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[[Pilt:Elizabeth1England.jpg|thumbpisi|Elizabeth I]]
'''Elizabeth I''' ([[7. september]] [[1533]], [[Greenwich]] – [[24. märts]] [[1603]], [[Richmond (London)|Richmond]] [[London]]i lähedal) oli [[Inglismaa kuningriik|Inglismaa]] ja [[Iirimaa kuningriik|Iirimaa]] viimane [[Tudorid|Tudorite]] soost monarh, kuninganna 17. novembrist [[1558]] surmani 1603. aastal. Teda on nimetatud ka '''neitsikuningannaks''' ('''The Virgin Queen'''), sest ta ei abiellunud kunagi. Elizabeth I oli kuningas [[Henry VIII]] ja [[Anne Boleyn]]i tütar ning [[Mary I (Inglismaa)|Mary I]] ja [[Edward VI]] poolõde. Tema ajal muutus Inglismaa võimsaks mere- ning koloniaalriigiks ja kujunes lõplikult välja [[anglikaani kirik]].
Elizabethi hüüdnimede seas olid ka '''Gloriana''' ja '''Hea Kuninganna Bess'''. Ta oli Tudorite dünastia viies ja viimane valitseja. Kuna ta oli Henry VIII tütar, sündis ta printsessina, ent tema ema Anne Boleyn hukati kaks ja pool aastat pärast tema sündi ning Elizabeth kuulutati vallaslapseks. Tema poolvend [[Edward VI]] pärandas krooni leedi [[Jane Grey]]le, jättes õed pärilusjärjekorrast välja. Tema testament jäeti siiski kõrvale, Jane Grey hukati ning 1558. aastal astus Elizabeth troonile katoliikliku [[Mary I]] järel, kelle valitsusajal oli ta ligi aasta vältel vangistatud, kahtlustatuna [[Protestantism|protestantlike]] mässajate toetamises.
Elizabeth asus valitsema heade nõuannete toel,<ref>"Ma tahan lasta kõiki oma tegusid suunata headel nõuannetel." Elizabethi esimene kõne kuningannana [[Hatfield House]]'is, 20. novembril 1558. Loades, 35</ref> ja ta sõltus suuresti oma nõunikest, keda juhtis [[William Cecil, 1. parun Burghley|William Cecil, parun Burghley]]. Üks tema esimesi tegusid kuningannana oli toetada Inglise protestantliku kiriku rajamist, mille [[Anglikaani kiriku pea|kirikupeaks]] ta sai. [[Elizabethi kirikukokkulepe]] püsis kogu tema valitsusaja ning sellest kujunes tänapäevane [[anglikaani kirik]]. Oodati, et Elizabeth abielluks, kuid vaatamata parlamendi korduvatele palvetele ning arvukatele kosimiskatsetele seda ei juhtunud. Selle põhjuste üle on palju vaieldud. Vanemaks kasvades sai Elizabeth oma neitsilikkuse poolest kuulsaks ning tema ümber kujunes kultus, mis leidis väljenduse tollases kunstis ja kirjanduses.
Valitsemises oli Elizabeth mõõdukam kui ta isa ja õed-vennad.<ref name=starkey5>Starkey, 5.</ref> Üks tema motosid oli "''video et taceo''" ("ma näen ega ütle midagi").<ref>Neale, 386.</ref> See strateegia, mida tema nõunikud kannatamatusega jälgisid, päästis ta mitmest halvast poliitilisest ja abielulisest liidust. Ehkki Elizabeth oli välispoliitikas ettevaatlik ning toetas vaid pooleldi rida ebaefektiivseid, halvasti varustatud sõjaretki Hollandisse, Prantsusmaale ja Iirimaale, sidus Hispaania [[Võitmatu Armaada]] purustamine [[1588]]. aastal tema nime igaveseks võiduga, mida sageli peetakse üheks suuremaks Inglismaa ajaloos. 20 valitsusaasta jooksul ülistati teda kui [[kuldajastu]] valitsejat ning see kujutelm püsib [[inglased|inglaste]] seas tänini.
Elizabethi valitsusaega nimetatakse [[Elizabethi ajastu]]ks. Eelkõige tuntakse seda [[Inglise renessanssteater|Inglise draama]] poolest, mille kuulsaimad esindajad on William Shakespeare ja [[Christopher Marlowe]], ning Inglise meresõitjate poolest, keda esindab näiteks [[Francis Drake]]. Mõned ajaloolased on oma hinnangutes siiski vaoshoitumad, kujutades Elizabethi äkilise<ref>[[Henri IV]] usuvahetuskriisi ajal 1593. aastal anus Prantsuse saadik [[William Cecil, 1. parun Burghley|Burghley't]]: "Kaitske mind oma tarkusega selle suure printsessi raevu eest; sest elava Jumala nimel, kui ma näen tema viha kellegi vastu, soovin ma, et oleksin Kalkuttas, peljates tema viha nagu surma ennast.". [[John Lothrop Motley]] "History of the United Netherlands", 1590-991590–99.</ref> ja mõnikord otsustusvõimetu valitsejana,<ref>Somerset, 729.</ref> kel oli rohkem õnne kui ta väärinuks. Valitsusaja lõpupoole kahandas rida majanduslikke ja sõjalisi probleeme tema populaarsust, kuni paljud ta alamad tundsid ta surmast kergendust. Elizabethi tunnustatakse karismaatilise esineja ning kangekaelse ellujääjana ajal, mil valitsus oli kokku varisemas ning naabermaade monarhid seisid silmitsi sisepoliitiliste probleemidega, mis seadsid ohtu nende troonid. Nii juhtus Elizabethi rivaali, Šotimaa kuninganna [[Mary, Šotimaa kuninganna|Maryga]], kelle ta lasi [[1568]]. aastal vangistada ning [[1587]]. aastal hukata. Pärast Elizabethi venna ja õe lühikesi valitsusaegu pakkus tema 44 aastat kestnud valitsus kuningriigile teretulnud stabiilsust ning aitas luua rahvuslikku identiteeti.<ref name=starkey5>Starkey, 5.</ref>
***
Elizabethi noorus oli kuningriigi elus väga kirev ja segane aeg. Kuningas Henry VIII-l ei õnnestunud kuidagi saada meessoost pärijat ning nõnda oli ta [[1533]]. aastal end lõplikult lahutanud nii abikaasast [[Aragóni Katariina]]st kui ka [[katoliiklus|katoliku usust]]. Ta abiellus protestandist Anne Boleyniga, kes oli juba temast rase ning sama aasta sügisel sündiski tütar, kes sai nimeks Elizabeth. Henry kohtles teda kui oma seaduslikku pärijat, ent seda vaid kuni [[1537]]. aastani, mil viimaks sündis tema ainus seaduslik poeg, Edward. Elizabeth saadeti [[London]]ist minema, kuid et ta oli protestant, siis ei saanud temale osaks poolõe Mary saatust, keda pidevalt taga kiusati ning sunniti oma tiitlitest loobuma. Siiski polnud Elizabethi elu turvaline ega igav, sest Edward oli sünnist peale küllaltki haiglane ning Elizabethi võis alati võimaliku troonipärijana arvestada. Enne oma surma määraski Henry ära pärimiskorra, mille kohaselt troon pidi esmalt minema Edwardile, tolle järglasteta surma korral Maryle, seejärel aga Elizabethile. Kui ka Elizabeth oleks järglasteta surnud, läinuks troon Henry õe järeltulijatele.
[[Pilt:El bieta I lat 13.jpg|thumbpisi|Elizabeth 13-aastasena]]
Henry VIII surma järel sai võimule alaealine Edward VI ning ka teismeeas Elizabeth kisti suurde poliitikasse. Regent [[Edward Seymour]]i vend [[Thomas Seymour|Thomas]] lootis nimelt Elizabethiga abielluda ning siis ta troonile upitada, saades nii tegelikult kuningaks. Seda ta avalikult siiski välja ei näidanud, propageerides pigem Edwardi ja [[Jane Grey]], samuti võimaliku troonipärija, abielu. Ent kui Thomas Seymour hukati, langes ka Elizabeth põlu alla ning saadeti taas Londonist minema. Hullemast päästis ta ilmselt see, et tema ja uue regendi [[John Dudley]] poeg [[Robert Dudley|Robert]] olid lapsepõlvesõbrad ning said omavahel kogu elu väga hästi läbi. Väga tihti, nii enne kui ka pärast troonile saamist, räägiti Elizabethi ja Robert Dudley võimalikust abielust, samuti peeti ja peetakse teda esimese armukeseks.
Kui Edward VI suri ning John Dudley mahhinatsioonide tulemusena sai võimule Jane Grey, hoidis Elizabeth end tagaplaanile, sest oli selge, et rahva enamuse toetus kuulus sel hetkel Maryle. Seda oskas ka viimane hinnata, kui ta mõned päevad hiljem kuningannaks sai, kutsudes Elizabethi tagasi õukonda ning nimetades ta troonipärijaks. Enne oma surma [[1558]]. aastal seadis Mary aga tingimuseks, et Elizabeth peab troonile saamiseks pöörduma katoliku usku.
