Queen Elizabeth I

Description

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her brother, Edward VI, bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting his sisters out of the succession. His will was set aside, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. Queen Elizabeth established her own religion in England, declaring herself its head. Fines were inflicted upon those who did not attend her services, and severe measures were taken to supress the Catholic Church. Harboring a Catholic priest was punishable by death; a priest ordained oversees was condemmed as a traitor. St. Edmund Campion is a well-known example of one of these. (For more information on a Catholic perspective of this time period, read the autibiography of Father Gerard, "During the Persecution")