Elizabeth's choices

• • Elizabeth had to choose what to do when Mary arrived in England in 1568
• • Elizabeth had to consider religious tensions
  • Catholics saw Mary as the rightful heir to the English throne
  • Helping a Catholic monarch would turn Protestants against England
  • Punishing Mary could being retaliation by Catholics countries, like France and Spain
• Help Mary regain her throne:

  • Helping Mary could allow Elizabeth to force Mary to drop jer claim to the English throne
  • Mary being Queen of Scotland could allow her to use her power and armies to usurp Elizabeth
• Return Mary to Scotland:

  • If the Scottish killed or imprisoned Mary, she could not take the English throne - Mary being murdered would remove the figurehead for Catholic plots
  • Returning Mary would please the English government as they wanted to maintain a good relationship with Protestant nobles in Scotland
  • Imprisoning or killing an anointed monarch was seen as unacceptable to Elziabeth - she worried Catholic rebels would think it's acceptable to treat a monarch this way
• Allow Mary to go abroad:

  • Mary would be safe from Scottish nobles and live in exile
  • If Mary took refuge in a Catholic country, she could use their resources to overthrow Elizabeth
• Imprison Mary:

  • Mary could be kept under close supervision by Elizabeth and would protect her from the Scots
  • Unlawfully imprisoning Mary could cause international attacks
  • Mary would remain a constant threat to Elizabeth as Catholics wanted to use her to overthrow Elizabet
• • Elizabeth faced many Catholic plota against her
  • They mostly all included putting Mary on the throne
  • By 1572, MPs were encouraging Elizabeth to execute Mary to restore stability