15. jaanuaril [[1559]] krooniti ta [[Westminster Abbey]]s 25-aastasena Inglismaa ja Iirimaa kuningannaks. Troonile saanud, ei järginud Elizabeth aga Mary juhiseid ning püüdis esialgu kahe religioosse leeri vahel laveerida. Ka tema kroonimisel polnud võimalik aru saada, kas on tegu protestantliku või katoliikliku tseremooniaga. Hiljem kaldus Elizabeth selgemalt protestantismi poole, sest see oli ka tema ametlik usutunnistus ning enamik kõrgaadlit toetas seda religiooni. Samas ei nimetanud ta end kunagi otseselt kirikupeaks, vaid tagasihoidlikumalt kiriku kõrgemaks juhiks. Usuelu teoreetiline pool teda väga ei huvitanud, pigem oli talle tähtis, et alamad oleksid talle lojaalsed. Siiski hakati tema ajal üha tõusvas joones (eriti [[William Cecil]]i õhutusel) taga kiusama ja hukkama katoliiklasi, eriti pärast seda, kui Inglismaa ja Hispaania vahel oli tõusnud lepitamatu vaen. Suur osa katoliiklasi ei tunnustanudki Elizabethi seadusliku valitsejana ning toetas hoopis [[Šotimaa]] viimast katoliiklikku valitsejat [[Mary I Stuart|Mary Stuartit]], kes oli Henry VIII õetütar. Kui Mary Šotimaal aga kukutati, põgenes too Inglismaale ning sai Elizabethi kaitsealuseks. Et tema ümber arenesid aga pidevad intriigid, mis tipnesid Elizabethi mõrvamise ja Mary troonileupitamise plaaniga, otsustati too viimaks hukata. See leidis aset [[1587]]. aastal ning tõenäoliselt ei olnud selle otsuse taga Elizabeth, vaid tema lähikondlased, kes võisid kuningannat asjast esialgu isegi teadmatuses hoida.
Elizabeth ei abiellunud kunagi, kuna see oleks tema riigi võinud allutada abikaasa mõju alla. Elizabethi kätt palusid [[Rootsi]] kuningas [[Erik XIV]], [[Hispaania]] kuningas [[Felipe II]], kes oli olnud abielus tema õe Maryga, Prantsusmaa kuninga [[Henri II]] poeg [[Anjou hertsog]] [[François (Anjou hertsog)|François]] ja paljud teised, sealhulgas ka tema eluaegne sümpaatia Robert Dudley. Omaette küsimus on, kas Elizabeth jäi ka tegelikult neitsikuningannaks, sest tihti on oletatud, et vähemalt Robert Dudley võis ta armuke olla. Lapsi tal igal juhul ei sündinud.
==Varased eluaastad==
[[Pilt:Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.png|thumbpisi|Elizabeth oli [[Henry VIII]] ja [[Anne Boleyn]] ainus laps; tema ema ei andnud kuningale meessoost järglast ning hukati vähem kui kolm aastat pärast Elizabethi sündi.]]
Elizabeth sündis [[Placentia palee|Greenwichi palee]] Neitsite toas pühapäeval, 7. septembril 1533 kella kolme ja nelja vahel pärastlõunal ning sai nime oma vanaemade [[Yorki Elizabeth]]i ja [[Elizabeth Boleyn, Wiltshire'i krahvinna|Elizabeth Howard]]i järgi.<ref>Somerset, 4.</ref> Ta oli [[Henry VIII]] abielus sündinud lastest teine, kes elas täiskasvanueani; tema ema oli Henry teine naine [[Anne Boleyn]]. Sündides oli Elizabeth Inglismaa [[troonipärija]]. Tema vanem poolõde Mary oli kaotanud oma positsiooni seadusliku pärijana, kui Henry tühistas oma abielu Mary ema, [[Aragóni Katariina]]ga, et abielluda Anne'iga.<ref>Loades, 3–5</ref><ref>Somerset, 4–5.</ref> Kuningas Henry VIII oli meeleheitlikult seaduslikku poega lootnud, et tagada Tudorite suguvõsa troonipärilus. Raseduse ajal krooniti Anne [[Püha Edwardi kroon]]iga, erinevalt teistest kuningate naistest. Ajaloolane Alice Hunt on oletanud, et seda tehti, kuna Anne'i rasedus oli kroonimise hetkel nähtav ja ta kandis pärijat, kes arvati olevat meessoost.<ref>Hunt</ref> Elizabeth ristiti 10. septembril Greenwichi palees aset leidnud tseremoonial. Tema neli ristivanemat olid [[Thomas Cranmer|Peapiiskop Thomas Cranmer]], [[Henry Courtenay, 1. Exeteri markiis|Exeteri markiis]], [[Elizabeth Howard, Norfolki hertsoginna|Norfolki hertsoginna]] ja [[Margaret Wotton, Dorseti markiis|Dorseti leskmarkiis]]. Pärast Elizabethi sündi ei suutnud kuninganna Anne meesoost järeltulijat sünnitada. Ta elas üle vähemalt kaks nurisünnitust, ühe 1534. aastal ja teise 1536. aasta alguses. 2. mail 1536 ta arreteeriti ja vangistati. Pärast kiiret süüdimõistmist abielurikkumises, [[intsest]]is ja [[Nõidumine|nõidumises]] löödi tal 19. mail 1536 pea maha.<ref>Loades, 6–7.</ref><ref>Haigh, 1–3.</ref>
==Thomas Seymour==
[[Pilt:Embroidered bookbinding Elizabeth I.jpg|thumbpisi|left|upright|"[[The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul]]", Elizabethi tõlge prantsuse keelest, kingiti 1544. aastal [[Catherine Parr]]ile. Arvatakse, et köite, mida kaunistab [[monogramm]] "KP" ("Katherine Parr"), tegi Elizabeth.<ref>Davenport, 32.</ref>]]
Henry VIII suri 1547, kui Elizabeth oli 13-aastane. Trooni päris tema poolvend [[Edward VI]]. Henry viimane naine [[Catherine Parr]] abiellus peagi [[Thomas Seymour, 1. parun Seymour of Sudeley|Thomas Seymouriga]], kes oli Edward VI onu ning [[lordprotektor]] ([[regent]]) [[Edward Seymour, 1. Somerseti hertsog|Edward Seymour]]i vend. Paar võttis Elizabethi oma majapidamisse [[Chelsea]]s. Seal elas Elizabeth läbi emotsionaalse kriisi, mis mõne ajaloolase arvates mõjutas teda kogu ülejäänud elu.<ref name="Ls">Loades, 11.</ref> 40. eluaastale lähenev, kuid sarmikas ja "võimsa seksapiiliga"<ref name="Ls">Loades, 11.</ref> Seymour müras sageli 14-aastase Elizabethiga. Näiteks läks ta öösärgi väel Elizabethi magamistuppa, kõditas teda ja laksas tagumikule. Abikaasa keelamise asemel lõi Catherine Parr kampa.<ref>David Starkey, "Struggle for the Throne"</ref> Kaks korda aitas ta mehel Elizabethi kõditada ning ükskord hoidis teda kinni, kui mees tüdruku musta kleidi "tuhandeks tükiks" lõikas.<ref>Jane Resh Thomas "Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I"</ref> Ent kui Catherine Parr leidis need kaks kallistamas, lõpetas ta niisugused suhted järsult.<ref>Loades, 14.</ref><ref>"Kat Ashley ütles Elizabethi teisele teenrile Thomas Parryle, et kuninganna kaotas kannatuse oma abikaasa ja Elizabethi suhtes, kui ta "tabas nad järsku kahekesi, tüdruk mehe embuses"." Somerset, 23.</ref> 1548. aasta mais saadeti Elizabeth ära.<ref>Ta kolis Katherine Ashley õe Joani ja tolle abikaasa [[Anthony Denny|''sir'' Anthony Denny]] elamisse [[Cheshunt]]is. Loades, 16.</ref>
==Mary I valitsusaeg==
[[Pilt:Mary I of England.jpg|thumbpisi|[[Mary I]], autor [[Anthonis Mor]], 1554.]]
