How Did Elizabeth I Become Queen Of England In 1558-1569

Elizabeth I became Queen of England in 1558, after the death of her half-sister Mary I (r. July 1553- November 1558) Unlike Mary, she was Protestant. Prior to Elizabeth's succession, England had been a Catholic country where Protestants were severely persecuted. Religion was one of many problems that she faced in the years 1558-1569, along with challenges from abroad, picking her councillors and the threat of Mary, Queen of Scots. Religion was the most serious problem, followed by Mary, then her councillors and finally foreign challenges.

Religion was a very serious problem for Elizabeth in 1558-1569 because it affected so many people. Before Elizabeth, in Mary Tudor's reign, the country had been Catholic, like many other European powers such

Mary was a threat because she had a claim to the English throne and had relatives in France who would support her. She was also a catholic, meaning she was more likely to have Spanish support than Elizabeth. The reason Mary's claim was serious was because Catholics saw Elizabeth as illegitimate as Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn was not approved by the Pope. This meant Elizabeth had no claim to the throne. Mary, however, was Catholic, and in 1560 she began wearing England's coat of arms to display her claim. When she fled to England after being forced into abdicating her Scottish throne in 1567, Elizabeth had her locked away to prevent her from raising an army to overthrow England, despite the fact that Mary only asked for help taking back Scotland. This presented a problem for Elizabeth as she did not want to restore Catholicism to Scotland, which she had helped turn Protestant, but she did not want to execute her cousin and only heir. Also, she did not want the people to believe it was allowed to execute their monarch, so she could not hand her over to the Scottish lords who would most likely execute her. To a great extent, Mary, Queen of Scots was a significant problem faced by Elizabeth in 1558-1569 and it was more serious than choosing her councillors or challenges from abroad as it could not be solved very easily, but it was not as serious as the problem of religion as without the religious divisions in Europe and England at the time, Mary would not have been as big a threat to