England wider world

• Elizabeth I


  Born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, after Henry rejected the Pope's authority and annulled his own marriage to Catherine of Aragon
• Elizabeth's father, Henry, had her mother, Anne, executed

  1536
• Elizabeth


  • Brought up by her step-mother Catherine
  • Well educated, speaking five foreign languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and Greek) fluently
• Lived through the reign of her Protestant half-brother Edward VI


  1547-1553
• Lived through the reign of her Catholic half-sister Mary I


  1553-1558
• Elizabeth was suspected of plotting against Mary and imprisoned in the Tower of London for a time
• Became queen


  1558
• Ordered the execution of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, for plotting to overthrow her


  1587
• Faced attempted invasion by Spain, using a massive armada (navy)

  1588
• Died childless; her cousin Mary's son James VI of Scotland succeeded her as James I of England

  1603
• Protestant religious settlement

  Moderate, compromising with some traditional Catholic practices: candles, vestments and music
• Elizabeth punished more extreme Protestants (Puritans) when they challenged her settlement
• Elizabeth helped French Protestants (Huguenots) who were under attack from French Catholics in 1562
• Elizabeth's Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, fled her kingdom and sought help from Elizabeth, inspiring a rebellion against Elizabeth by English Catholics in 1568
• The Pope encouraged English Catholics to rebel against Elizabeth; a series of plots were devised attempting to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with her cousin, Mary
• Elizabeth executed Catholic rebels and sent help to the Protestants rebelling against Spain in the Netherlands
• Elizabeth ordered the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots after further plots were discovered


  1587
• Philip II of Spain responded by launching an attempt to invade England (Spanish Armada)

  1588
• After the Spanish invasion attempt, Catholics in England were punished for hearing mass or hiding a priest
• In the 1590s, the Irish rebelled against Elizabeth's attempts to force them to become Protestant
• In the 1560s, English merchants wanted to find direct routes to India and China
• John Hawkins attempted to break into the Spanish and Portuguese slave trade between Africa and the Americas
• Elizabeth set up trading links to the Ottoman empire, exporting lead and tin to Sultan Murad III
• Francis Drake travelled to the Caribbean and made an alliance with Diego, a cimarron (escaped slave), who helped him to seize Spanish silver from Peru, and sail around the world
• Richard Hackluyt argued that England should set up a colony in the Americas to provide trade, employment and wealth
• In 1584-5, Manteo and Wanchese, two Algonquians, were brought to London to learn English, to help the English trade and establish a colony in North America
• In 1585 an expedition set out to establish a colony at Roanoke, in Virginia; supply ships returning in 1590 found the colony abandoned and no trace of the colonists
• In 1600 a new alliance with Morocco strengthened trade especially for sugar
• In 1558 England was still at war with France; Elizabeth tried to keep Spain as an ally
• From 1568-1587 Elizabeth was threatened by plots to overthrow her and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots
• Elizabeth made an alliance with the Ottoman Sultan, Murad III, against Catholic Spain
• In 1585 Elizabeth made an alliance with the Protestants in the Netherlands to support them in their war against Spanish control
• In 1587 Elizabeth ordered the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
• In 1588 the Spanish Armada - Philip II of Spain attempted to invade England but his ships were scattered by storms and the English navy
• In the 1590s the Irish rebelled against English control; Elizabeth sent armies to try to control Ireland
• In 1600 Elizabeth welcomed the Moroccan ambassador, Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, and agreed to an alliance and a joint invasion of Spain as well as trade