Elizabeth I: Character and aims

• When Elizabeth ascended the throne at the age of 25, she was in a privileged position. At ascension, she was significantly younger than Mary I had been and significantly older than Edward had been. She had witnessed the Reformation under Henry VIII as a child; she had seen the religious reformations under her siblings as a young adult and she had seen how dangerous court life was and how people were ambitious for power. So, she had learned much from the problems and mistakes of her predecessors’ reigns.
• She was considerably better educated than her siblings.
• Due to Elizabeth having witnessed her father’s and siblings reigns and because of her political experiences, she was much shrewder when it came to politics. She was a better judge of character than Edward or Mary and so she knew who to trust and who not to trust.
• Elizabeth didn’t want to involve herself in the details of government as much as her grandfather Henry VII had done. But, she took part in decision-making processes and wanted to preserve her prerogative rights of the crown, meaning that she insisted on taking the most important decisions.

• On ascending to the throne, she had some short-term aims:
  • To consolidate her position
  • The settlement of religious issues
  • To pursue a peaceful settlement with the French
• Elizabeth needed to consolidate her position quickly because she faced several threats in her early days:
  • Legitimacy of rule (she was the ******* child of Anne Boleyn and in the eyes of Catholics, she had no right to rule).
  • Gender (she was a female Queen who refused to marry a King - Mary was England’s only experience of a female Queen and she was very unpopular).
  • Religious rebellions (by the time, she becomes Queen, religion is in a disastrous state and people no longer trust the monarchy).

• Her path to power was eased as Mary’s councillors were willing to accept her succession so she didn’t face any internal challenges from the Privy Council.
• William Cecil (later Lord Burghley) was appointed Principal Secretary. He was a skilled politician and so made sure she made the right decisions in the early days. This working political partnership lasted 40 years.
• Elizabeth appeared accustomed with the monarchical customs which pleased people.  
• She was coronated within two months of Mary’s death to ensure there were no threats to the crown.
• She received internal conformation quickly e.g. from Philip II of Spain, so she was recognised at home and abroad. Philip was a Catholic so it showed she, a Protestant Queen, had the support of a Catholic King.  

• This was one of the major priorities of the Elizabethan regime. 
• The break with Rome, coupled with the reigns of Edward and Mary had brought about a state of religious chaos - England was a divided country.
• A divided country was a weak country and this would lead her open to the threat of invasion or assassination by English Catholics. The Pope had publically declared at the start of Elizabeth's reign that she was to be excommunicated and he openly encouraged her assassination. Philip II had discouraged this action despite being a Catholic leader, but she couldn't just rely on Philip. 
• Therefore, Elizabeth worked swiftly to ease these religious tensions. 

This was also known as the Religious Settlement of 1559 and it came in three parts:

1. The Act of Supremacy
The Act restored royal supremacy of the Church. It meant that to defy a monarch would mean that you were defying God. The Queen was the 'supreme governor' not the 'supreme head' as Henry VIII had been - this was a consession to the Catholics so that they would find the act easier to accept. Clergymen and church officials would have to take an oath accepting supremacy and there were penalties for refusing to do so.

2. The Act of Uniformity
This act dealt with doctrine issues. It specified the use of the Single Book of Common Prayer which was largely based on the Protestant book Cranmer introduced in 1552. This act tried to find some common ground between Catholics and Protestants so that believers would be unified. The book was not as strong as Edward's Book of Common Prayer and Elizabeth deliberately kept the wording vague to try to avoid offending either Catholics or extreme Protestants (Puritans). Catholics believe in consubstantiation - the bread and wine is Jesus' body and blood. Protestants believe in transubstantiation - the bread and the wine are the spirit of his body and blood. So, variations in the Eucharist were possible in this book. The Act also stated that the decoration of churches, the altar and the Crucifix remained which was another concession to the Catholics. 

3. Royal injunctions
These were direct instructions and rules about the conduct of church services e.g. all clergymen must wear clerical dress. There were to be church visits to ensure that these injunctions were being followed, but Elizabeth was careful not to impose harsh punishments for those that weren't following them, so they would first be given a warning and a fine. This is because she wanted loyalty above all else, showing that she was tolerant to individuals' personal beliefs as long as they showed loyalty to the Queen. She stated herself "that she did not want to make windows into men's souls". Perhaps this is another way she had learned from her predecessors' mistakes. 

