Queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids

Dudley was a more radical Protestant than Elizabeth, and he pushed for military action against Catholic Spain. He put himself forward as a potential husband for Elizabeth, and there were constant rumours of a romance between the two. Sir Francis Walsingham became a key councillor after serving Elizabeth as a Member of Parliament and ambassador. He was a radical Protestant and extremely critical of Catholicism.

He had spies everywhere, including in the Vatican, where the Pope lived. He uncovered many plots against Elizabeth and regularly allied with Dudley on matters of religion. Sir Christopher Hatton was highly educated and became Lord Chancellor in He was a moderate Protestant and felt some sympathy towards Catholics. Hatton also helped Elizabeth to control her Parliament.

Like his stepfather, he was a radical Protestant and a skilled soldier. He was also quick to anger and overly ambitious. He made a name for himself fighting against Spain, but Elizabeth fell out with him when he failed to crush an Irish rebellion on her behalf. Tudor England was a patriarchal close patriarchy A society in which men rule and hold power over women.

Women were perceived to be physically and emotionally inferior to men. They were also thought to be less intelligent. Everyone expected Elizabeth to marry as part of her duty as a woman, but also so that she would provide an heir to the kingdom. She was then forced by her father-in-law, John Dudley, to claim the throne of England. This led to her being executed when Mary I took the throne from her.

This marriage dragged Mary into disastrous wars against France, and led to rebellions from people fearful of Philip seizing control of England. If Elizabeth married an Englishman, he would automatically be of lower status than her. However, marrying a foreign prince could mean dragging her kingdom into foreign wars. Even worse, he could try to seize power.

Many suitors asked for her hand, including Robert Dudley, her childhood friend. Elizabeth said no to all of them. She chose to rule as a lone queen and used powerful speeches to warn Parliament and her councillors not to force her to wed. She even told Parliament that she would rather be thrown out of the kingdom in only her petticoats than be forced to marry.

Elizabeth used her decision not to marry to her advantage, portraying herself as devoted to the kingdom and married to her people. Elizabeth faced an incredibly difficult situation. One of the reasons Henry established the Church of England was to marry her mother, and she had been raised as a Protestant. But at the same time, Elizabeth had inherited a largely Catholic government and Parliament, and she needed to work with them for the good of the country.

Queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids: Elizabeth I was Queen

With the help of William Cecil, Elizabeth began to reinstate a more moderate form of Protestantism in England. She used Parliament to pass laws to create the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Throughout the s, the response to Elizabeth's settlement was generally positive, with Elizabeth largely able to bring stability to England after a period of huge religious upheaval.

Despite this early success, it is important to remember that opposition to the settlement increased over time. By the s and s, Catholic opposition was growing, and some Puritans tried to adapt aspects of the settlement in light of their own beliefs. Elizabeth initially wished to maintain a peaceful relationship with other European countries.

War was expensive and England was in debt. Elizabeth, though Protestant, also sought to build a positive relationship with Catholic Spain, and Philip, but this did not last. Philip controlled a vast empire, stretching from Spain through the Netherlands to the Americas. There was a strong Protestant population in the Netherlands. Elizabeth eventually bowed to pressure from men like Robert Dudley and provided support to the rebels.

Earlier in her reign, Elizabeth had rejected Philip as a possible husband. All of this angered Philip; he was also horrified by the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, in February InPhilip sent a large number of ships, known as an Armada, to invade England. It was defeated by a combination of storms and the English having ships that were better suited to the conditions.

However, the war against Spain would continue into the reign of James I. The origins of the British Empire can be traced back to the foreign policy close foreign policy A monarch or government's approach to interacting with nations abroad. Although Roanoke failed, a permanent colony called Jamestown was set up nearby in During her reign, Elizabeth supported several privateers close privateers Pirates who sailed to raid foreign ships with the permission of their monarch from around These men were effectively pirates that were supported by the monarch.

They stole treasure from Spanish ships, whose crew had generally previously stolen it from Latin America. She was third in line to the throne. Both her brother and sister died without having children so Elizabeth became Queen. To show people she could rule the country well, she had portraits painted of her as strong, mighty and rich, just as a queen should be.

Inhe sent the Spanish Armada, a fleet of more than ships, to invade England. Elizabeth stayed strong. She told her soldiers and sailors: "I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too. England and Elizabeth had won! There were many great artists and writers.

William Shakespeare, the most famous playwright ever, performed his plays in front of her. She had shown that a queen could be just as strong as a king. That a woman could do as good a job as a man! The English fleet harried it up the east coast of England. The Armada returned to Spain round the north of Scotland and south around Ireland. Bad weather near Scotland and Ireland wrecked some of the ships.

More than a third of the ships failed to return to Spain. Elizabeth never married, and she had no children. However, she was fond of several noblemen in her court. Prominent among these noblemen was Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Later, she turned to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. He wanted to overthrow the government of the Queen.

He was defeated and executed. Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace on 24 March He was the son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. Elizabeth I was the last Tudor monarch, and reigned for 44 years. Her queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids date was a national holiday for two hundred years. Anne was executed within three years of Elizabeth's birth.

A rare portrait of a teenage Elizabeth prior to her accession, attributed to William Scrots. It was painted for her father in c. Mary I and Philipduring whose reign Elizabeth was heir presumptive. Elizabeth's foreign policy was largely defensive. The exception was the English occupation of Le Havre from October to Junewhich ended in failure when Elizabeth's Huguenot allies joined with the Catholics to retake the port.

