General Chat

Elizabeth I
Queen of England
1533 - 1603
Be ye ensured that I will be as good unto you
as ever a Queen was unto her people.

—Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace, London, England, an estate of her Father, King Henry VIII. Elizabeth's mother was Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth became Queen of England in 1558 and reigned until her death in 1603. Her reign is often called the Golden Age of England because it was a time of great achievement and prosperity.

Elizabeth never married. She entertained both Protestant and Catholic suitors while committing to no one. She used her single status as a policy tool. By entertaining Catholic suitors she kept hostile Catholic monarchs at bay, and English Catholics loyal to her government. At one point it appeared she was interested in one of her subjects, Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. She avoided entering a marriage with Sir Robert because the match lacked any political benefits.

Elizabeth succeeded in furthering England's interests in the face of foreign threats and religious unrest at home. Highlights of her reign include making the Church of England (a Protestant denomination) the state religion, while avoiding war with the powerful Roman Catholic nations of Europe; the English navy defeated of the Spanish Armada; English merchant ships challenged Spanish preeminence on the high seas; the first settlers were sent to America to open the way for a great colonial empire, and England's economy flourished. The English court became a center for writers, musicians, and scholars. English literature thrived during this period, with Francis Bacon composing his Essays, and William Shakespeare writing his great works of drama and poetry.

Problems at home marked the end of Elizabeth's reign. The Irish rebelled and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex led a rebellion against the government.

On March 23, 1603, Elizabeth died. When she came to power England was an insignificant country. When she died it was a major European power. Elizabeth was the last legitimate decendant of Henry VIII. She was succeeded by James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband, Elizabeth's cousin Lord Darnley.

This piece says it all for me. She was a magnificent queen who made Every effort to help her country and its people. A role model for he people

Bridget
07.05hrs Spain

GOLDEN AGE IS TOMORROW
THINGS ARE CHANGING ALL THE TIME

GOLDEN AGE IS TOMORROW
THINGS ARE CHANGING ALL THE TIME

Your granddaughter has the right idea. ;)

"The good old days" were good ... for the people they were actually good for ... and usually very bad indeed for the rest.

When I asked my 8 year old grand daughter what era she'd like to live in, she said this one.
When asked why (visons of DS's,TV etc welling in my mind), she said 'Because children - especially girls - were treated really badly in the past!!'
That girl will go far! :o)

Got to be the Victorian age when the Empire stretched over the world only thing is we are all now paying for all the treasures our ancestors plundered from the Empire.

The sixties (London) none of the restrictions of the fifties. The feeling of can do. Freedom, fashion, no credit, feeling of safety - able to walk the streets at night. No doom and gloom.

Vera

"And then better times come, and they forget, and start letting what they built up fall apart ..."

I reckon that about sums it up Janey.

Oh what an interesting topic, it certainly caught my eye. Going to think about this and then come back.

Bridget

We (well, on my chesterfield) have tremendous admiration for what you on that side built up in the years after WWII -- the public services like health care and old age pensions that are the hallmark of a modern nation in the modern world. You were in the vanguard with things like the NHS, along with the rest of Europe, but it just seems that you worked at it with such dedication.

Maybe if the whole infrastructure of society on this side of the ocean had been knocked out the way it was in Britain during the war, that would have been the opportunity for progress like that here.

As it was, we in Canada didn't get the kinds of social benefits you had until later ... and the US hasn't made it into that part of the last century even yet ...

We had much more prosperous economic times here after the war than you did, so I guess it seemed less necessary. It takes hardship for people to pull together?

And then better times come, and they forget, and start letting what they built up fall apart ...

LOL Cat good answer :))

It began in 1971 and will continue for as long as I exist ;-)

and why?


The Elizabethan period, with exploration, relative peace and stability , and the works of Shakespeare!.

The Georgian period, with Jane Austen, beautiful architecture, the campaigns for social change re slavery and prison reform, the works of the romantic poets

The Victorian era
days of Empire and industrialisation.

The Edwardian period, before WW1 when the issue of women's suffrage began to bite, but when the class divisions were strict,.The first transatlantic wireless signals were sent and the Wright brothers flew.

WW2 when the whole country and its allies were united in a common fight.

or 'modern Britain' from the 50s on which has changed so much, the burgeoning freedoms of the 60s, the relaxed 70s, all the mod cons we now take for granted,the rise and rise of the motorcar.


We all say 'thing's aren't what they used to be', but did our ancestors also say that? Or would that really only have applied to our 'well off ' ancestors...would the poor ones have seen any 'glory' to hark back to?

( thanks to HH for the idea of the thread).