Stephen Lee - The Reign of Elizabeth I: 1558-1603

Covering the period from 1558 to 1603, The Reign of Elizabeth I looks at all the important aspects of the reign of the last of the Tudor monarchs. Using a range of sources and considering the ideas of different historians, Stephen J. Lee covers government and foreign policy, Elizabeths relations with Parliament, the religious settlement, the reactions of Catholics and Puritans, aspects of the economy, society and culture, and connections between England and the Celtic regions of the British Isles. Each chapter combines a historiographical survey with historical analysis.

Stephen J. Lee was formerly head of history at Bromsgrove School. He has published over twenty books, including European Dictatorships (2nd edition, Routledge, 2000) and, in this series, Gladstone and Disraeli (Routledge, 2005).

Edited by Stephen J. Lee, Sean Lang and Jocelyn Hunt

Other titles in the series:

Modern History

Imperial Germany, 18711918

Stephen J. Lee

The Weimar Republic

Stephen J. Lee

Hitler and Nazi Germany

Stephen J. Lee

The Spanish Civil War

Andrew Forrest

The Cold War

Bradley Lightbody

Stalin and the Soviet Union

Stephen J. Lee

Parliamentary Reform, 17851928

Sean Lang

British Foreign and Imperial Policy, 18651919

Graham D. Goodlad

The French Revolution

Jocelyn Hunt

The First World War

Ian C. Cawood and David McKinnon-Bell

Anglo-Irish Relations, 17981922

Nick Pelling

Churchill

Samantha Heywood

Mussolini and Fascism

Patricia Knight

Lenin and Revolutionary Russia

Stephen J. Lee

Gladstone and Disraeli

Stephen J. Lee

Russia and the USSR, 18551991

Stephen J. Lee

Early Modern History

The English Wars and Republic, 16361660

Graham E. Seel

The Renaissance

Jocelyn Hunt

Tudor Government

T. A. Morris

Spain, 14741598

Jocelyn Hunt

The Early Stuart Kings, 16031642

Graham E. Seel and David L. Smith

The Mid Tudors: Edward VI and Mary, 15471558

Stephen J. Lee

First published 2007

by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2007 Stephen J. Lee

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Lee, Stephen J., 1945

Reign of Elizabeth I / Stephen J. Lee.

p. cm. (Questions and analysis in history)

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 15331603. 2. Great BritainHistory

Elizabeth, 15581603. 3. Great BritainPolitics and government15581603.

4. Great BritainHistoryElizabeth, 15581603Historiography. 5. Great

BritainHistoryElizabeth, 15581603Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title.

DA355.L36 2007

942.055dc22

2007007660

ISBN13: 978-0-415-30212-8 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-30213-5 (pbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-08947-7 (ebk)

The Questions and Analysis series is based on the belief that the student actively benefits from explicit interpretation of key issues and help with source-based technique. Each volume therefore separates narrative from analysis and sources; it follows an overall structure of Background, Analyses and Sources.

This volume, The Reign of Elizabeth I, adds a further dimension. Sixth-form and university courses have given more and more importance to historical debates, requiring proficiency in historiography as well as in history. The format takes this development into account. Some Analyses focus mainly on historical explanation, some on historiographical interpretation; many provide a combination of the two. The number of Analyses in each chapter depends on appropriate subdivisions of the topic covered. About half the Sources are primary, while the remainder are secondary, giving examples of differing lines of interpretation. Suggested approaches are provided to one source-based question in each of .

It is hoped that the student or general reader will want to contribute to the debate in these chapters. Having a wide range of ideas is bound to stimulate more. Provided that they can be substantiated, they are all valid and they all count. This is what makes history so creative.

Elizabeth is generally seen as one of the most popular monarchs in the whole of English history. From the time that she ascended the throne she was always far more accessible to the people than were other rulers. She courted popularity more directly and assiduously than any of her predecessors or successors, partly through official propaganda, partly through her own actions and speeches (see Source 1.3 below).

Her attributes have been extensively documented in many biographies. Her key strength was a strong intellect. She was a classical scholar, adept in both Latin and Greek, and also acquired linguistic skills in French, Italian and Spanish. Such academic abilities and skills could be put to direct practical use. She was able to bring sharp powers of analysis to the political process and therefore saw through carelessly constructed arguments. Similarly she was able more than most other monarchs and certainly more so than Mary or Henry VIII to disconnect her own personal feelings from the political issues over which she presided. In this respect her intellect was very much in control of her emotions. She also displayed total self-confidence, although she was cautious and circumspect in her dealings with officials or with foreign ambassadors. She was able to castigate verbally anyone from ministers of state down to members of her household, and had a particular dislike of the obvious pursuit of self-interest. By and large, she recognised qualities in others and was a good judge of character when it came to making a choice of ministers. She was also inclined to pragmatic opportunism and was instinctively distrustful of positions based on ideology.

Elizabeth did, however, possess a number of serious defects which at times impeded the process of effective government. She frequently became involved in minor issues, finding it hard to delegate. It was also very difficult to obtain a decision from the Queen: she was notorious both for her procrastination and for her sudden changes of mind. This was partly because she was able to see so many different sides to an issue and wanted to explore the intricacies involved. There were also contradictions in her personality: she combined nervous energy and occasional lethargy; charm and irritability; resolution and indecision; self-control and temper. Although she has been praised for her religious moderation, she could as easily fall behind draconian measures: for example, her reign (15581603) produced 65 per cent of the documented cases of torture during the period 15401640. Examples of all these areas of her personality will be found throughout this book.