Elizabeth I

(1533-1603)

   "Good Queen Bess" was born at Greenwich, London, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The last of the Tudor monarchs, she reigned as queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. The kingdom she inherited was torn between the Puritans who had prospered under Edward VI and the Catholics who had benefited under Mary. England was losing possessions in France, and France supported Mary Stuart's claim to the English throne. Eventually Elizabeth had Mary (Queen of Scots, Elizabeth's cousin, a pawn in the hands of her unscrupulous nobles) imprisoned and executed in 1587. The Elizabethan Age saw massive expansion in commerce and the arts. Literature blossomed through the works of Spenser, Marlowe and Shakespeare (see entries). Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh (see entry) were instrumental in expanding English influence in the New World. She died at Richmond and is buried in Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey. She was succeeded by Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland. Some of her poems: "Doubt of Future Foes," "On Fortune," "On Monsieur's Departure," "The Queen's Answer," "When I Was Fair and Young," "Written on a Wall at Woodstock."

   Sources: Britannia (http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon45.html). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. ChadwyckHealey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Encyclopedia of Britain. Bamber Gascoigne. London: Macmillan, 1994. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 4th ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stal, eds. W.W. Norton, 1996. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Women Poets. Carol Cosman, Joan Keefe and Kathleen Weaver, eds. Penguin Books, 1978. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).