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5/2/2010 - Elizabeth's Dilemma
In History, Year 8 have been studying the reign of Elizabeth I and were tasked with writing an essay about the problems Elizabeth faced in choosing a suitable husband.
An exceptional piece of work was written by Hannah, who was clearly aware of the issues surrounding Elizabeth's problem. Read the essay below and you'll see why it got such a great mark.
How Successfully did Elizabeth 1st Tackle the Problems of her Reign?
Elizabeth 1st faced many problems. Most of which were inter-linked. When she was considering how to solve one, she had to consider the others linked to it. My essay is about how she tackled some of them.
Elizabeth needed an heir. For this success would mean marrying someone who everybody is happy with and to produce an heir. The difficult bit was keeping everybody happy. Elizabeth wanted her husband to be good looking and someone she loved but Burghley, her advisor didn’t care whether he was handsome or not or about his personality. They both wanted him to be English and Protestant though. Robert Dudley was both but his father was a traitor so Burghley didn’t want the Queen to marry him. If she married an Englishman though the other Lords might get jealous but a foreign suitor would drag the English into their wars. There wasn’t a perfect husband so Elizabeth never married. In some ways she was very successful: she didn’t have a man ruling over her and she controlled powerful men by flirting with them. I think Elizabeth was as successful as she could have been.
Elizabeth could have married Philip 2nd of Spain. I think success in this area means to defend against Spain. When Philip asked her to marry him after her sister Mary’s death she refused. So he declared war on her. The English defeated the Spanish Armada in 1558. It was partly blamed on the weather but many of the Spanish died of disease. Elizabeth turned a powerful ally into a powerful enemy that she defeated. But was it all success? The war had left England with huge debts and left those in the navy without a job. She still had the Pope against her. I think overall Elizabeth was successful.
Religion was very important in those times. Countries of other religions could wage war on you. England had a long history of being Catholic but Henry 8th caused conflict by becoming Protestant. Then there were the Puritans as well. Elizabeth felt responsible for her country’s religion, to be successful she had the tricky task of keeping all religions happy and under control. If Elizabeth let the churches have some of the Catholic elements like specific clothes for the vicar then this upset the Puritans. If she got rid of wedding rings to please the Puritans she upset the Catholics. It was very difficult to keep the church happy and united. At first Elizabeth left the Catholics alone but the Pope tried to make the Catholics revolt. So she kept passing laws against them and in the end it was very hard to be a Catholic. I think Elizabeth was successful in the case of religion because she controlled the Catholics.
One of Elizabeth’s main threats was a Catholic: Mary Queen of Scots. Many Catholics wanted her to be their queen. She was also next in line for the throne if Elizabeth didn’t provide an heir. Protestants and Puritans didn’t like this. To deal with this successfully would mean controlling the threat but still keeping everybody happy. Elizabeth spent 19 years deciding what to do with Mary. She kept her under control even though this encouraged plots from the Catholics. In the end she executed Mary; this removed a major rival although it could have made the Catholics revolt.
The poor and beggars were a problem too. Harvests had been poor and the population was rising resulting in higher food prices. At the same time people were losing their jobs. I think that success means to reduce the number of beggars. Elizabeth introduced the poor law. This banned begging and made the rich people pay tax for the poor people who were born in their parish. Elizabeth dealt with the consequences rather than the cause. I think that she was fairly successful because the poor had somewhere to go to for help.
Elizabeth was more successful in dealing with threats to her throne including Spain than in marriage. She firmly re-established the Church of England but left the country with huge debts. She failed to stop prices going up but introduced the poor law so that the “deserving poor” could get money. I think that she was as successful as she could have been in many respects.
An exceptional piece of work was written by Hannah, who was clearly aware of the issues surrounding Elizabeth's problem. Read the essay below and you'll see why it got such a great mark.
How Successfully did Elizabeth 1st Tackle the Problems of her Reign?
Elizabeth 1st faced many problems. Most of which were inter-linked. When she was considering how to solve one, she had to consider the others linked to it. My essay is about how she tackled some of them.
Elizabeth needed an heir. For this success would mean marrying someone who everybody is happy with and to produce an heir. The difficult bit was keeping everybody happy. Elizabeth wanted her husband to be good looking and someone she loved but Burghley, her advisor didn’t care whether he was handsome or not or about his personality. They both wanted him to be English and Protestant though. Robert Dudley was both but his father was a traitor so Burghley didn’t want the Queen to marry him. If she married an Englishman though the other Lords might get jealous but a foreign suitor would drag the English into their wars. There wasn’t a perfect husband so Elizabeth never married. In some ways she was very successful: she didn’t have a man ruling over her and she controlled powerful men by flirting with them. I think Elizabeth was as successful as she could have been.
Elizabeth could have married Philip 2nd of Spain. I think success in this area means to defend against Spain. When Philip asked her to marry him after her sister Mary’s death she refused. So he declared war on her. The English defeated the Spanish Armada in 1558. It was partly blamed on the weather but many of the Spanish died of disease. Elizabeth turned a powerful ally into a powerful enemy that she defeated. But was it all success? The war had left England with huge debts and left those in the navy without a job. She still had the Pope against her. I think overall Elizabeth was successful.
Religion was very important in those times. Countries of other religions could wage war on you. England had a long history of being Catholic but Henry 8th caused conflict by becoming Protestant. Then there were the Puritans as well. Elizabeth felt responsible for her country’s religion, to be successful she had the tricky task of keeping all religions happy and under control. If Elizabeth let the churches have some of the Catholic elements like specific clothes for the vicar then this upset the Puritans. If she got rid of wedding rings to please the Puritans she upset the Catholics. It was very difficult to keep the church happy and united. At first Elizabeth left the Catholics alone but the Pope tried to make the Catholics revolt. So she kept passing laws against them and in the end it was very hard to be a Catholic. I think Elizabeth was successful in the case of religion because she controlled the Catholics.
One of Elizabeth’s main threats was a Catholic: Mary Queen of Scots. Many Catholics wanted her to be their queen. She was also next in line for the throne if Elizabeth didn’t provide an heir. Protestants and Puritans didn’t like this. To deal with this successfully would mean controlling the threat but still keeping everybody happy. Elizabeth spent 19 years deciding what to do with Mary. She kept her under control even though this encouraged plots from the Catholics. In the end she executed Mary; this removed a major rival although it could have made the Catholics revolt.
The poor and beggars were a problem too. Harvests had been poor and the population was rising resulting in higher food prices. At the same time people were losing their jobs. I think that success means to reduce the number of beggars. Elizabeth introduced the poor law. This banned begging and made the rich people pay tax for the poor people who were born in their parish. Elizabeth dealt with the consequences rather than the cause. I think that she was fairly successful because the poor had somewhere to go to for help.
Elizabeth was more successful in dealing with threats to her throne including Spain than in marriage. She firmly re-established the Church of England but left the country with huge debts. She failed to stop prices going up but introduced the poor law so that the “deserving poor” could get money. I think that she was as successful as she could have been in many respects.