[[Edward VI]] suri 15-aastaselt 6. juulil 1553.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The British Monarchy -– Official Website |title=Edward VI | accessdate=23 April 2009 | url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheTudors/EdwardVI.aspx}}</ref> Tema testament tühistas [[1543. aasta troonipärilusseadus]]e (Succession to the Crown Act 1543), jättis nii Mary kui ka Elizabethi pärilusjärjekorrast kõrvale ning kuulutas nende asemel troonipärijaks leedi [[Jane Grey]], Henry VIII õe [[Mary Tudor (Prantsuse kuninganna)|Mary, Suffolki hertsoginna]] tütretütre.<ref>Loades, 24–25.</ref> [[Salanõukogu]] kuulutas leedi Jane'i kuningannaks, kuid tema toetus murenes kiiresti ja ta [[Kukutamine (poliitika)|kukutati]] üheksa päeva hiljem.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The British Monarchy -– Official Website |title=Lady Jane Grey | accessdate=23 April 2009 | url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheTudors/Jane.aspx}}</ref> Mary ratsutas triumfeerides Londonisse, Elizabeth tema kõrval.<ref>Elizabeth oli kogunud 2000 ratsameest, "mis oli tähelepanuväärne tõendus tema toetuse tugevusest". Loades 25.</ref>
Õdede avalik üksmeel ei kestnud kaua. Mary, maa esimene vaidlustamatult valitsev kuninganna<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The British Monarchy -– Official Website |title=Mary I | accessdate=23 April 2009 | url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheTudors/MaryI.aspx}}</ref> oli otsustanud purustada protestantluse, milles Elizabethi oli kasvatatud, ning ta nõudis, et igaüks käiks [[missa]]l. See käis ka Elizabethi kohta, kes pidi väliselt alluma.<ref>Loades, 26.</ref> Mary algne populaarsus haihtus, kui sai teatavaks, et ta kaavtses abielluda Hispaania kuninga [[Felipe II]], keiser [[Karl V]] pojaga.<ref>Loades, 27.</ref> Rahulolematus levis kiirelt üle kogu maa ning paljud pidasid Elizabethi keskmeks, mille ümber koondub vastuseis Mary usupoliitikale. 1554. aasta jaanuaris ja veebruaris puhkesid mitmel pool Inglismaal ja Walesis ülestõusud ([[Wyatti ülestõus]]), mida juhtis [[Thomas Wyatt noorem|Thomas Wyatt]].<ref>Neale, 45.</ref>
Ülestõusu lüüasaamise järel toodi Elizabeth kohtu ette küsitlusele. 18. märtsil suleti ta [[Londoni Tower]]isse, kus 12. veenruaril oli hukatud Jane Grey, hirmutamaks mässajaid.<ref>Somerset, 49.</ref> Hirmul Elizabeth protesteeris ägedalt ja kinnitas oma süütust.<ref>Loades, 28.</ref> Ehkki ta tõenäoliselt mässajatega ühiseid plaane ei teinud, on teada, et mõned neist kontakteerusid temaga. Mary lähim usaldusalune, Karl V saadik [[Simon Renard]] väitis, et kuni Elizabeth elab, ei ole Mary troon iialgi päris kindel. Ka kantsler [[Stephen Gardiner]] püüdis saata Elizabethi kohtu alla.<ref>Somerset, 51.</ref> Elizabeth toetajad valitsuses, kelle hulka kuulus [[William Paget, 1. parun Paget|lord Paget]], veensid Maryt õde säästma, kuna süüdimõistmiseks puudusid kindlad tõendid. Selle asemel viidi Elizabeth 22. mail Towerist [[Woodstock (Oxfordshire)|Woodstocki]], kus ta pidi veetma peaaegu terve aastakoduarestis ''sir'' [[Henry Bedingfield]]i valve all. Rahvas juubeldas kogu tee.<ref name=loades29>Loades, 29.</ref><ref>"Wycombe'i naised saatsid talle kooke ja küpsetisi, kuni tema kandetool muutus nii raskeks, et ta palus neil lõpetada." Neale, 49.</ref>
[[Pilt:Hatfield House Old Palace.jpg|thumbpisi|left|[[Hatfield House]]'i Vana palee säilinud tiib. Seal sai Elizabeth novembris 1558 teate oma õe surmast.]]
{{pooleli}}
<!-- SIITMAALT ON TÕLKIMATA
On 17 April 1555, Elizabeth was recalled to court to be closely attended during the final stages of Mary's apparent pregnancy. If Mary and her child died, Elizabeth would become queen. If, on the other hand, Mary gave birth to a healthy child, Elizabeth's chances of becoming queen would recede sharply.<ref name=loades29/> When it became clear that Mary was not pregnant, no one believed any longer that she could have a child.<ref>Loades, 32.</ref> Elizabeth's succession seemed assured.<ref>Somerset, 66.</ref> Even Philip, who became King of Spain in 1556, acknowledged the new political reality. From this time forward, he cultivated Elizabeth, preferring her to the likely alternative, [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], who had grown up in France and was betrothed to the [[Francis II of France|Dauphin of France]].<ref>Neale, 53.</ref> When his wife fell ill in 1558, Philip sent the Count of Feria to consult with Elizabeth.<ref>Loades, 33.</ref> This interview was conducted at Hatfield House, where she had returned to live in October 1555. By October 1558, Elizabeth was already making plans for her government. On 6 November, Mary recognised Elizabeth as her heir.<ref>Neale, 59.</ref><ref>Somerset, 71.</ref> Eleven days later, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne when Mary died at [[St. James's Palace]] on 17 November 1558.
==Trooniletõus==
Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25, and upon hearing of her accession to the throne, she is reputed to have quoted the 118th Psalm's twenty-third line, in Latin: "A Domino factum est illud, et est mirabile in oculis notris" – "It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." On 20 November 1558, Elizabeth declared her intentions to her Council and other peers who had come to Hatfield to swear allegiance. The speech contains the first record of her adoption of the mediaeval [[political theology]] of the sovereign's "two bodies": the body natural and the [[body politic]]:
[[Pilt:Elizabeth I in coronation robes.jpg|thumb| Elizabeth I kroonimisrõivais, mida katavad [[Tudorite roos]]id ja ääristavad [[hermeliin]]id.]]
<blockquote>My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me. And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all...to be assistant to me, that I with my ruling and you with your service may make a good account to Almighty God and leave some comfort to our posterity on earth. I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel.<ref>Full document reproduced by Loades, 36–37.</ref><ref>Kantorowicz, ix</ref></blockquote>
As her [[Royal entry|triumphal progress]] wound through the city on the eve of the [[coronation]] ceremony, she was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens and greeted by orations and pageants, most with a strong Protestant flavour. Elizabeth's open and gracious responses endeared her to the spectators, who were "wonderfully ravished".<ref>Somerset, 89–90. [http://special-1.bl.uk/treasures/festivalbooks/BookDetails.aspx?strFest=0231 The "Festival Book" account, from the British Library]</ref> The following day, 15 January 1559, Elizabeth was crowned at [[Westminster Abbey]] and anointed by the Catholic bishop of Carlisle. She was then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells.<ref>Neale, 70.</ref>
==Kirikukokkulepe==
{{Main|Elizabethan Religious Settlement}}
Elizabeth's personal religious convictions may never be definitely known. Her religious policy favoured pragmatism above all in dealing with three major concerns. The first concern was that of her legitimacy. Although she was technically illegitimate under both Protestant and Catholic law, her retroactively declared illegitimacy under the English church was not a serious bar compared to having never been legitimate as the Catholics claimed she was. Perhaps most importantly, the break with Rome made her legitimate in her own eyes. For this reason, it was never in serious doubt that Elizabeth would embrace at least nominal Protestantism.
Elizabeth and her advisors perceived the threat of a Catholic crusade against heretical England. Elizabeth therefore sought a Protestant solution that would not offend Catholics too greatly while addressing the desires of English Protestants; she would not tolerate the more radical [[Puritan]]s though, who were pushing for far-reaching reforms.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[This Sceptred Isle]] 1547-1660|chapter=Disc 1|isbn=0-563-55769-9|last1=Lee|first1=Christopher|authorlink1=Christopher Lee (historian)|date=1995, 1998}}</ref> As a result, the parliament of 1559 started to legislate for a church based on the [[Edward VI of England#Reformation|Protestant settlement of Edward VI]], with the monarch as its head, but with many Catholic elements, such as priestly vestments.<ref>Loades, 46.</ref>
The [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] backed the proposals strongly, but the bill of supremacy met opposition in the [[House of Lords]], particularly from the bishops. Elizabeth was fortunate that many bishoprics were vacant at the time, including the [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishopric of Canterbury]].<ref>"It was fortunate that ten out of twenty-six bishoprics were vacant, for of late there had been a high rate of mortality among the episcopate, and a fever had conveniently carried off Mary's Archbishop of Canterbury, [[Reginald Pole]], less than twenty-four hours after her own death". Somerset, 98.</ref><ref>"There were no less than ten sees unrepresented through death or illness and the carelessness of 'the accursed cardinal' [Pole]". Black, 10.</ref> This enabled supporters amongst peers to outvote the bishops and conservative peers. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was forced to accept the title of [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England]] rather than the more contentious title of [[Supreme Head]], which many thought unacceptable for a woman to bear. The new [[Act of Supremacy 1559|Act of Supremacy]] became law on 8 May 1559. All public officials were to swear an oath of loyalty to the monarch as the supreme governor or risk disqualification from office; the [[heresy]] laws were repealed, to avoid a repeat of the persecution of dissenters practised by Mary. At the same time, a new [[Act of Uniformity 1559|Act of Uniformity]] was passed, which made attendance at church and the use of an adapted version of the 1552 [[Book of Common Prayer]] compulsory, though the penalties for [[recusancy]], or failure to attend and conform, were not extreme.<ref>Somerset, 101–103.</ref>
==Abieluküsimus==
[[File:Elizabeth and Leicester miniatures by Hilliard.png|thumb|Elizabeth and her [[favourite]], [[Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester]], c. 1575. Pair of stamp-sized [[Portrait miniature|miniatures]] by [[Nicholas Hilliard]].<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/6582953/Stamp-sized-Elizabeth-I-miniatures-to-fetch-80000.html "Stamp-sized Elizabeth I miniatures to fetch ₤80.000", ''Daily Telegraph'', 17 November 2009] Retrieved 16 May 2010</ref> The Queen's friendship with Dudley lasted for over thirty years, until his death.]]
