Queen Elizabeth The Golden Age

Queen Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603. This period was known as both the Golden Age and the Elizabethan Era. It was a period in which England prospered and its economy grew. The Golden Age was a period of literature and peace for England. Elizabeth’s half sister Mary I was queen for five years and during her reign England was put in a lot of debt and the economy was horrible. When Elizabeth’s forty-five year reign was over England was prospering. Elizabeth I was born heir to the throne but raised in poverty only to become queen for forty-five years after the death of her father, half brother, and finally her half sister. Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She was their only surviving child.

Seymour was an ambitious man and is said to have loved power more than anything. He quickly devised a plan to marry Elizabeth. All he wanted was to marry Elizabeth and become king. Elizabeth soon fell in love with him and is said to have been caught kissing him by Catherine Parr. Soon after leaving she sent Parr an apology letter showing that she was not completely innocent in the whole situation. Catherine Parr died on September 5, 1548 and after her death Seymour got an active interest in Elizabeth’s property and began questioning her steward. However on March 29, 1549, Thomas Seymour was executed and all Elizabeth had to say was “There died a man with much wit and very little judgement (Zamoyska).” Edward VI died of Tuberculosis at age fifteen and his half sister Mary I was crowned. During Mary’s reign Thomas Wyatt, a Protestant, led a rebellion against her and Elizabeth was sent to the Tower as a prisoner for being suspected of consulting with Wyatt about the rebellion. When Mary died after a five year reign she was married to Philip II of Spain, childless, and England was in major debt from wars between Spain and France. Mary I was also the original Bloody Mary because she killed thousands of protestants. Elizabeth wept at Mary’s deathbed but no one knows if it was for her dead sister or because she knew how hard it would be to be