Leadership+Project

Elizabeth I, possibly the most famous queen of England, was the Daughter of Anne Boleyn. Anne was the second wife of King Henry XIII, Katherine of Aragon was his first. Although he loved Anne, he married her because he wanted a son. When Elizabeth was born on the 7th of September, 1533, Henry, along with the whole of England, was dissapointed with the birth of Elizabeth because a he already had a daughter, and women at the time were seen as "unfit" to rule. He desperatly wanted a son and heir to the throne. There was little celebration for Elizabeth's birth, and what parties there were lacked enthusiasm. Although the birth of a girl was a letdown, Anne Boleyn wanted her daughter to have a good childhood. While she was still Queen, Anne made sure that Elizabeth was well taken care of. She had to live separate from her mother, because it was a custom for royal children, but Anne visited her often. Things seemed happy for Elizabeth until King Henry XIII grew tired of Anne Boleyn. He was now interested in Anne's Maid of honor, as he had been with Anne when she was Katherine's Maid of honor. Her name was Jane Seymour. Because he didn't want complications with Katherine again, Henry did not end his marrige with Anne, he killed her. Indirectly he had her accused of witchcraft, adultery and other offences. She was tried, found guilty of all the crimes, and sentenced to death. She was beheaded on the 19th of May, in 1536, when Elizabeth was just two and a half years old. Elizabeth was striped of her title of Princess, like Mary before her, and she now had to grow up with no mother, her caregiver had kind-of taken that place. The King began to neglect her, her clothes were too small, and her Education was not as great as it used to be, but because Elizabth was such a fine student, she learned what she needed to. Elizabeth became good friends with her half-brother Edward, Jane's son, and so she had a friend in him and was not as lonely as you might think. As she grew up, Elizabeth never married, possibly because she was discusted by her father's constant wife-changing, the danger of childbirth in that time, or the fact that if she did marry, her power might have been taken from her by her husband becasue the country of England favoured the male sex in power. There were many attempts of marrage by people that wanted power that started when she was twelve, that was the marriable age at the time, and so Elizabeth becam every used to it. In 1547, King Henry XII died and Edward XI became king at the age of nine. Henry did though, before he died, reinstate Mary and Elizabeth into the line for the throne. Mary first in line after Edward and Elizabeth second. Edward was not old enough to rule, so he had advisors. When Edward died in 1553 of sickness, Mary became the Queen of England. She was suspicious of Elizabeth, as people had told her she was scheming to take the throne. Elizabeth was imprisoned for Mary's reign. Mary wasn't a very popular monarch, and she has the nickname of Bloody Mary because of all the Protestants she killed. When Elizabeth finally took the throne in 1558, she finally had the chance to live her life as she wanted to. Elizabeth was crowned Queen in 1559, and she turned England back into a Protestant country. She did practice religious tolerance though, and she did not believe in killing her b=people over what religion they were, unlike Mary. She was also very diplomatic because, in order to please the Catholics, she became the "Governor of the Church of England" and not the "Supreme Head" like her father. These and many more reasons were what made her liked by almost all kinds of people. Another thing that Elizabeth had to deal with was the ever looming fact of a heir. Since she swore never to marry, she could have no children of her own. This was known to her, and to leaders of other countries as well. There were many, many marrage proposals for her, but Elizabeth never accepted one of them. She stayed true to her beliefs. Her marritial status was also a useful tool when ruling the country. She could threaten enemies that she would marry (and ally with) someone, or lure them closer with the thought of marrage. Her great ability to use anything to her advantage was amazing. An example of her logical thinking is when, after hearing that Mary the Queen of Scots was excecuted, the Spanish invaded the country. Elizabeth won the war, and proved once and for all, that a woman could run the country and lead a war as well as any man. The victory pushed her to the highest popularity she could ever reach. Elisabeth died on the 24th of March in 1603 at the age of 69, she had not reached her birthday yet. She had come to power in a country fighting amongst itself, and left it one of the most powerful in the world. She was a great leader, not afraid to take someone else's advice, or to get rid of a law that was unpopular and uneeded. I think that she was the first great queen of England, and that she deserves to be remembered as one.

