Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I reigned for forty-five years. This period of time was long enough for the Queen to stamp her authority on the Kingdom of England and to bring some kind of stability to the divided island. They had been fighting over religion for over twenty years when she came to the throne. Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant but a cautious one. She tried to find a middle way that would be acceptable to Catholics and Protestants alike. She declared that England was to be a Protestant country, but that Catholics were to be allowed to hold their own beliefs as long as they were loyal to the throne. In fact, she was as likely to have hard-line Protestants (Puritans) arrested as she was to have Catholic counter-reformationists imprisoned. Queen Elizabeth's reign coincided with a remarkable flowering of English culture and power. From Shakespeare to explorers, the Elizabethen age is regarded by many as a golden age of power and prestige. For the first time, England could seriously rival the power of European courts such as France and Spain.

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