Queen Elizabeth

...A long life almost the whole of its adult period passed in the exercise of sovereignty – a life which is in effect the history of England during forty-five years abounding at the same time in personal interest and the subject both in its public and private aspects of fierce and probably interminable controversies... - Edward Spencer Beesly. There have been many greater statesmen than Elizabeth. She was far from being an admirable type of womanhood... However few rulers have had to contend with such formidable and complicated difficulties as the English Queen. Few have surmounted them so triumphantly... - E.S.B.. Contents - Early Life: 1533-1558. The Change of Religion: 1559. Foreign Relations: 1559-1563. Elizabeth and Mary Stuart: 1559-1568. Aristocratic Plots: 1568-1572. Foreign Affairs: 1572-1583. The Papal Attack: 1570-1583. The Protectorate of the Netherlands: 1584-86. Execution of the Queen of Scots: 1584-1587. War with Spain: 1587-1603. Domestic Affairs: 1588-1601. Last Years and Death: 1601-1603.