice and unlike the reigns of Edward and Mary, Elizabeth was able to expand overseas. Thus the internal and external problems at the beginning of reign soon became insignificant hurdles for the great queen, whose monarch is still described by historians today to be the greatest monarch in England.