ELIZABETH, queen of England: b. Green wich, 7 Sept. 1533; d. Richmond, Surrey, 24 March 1603. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and of Anne I3oleyn. After her mother had been beheaded (1536) both she and her sis ter Mary were declared bastards, but finally site was placed after Prince Edward and the Lady Mary in the order of succession. Thus, while the first two marriages of King Henry were both still held to be illegal, the children of both were legitimized. Elizabeth received a classical education, as was customary with women of rank in her time, and under her tutor, Roger Ascham, is said to have attained very consider able proficiency in Latin and Greek. During. her father's life, as well as in the reign of her brother, various negotiations were entered into for her marriage. The duke of Angoukme and Philip of Spain, who afterward married her sister, were among the matches proposed for her ; but the only affair of this kind in which she may be supposed to have been personally inter ested was the suit of Lord Seymour of Dudley, the Protector Somerset's brother. It is certain that even during the life of Catharine Parr, the widow of Henry VIII, whom he married, his attentions to the Lady Elizabeth were only too well encouraged. Both before this marriage and after the death of his wife he was a suitor for the hand. of the princess; but his ambitious designs in this and other matters were not coun tenanced by the council, and ultimately cost him his life.
On the death of King Edward, Elizabeth vigorously supported the title of Queen Mary against the pretensions of Lady Jane Grey, by which her own title as well as her sister's were barred. She rode to meet her sister, accom partied by 1,000 horse, and this bold proceeding was of no small service in confirming the doubt ful in their allegiance; but Elizabeth gained lit tle for herself by a policy in which it was well understood site had her own interest in view. After Wyatt's conspiracy her life was in great danger, and was probably saved only by the in tercession of Philip. She was committed to the Tower, from whence she was removed to Wood stock, where she was confined with great strict ness. She afterward, through Philip's interces sion, obtained greater liberty; but throughout the whole reign continued an object of suspicion and surveillance. The danger she now incurred developed traits in her character which ever after continued conspicuous, her prudent self control and power of dissimulation. She made every demonstration not only of conformity, but of zealous adherence to the established re ligion. Her conduct in this must not be judged• from the point of view of rigid Protestantism, which Elizabeth never professed; but there were some at least among the Roman Catholic ceremonies and customs to which she could not be supposed to give a sincere adherence. Never theless, her simulated zeal must have been well and ably sustained, for her conduct was not left to the report of friends, but carefully watched by spies and informers. Philip was most anxious to have her married out of the kingdom; and if the Duke of Savoy, whom he proposed, was unacceptable from his Roman Catholicism, there was Eric, son of the king of Sweden, who long after continued to press his suit; but Elizabeth refused both. She felt
in herself a capacity for rule, and her sister's in health opened up for her an early prospect of the throne, which she was tmwilling to peril. Mary's reign was not without advantage to Elizabeth. It tried her councillors as well as herself, and gave her the opportunity of select ing them to advantage. Her adviser throughout the whole of it was William Cecil, afterward Lord Burleigh, who had already been a minister under Edward VI, and continued for the rest of his life to be one of the chief councillors and ablest ministers of Elizabeth, to whom he was in many respects a congenial spirit.
On 17 Nov. 1558 Mary's disastrous reign came to a close, and Elizabeth was immediately recognized queen by Parliament. Oil entering LoMon she was met by the bishops, whom she permitted to kiss her hand, with the exception of Bonner, ((whom she omitted for sundry severities in the time of his authority?' It was now that the caution and secrecy characteristic equally of Elizabeth and Cecil, and which en abled them to do such great things, appeared in spontaneous exercise, The Rornan Catholic re ligion was still predominant in the House of Lords, and any attempt to overthrow it suddenly might have been attended with the greatest danger. Elizabeth made no immediate change in her habits. For a full month the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church were retained in all their state. A solemn funeral service was held for Queen Mary in Westminster Abbey, at her interment on 13 December. The Queen even intimated her accession to the Pope. She re tained the greater part of her sister's council, choosing only seven new councillors, who were Protestants, it is true, but not then Icnown as such. Like Cecil and herself, they had all con forrned, and possessed the necessary qualifica tion for Elizabethan councillors of accomplished dissimulation. Such were her difficulties, not withstanding her great prudence, that at her coronation only one of all the bishops, Ogle thorpe of Carlisle, could be found to set the crown on her head. The obstacle lay in the terms of thz oath Of allegiance, which affirtned that the sovereign was the supreme head of the Church, and to which no loyal Catholic could subscribe. She had also before this authorized the reading of the liturgy in English. The first great object of her reign was the settlement of religion. A Parliament was immediately called, to which this work was assigned. It met on 25 January, and was dissolved 8 May, but its object was already accomplished. The nation was pre pared for a return to the reformed faith or rather to the via media which is embodied in the Anglican Church — and Parliament was at the bidding of the court. The reformation of re ligion in England was the work of Cranmer, and had already been accomplished in the reign of Edward VI; the re-establishment of the ecclesi astical system of the national Church on the basis on which it has remained to the present day was the work of Cecil and Elizabeth, and it was nearly completed in this Parliament. Eliza beth had less extreme opinions than many sup-.