Queen Elizabeth I

Queen of England Ruler of England for 45 years, Elizabeth had a profound effect on literature produced while she was queen. A writer herself, her personal literary production is primarily letters and speeches written for various political purposes such as addressing Parliament or negotiating with foreign powers. She also wrote at least 15 poems. The stability of her long reign and her emphasis on courtly behavior that included the ability to write creatively contributed to the immense literary production of this period, some of which focused on her (Weir, 123-129).

Elizabeth was born to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife. At birth, Elizabeth disappointed her parents because she was not male, so she was not considered able to succeed Henry as sovereign and lived in the shadow of her older half sister, Mary Tudor, later Mary I, daughter of Henry and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (Ridley, 101-111). Henry demanded an act of succession from Parliament that allowed his older and then his younger daughter to inherit the throne if he should fail to provide a legitimate son (Plowden, 34-41). Approximately two years after Elizabeth's birth, Anne Boleyn was tried on charges of adulterous treason and beheaded. Henry then married Jane Seymour, by whom he had a son, Edward, who displaced Mary and Elizabeth as Henry's heir. However, all accounts indicate that Elizabeth and Edward enjoyed a cordial relationship, particularly under the Protestant influence of Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr (Neale, 54-56).

Under Mary, Elizabeth's life was increasingly jeopardized because the queen's sister represented both personal and political threats. Henry VIII's affection for Elizabeth's mother had caused Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and had made England into a Protestant nation. Mary, however, was a devout Roman Catholic. As Mary's reign continued and she was unable to eradicate Protestantism or to produce an heir (she married Philip II of Spain in July 1554), Elizabeth became an increasing political threat. Elizabeth had the same claim to the succession as Mary, so resentful Protestants wanted her crowned queen. To counter any such plots, Mary demanded that Elizabeth publicly attend mass. Although Elizabeth refused initially, she eventually appeared to comply. Mary, however, eventually suspected Elizabeth of joining Protestant plots to depose her and had her sister imprisoned in the Tower of London and examined for treason, then moved and guarded at Woodstock, and then at Hatfield in an effort to keep Elizabeth and others from conspiring against her (Cook , 44-55). While imprisoned, Elizabeth continued to study and to write, scratching a poem on the window at Woodstock ("Written with a Diamond"). Regardless of Mary's suspicions, Elizabeth was never proven to have engaged in any plots to replace the queen. In 1558, Mary died without issue, and Elizabeth became queen at age 24 (MacCaffrey, 23-29).

As queen, Elizabeth faced several great challenges. She had to determine national religious practice; to decide which, if any, of her suitors to marry; to negotiate a foreign policy that kept England from the threat of war, ...