Queen Elizabeth I, Gloriana Web Site

Assessment of ElizabethIs Reign

When Elizabeth died, one of the great epochs of English history ended. Her 45-year rule decisively shaped the future of England as a stable monarchy governed through the cooperation of crown and local elites. The roles played by Parliament and the justices of the peace, two of the most characteristic of all English institutions, solidified during her reign and were indispensable thereafter. The Protestant religion was firmly established as England’s faith, and though religious conflict was to be a serious problem for another century, it was within the context of the Elizabethan church settlement that the battles were fought. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a cause for national celebration, and “Glorious ’88” was spoken of generations later when Elizabeth’s birthday was still celebrated as a national holiday. The defeat of Spain established the glory of the English navy and inspired merchants and explorers toward colonization of a wider world.

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'Ever the Same'Queen Elizabeth I's Coat of Arms The Death of Queen Elizabeth I On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth's forty-four year reign came to an end. After months of depression and failing health, she lost all will to live, refusing to eat and losing the ability to speak. She slipped into a coma and died at age 69. Commoners in Queen Elizabeth I's Funeral March
	Death of Queen Elizabeth Monday 24th March 2003 marked the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I. By the late winter of 1602/3 Elizabeth was 69 years old, and ill. She had caught a chill in the January, and was suffering from aches and pains, but more profound was her obvious listlessness and loss of appetite for life. She refused to leave her private apartments for her bed and would not see her doctors. When Robert Cecil told her that she must go to bed, she replied “The word must is not to be used to princes… Little man, little man. Ye know I must die, and that makes ye so presumptuous”. [Memoirs of the Life of Robert Carey]. When it became obvious that her condition was worsening, Archbishop Whitgift was called, and the Queen squeezed his hand when he spoke to her of the rewards of Heaven. Elizabeth was now beyond speech but it was necessary for some declaration to be made about the succession to the throne. She was asked whether James VI of Scotland was to succeed her and it was reported by Cecil that she gestured that this was her will. She died in the early hours of 24th March, 1603. She had held on to her throne for 45 years. John Manningham the diarist wrote “This morning, about three o’clock her Majesty departed from this life, mildly like a lamb, easily like a ripe apple from a tree… Dr Parry told me he was present, and sent his prayers before her soul; and I doubt not but she is amongst the royal saints in heaven in eternal joys” [Manningham’s Diary]. The news of the Queen's death was received with silence the following morning on the streets of London. Commentators observed that the crowds mourned the Queen’s passing, but there was much speculation about the coming of her successor and expression of hope for a smooth transition. A few days later her body was placed inside a lead coffin and taken down the Thames by barge from Richmond Palace in Surrey to Whitehall where she lay in state until being taken to Westminster Hall to await the orders of the new King. A life-size effigy of the Queen was dressed in her royal robes and placed on top of the coffin, remaining on display for a month as a visual symbol of monarchy in the capital as James made his progress southwards from Edinburgh.
Elizabeth's Death Scene
	Elizabeth's Funeral King James authorised a lavish farewell for Elizabeth, spending over Ł11,000 when the usual cost for a funeral amongst the nobility was closer to Ł3,000. Her elaborate funeral took place on 28th April 1603, over a month after her death, with large crowds gathering to follow the progress of the procession. The funeral procession containing over a thousand of the late Queen's subjects wound its way through the crowds and streets of London. Bell-ringers cleared a passage through the crowds to make way for the procession of paupers, followed by servants from the royal household, then the servants of the gentry and nobility of the court, followed by their masters. The coffin was covered in purple velvet, and drawn by four horses in black. The effigy of the late Queen was dressed in the robes of state complete with crown and sceptre. The streets were full of people who had come to pay their last respects. John Stow later recorded the distress of the crowds when they saw the procession go by: “Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came to see the 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, neither doth any history mention any people, time or state to make like lamentation for the death of their sovereign”.
Elizabeth's Death Bed
	Elizabeth's Life and Reign Elizabeth's life and reign had been marked by Acts of Parliament, even from before her birth. She had been born in Greenwich in September 1533, daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry's marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had been declared void in May 1533, four months prior to Elizabeth's birth. Elizabeth, at the time of her birth, therefore took precedence over her elder sister Mary, and this was confirmed by an Act of Succession in the following year which invested the crown in the children of Henry and Anne. Anne’s failure to provide a male heir led to her downfall and replacement in Henry’s affections by Jane Seymour. Following the birth of Edward in 1537, Elizabeth was displaced in the line of succession and it was not until Mary died without issue that Anne’s daughter finally succeeded to the throne. Upon the death of her sister, Elizabeth accended to the throne on 17 November 1558 and was crowned on 15 January 1559. So popular did Elizabeth prove as monarch that the day of her accession was celebrated as a national holiday for nearly 200 years.
Princess Elizabeth
	Elizabeth's Failure to Provide an Heir Elizabeth’s refusal to marry gave great cause for concern to her counsellors. By remaining single she avoided potentially dangerous or compromising alliances with other European powers, but failure to provide an heir would leave the kingdom open to confusion on the Queen’s death. Rival factions at court favoured different candidates, with popular choices being Mary, Queen of Scots or her son James. Elizabeth's fear of Mary as a focus for Catholic plots against her contributed to Mary’s eventual execution in February 1587, following her flight to England and long imprisonment. Although Elizabeth continued to refuse to name an heir, it became more apparent as the years passed that the Cecil faction had settled on James VI of Scotland as her likely successor. A letter from Sir Robert Cecil, son of Lord Burghley, shows the level of trust and communication which had developed with the Scottish King as the Queen of England arranges to send him Ł3000. By 1601 Elizabeth was growing tired. During the opening of Parliament she almost fell under the weight of her heavy robes and it was reported that she required the aid of a stick to walk up stairs. In what was to be her final speech to the House of Comons she remarked wearily that “To be a King, and weare a Crown, is a thing more glorious to them that see it, then it is pleasant to them that beare it”.
'Gloriana'