Only through the activities of her fleets did Elizabeth pursue an aggressive policy. She knighted Francis Drake after his circumnavigation of the globe from toand he won fame for his raids on Spanish ports and fleets. An element of piracy and self-enrichment drove Elizabethan queens elizabeth the 1st biography for kids, over whom the queen had little control.

After the occupation and loss of Le Havre in —, Elizabeth avoided military expeditions on the continent untilwhen she sent an English army to aid the Protestant Dutch rebels against Philip II. It also extended Spanish influence along the channel coast of France, where the Catholic League was strong, and exposed England to invasion. The siege of Antwerp in the summer of 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 Augustin which Elizabeth promised military support to the Dutch. The treaty marked the beginning of the Anglo-Spanish Warwhich lasted until the Treaty of London in The expedition was led by Elizabeth's former suitor, the 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, 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".

Elizabeth saw this as a Dutch ploy to force her to accept sovereignty over the Netherlands, which so far she had always declined. 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. This public humiliation of her "Lieutenant-General" combined with her continued talks for a separate peace with Spain irreversibly undermined Leicester's 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 led to the failure of the campaign.

Leicester finally resigned his command in December Meanwhile, Sir Francis Drake had undertaken a major voyage against Spanish ports and ships in the Caribbean in and On 12 Julythe 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, misfortune, and an attack of English fire ships on 29 July off Gravelineswhich dispersed the Spanish ships to the northeast, defeated the Armada. 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 the North Seaand then back south past the west coast of Ireland.

Unaware of the Armada's fate, English militias mustered to defend the country under the Earl of Leicester's command. Leicester invited Elizabeth to inspect her troops at Tilbury in Essex on 8 August. 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.

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. However, the victory was not a turning point in the war, which continued and often favoured Spain. The Spanish still controlled the southern provinces of the Netherlands, and the threat of invasion remained.

Though some historians have criticised Elizabeth on similar grounds, 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". The English fleet suffered a catastrophic defeat with 11,—15, killed, wounded or died of disease and 40 ships sunk or captured.

The advantage England had won upon the destruction of the Spanish Armada was lost, and the Spanish victory marked a revival of Philip II's naval power through the next decade. It was her first venture into France since the retreat from Le Havre in Henry's succession was strongly contested by the 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. Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresbylargely ignoring Elizabeth's orders, roamed northern France to little effect, with an army of 4, men. He withdrew in disarray in Decemberhaving lost half his troops. Inthe campaign of John Norreys, who led 3, men to Brittanywas even more of a disaster.

As for all such expeditions, Elizabeth was unwilling to invest in the supplies and reinforcements requested by the commanders.

Queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids: Elizabeth was born on 7 September

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 Craonnorth-west France, in May The result was just as dismal. Essex accomplished nothing and returned home in January Henry abandoned the siege in April. As usual, Elizabeth lacked control over her commanders once they were abroad.

Queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids: Princess Elizabeth was born on September

Although Ireland was one of her two kingdoms, Elizabeth faced a hostile, and in places virtually autonomous, 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.

In the course of a series of uprisings, Crown forces pursued scorched-earth tactics, burning the land and slaughtering man, woman and child. During a revolt in Munster led by Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmondinan estimated 30, Irish people starved to death. Elizabeth advised her commanders that the Irish, "that rude and barbarous nation", be well treated, but she or her commanders showed no remorse when force and bloodshed served their authoritarian purpose.

Between andElizabeth faced her most severe test in Ireland during the Nine Years' Wara revolt that took place at the height of hostilities with Spainwho backed the rebel leader, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. To her frustration, he made little progress and returned to England in defiance of her orders. He was replaced by Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoywho took three years to defeat the rebels.

O'Neill finally surrendered ina few days after Elizabeth's death. Soon afterwards, a peace treaty was signed between England and Spain. Elizabeth continued to maintain the diplomatic relations with the Tsardom of Russia that were originally established by her half-brother, Edward VI. She often wrote to Tsar Ivan the Terrible on amicable terms, though the Tsar was often annoyed by her focus on commerce rather than on the possibility of a military alliance.

Ivan 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. English merchant and explorer Anthony Jenkinsonwho began his career as a representative of the Muscovy Companybecame the queen's special ambassador to the court of Tsar Ivan. Upon his death inIvan was succeeded by his son Feodor I.

Unlike his father, Feodor had no enthusiasm in maintaining exclusive trading rights with England. He declared his kingdom open to all foreigners, and dismissed the English ambassador Sir Jerome Boweswhose pomposity had been tolerated by Ivan. 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 many titles omitted.

Queen elizabeth the 1st biography for kids: Elizabeth I was queen of

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. Trade and diplomatic relations developed between England and the Barbary states during the rule of Elizabeth. 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 papal ban.

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". Discussions, however, remained inconclusive, and both rulers died within two years of the embassy. 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 Sublime Porte, William Harbornein For the first time, a treaty of commerce was signed in Numerous envoys were dispatched in both directions and epistolar exchanges occurred between Elizabeth and Sultan Murad III.

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. 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 inas Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy.

InSir Humphrey Gilbert sailed west to establish a colony in Newfoundland. He never returned to England. This territory was much larger than the present-day state of Virginiaextending from New England to the Carolinas. InRaleigh returned to Virginia with a small group of people. They landed on Roanoke Islandoff present-day North Carolina.

After the failure of the first colony, Raleigh recruited another group and put John White in command. When Raleigh returned inthere was no trace of the Roanoke Colony he had left, but it was the first English settlement in North America. For a period of 15 years, the company was awarded a monopoly on English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan.

Sir James Lancaster commanded the first expedition in The Company eventually controlled half of world trade and substantial territory in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. The period after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in brought new difficulties for Elizabeth that lasted until the end of her reign.