The Elizabethan Era: Succession, Economy, and Culture in England

What is the succession to the English throne?

After Henry VIII's death, Edward VI was the new king but he soon died as well, so two candidates were took into consideration for the succession: Mary I Stuart and Elizabeth who was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
It was thought, though, that if England had been ruled by the Stuart, it would have risked to be depended to France so the English Parliament, largely Protestant, preferred Elizabeth.

As a matter of fact, in 1558 Elizabeth Tudor was crowned.
The kingdom of Queen Elisabeth was one of the most prosperous periods in English history because she started a modernization process of the country, which favoured a rapid economic growth in all sectors.

In fact, she managed the economy according to the dictates of mercantilism.

Mercantilism was spread in Europe until the XVII century, especially from Louis XVI’s Finance Minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

This fact is important since it shows the strong connection between France and England: English economy was influenced by the French thought but, at the same time political clubs, the masonry and intellectual circles were spread in Paris and its peripheries.

International trade and pirates

An example of that is the fact that International trade was the focus of her development plan: the Crown promoted the privileged companies, especially the ones with a monopoly on the trade in a particular aera, but also made use of pirates, who preyed on Spanish and Portuguese vessels.
She brought stability after years of religious changes to state leaders: the only religious issue she had was with Mary Stuart.

She fled Scotland after trying to reintroduce Catholicism and she took refuge with Elizabeth but in 1587 she was executed because it seems that she plotted against the British government.

Renaissance and humanism in England

Queen Elizabeth’s death was at Richmond upon Thames, the 24th of March 1603 but, during her reign, it was created and favoured a climate of social peace that brought the revival of Arts.

As a matter of fact, during this years, England experimented the richness of the Humanism and Renaissance that were aimed to the rediscovery of classic authors such as Homer, Virgil, Horace, Quintilianus, Cicero and Seneca and of Greek language (for example it was learnt through important teachers like Manuele Crisolora).

The Elizabethan theater

In 1576, the really first theatre of London, called “The Globe”, was inaugurated in the Norden part of the city, in the Shoreditch, while years later other theatres, “Rose” and “Swan”, were also opened in the outskirts because acting was considered sinful and unseemly the society.

Nonetheless, theatre was a connotative element of this period so that day by day it became a complex and full of different facets but also an integral part of citizens' daily life.

It was also thought that behind the pseudonym of William Shakespeare there was Queen Elizabeth, consequentially she would have written all of his works.