Ap Euro Dbq Elizabeth the First

Previous to Elizabeth I’s reign during the age of the Religious Wars, there was a change of the role of women in the Reformation. No longer favoring monasteries and nunneries, women were idealized by the Protestants to be wives and mothers. This included many more freedoms in the sense of marriage and even minor education, however did not consist of female authority. Although Elizabeth I was not the first women ever to rule, this then led to many different attitudes towards her authority as a female, and consequently affected the way in which she exercised power. To be more specific, many of the controversial views towards Elizabeth had to do with religion, power, personal relationships, and ruling styles. As a result, these different attitudes caused Elizabeth I to exercise her powers in certain ways, depending on the circumstance. Negative attitudes based on religion caused Elizabeth to be seen religiously as an incapable ruler, positive attitudes based on her power caused Elizabeth to be act boldly and godlike, positive attitudes based on her personal relationships caused Elizabeth to be compromising and helpful to gain support from the majority and to fit her kind description, and negative attitudes based on her ruling style caused Elizabeth to portray herself to be equal and just as capable as men who rule.

Female rulers, such as Elizabeth I had to be able to handle an abundant amount of extra challenges since people were against women being in charge. Elizabeth was helped from personal relationships through a sort of advice as well as having those close to her spread good word about her. A friend of Elizabeth’s, John Aylmer wrote a pamphlet that helps her to notice that not having all power, and being a mixed ruler makes her less feared and therefore people were more likely to take other people’s sides. One should also take into consideration that Aylmer, as soon as Elizabeth took the throne, was promoted to the position of archdeaconry of Lincoln. This was after he wrote the pamphlet with the inferred intent of warning Elizabeth, showing her he could be trusted which could have assisted him getting the promotion. Aylmer had written the pamphlet supporting Elizabeth with a potential influencing factor of earning her trust (2). William Tooker, Elizabeth’s personal chaplain, described Elizabeth as almost godly through his description of what is called a “touching ceremony” that Elizabeth took part in. This helps Elizabeth look good in the eyes of those who read or heard his description, possibly gaining support on her part. While this may be biased as he was her personal chaplain and they influenced each other, by describing her in such a way was said with the intention to help promote her as a good fit to rule (6). Also to gain even more support from Elizabeth, Tooker has written a historical vindication of how the king was truly evil. This helps to give more support and light to Elizabeth.

Although some saw themselves superior to Elizabeth I due to reasons like gender, she was a very strong ruler that brought English out of devastating turmoil and into an era of flourishing economical and social stability. Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger paints a picture of Elizabeth standing on a map of England and wearing a white dress. The dress is extremely large and very decorative, there are also white pearls around her neck. The intent of this image was to portray Elizabeth as not only very powerful but also loyal to her country and herself. Because she is standing on a map of England, this further shows the iconography of this empire and how she is a powerful icon to everyone in England. The color of the dress as well as the white pearls show her purity and loyalty. Elizabeth believed she ruled by God’s grace and she chose never to get married, instead she was married to her county (5). Another person that thinks very highly of Elizabeth is William Tooker. Tooker described her as being godly possessing the ability to heal one from disease. In doing so she performed boldly with lack of disgust which shows that she is a strong person and is not intimidated by suffering. This may present a bias point of view because William Tooker was Elizabeth’s personal chaplain. Because he worked for her and they were personally involved in each other’s lives, this could sway that opinions her had about her from the opinions that everyone else had (6). Elizabeth passed the Act of Supremacy in 1559 declared her Supreme governor of the church of England. She proposed an Oath of Supremacy which required that everyone taking public or church office swear allegiance to the monarch or be faced with