From the start of Elizabeth's reign, it was expected that she would marry and the question arose whom. She never did, although she received many offers for her hand; the reasons for this are not clear. Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual relationships, or that she knew herself to be [[infertile]].<ref>Loades, 38.</ref><ref>Haigh, 19.</ref> She considered several suitors until she was about fifty. Her last courtship was with [[François, Duke of Anjou]], 22 years her junior. While risking possible losing of power like her sister, who played into the hands of King Phillip II of Spain, marriage offered the chance of an heir.<ref>Loades, 39.</ref>
===Lord Robert Dudley===
In the spring of 1559 it became evident that Elizabeth was in love with her childhood friend [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Lord Robert Dudley]].<ref>Loades, 42; Wilson, 95</ref> It was said that [[Amy Robsart]], his wife, was suffering from a "malady in one of her breasts", and that the Queen would like to marry Lord Robert in case his wife should die.<ref>Wilson, 95</ref> By the autumn of 1559 several foreign suitors were vying for Elizabeth's hand; their impatient envoys engaged in ever more scandalous talk and reported that a marriage with her [[favourite]] was not welcome in England:<ref>Skidmore, 162, 165, 166–168</ref> "There is not a man who does not cry out on him and her with indignation ... she will marry none but the favoured Robert".<ref>Chamberlin, 118</ref> Amy Dudley died in September 1560 from a fall from a flight of stairs and, despite the [[inquest|coroner's inquest]] finding of accident, many people suspected Dudley to have arranged her death so that he could marry the queen.<ref>Somerset, 166–167. Most modern historians have considered murder unlikely; breast cancer and suicide being the most widely accepted explanations (Doran ''Monarchy'', 44). The [[coroner]]'s report, hitherto believed lost, came to light in [[The National Archives]] in the late 2000s and is compatible with a downstairs fall as well as other violence (Skidmore, 230–233).</ref> Elizabeth seriously considered marrying Dudley for some time. However, William Cecil, [[Nicholas Throckmorton]], and some conservative [[Peerage of England|peers]] made their disapproval unmistakably clear.<ref>Wilson, 126–128</ref> There were even rumours that the nobility would rise if the marriage took place.<ref>Doran ''Monarchy'', 45</ref>
Despite several other marriage projects, Robert Dudley was regarded as a candidate for nearly another decade.<ref>Doran ''Monarchy'', 212.</ref> Elizabeth was extremely jealous of his affections, even when she no longer meant to marry him herself.<ref>Adams, 384, 146.</ref> In 1564 Elizabeth created Dudley [[Earl of Leicester]]. He finally remarried in 1578, to which the queen reacted with repeated scenes of displeasure and lifelong hatred towards [[Lettice Knollys|his wife]].<ref>Jenkins, 245, 247; Hammer, 46.</ref> Still, Dudley always "remained at the centre of [Elizabeth's] emotional life", as historian [[Susan Doran]] has described the situation.<ref>Doran ''Queen Elizabeth I'', 61.</ref> He died shortly after the [[Spanish Armada|Armada]], and after Elizabeth's own death, a note from him was found among her most personal belongings, marked "his last letter" in her handwriting.<ref>Wilson, 303.</ref>
===Poliitilised aspektid===
[[Pilt:Nicholas Hilliard 002.jpg|thumb|upright|[[François, Duke of Anjou]], by [[Nicholas Hilliard]]. Elizabeth called the duke her "frog", finding him "not so deformed" as she had been led to expect.<ref>Frieda, 397.</ref>]]
Elizabeth kept the marriage question open but often only as a diplomatic ploy,<ref name="H17">Haigh, 17.</ref> treating it as an aspect of foreign policy.<ref>Loades, 51.</ref> Though she turned down [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II's]] own offer in 1559, she negotiated for several years to marry his cousin [[Charles II of Austria|Archduke Charles of Austria]]. Relations with the Habsburgs deteriorated by 1568. Elizabeth then considered marriage to two French [[House of Valois|Valois]] princes in turn, first [[Henry III of France|Henri, Duke of Anjou]], and later, from 1572 to 1581, his brother [[François, Duke of Anjou]], formerly Duke of Alençon.<ref>Loades, 53–54.</ref> This last proposal was tied to a planned alliance against Spanish control of the [[Southern Netherlands]].<ref>Loades, 54.</ref> Elizabeth seems to have taken the courtship seriously for a time, and wore a frog-shaped earring that Anjou had sent her.<ref>Somerset, 408.</ref>
Parliament repeatedly petitioned her to marry, but she always answered evasively.<ref>Loades, 40.</ref> In 1563, she told an imperial envoy: "If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married".<ref name="H17">Haigh, 17.</ref> In the same year, following Elizabeth's illness with [[smallpox]], the succession question became a heated issue. Parliament urged the queen to marry or nominate an heir, to prevent a [[civil war]] upon her death. She refused to do either. In April, she [[legislative session#Procedure in Commonwealth realms|prorogued]] the Parliament, which did not reconvene until she needed its support to raise taxes in 1566. The [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] threatened to withhold funds until she agreed to provide for the succession. The issue progressed and the House sent [[Sir Robert Bell]], who 'did argue very boldly' to pursue the succession question; "in the face of the Queen's command to leave it alone". "In her own words 'Mr Bell with his complices... must needs prefer their speeches to the upper house to have you, my lords, consent with them, whereby you were seduced, and of simplicity did assent unto it'."<ref>Hasler, 421–424.</ref> Later in that year, she confided to the Spanish ambassador that if she could find a way to settle the succession without marrying, she would do so. By 1570, senior figures in the government privately accepted that Elizabeth would never marry or name a successor. William Cecil was already seeking solutions to the succession problem.<ref name="H17">Haigh, 17.</ref> For this stance, as for her failure to marry, she was often accused of irresponsibility.<ref>Haigh, 20–21.</ref> Elizabeth's silence strengthened her own political security: she knew that if she named an heir, her throne would be vulnerable to a coup.<ref>When in 1566 a parliamentary commission urged Elizabeth to name an heir, she referred to the way "a second person, as I have been" had been used as the focus of plots against her sister, Queen Mary. Haigh, 22–23.</ref>
[[Pilt:Elizabeth I Steven Van Der Meulen.jpg|thumb|left|The "Hampden" portrait, by [[Steven van der Meulen]], ca. 1563. This is the earliest full-length portrait of the queen, made before the emergence of symbolic portraits representing the iconography of the "Virgin Queen".<ref name="Portrait auction">{{cite web|url=http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/Historic-painting-is-sold-for.3532557.jp |title=Historic painting is sold for £2.6 million |publisher=bucksherald.co.uk |author=Anna Dowdeswell |date=28 November 2007 |accessdate=17 December 2008.}}</ref>]]
Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of [[virginity]]. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin or a goddess or both, not as a normal woman.<ref name = "Hh">Haigh, 23.</ref> At first, only Elizabeth made a virtue of her virginity: in 1559, she told the Commons, "And, in the end, this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin".<ref name = "Hh">Haigh, 23.</ref> Later on, particularly after 1578, poets and writers took up the theme and turned it into an [[iconography]] that exalted Elizabeth. In an age of [[metaphors]] and [[conceit]]s, she was portrayed as married to her kingdom and subjects, under divine protection. In 1599, Elizabeth spoke of "all my husbands, my good people".<ref>Haigh, 24.</ref>
==Mary, Šotimaa kuninganna==
Elizabeth's first policy toward [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] was to oppose the French presence there.<ref>Haigh, 131.</ref> She feared that the French planned to invade England and put [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], who was considered by many to be the heir to the English crown,<ref>Mary's position as heir derived from her great-grandfather [[Henry VII of England]], through his daughter [[Margaret Tudor]]. In her own words, "I am the nearest kinswoman she hath, being both of us of one house and stock, the Queen my good sister coming of the brother, and I of the sister". Guy, 115.</ref> on the throne.<ref>On Elizabeth's accession, Mary's [[Counts and Dukes of Guise|Guise]] relatives had pronounced her Queen of England and had the English arms emblazoned with those of Scotland and France on her plate and furniture. Guy, 96–97.</ref> Elizabeth was persuaded to send a force into Scotland to aid the Protestant rebels, and though the campaign was inept, the resulting [[Treaty of Edinburgh]] of July 1560 removed the French threat in the north.<ref>By the terms of the treaty, both British and French troops withdrew from Scotland. Haigh, 132.</ref> When Mary returned to Scotland in 1561 to take up the reins of power, the country had an established Protestant church and was run by a council of Protestant nobles supported by Elizabeth.<ref>Loades, 67.</ref> Mary refused to ratify the treaty.<ref name=loades>Loades, 68.</ref>
In 1563 Elizabeth proposed her own suitor, Robert Dudley, as a husband for Mary, without asking either of the two people concerned. Both proved unenthusiastic,<ref>Simon Adams: [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8160 "Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588)"] ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' online edn. May 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 3 April 2010</ref> and in 1565 Mary married [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]], who carried his own claim to the English throne. The marriage was the first of a series of errors of judgement by Mary that handed the victory to the Scottish Protestants and to Elizabeth. Darnley quickly became unpopular in Scotland and then infamous for presiding over the murder of Mary's Italian secretary [[David Rizzio]]. In February 1567, Darnley was murdered by conspirators almost certainly led by [[James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell]]. Shortly afterwards, on 15 May 1567, Mary married Bothwell, arousing suspicions that she had been party to the murder of her husband. Elizabeth wrote to her:
<blockquote>How could a worse choice be made for your honour than in such haste to marry such a subject, who besides other and notorious lacks, public fame has charged with the murder of your late husband, besides the touching of yourself also in some part, though we trust in that behalf falsely.<ref>Letter to Mary, Queen of Scots, 23 June 1567." Quoted by Loades, 69–70.</ref></blockquote>
These events led rapidly to Mary's defeat and imprisonment in [[Loch Leven Castle]]. The Scottish lords forced her to abdicate in favour of her son [[James I of England|James]], who had been born in June 1566. James was taken to [[Stirling Castle]] to be raised as a Protestant. Mary escaped from [[Loch Leven]] in 1568 but after another defeat fled across the border into England, where she had once been assured of support from Elizabeth. Elizabeth's first instinct was to restore her fellow monarch; but she and her council instead chose to play safe. Rather than risk returning Mary to Scotland with an English army or sending her to France and the Catholic enemies of England, they detained her in England, where she was imprisoned for the next nineteen years.<ref>Loades, 72–73.</ref>
===Mary ja katoliiklik vastuhakk===
[[File:Sir Francis Walsingham by John De Critz the Elder.jpg|thumb| [[Sir Francis Walsingham]], [[Secretary of State (England)|Principal Secretary]] 1573–1590. Being Elizabeth's [[spymaster]], he uncovered several plots against her life.]]
