1558-1603: Queen Elizabeth I

"Men fight wars. Woman win them." Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I ascended the throne of England in 1558. This date is marked by many historians as a turning point in England’s very long drawn out history of disappointing monarchs. Elizabeth I would become a monarch that England would be proud of.

Queen Elizabeth I changed the way women in positions of power were viewed.

At this point in time, people believed that women were inferior to men. However, there are always exceptions to rules, and Elizabeth believed that she was an exception to this rule. Elizabeth believed that she was equal to, or superior to the men she was surrounded by.

She was the exception, and this belief made her determined to rule her Kingdom how she saw fit. She would command complete authority over her court, over her army, and over her government. She would win wars by riding into battle with her men. She acted like a King.

She would never taking a husband. Her 'single' status became one of the cornerstones of her success: it secured her place in history as the Virgin Queen of England. Being a woman enabled her to stand out in a world dominated by men – and to dominate these men in return.

Elizabethan England flourished under the rule of their Queen.

When Elizabeth died in 1603, her Kingdom mourned. The next monarch was weak and the English people longed for the days when they had been ruled by a woman named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth’s greatest triumph, it seems, was to make the people fall in love with queens.

"I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married."

Queen Elizabeth I

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