The England The Elizabethan Age Queen Elizabeth came to the throne of of Elizabeth England in 1558 and her reign is the most wonderful in the history of the country. It was a marvelous time, in which every human endeavor was at the high tide of success. The discovery of America had opened a new world to the wondering gaze of the people, and subsequent discoveries and explorations kept England in the heat of excitement. Although not the first in the field, she had sent her Sir Francis Drake into unknown seas, where he entered the Pacific, wintered on the western coast of North America near San Francisco Bay and continued his voyage around the world. Sir Walter Raleigh made his attempts to colonize America and the English prepared to occupy the wilderness of the Atlantic coast. London merchants formed the East India Company and laid the foundation of England's great empire in the east. It is difficult for us to conceive the effect the exciting adventures had upon the temper and the intellect of the people. However, the excitement of discovery and exploration was but one of many thrilling experiences. England was at war with Spain and that nation gathered its Invincible Armada to conquer and destroy the British fleet and invade the island kingdom. But Drake, Frobisher and Hawkins, hardened sailors and experienced captains, handled their light and lively ships so that they escaped with little injury, while they drove to destruction the heavy, lumbering Spanish vessels. The storms of the northern seas helped the English to the annihilation of the boasted Armada and thereby to establish for the victorious nation the title of Mistress of the Seas. At that time, the church and the state were considered inseparable. The king ruled as the direct representative of God and whoever resisted the church resisted the government and was a rebel and a traitor. But the spirit which prompted some men to follow the flag around the world prompted others to think for themselves. England was divided between the Catholic and the Protestant faiths, with the Jesuits at one extreme and the Puritans at the other. In the struggle between them, Elizabeth favored the Protestants and when the Catholics refused to subscribe to the tenets of the Church of England they were tortured into submission. This aroused the Pope and Elizabeth was excommunicated. However, her Parliament stood by her and before her reign was over English Protestantism was thoroughly established and the creed of the church settled in the Thirty Nine Articles that still govern it. But the awakening of the spirit of personal religious inquiry and judgment was vastly more important to the age than the mere substitution of one church for another. Elizabeth's reign was marked also by storm and stress that was purely political. Her crown was claimed by Mary Stuart of Scotland, and in the ensuing quarrel Ireland, Scotland, Spain, France and the Pope at Rome became embroiled. Her reign was a continuous succession of plots with no little bloodshed till the consummation came in the execution of Mary, who had fallen into the hands of Elizabeth. In addition to her coarseness, her vulgarity and her masculine habits of rule, the Virgin Queen was vain and loved display, treating the people to magnificent pageants, while her court life was one of extravagance and show. Still people were loyal to their Queen and some of the very characteristics that repel us now were then the occasion of her popularity. In the realm of pure intellect, there was all the life and energy that manifested itself in war, politics and religion. On the continent, Galileo and Copernicus, suffering every persecution from the Church of Rome, were advancing their theories with a daring and persistence as great as Drake's. In England, Lord Bacon was reconstructing the whole system of abstract philosophy upon a basis fully in accord with liberalizing tendencies, and establishing it upon observation and reason. An age rife with vigorous physical activity, burning with daring and love for heroic deeds, struggling with the most important problems of |