The role of Elisabeth I in Renaissance England

Elizabeth acended the throne at a very critical moment, when the nation had been shaken by Mary's excesses.

As she was a Protestant she wanted to restore Protestantism. But had no intention to persecute anyone. She had a new Act of supremacy passed by Paliament in 1559 to restat the independence of the Church of England but she was quite tollerant towards the Catholics and thoise who followed another religious faith.

The compromise worked well and she won the loyalty of all her subjects.

She had a strong personality. She has been described as unscrupulous, egoistic anda mbitous, but no one can deny her geat patriotism adn devotion to her people.

From the politic point of view she pursued a cautious policy with France and Spain in order to prevent political and religios troubles. But problems always existed, expecially with Spain, as the two countries were not only different as regards religon but were rivals in trade and colonization.

Elizabeth's Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots , was implicated in a plot to depose Elizabeth. Elizabeth wss reluctant to execute her cousin. She didn’t want to set a precedent by executing a monarch. After months of prevaricating, Mary Stuart was executed in 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle. As a consequence of this, Philip II, King of Spain, that was Catholic, send his “Invincible Armada”, , a huge fleet, but the spanish vessels never reached the British Isles owing to the defensive tatics of the British navy under the command of Sir Francis Drake and the terrible stormes in The Channel, which caused the destruction of most of the grat Spanish fleet.

This victory ended the struggle with Spain and marked the begging of the English domination on the sea.

So it started a long period of prosperity. England began to change from an agricultural into a commercial and industrial country. New industries were established and private enterprise was encouraged. There was the devepment of english trade. Elizabeth supported the new explorations  thanks to the creation of a powerful fleet. She encouraged the growth of the Royal Navy and New Merchant Companies were chartered and the famous East India Company was founded in 1600.

To contrast poverty a Poor Law was passed under Elizabeth. It may be considered a first little step towards the future “welfare State”. It stated that  the parishes had to provide schools and hospitals and had to take care of orphans.

During the reing of Elizabeth, literature flourished in every form. Tottel's Miscellany, the first printed anthology of English poetry, opened up the way for a host of poets who were influenced in various ways, but olso displayed genius and individuality. They were men with an academic education, men who showed a unique power to absorb foreign influences and convert them into valid instruments for their individual work. The most important example can be seen in poetry with William Shakespeare.

If this age, which saw the flowring of the English Renaissance, has been called the Elizabethan Age, it is perhaps the least historians could have done to pay omage to a Queen who had beeen the protagonist os such a period of glory.