‘Queen Elizabeth 1 was a very successful ruler who managed to overcome the problems she came to the throne.’
MRI: To always include explanations to my points to improve them. To always explain the main key points.
Target: 7b
It has been debated by historians to the extent to which Elizabeth was a successful ruler. In this essay, I’m going to discuss whether or not, this statement is true.
During Elizabeth’s colourful 45 year reign, England became the leading protestant power and established her basis as a colonial power. However, her time as queen was not simple and many people who disagreed with her choices made it known.
Source one strongly suggests Elizabeth was a successful leader. This is implied by Elizabeth herself as she thought she had ‘the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.’ Elizabeth was underestimated and while she did not like the thought of everyone seeing her differently, she used it to her advantage to make people see she was more capable than most. Furthermore, since the source was written and said by Elizabeth in 1588 to rally her troops and get ready for the invasion, it is reliable. From what I have read, I can strongly say that because Elizabeth is trying to motivate her troops, it shows that she is a powerful leader even if she may be lying. Elizabeth managed to successfully lead her people in war. She defeated the most powerful man in the world, King Phillip of Spain, when he sent his Armada against the country in the summer of 1588. This alone made her prosperous. Elizabeth had been careful to nurture the navy and her efforts had paid off well. The defeat of the Armada was her finest hour and showed people that she was capable. This defeat has gone down in history as one of the greatest English victories at sea.
Queen Elizabeth did not marry therefore meaning she left no heir to continue on after she had died. Many people agreed that her ‘refusal to marry threatened the future of the Tudors.’ This second source is implying that Elizabeth’s choice to not marry affected everyone else. I can learn from this source that the modern historian who wrote this thought that it was ‘sheer stubbornness’ that caused her to act like this. However, because this source is written by a modern historian, it is likely to be less reliable because there isn’t a specific date for when this was written meaning that this historian might have not been present at the time. It shows that he would not know all facts so the historian would have looked through different sources to get his information or just looked at one. The historian could have also emphasised things more so people could see his side and agree with him. This writer is very critical of Queen Elizabeth saying negative things such as ‘she was not always an easy monarch to be around at court’ to make her look bad. From my own knowledge, I can say that this made Elizabeth unsuccessful as she did not consider what would happen when she died. Although this source is one sided and not fully reliable, Elizabeth is also at fault for not thinking of her beloved country.
Source 3 indicates that Elizabeth was a ‘remarkable queen’ which is clear from the fact that ‘she reigned for 45 years’. I can gain information from the source that Elizabeth was careful and ‘kept her kingdom in peace’. Despite the fact that it was written by a foreign visitor to England in 1607 shortly after Elizabeth’s death, it is possible for this to be very unreliable as it was written after Elizabeth’s death and the writer was a visitor. This means that the writer does not live there and therefore does not fully understand what went on. Moreover, the visitor would just be going on by what they have heard from other people’s point of view or read consequently making this unreliable. From my own judgement, I can say that despite the fact that this source is unreliable, Elizabeth did succeed in uniting her people in a world that was divided by religious