Mary was soon the focus for rebellion. In 1569 there was a major Catholic [[Rising of the North|rising in the North]]; the goal was to free Mary, marry her to [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk|Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk]], and put her on the English throne.<ref>Loades, 73</ref> After the rebels' defeat, over 750 of them were executed on Elizabeth's orders.<ref>Williams ''Norfolk'', p. 174</ref> In the belief that the revolt had been successful, [[Pope Pius V]] issued a [[papal bull|bull]] in 1570, titled ''[[Regnans in Excelsis]]'', which declared "Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime" to be a [[Heresy|heretic]] and released all her subjects from any allegiance to her.<ref name="McGrath, 69">McGrath, 69</ref><ref name="Collinson p. 67"/> Catholics who obeyed her orders were threatened with [[excommunication]].<ref name="McGrath, 69"/> The papal bull provoked legislative initiatives against Catholics by Parliament, which were however mitigated by Elizabeth's intervention.<ref>Collinson pp. 67–68</ref> In 1581, to convert English subjects to Catholicism with "the intent" to withdraw them from their allegiance to Elizabeth was made a [[High treason|treasonable offence]], carrying the death penalty.<ref>Collinson p. 68</ref> From the 1570s [[missionary|missionary priests]] from continental [[seminaries]] came to England secretly in the cause of the "reconversion of England".<ref name="Collinson p. 67"/> Many suffered execution, engendering a cult of [[martyrdom]].<ref name="Collinson p. 67">Collinson p. 67</ref>
''Regnans in Excelsis'' gave English Catholics a strong incentive to look to Mary Stuart as the true sovereign of England. Mary may not have been told of every Catholic plot to put her on the English throne, but from the [[Ridolfi Plot]] of 1571 (which caused Mary's suitor, the Duke of Norfolk, to lose his head) to the [[Babington Plot]] of 1586, Elizabeth's spymaster Sir [[Francis Walsingham]] and the royal council keenly assembled a case against her.<ref>Loades, 73.</ref> At first, Elizabeth resisted calls for Mary's death. By late 1586 she had been persuaded to sanction her trial and execution on the evidence of letters written during the Babington Plot.<ref>Guy, 483–484.</ref> Elizabeth's proclamation of the sentence announced that "the said Mary, pretending title to the same Crown, had compassed and imagined within the same realm divers things tending to the hurt, death and destruction of our royal person."<ref>Loades, 78–79.</ref> On 8 February 1587, Mary was beheaded at [[Fotheringhay Castle]], Northamptonshire.<ref>Guy, 1–11.</ref>
==Sõjad ja merekaubandus==
Elizabeth's foreign policy was largely defensive. The exception was the English occupation of [[Le Havre]] from October 1562 to June 1563, which ended in failure when Elizabeth's [[Huguenot]] allies joined with the Catholics to retake the port. Elizabeth's intention had been to exchange Le Havre for [[Calais]], lost to France in January 1558.<ref>Frieda, 191.</ref> Only through the activities of her fleets did Elizabeth pursue an aggressive policy. This paid off in the war against Spain, 80% of which was fought at sea.<ref name=loades61>Loades, 61.</ref> She knighted [[Francis Drake]] after his [[circumnavigation]] of the globe from 1577 to 1580, and he won fame for his raids on Spanish ports and fleets. An element of [[piracy]] and self-enrichment drove Elizabethan seafarers, over which the queen had little control.<ref>Flynn and Spence, 126–128.</ref><ref>Somerset, 607–611.</ref>
===Madalmaade ekspeditsioon===
After the occupation and loss of [[Le Havre]] in 1562–1563, Elizabeth avoided military expeditions on the continent until 1585, when she sent an English army to aid the Protestant [[Dutch Revolt|Dutch rebels]] against Philip II.<ref name=haigh135>Haigh, 135.</ref> This followed the deaths in 1584 of the allies [[William the Silent]], Prince of Orange, and [[François, Duke of Anjou]], and the surrender of a series of Dutch towns to [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]], Philip's governor of the [[Southern Netherlands|Spanish Netherlands]]. In December 1584, an alliance between Philip II and the French [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] at [[Treaty of Joinville|Joinville]] undermined the ability of Anjou's brother, [[Henry III of France]], to counter [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] domination of the Netherlands. It also extended Spanish influence along the [[English Channel|channel]] coast of France, where the Catholic League was strong, and exposed England to invasion.<ref name=haigh135/> The siege of [[Antwerp]] in the summer of 1585 by the Duke of Parma necessitated some reaction on the part of the English and the Dutch. The outcome was the [[Treaty of Nonsuch]] of August 1585, in which Elizabeth promised military support to the Dutch.<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 20–26</ref> The treaty marked the beginning of the [[Anglo–Spanish War (1585)|Anglo-Spanish War]], which lasted until the [[Treaty of London (1604)|Treaty of London]] in 1604.
The expedition was led by her former suitor, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth from the start did not really back this course of action. Her strategy, to support the Dutch on the surface with an English army, while beginning secret peace talks with Spain within days of Leicester's arrival in Holland,<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 43</ref> had necessarily to be at odds with Leicester's, who wanted and was expected by the Dutch to fight an active campaign. Elizabeth on the other hand, wanted him "to avoid at all costs any decisive action with the enemy".<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 72</ref> He enraged Elizabeth by accepting the post of Governor-General from the Dutch [[States-General of the Netherlands|States-General]]. Elizabeth saw this as a Dutch ploy to force her to accept sovereignty over the Netherlands,<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 50</ref> which so far she had always declined. She wrote to Leicester:
<blockquote>We could never have imagined (had we not seen it fall out in experience) that a man raised up by ourself and extraordinarily favoured by us, above any other subject of this land, would have in so contemptible a sort broken our commandment in a cause that so greatly touches us in honour....And therefore our express pleasure and commandment is that, all delays and excuses laid apart, you do presently upon the duty of your allegiance obey and fulfill whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. Whereof fail you not, as you will answer the contrary at your utmost peril.<ref>Letter to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 10 February 1586, delivered by Sir [[Thomas Heneage]]. Loades, 94.</ref></blockquote>
Elizabeth's "commandment" was that her emissary read out her letters of disapproval publicly before the Dutch Council of State, Leicester having to stand nearby.<ref>Chamberlin, 263–264</ref> This public humiliation of her "Lieutenant-General" combined with her continued talks for a separate peace with Spain,<ref>Elizabeth's ambassador in France was actively misleading her as to the true intentions of the Spanish king, who only tried to buy time for his great assault upon England: Parker, 193.</ref> irreversibly undermined his standing among the Dutch. The military campaign was severely hampered by Elizabeth's repeated refusals to send promised funds for her starving soldiers. Her unwillingness to commit herself to the cause, Leicester's own shortcomings as a political and military leader and the faction-ridden and chaotic situation of Dutch politics were reasons for the campaign's failure.<ref>Haynes, 15; Strong and van Dorsten, 72–79</ref> Leicester finally resigned his command in December 1587.
===Võitmatu Armaada===
Meanwhile, Sir [[Francis Drake]] had undertaken a major voyage against Spanish ports and ships to the [[Caribbean]] in 1585 and 1586, and in 1587 had made a [[Singeing the King of Spain's Beard|successful raid]] on [[Cadiz]], destroying the Spanish fleet of war ships intended for the ''Enterprise of England'':<ref>Parker, 193–194</ref> Philip II had decided to take the war to England at last.<ref name=haigh138>Haigh, 138.</ref>
[[Pilt:Elizabeth I (Armada Portrait).jpg|thumb|300px|Portrait of Elizabeth to commemorate the defeat of the [[Spanish Armada]] (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's hand rests on the globe, symbolising her international power.]]