Elizabeth I accomplished some really amazing things in her life, she defeated the Spanish Armada, helped Britain become one of the most powerful countries of the time, she demolished the thoughts that women could not rule the country, and many more things. In the next paragraphs I will explain these things further. The Spanish Armada invaded England after King Phillip II had heard that Mary Queen of Scotts had been beheaded, in 1558. The war also started because of the religious differences in the two countries. The Spanish sent their navy, which outnumbered the British, up to France where they would be joined by the Netherlands. It was there that the British attacked them and won. Even though England's navy was outnumbered, they were highly trained and had better ships and equipment. The British also has a brillliant plan. They sent ships that were on fire into the ranks of Spanish ships causing them to break formation and panic. This is what ultimatly led to the fall of the Spanish, and the rise in popularity of Elizabeth I. She was at the peak of her success at that time. It was one of the times that Elizabeth showed how women could win wars and lead the country just as good as men. The war with Spain did not end there, but it was a tremendous victory that emptied Spain's treasure vaults and destroyed their navy. Only 67 fo the original 130 ships (30 000 men) of the Spanish returned. A loss of almost 50%. Another one of Elizabeth's accomplishment was that she managed to turn a country fighting with itself over Religious beliefs, into what was possibly the greatest empire until the time of Napoleon. you see, for decades the Catholics and the Protestants had been fighting. The people had been living under a constantly changing belief system in their country. King Henry VIII had made the national religion for England change from Catholic when he founded the Protestant church. This meant that all people that did not convert to Protestantism were limited. This angered Catholics, Then, when Mary came to the throne, she switched the National Religion back o Catholic. She went a step further thatn her father though, and Protestants were persecuted. This means they were killed if they were found to be Protestant. She had many, many people beheaded. Then, once again, the religion was returned to Catholisism. The people were agrivated with each other, and many fights broke out, but Elizabeth fixed this problem by practicing religoius tolerance. Now people were free to persue their beliefs without punishment. Elizabeth focused less on Religion and more on improving the economy of England. She called herself the "Governor of the Church of England" and interfered less than her father. This gave the people the impression that they were all cared for. That they were all part of the country. The people of England became extememely patriotic, and they were united. This made them a powerful threat to opposing nations. It was widely thought that women were inferior to men during the Elizabethan era. This was a bad thing for a queen, who did not have that much of a claim to the throne. There were many people who did not believe that a female should be ruling,and they did not trust her with the county's care. It would have been hard for her because people would have wanted more from her, just so they would be okay with her being the ruler. Luckily for her, she actually was a great leader and so she abolished the thoughts of women being inferior to men.

Queen Elizabeth I could be considered a good leader. This was because she had most of the characteristcs that good leaders have. She was very open, and that is one of the main reasons whay she succeeded. She would listen to the ideas of her advisers, and she would change laws that were unfair or hinderous. Also, she would listen to what the public needed, and would make puplic appearances. For this reason, people trusted that the country was in good hands. There were many people aiding her with the decisions and so there was less of a chance that she would make stupid and rash decisions. Her openness led her to become one of the most popular monarchs of all time. With openess, usually comes fairness. Elizabeth was fair because, if you listen to the ideas of many people, you usually have all the points of view. This allowed her not to make decisions that just benifited one class, for example the Nobles, and choose things that were for the greater good of everyone. She was very fair this way, not many people felt as if they weren't being treated fairly. These qualities made her become liked by all types of people. In addition to Openess and Fairness, Queen Elizabeth also had a very strong vision. She wanted to improve England from the state it had been in. She saw the country for what it was, not as what she wanted to believe it was like many other monarchs, and she saw all it's flaws. Being able to see the areas in need of improvement, she applied her efforts mostly to those areas. Her efforts eventually led to success, and The British Empire was one of the top empires in Europe, possibly the most powerful. She had a clear goal in her mind, and she worked hard to acheve it. A clear goal is probably the most important thing a leader must have, because what are you leading for? You need to have a purpose, something you strive for, the reason you lead people. A vision is what you are leading people towards, and Elizabeth I had such a vision. One might think that Queen Elizabeth was an Autocratic leader, just because nearly all monarchs were. The "Queen"in her name makes you think of that. However, I believe that Elizabeth was more of a democratic leader. This is because, as I stated, she was very open and listened to other people's ideas. She let the people have their say, but then she ultimatly made the final decision. This worked well for her because some of the people's ideas were very good, and they benefitted the country. It was also comforting to people that there were other ideas being used instead of just her own, because they were still unsure if a female ruler was a good thing. Being a democratic leader was good for her, because the people had just had to endure some very harsh monarchs and power struggles recently. Another autocratic leader could have pushed them over the edge, and we would of had a French Revolution in England! Suprisingly, I did not find anything that said Eliabeth was a good public speaker. It seems strange, because most leaders usually are, but it is probably becasue she did not have to speak, Representatives would have travelled to places and spoken on her behalf. This was becasue there was no telephone or TV, and she could not be everywhere at once. So, people that aren't so good at speeches, have hope!

In conclusion, Elizabeth I was a good Queen in a time of bad Kings. She led the country to success, and helped improve almost every aspect of the Empire.