Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I - A Biography of a Very Important Queen in World History - History-Episode

From the moment she was conceived, Queen Elizabeth I of England was the subject of controversy. The daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was accused of being illegitimate by English Catholics before she was even born, as they refused to acknowledge the annulment of Henry's first marriage. Elizabeth's childhood was tumultuous, as her mother was executed when she was two and a half years old, and she was raised as Henry's daughter but not Henry's heir.
Elizabeth became Queen in 1558, succeeding her half-sister Mary Tudor to the throne. Elizabeth refused to marry immediately and rule as co-regent with her husband, as Mary had done, and her decision to remain single and rule alone became a defining feature of her reign. However, Elizabeth knew that by entertaining the notion of marriage to a foreign prince she could maintain control of her own political authority. Naming an heir, whether from her own body or not, would destabilize her position and leave her vulnerable to a coup.
Elizabeth’s voluntary decision to never marry inspired a cult of virginity where the Queen’s decision to remain a virgin gradually became regarded as her greatest virtue. Poets, writers, and artists fueled the public’s worship of her virtue by creating recognizable iconography that created a legend around Elizabeth, even while she was still alive. Elizabeth’s loyal subjects often pointed out that her reign fulfilled one of the...


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