• There has been much debate amongst historians about the success or impact of the settlement. Many believe that the impact was mixed. 
• The most dominant interpretation is put forward by John Neale: He argued that success was mixed as the Queen faced opposition from protestant clergymen over the Catholic concessions (he calls this the 'Puritan Choir'). She had had to back down and accept a much more Protestant prayer book and settlement than she had wanted.
• Winthrop Hudson argued that Elizabeth always wanted the Settlement to be Protestant, but she had to appear like she wanted it to be more Catholic to perhaps try to keep support in the House of Lords. Norman Jones supports this as he claims that Elizabeth and her ministers faced much of their opposition from the Catholic bishops and conservative members of the House of Lords rather than the 'Puritan Choir'. The bishops and House of Lords peers accepted royal supremacy but opposed the Act of Uniformity which was only passed in the House of Lords by three votes.

France

• When Elizabeth came to the throne, England was in conflict with France. Elizabeth wanted to end this conflict because she had no money and wars are costly. The war with France had gone very badly for England because it had lost Calais and had severely weakened the Crown's finances.
• She was lucky as Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France wanted to end the war too due to a lack of finances.
• In April 1559, a peace treaty was agreed: the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis. Engalnd and France came to an agreement over Calais:
  • France would own Calais for eight years and if England kept peace during that time, England could have it back.
  • If France failed to return Calais, they would have to pay England 500,000 crowns. 
• This temporarily ended tension with France. 

• In the early days of her reign, she had wanted peace with France, but by 1562, the situation in France had changed: there was conflict between Catholics and Protestants. So, France was now facing the same internal conflict England had faced.
• Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester) encouraged Elizabeth to put military pressure on the French crown; it was in a relatively weak state and they wanted to ensure the return of Calais. Rather than helping the French Crown, she promised the Prince of Conde, the Huguenot (French Protestant) leader, 6000 men and a loan of £30,000, with control of the port of La Havre as security.
• But, the Huguenot army was defeated and Conde was captured and the Duke of Guise, the leader of the Catholics, was assassinated, so both sides were leaderless. This resulted in the French factions agreeing to peace and uniting against the English in La Havre. Therefore, England had to agree to unfavourable peace terms at the Treaty of Troyes in 1564.
• This weakened Elizabeth's prestige and resulted in the permanent loss of Calais. As a result, she became much more cautious about supporting Protestant causes in Europe. 

Scotland

• Scotland was a problem for Elizabeth as it had the 'Auld Alliance' with the French. They both posed a threat e.g. if France wanted to invade England, they could invade through Scotland. France and Scotland were intertwined in the issues they presented to foreign policy.
• In June 1559, Henry II of France dies and is succeeded by his eldest son Francis II whose wife was Mary, Queen of Scots - Elizabeth's cousin and a Catholic; she had a legitimate Catholic claim to the throne. Some argued that she had more right to be Queen than Elizabeth, as some still believed Elizabeth was illegitimate.
• Francis came from the Catholic Guise family - they saw Scotland as an instrument of French foreign policy. French troops were sent to guard major Scottish fortresses. This created conflict with Scottish protestants who were led by John Knox. They asked for help from England. But, Elizabeth was reluctant: she loathed John Knox who had written against the 'monstrous regiment of women'. Cecil strongly supported intervention - he sympathised with the Scottish Protestants; knew that England would be more secure without a French force in Scotland; he wanted to remove Mary, Queen of Scots to weaken her claim and wanted to incorporate Scotland into the British empire. 
• Cecil played on Elizabeth's insecurities to persuade her to intervene - he spoke about how Francis and Mary had used the royal coat of arms and threatened to resign if she did not intervene. 

• At first, the intervention was limited due to lack of money and weapons. But by the end of 1559, the navy was sent to stop reinforcements from the French reaching Scotland. In the Treaty of Berwick of 1560, the Lords of the Congregation were offered conditional support and in Mary 1560 an army was sent north. The army and navy blockaded Leith where a lot of the French force were. The siege failed but the French fleet was severely damaged and the regent Mary of Guise died. So, Cecil was able to secure favourable terms in the Treaty of Edinburgh.
• The Lords of the Congregation were accepted as the provisional conciliar government. When Francis II died in December, the Guises fell from power and Mary, Queen of Scots no longer had influence on French policy and she had to return to Scotland. The Scottish protestants' interests had been protected and the Mary Stuart's political influence had been significantly reduced.

• Despite her problems in foreign policy, Elizabeth had made an impressive start as Queen.
• She had skilfully managed her accession and coronation.
• She had achieved a religious settlement which had tried, with some success, to be quite comprehensive. 
• There were still unanswered questions about marriage and succession.