On 12 July 1588, the [[Spanish Armada]], a great fleet of ships, set sail for the channel, planning to ferry a Spanish invasion force under the Duke of Parma to the coast of southeast England from the Netherlands. A combination of miscalculation,<ref>When the Spanish naval commander, the [[Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia|Duke of Medina Sidonia]], reached the coast near Calais, he found the Duke of Parma's troops unready and was forced to wait, giving the English the opportunity to launch their attack. Loades, 64.</ref> misfortune, and an attack of English [[fire ships]] on 29 July off [[Gravelines]] which dispersed the [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish]] ships to the northeast defeated the Armada.<ref>Black, 349.</ref> The Armada straggled home to Spain in shattered remnants, after disastrous losses on the coast of Ireland (after some ships had tried to struggle back to Spain via [[North Sea|the North Sea]], and then back south past the west coast of Ireland).<ref name=neale300>Neale, 300.</ref> Unaware of the Armada's fate, English militias mustered to defend the country under the Earl of Leicester's command. He invited Elizabeth to inspect her troops at [[Tilbury]] in [[Essex]] on 8 August. Wearing a silver breastplate over a white velvet dress, she addressed them in [[Speech to the Troops at Tilbury|one of her most famous speeches]]:<ref>Though most historians accept that Elizabeth gave such a speech, its authenticity has been questioned, since it was not published until 1654. Doran ''Suitors'', 235–236.</ref>
<blockquote>My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourself to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people....I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm.<ref>Somerset, 591; Neale, 297–98.</ref></blockquote>
When no invasion came, the nation rejoiced. Elizabeth's procession to a thanksgiving service at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] rivalled that of her coronation as a spectacle.<ref name=neale300/> The defeat of the armada was a potent propaganda victory, both for Elizabeth and for Protestant England. The English took their delivery as a symbol of God's favour and of the nation's inviolability under a virgin queen.<ref name=loades61/> However, the victory was not a turning point in the war, which continued and often favoured Spain.<ref name = "xucglh">Black, 353.</ref> The Spanish still controlled the Netherlands, and the threat of invasion remained.<ref name=haigh138/> Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] claimed after her death that Elizabeth's caution had impeded the war against Spain:
<blockquote>If the late queen would have believed her men of war as she did her scribes, we had in her time beaten that great empire in pieces and made their kings of figs and oranges as in old times. But her Majesty did all by halves, and by petty invasions taught the Spaniard how to defend himself, and to see his own weakness.<ref>Haigh, 145.</ref></blockquote>
Though some historians have criticised Elizabeth on similar grounds,<ref>For example, C. H. Wilson castigates Elizabeth for half-heartedness in the war against Spain. Haigh, 183.</ref> Raleigh's verdict has more often been judged unfair. Elizabeth had good reason not to place too much trust in her commanders, who once in action tended, as she put it herself, "to be transported with an haviour of vainglory".<ref>Somerset, 655.</ref>
===Toetus Henry IV-le===
[[File:Coat of Arms of England (1558-1603).svg|thumb|upright|[[Coat of arms]] of Queen Elizabeth I, with her personal motto: ''"[[Semper eadem]]"'' or "always the same"]]
When the Protestant [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] inherited the French throne in 1589, Elizabeth sent him military support. It was her first venture into France since the retreat from Le Havre in 1563. Henry's succession was strongly contested by the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] and by Philip II, and Elizabeth feared a Spanish takeover of the channel ports. The subsequent English campaigns in France, however, were disorganised and ineffective.<ref name=haigh142>Haigh, 142.</ref> [[Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby|Lord Willoughby]], largely ignoring Elizabeth's orders, roamed northern France to little effect, with an army of 4,000 men. He withdrew in disarray in December 1589, having lost half his troops. In 1591, the campaign of [[John Norreys]], who led 3,000 men to [[Brittany]], was even more of a disaster. As for all such expeditions, Elizabeth was unwilling to invest in the supplies and reinforcements requested by the commanders. Norreys left for London to plead in person for more support. In his absence, a Catholic League army almost destroyed the remains of his army at Craon, north-west France, in May 1591. In July, Elizabeth sent out another force under [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex]], to help Henry IV in besieging [[Rouen]]. The result was just as dismal. Essex accomplished nothing and returned home in January 1592. Henry abandoned the siege in April.<ref>Haigh, 143.</ref> As usual, Elizabeth lacked control over her commanders once they were abroad. "Where he is, or what he doth, or what he is to do," she wrote of Essex, "we are ignorant".<ref>Haigh, 143–144.</ref>
===Iirimaa===
{{Main|Iirimaa vallutamine Tudorite ajal}}
Although Ireland was one of her two kingdoms, Elizabeth faced a hostile—and in places virtually autonomous<ref>One observer wrote that [[Ulster]], for example, was "as unknown to the English here as the most inland part of Virginia". Somerset, 667.</ref>—Irish population that adhered to Catholicism and was willing to defy her authority and plot with her enemies. Her policy there was to grant land to her courtiers and prevent the rebels from giving Spain a base from which to attack England.<ref>Loades, 55</ref> In the course of a series of uprisings, Crown forces pursued [[scorched earth|scorched-earth]] tactics, burning the land and slaughtering man, woman and child. During a revolt in [[Munster]] led by [[Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond|Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond]], in 1582, an estimated 30,000 Irish people starved to death. The poet and colonist [[Edmund Spenser]] wrote that the victims "were brought to such wretchedness as that any stony heart would have rued the same".<ref>Somerset, 668.</ref> Elizabeth advised her commanders that the Irish, "that rude and barbarous nation", be well treated; but she showed no remorse when force and bloodshed were deemed necessary.<ref>Somerset, 668–669.</ref>
Between 1594 and 1603, Elizabeth faced her most severe test in Ireland during the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|Nine Years War]], a revolt that took place at the height of hostilities with [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|Spain]], who backed the rebel leader, [[Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone|Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone]].<ref>Loades, 98.</ref> In spring 1599, Elizabeth sent [[Essex in Ireland|Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex]], to put the revolt down. To her frustration,<ref>In a letter of 19 July 1599 to Essex, Elizabeth wrote: "For what can be more true (if things be rightly examined) than that your two month's journey has brought in never a capital rebel against whom it had been worthy to have adventured one thousand men". Loades, 98.</ref> he made little progress and returned to England in defiance of her orders. He was replaced by [[Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire|Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy]], who took three years to defeat the rebels. O'Neill finally surrendered in 1603, a few days after Elizabeth's death.<ref>Loades, 98–99.</ref> Soon after a peace treaty was signed between England and Spain.
===Venemaa===
[[File:Ivan the Terrible and Harsey.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Ivan the Terrible]] shows his treasures to Elizabeth's ambassador. Painting by [[Alexander Litovchenko]], 1875]]
Elizabeth continued to maintain the diplomatic relations with the [[Tsardom of Russia]] originally established by her deceased brother. She often wrote to its then ruler, Tsar [[Ivan IV]], on amicable terms, though the Tsar was often annoyed by her focus on commerce rather than on the possibility of a military alliance. The Tsar even proposed to her once, and during his later reign, asked for a guarantee to be granted asylum in England should his rule be jeopardised.
Upon Ivan's death, he was succeeded by his simple-minded son [[Feodor I of Russia|Feodor]]. Unlike his father, Feodor had no enthusiasm in maintaining exclusive trading rights with England. Feodor declared his kingdom open to all foreigners, and dismissed the English ambassador [[Sir Jerome Bowes]], whose pomposity had been tolerated by the new Tsar's late father. Elizabeth sent a new ambassador, Dr. Giles Fletcher, to demand from the regent [[Boris Godunov]] that he convince the Tsar to reconsider. The negotiations failed, due to Fletcher addressing Feodor with two of his titles omitted. Elizabeth continued to appeal to Feodor in half appealing, half reproachful letters. She proposed an alliance, something which she had refused to do when offered one by Feodor's father, but was turned down.<ref>''Russia and Britain'' by Crankshaw, Edward, published by Collins, 126 p. ''The Nations and Britain'' series</ref>
===Berbeeria, Osmanite impeerium, Jaapan===
[[Pilt:MoorishAmbassador to Elizabeth I.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud]], [[Moors|Moor]]ish ambassador of the [[Barbary States]] to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I in 1600.<ref name="tate.org.uk">[[Tate Gallery]] exhibition "East-West: Objects between cultures", [http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/eastwest/rooms/room1.htm Tate.org.uk]</ref>]]
Trade and diplomatic relations developed between England and the [[Barbary states]] during the rule of Elizabeth.<ref>Vaughan, ''Performing Blackness on English Stages, 1500-1800'' Cambridge University Press 2005 p.57 [http://books.google.com/books?id=19_SIlq3ZvsC&pg=PA57 Google Books]</ref><ref>Nicoll, ''Shakespeare Survey. The Last Plays'' Cambridge University Press 2002, p.90 [http://books.google.com/books?id=OeakAOji13EC&pg=PA90 Google Books]</ref> England established a trading relationship with [[Morocco]] in opposition to Spain, selling armour, ammunition, timber, and metal in exchange for Moroccan sugar, in spite of a [[Pope|Papal]] ban.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=S6Z9J0OJmmQC&pg=PA24 |title=''Speaking of the Moor'', Emily C. Bartels p.24 |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2 May 2010}}</ref> In 1600, [[Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud]], the principal secretary to the Moroccan ruler [[Ahmad al-Mansur|Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur]], visited England as an ambassador to the court of queen Elizabeth I,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=19_SIlq3ZvsC&pg=PA57 |title=Vaughan, p.57 |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2 May 2010}}</ref><ref>[[University of Birmingham]] Collections [http://mimsy.bham.ac.uk/detail.php?t=objects&type=related&kv=101212 Mimsy.bham.ac.uk]</ref> in order to negotiate an [[Anglo-Moroccan alliance]] against Spain.<ref name="tate.org.uk"/><ref>Vaughan, p.57</ref> Elizabeth "agreed to sell munitions supplies to Morocco, and she and Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur talked on and off about mounting a joint operation against the Spanish".<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9VmYYEfyToQC&pg=PA39 |title=''The Jamestown project'' by Karen Ordahl Kupperman |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2 May 2010}}</ref> Discussions however remained inconclusive, and both rulers died within two years of the embassy.<ref>Nicoll, p.96</ref>
Diplomatic relations were also established with the [[Ottoman Empire]] with the chartering of the [[Levant Company]] and the dispatch of the first English ambassador to the [[Ottoman Porte|Porte]], [[William Harborne]], in 1578.<ref name="books.google.com"/> For the first time, a Treaty of Commerce was signed in 1580.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MziRd4ddZz4C&pg=PA353 |title=The Encyclopedia of world history by Peter N. Stearns, p.353 |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2 May 2010}}</ref> Numerous envoys were dispatched in both directions and epistolar exchanges occurred between Elizabeth and Sultan [[Murad III]].<ref>Kupperman, p.39</ref> In one correspondence, Murad entertained the notion that [[Islam and Protestantism]] had "much more in common than either did with [[Roman Catholicism]], as both rejected the worship of idols", and argued for an alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Kupperman, p.40</ref> To the dismay of Catholic Europe, England exported tin and lead (for cannon-casting) and ammunitions to the Ottoman Empire, and Elizabeth seriously discussed joint military operations with Murad III during the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585, as Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy.<ref>Kupperman, p.41</ref> [[Anglo-Turkish piracy]] also started to thrive during that time.<ref>"The study of Anglo-Turkish piracy in the Mediterranean reveals a fusion of commercial and foreign policy interests embodied in the development of this special relationship" in ''New interpretations in naval history'' by Robert William Love p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=rZ1mAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Anglo-Turkish+piracy%22 Google Books]</ref><ref name="McCabe">"At the beginning of the seventeenth century France complained about a new phenomenon: Anglo-Turkish piracy." in ''Orientalism in early modern France'' by Ina Baghdiantz McCabe p.86''ff''</ref><ref>''Anglo-Turkish piracy in the reign of James I'' by Grace Maple Davis, Stanford University. Dept. of History, 1911 [http://books.google.com/books?id=sPPNHAAACAAJ Google Books]</ref>
The first Englishman to reach Japan, [[William Adams (sailor)|William Adams]], was a former employee of the [[Barbary Company]], which had been established in 1585. He set foot in Japan in August 1600, as a pilot for the [[Dutch East India Company]]. He would play a key role as a counselor to the Japanese [[Shogun]], and helped establish the first diplomatic contacts and commercial treaties between England and Japan.
