COMPARISON OF QUEENS

Elizabeth 1 of England or Catherine the great of Russia

Elizabeth 1 of England or Catherine the great of Russia

Queen Elizabeth 1 of England

Elizabeth I of England (7th September 1533 at Greenwich - 24th March 1603 at Richmond) is one of the most famous sovereign of England. Her long reign of 44 years defines the Elizabethan period, which raises England among the expansive powers.

Accession to the throne

The period between her father's demise on 28th January 1547 to her accession to the throne on 17th November 1558 was marked by considerable uncertainty. The fate of Elizabeth had many vicissitudes before the triumph. Her status was as the king's illegitimate daughter, but legitimate heir presumptive to the crown, making it both a remedy for those who want change and a latent threat to the powers that be. Despite her, Elizabeth is drawn into the complex diplomatic games and poisonous that is taking place at the English court. Several times accused of conspiracy, it owes her survival to the art of concealment, its ability to brazenly deny the obvious, her will never commit.

Virgin queen

Once crowned, Elizabeth will continue to refuse the advances of many candidates, including those of King Philip II of Spain and ' Ivan the Terrible, first Czar of Russia. The Queen of France Catherine de Medici, for its part, offered her as a husband, three of his son succession: King Charles IX, Duke of Anjou - now, later king of France under the name of Henry III - and then the Duke of Alencon, 22 years younger Elizabeth. Her suitors were Crown Prince Eric of Sweden, or the Archduke Charles of Habsburg. Unmarried and childless, the Queen of England had, however, a very active love life in secret alcoves. The favorites were Elizabeth Robert Dudley and Robert Devereux. Legend has it that Sir Walter Raleigh, another suitor of Elizabeth, has put his luxurious coat on a puddle of water on which the queen was about to walk, so it does not get wet feet. From 1588, the relations of Elizabeth with Essex deteriorate and are the delight of gossip of the court.

Confirmation of England

Reformed religious beliefs of Elizabeth are not a secret, though Mary had spared neither effort nor the pressure to push her half-sister to Catholicism at least a facade. The difficult circumstances of Elizabeth had then forced to bend in appearance, without any enthusiasm, the requirements of power. The intransigence of the papacy, which persisted in seeing in it an illegitimate child with no right to the crown, has led Elizabeth to support the Anglicanism of his father, but with a certain concern for moderation.

Sovereign energetic and authoritative, it equips and England of a state religion by the Act of Supremacy from 1559. It requires bishops an oath of allegiance to the Queen, "Supreme Governor" of the Church. With the bill, of the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563, it is a true charter of Anglicanism: the Episcopal hierarchy and part of the Catholic ritual are maintained, while abandoning ...