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Elizabeth was a well-educated, remarkable woman. When she became Queen in 1558, she wanted to find peaceful answers to the English Reformation. She wanted to bring together again those parts of English society which were in religious disagreement. And she wanted to make England prosperous. Elizabeth made sure that the Church was still under her control, unlike politically dangerous forms of Protestantism in Europe. Elizabeth decided on the book of sermons to be used in church. It mostly consisted of Bible teaching, but also taught people that rebellion against the Crown was a sin against the God.
The struggle between Catholics and Protestants continued to endanger Elizabeth’s position for the next thirty years. Both France and Spain were Catholic. Spain controlled the Netherlands and France controlled Scotland. To all true Catholics Elizabeth still remained illegitimate, but Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotts, the great granddaughter of Henry VII Tudor by his eldest daughter Margaret was supported in her claim to the English throne as the rightful queen of England. Soon Mary Queen of Scots had to find shelter in England as she had made enemies with some Scottish nobles. Mary’s presence in England provoked rebellions and plots against Elizabeth. Elizabeth had to keep her prisoner for almost twenty years and during that time she discovered several secret Catholic plots to make Mary Queen of England. In 1587 the Parliament demanded Mary’s death and Elizabeth “had” to agree: Mary was executed.
Elizabeth was a good diplomat and maintained the balance of power in Europe. English ships were attacking Spanish ships on their way back home from America but English captains Drake and Raleigh, Hawkins and Frobisher – the sea dogs – tried to seem private adventurers, though they shared what they got with their beloved queen.
The Spanish Crown was angry and began to gather forces to attack England. In 1587 Francis Drake attacked the Spanish fleet and destroyed a great number of ships.
In 1588 the Armada, the Great Spanish Fleet was preparing to attack England. The Spanish king hoped England had enough Catholics to help him. Elizabeth called her soldiers together and said: “I am come … to live and die amongst you all, to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” The Spanish Armada was defeated more by bad weather than by English guns. For England it was a glorious moment, but it did not lead to an end of the war with Spain, and England had to spend more than ever on England’s defence. The wars against Spain and in Ireland with rebellions were expensive - Elizabeth was £400,000 in debt when she died.
In 1603 the choice of successor was not easy, as Elizabeth was the last of Henry VIII's children and none of them had any children themselves. Elizabeth delayed making her choice of successor until she was on her death bed. Her successor would be James Stuart, King of Scotland, and son of Mary Queen of Scots, whom Elizabeth had executed as a traitor.
Elizabeth's reign brought in one of the most glorious eras of British history: exploration, colonisation, victory in war, and growing world importance. The Arts flourished, this was the age of Shakespeare and Bacon. It was the age of the sea voyages and discoveries. Drake's voyage round the world in the Golden Hind started in 1577 and took 3 years. Though he did not find Australia or the North West passage, he brought back great wealth from raids on the Spanish possessions in the Pacific and from ships of spices. Drake was the first Briton to sail round the world.
This was also the England of Shakespeare, Marlow and Bacon. Shakespeare left Stratford upon Avon in 1587, and by 1599 he was the part owner of the Globe playhouse in London. He wrote his plays while in London, and retired to Stratford in 1611, where he died in 1616.
Education was further developing. Many Grammar schools were founded. Harrow and Rugby admitted clever boys as well as rich ones and were called ‘public schools’.
Elizabeth’s reign was called “the Golden Age”, the most colourful and splendid in English history.
The reign of Stuarts started with James I, the great-grandson of Henry VII. The Stuarts were less successful than the Tudors. The only king of England ever executed was a Stuart.
The king James was clever and educated. He believed that the King was chosen by God and only God could judge him. No doubt he quarreled a lot with the Parliament and in 1611-1621 managed to rule the country without it.
On November 5th in 1605 the famous Gunpowder Plot was revealed. A small group of Catholics were caught trying to blow up Houses of parliament with King James inside. Every year the British celebrate this day as Guy Fawkes day in memory of the main character of the drama.
Charles I immediately came in to conflict with Parliament. He tried to rule without summoning parliament for 11 years, but eventually ran out of money, and had to summon Parliament. They refused him money, and the country split between supporters of the king and supporters of parliament. The failure of both James and his son Charles I to understand the English tradition of parliamentary liberty led eventually to civil war.
The Civil War started. Parliament was supported by the navy, most of the merchants and by the population of London. In 1645 Cromwell, a farmer in the past and a great military leader of Parliamentarian Army now, won the decisive Battle of Naseby. Charles was captured and put on trial for treason in 1649. He refused to recognize the court, however he was found guilty. 59 republicans signed the death warrant. Oliver Cromwell publicly accepted the title of Lord protector of a United Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland and the colonies. Cromwell dissolved parliament with the words "Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" It was the start of England's only period of dictatorship. Cromwell was unable to find anything to replace the monarchy. When he died in 1658 his son Richard succeeded him, but he was not a man to rule Britain, and in 1660 Charles II was restored to the throne his father had died for.
Soon after that Britain had two major catastrophes - the Plague in 1665. 70,000 died in London alone and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
The ideology of the rising classes in England in the first half of the 17th century was Puritanism. Puritans demanded a direct contact with God without anyone between Man and God and denied Church as an unnecessary institution. This belief was especially popular among the merchant class and the lesser gentry, who understood the Bible in a new way. As a result, Puritanism led to the formation of a large number of new religious groups or “sects”. The biggest of those sects (also known as Noncomformists) were the Baptists and Quakers. For some Noncomformists the opposition to their belief was too great to accept. They left Britain to live a free life in the new found land of America. In 1620 they sailed in a ship “Mayflower” to Massachusetts. They became known as the 'Pilgrim Fathers', and are often portrayed as the founders of modern America. In reality, the first permanent British colony in North America was Jamestown in Virginia, founded by Captain John Smith in 1607.
Charles II produced no legitimate heirs, and it was his Catholic brother James II who succeeded him in 1685. Britain had briefly been republic, but it was now back to Protestant and Catholic kings.
In 1714 there were a lot of people available to be king of England - unfortunately most of them were Catholic. George I was a German who did not speak a word of English, but was Protestant. So started the rule of the House of Hanover, under whom Britain achieved wealth and peace over the next century.
With foreign kings parliament became more powerful, and the leading politician was Walpole who was prime minister until 1742. He avoided the expense of war, and Britain prospered.