Queen Elizabeth

When Elizabeth mounted the throne, it was taken for granted that she was to marry, and marry with the least possible delay. This was expected of her, not merely because in the e...

Sovereigns and statesmen in the sixteenth century are to be honoured or condemned according to the degree in which they aimed on the one hand at preserving political order, and...

The year 1572 witnessed two events of capital importance in European history: the rising in the Netherlands, which resulted in the establishment of the Dutch Republic (April); a...

Elizabeth is not seen at her best in war. She did not easily resign herself to its sacrifices. It frightened her to see the money which she had painfully put together, pound by...

From the beginning of the reign Cecil had never ceased to impress upon his mistress that a French or Spanish invasion on behalf of the Pope might at any time be expected, and th...

The successful wars waged by Edward III. and Henry V. are apt to cause an exaggerated estimate of the strength of England under the Tudors. The population--Wales included--was p...

It was a boast of Elizabeth that when once her servants were chosen she did not lightly displace them. Difference of opinion from their mistress, or from one another, did not in...

We are now approaching the great crisis of the reign--some may think of English history--the grand struggle with Spain; a struggle which, if Elizabeth had allowed herself to be...

The death of Mary Stuart did something to simplify parties in Scotland; and, if her son had possessed the qualities of a ruler, he would have had a better chance of reducing his...

Throgmorton’s plot--of which the Queen of Scots was undoubtedly cognisant, though it was not pressed against her--brought home to every one the danger in which Elizabeth stood (...

Mary died on the 17th of November 1558. Parliament was then sitting, and, in communicating the event to both Houses, Archbishop Heath frankly took the initiative in recognising...

I have to deal, under strict limitations of space, with a long life, almost the whole of its adult period passed in the exercise of sovereignty--a life which is in effect the hi...