Describe the relationship between Parliament and England’s monarchs in the 1600s
Answers
Answer:
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death in 1603. She succeeded her Roman Catholic half-sister, Mary to the throne. Elizabeth never married nor had children and thus was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
Mary’s marriage to Philip II of Spain contributed to the complex relations between England and Spain that after Mary’s death dominated Elizabeth’s reign in the realm of international relations.
Elizabeth’s efforts led to the Religious Settlement, a legal process by which the Protestant Church of England was restored and the queen took the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Elizabeth’s foreign policy was largely defensive. While she managed to establish diplomatic relations with some of the most powerful contemporary empires and supported Protestant struggles across Europe, her greatest foreign policy challenge was Catholic Spain and its Armada, over which England eventually triumphed.
Establishing the Roanoke Colony and chartering the East India Company during Elizabeth’s reign was an onset of what would turn into the powerful British Empire.
The Elizabethan age inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the Spanish.
Key Terms
Anglo-Spanish War: An intermittent conflict (1585–1604) between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England’s military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands in support of the resistance of the States General to Spanish Habsburg rule.
French Catholic League: A major participant in the French Wars of Religion, formed by Henry I, Duke of Guise, in 1576. It intended the eradication of Protestants—also known as Calvinists or Huguenots—out of Catholic France during the Protestant Reformation, as well as the replacement of King Henry III. Pope Sixtus V, Philip II of Spain, and the Jesuits were all supporters of this Catholic party.
Religious Settlement: A legal process by which the Protestant Church of England was restored. It was made during the reign of Elizabeth I in response to the religious divisions in England. Described as “The Revolution of 1559,” it was set out in two acts of the Parliament of England. The Act of Supremacy of 1558 re-established the Church of England’s independence from Rome, while the Act of Uniformity of 1559 outlined what form the English Church should take.
Spanish Armada: A Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruña in August 1588 with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of Protestantism in England.
Roanoke Colony: A colony established on Roanoke Island, in what is today’s Dare County, North Carolina, United States. It was a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement. The colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. The colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War, three years after the last shipment of supplies from England.
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