==Hilisemad aastad==
[[File:Elizabeth I. Procession portrait (detail).jpg|thumb|Elizabeth I being carried in a procession, c. 1600]]
The period after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 brought new difficulties for Elizabeth that lasted the fifteen years until the end of her reign.<ref name = "xucglh"/> The conflicts with Spain and in Ireland dragged on, the tax burden grew heavier, and the economy was hit by poor harvests and the cost of war. Prices rose and the standard of living fell.<ref name=haigh>Haigh, 155.</ref><ref>Black, 355–356.</ref> During this time, repression of Catholics intensified, and Elizabeth authorised commissions in 1591 to interrogate and monitor Catholic householders.<ref>Black, 355.</ref> To maintain the illusion of peace and prosperity, she increasingly relied on internal spies and propaganda.<ref name=haigh/> In her last years, mounting criticism reflected a decline in the public's affection for her.<ref>This criticism of Elizabeth was noted by Elizabeth's early biographers [[William Camden]] and John Clapham. For a detailed account of such criticisms and of Elizabeth's "government by illusion", see chapter 8, "The Queen and the People", Haigh, 149–169.</ref>
One of the causes for this "second reign" of Elizabeth, as it is sometimes called,<ref>Adams, 7; Hammer, 1; Collinson, 89</ref> was the different character of Elizabeth's governing body, the [[privy council]] in the 1590s. A new generation was in power. With the exception of Lord Burghley, the most important politicians had died around 1590: The Earl of Leicester in 1588, Sir Francis Walsingham in 1590, Sir [[Christopher Hatton]] in 1591.<ref>Collinson, 89</ref> Factional strife in the government, which had not existed in a noteworthy form before the 1590s,<ref>Doran ''Monarchy'', 216</ref> now became its hallmark.<ref>Hammer, 1–2</ref> A bitter rivalry between the Earl of Essex and [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Robert Cecil]], son of Lord Burghley, and their respective adherents, for the most powerful positions in the state marred politics.<ref>Hammer, 1, 9</ref> The queen's personal authority was lessening,<ref>Hammer, 9–10</ref> as is shown in the affair of Dr. Lopez, her trusted physician. When he was wrongly accused by the [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]] of treason out of personal pique, she could not prevent his execution, although she had been angry about his arrest and seems not to have believed in his guilt (1594).<ref>Lacey, 117–120</ref>
Elizabeth, during the last years of her reign, came to rely on granting [[monopolies]] as a cost-free system of patronage rather than ask Parliament for more subsidies in a time of war.<ref>A Patent of Monopoly gave the holder control over an aspect of trade or manufacture. See Neale, 382.</ref> The practice soon led to [[price fixing|price-fixing]], the enrichment of courtiers at the public's expense, and widespread resentment.<ref>Williams ''Elizabeth'', 208.</ref> This culminated in agitation in the House of Commons during the parliament of 1601.<ref>Black, 192–194.</ref> In her famous "[[Golden Speech]]" of 30 November 1601, Elizabeth professed ignorance of the abuses and won the members over with promises and her usual appeal to the emotions:<ref>She gave the speech at [[Whitehall Palace]] to a deputation of 140 members, who afterwards all kissed her hand. Neale, 383–384.</ref>
<blockquote>Who keeps their sovereign from the lapse of error, in which, by ignorance and not by intent they might have fallen, what thank they deserve, we know, though you may guess. And as nothing is more dear to us than the loving conservation of our subjects' hearts, what an undeserved doubt might we have incurred if the abusers of our liberality, the thrallers of our people, the wringers of the poor, had not been told us!<ref>Loades, 86.</ref></blockquote>
[[Pilt:Devereaux essex4.jpg|thumb|left|[[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex]], by [[William Segar]], 1588]]
This same period of economic and political uncertainty, however, produced an unsurpassed literary flowering in England.<ref>Black, 239.</ref> The first signs of a new literary movement had appeared at the end of the second decade of Elizabeth's reign, with [[John Lyly]]'s ''Euphues'' and [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''[[The Shepheardes Calender]]'' in 1578. During the 1590s, some of the great names of [[English literature]] entered their maturity, including [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Christopher Marlowe]]. During this period and into the [[Jacobean era]] that followed, the English theatre reached its highest peaks.<ref>Black, 239–245.</ref> The notion of a great [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan age]] depends largely on the builders, dramatists, poets, and musicians who were active during Elizabeth's reign. They owed little directly to the queen, who was never a major patron of the arts.<ref>Haigh, 176.</ref>
As Elizabeth aged her image gradually changed. She was portrayed as [[Belphoebe]] or [[Astraea (mythology)|Astraea]], and after the Armada, as [[Gloriana]], the eternally youthful [[Faerie Queene]] of [[Edmund Spenser]]'s poem.<ref>[[Blanche Parry]], Elizabeth's Chief [[Lady of the Bedchamber]], commissioned her epitaph in Bacton Church. Dated to before November 1578, this has the first depiction of Queen Elizabeth I as Gloriana: Richardson, 145–148.</ref> Her painted portraits became less realistic and more a set of enigmatic [[iconography|icons]] that made her look much younger than she was. In fact, her skin had been scarred by [[smallpox]] in 1562, leaving her half bald and dependent on wigs and cosmetics.<ref name=loades92>Loades, 92.</ref><ref>Gaunt, 37.</ref> Sir Walter Raleigh called her "a lady whom time had surprised".<ref>Haigh, 171.</ref> However, the more Elizabeth's beauty faded, the more her courtiers praised it.<ref name=loades92/>
Elizabeth was happy to play the part,<ref>"The metaphor of drama is an appropriate one for Elizabeth's reign, for her power was an illusion—and an illusion was her power. Like Henry IV of France, she projected an image of herself which brought stability and prestige to her country. By constant attention to the details of her total performance, she kept the rest of the cast on their toes and kept her own part as queen." Haigh, 179.</ref> but it is possible that in the last decade of her life she began to believe her own performance. She became fond and indulgent of the charming but petulant young Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was Leicester's stepson and took liberties with her for which she forgave him.<ref name = "Lds">Loades, 93.</ref> She repeatedly appointed him to military posts despite his growing record of irresponsibility. After Essex's desertion of his command in Ireland in 1599, Elizabeth had him placed under house arrest and the following year deprived him of his [[monopolies]].<ref>Loades, 97.</ref> In February 1601, the earl tried to raise a rebellion in London. He intended to seize the queen but few rallied to his support, and he was beheaded on 25 February. Elizabeth knew that her own misjudgements were partly to blame for this turn of events. An observer reported in 1602 that "Her delight is to sit in the dark, and sometimes with shedding tears to bewail Essex".<ref>Black, 410.</ref>
==Surm==
[[File:Elizabeth I Rainbow Portrait.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth I. The "Rainbow Portrait", c. 1600, an [[allegorical]] representation of the Queen, become ageless in her old age]]
Elizabeth's senior advisor, [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|Burghley]], died on 4 August 1598. His political mantle passed to his son, Robert Cecil, who soon became the leader of the government.<ref>After Essex's downfall, James VI of Scotland referred to Cecil as "king there in effect". Croft, 48.</ref> One task he addressed was to prepare the way for a smooth succession. Since Elizabeth would never name her successor, Cecil was obliged to proceed in secret.<ref>Cecil wrote to James, "The subject itself is so perilous to touch amongst us as it setteth a mark upon his head forever that hatcheth such a bird". Willson, 154.</ref> He therefore entered into a coded negotiation with [[James I of England|James VI of Scotland]], who had a strong but unrecognised claim.<ref>James VI of Scotland was a great-great-grandson of Henry VII of England, and thus Elizabeth's first cousin twice removed since Henry VII was Elizabeth's paternal grandfather.</ref> Cecil coached the impatient James to humour Elizabeth and "secure the heart of the highest, to whose sex and quality nothing is so improper as either needless expostulations or over much curiosity in her own actions".<ref>Willson, 154.</ref> The advice worked. James's tone delighted Elizabeth, who responded: "So trust I that you will not doubt but that your last letters are so acceptably taken as my thanks cannot be lacking for the same, but yield them to you in grateful sort".<ref>Willson, 155.</ref> In historian J. E. Neale's view, Elizabeth may not have declared her wishes openly to James, but she made them known with "unmistakable if veiled phrases".<ref>Neale, 385.</ref>
The Queen's health remained fair until the autumn of 1602, when a series of deaths among her friends plunged her into a severe depression. In February 1603, the death of [[Catherine Howard, Countess of Nottingham]], the niece of her cousin and close friend [[Catherine, Lady Knollys]], came as a particular blow. In March, Elizabeth fell sick and remained in a "settled and unremovable melancholy".<ref>Black, 411.</ref> She died on 24 March 1603 at [[Richmond Palace]], between two and three in the morning. A few hours later, Cecil and the council set their plans in motion and proclaimed [[James I of England|James VI of Scotland]] as king of England.<ref>Black, 410–411.</ref>
Elizabeth's coffin was carried downriver at night to [[Palace of Whitehall|Whitehall]], on a barge lit with torches. At her funeral on 28 April, the coffin was taken to [[Westminster Abbey]] on a [[hearse]] drawn by four horses hung with black velvet. In the words of the chronicler [[John Stow]]:
<blockquote>Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the [[Funeral|obsequy]], and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man.<ref>Weir, 486.</ref></blockquote>
[[Pilt:Funeral Elisabeth.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elizabeth's [[funeral cortège]], 1603, with banners of her royal ancestors
<ref>Need on: [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] ja [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]],
[[John of England|John]] ja [[Isabella of Angoulême]],
[[Henry III of England|Henry III]] jh [[Eleanor of Provence]],
[[Edward I]] ja [[Eleanor of Castile]],
[[Edward II]] ja [[Isabella of France]],
[[Edward III]] ja [[Philippa of Hainault]],
[[Edmund of Langley]] ja [[Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York|Isabella of Castile]],
[[Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge|Richard of Conisburgh]] ja [[Anne de Mortimer]],
[[Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York|Richard duke of York]] ja [[Cicely Neville]],
[[Edward IV]] ja [[Elizabeth Woodville]],
[[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] ja [[Elizabeth of York]],
[[Henry VIII]] ja [[Anne Boleyn]]. {{harvnb|Woodward|1997|pp=50–54}}.</ref>]]
Despite the presence of several other claimants to the throne, the transition of power went smoothly.<ref>The [[heir presumptive]] under the terms of Henry VIII's Will, i.e. either [[Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp]], or [[Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven]], depending on whether one recognized the legitimacy of the first-mentioned's birth; and the Lady [[Arbella Stuart]] on grounds similar to James's own.</ref> James's succession set aside Henry VIII's [[Third Succession Act]] and will in favour of the line of Henry's younger sister, [[Mary Tudor, Queen of France|Mary Tudor]].<ref>Goldsworthy, 145</ref> To rectify this, James had Parliament pass the [[Succession to the Crown Act 1603]]. The question of whether Parliament could control the succession to the crown by statute was controversial throughout the 17th century.<ref>Goldsworthy, 145; see also {{aut|Noel Cox}} "The Law of Succession to the Crown in New Zealand" in: ''Waikato Law Review'' (1999), esp. ch. III "Power to change descent of the Crown", [http://www.austlii.edu.au/nz/journals/WkoLRev/1999/3.html#Heading89 Austlii.edu.au] for a discussion of the controversy, and the place of James's succession therein.</ref>
Elizabeth was interred in Westminster Abbey in a tomb she shares with her half-sister, Mary. The Latin inscription on their tomb, "Regno consortes & urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis", translates to "Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection".<ref>{{cite book|last=Stanley|first=Arthur Penrhyn|authorlink=Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|title=Historical memorials of Westminster Abbey|year=1868|publisher=John Murray|location=London|page=178|chapter=The royal tombs|oclc=24223816}}</ref>
==Pärand==
{{see|Elizabeth I kujutamine kultuuris}}
Elizabeth was lamented by many of her subjects, but others were relieved at her death.<ref name =Ld>Loades, 100–101.</ref> Expectations of King James were high, and at first they were met, with the ending of the war against Spain in 1604 and lower taxes. Until the death of Robert Cecil in 1612, the government ran along much the same lines as before.<ref>Willson, 333.</ref> James's rule, however, became unpopular when he turned state affairs over to court favourites, and in the 1620s there was a nostalgic revival of the cult of Elizabeth.<ref name=somerset726>Somerset, 726.</ref> Elizabeth was praised as a heroine of the Protestant cause and the ruler of a golden age. James was depicted as a Catholic sympathiser, presiding over a corrupt court.<ref>Strong, 164.</ref> The triumphalist image that Elizabeth had cultivated towards the end of her reign, against a background of factionalism and military and economic difficulties,<ref>Haigh, 170.</ref> was taken at face value and her reputation inflated. [[Godfrey Goodman]], Bishop of Gloucester, recalled: "When we had experience of a Scottish government, the Queen did seem to revive. Then was her memory much magnified."<ref>Weir, 488.</ref> Elizabeth's reign became idealised as a time when crown, church and parliament had worked in constitutional balance.<ref>Dobson and Watson, 257.</ref>
[[Pilt:Elizabeth-I-Allegorical-Po.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth I, painted after 1620, during the first revival of interest in her reign. Time sleeps on her right and Death looks over her left shoulder; two [[putto|putti]] hold the crown above her head.<ref>Strong, 163–164.</ref>]]
The picture of Elizabeth painted by her Protestant admirers of the early 17th century has proved lasting and influential.<ref>Haigh, 175, 182.</ref> Her memory was also revived during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], when the nation again found itself on the brink of invasion.<ref>Dobson and Watson, 258.</ref> In the [[Victorian era]], the Elizabethan legend was adapted to the imperial ideology of the day,<ref name=Ld/><ref>The age of Elizabeth was redrawn as one of [[chivalry]], epitomised by courtly encounters between the queen and sea-dog "heroes" such as Drake and Raleigh. Some Victorian narratives, such as Raleigh laying his cloak before the queen or presenting her with a potato, remain part of the myth. Dobson and Watson, 258.</ref> and in the mid-20th century, Elizabeth was a romantic symbol of the national resistance to foreign threat.<ref>Haigh, 175.</ref><ref>In his preface to the 1952 reprint of ''Queen Elizabeth I'', J. E. Neale observed: "The book was written before such words as "ideological", "fifth column", and "cold war" became current; and it is perhaps as well that they are not there. But the ideas are present, as is the idea of romantic leadership of a nation in peril, because they were present in Elizabethan times".</ref> Historians of that period, such as [[J. E. Neale]] (1934) and [[A. L. Rowse]] (1950), interpreted Elizabeth's reign as a golden age of progress.<ref>Haigh, 182.</ref> Neale and Rowse also idealised the Queen personally: she always did everything right; her more unpleasant traits were ignored or explained as signs of stress.<ref>Kenyon, 207</ref>
Recent historians, however, have taken a more complicated view of Elizabeth.<ref>Haigh, 183.</ref> Her reign is famous for the defeat of the Armada, and for successful raids against the Spanish, such as those on Cádiz in 1587 and 1596, but some historians point to military failures on land and at sea.<ref name=haigh142/> In Ireland, Elizabeth's forces ultimately prevailed, but their tactics stain her record.<ref>Black, 408–409.</ref> Rather than as a brave defender of the Protestant nations against Spain and the Habsburgs, she is more often regarded as cautious in her foreign policies. She offered very limited aid to foreign Protestants and failed to provide her commanders with the funds to make a difference abroad.<ref>Haigh, 142–147, 174–177.</ref>
Elizabeth established an English church that helped shape a national identity and remains in place today.<ref>Loades, 46–50.</ref><ref>Weir, 487.</ref><ref>Hogge, 9–10.</ref> Those who praised her later as a Protestant heroine overlooked her refusal to drop all practices of Catholic origin from the Church of England.<ref>The new state religion was condemned at the time in such terms as "a cloaked papistry, or mingle mangle". Somerset, 102.</ref> Historians note that in her day, strict Protestants regarded the [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement|Acts of Settlement and Uniformity of 1559]] as a compromise.<ref>Haigh, 45–46, 177.</ref><ref>Black, 14–15.</ref> In fact, Elizabeth believed that faith was personal and did not wish, as [[Francis Bacon]] put it, to "make windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts".<ref>Williams ''Elizabeth'', 50.</ref><ref>Haigh, 42.</ref>
Though Elizabeth followed a largely defensive foreign policy, her reign raised England's status abroad. "She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island," marvelled Pope [[Sixtus V]], "and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by [[Holy Roman Empire|the Empire]], by all".<ref name = "Sm">Somerset, 727.</ref> Under Elizabeth, the nation gained a new self-confidence and sense of sovereignty, as [[Christendom]] fragmented.<ref name=somerset726/><ref>Hogge, 9''n''.</ref><ref>Loades, 1.</ref> Elizabeth was the first Tudor to recognise that a monarch ruled by popular consent.<ref>As Elizabeth's [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal|Lord Keeper]], Sir [[Nicholas Bacon (courtier)|Nicholas Bacon]], put it on her behalf to parliament in 1559, the queen "is not, nor ever meaneth to be, so wedded to her own will and fantasy that for the satisfaction thereof she will do anything...to bring any bondage or servitude to her people, or give any just occasion to them of any inward grudge whereby any tumults or stirs might arise as hath done of late days". Starkey, 7.</ref> She therefore always worked with parliament and advisers she could trust to tell her the truth—a style of government that her Stuart successors failed to follow. Some historians have called her lucky;<ref name = "Sm">Somerset, 727.</ref> she believed that God was protecting her.<ref>Somerset, 75–76.</ref> Priding herself on being "mere English",<ref>Edwards, 205.</ref> Elizabeth trusted in God, honest advice, and the love of her subjects for the success of her rule.<ref>Starkey, 6–7.</ref> In a prayer, she offered thanks to God that:
<blockquote>[At a time] when wars and seditions with grievous persecutions have vexed almost all kings and countries round about me, my reign hath been peacable, and my realm a receptacle to thy afflicted Church. The love of my people hath appeared firm, and the devices of my enemies frustrate.<ref name = "Sm">Somerset, 727.</ref></blockquote>
EEMALDA SEE RIDA KUI VÕÕRKEELNE TEKST on TÕLGITUD-->
==Tiitlid sünnist surmani==
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