ELIZABETH'S COURT
The court around Queen Elizabeth glittered like the queen herself. Here was an age when, it seemed, every gentleman aspired to be a poet or a musician, or both. For example, Sir Philip Sidney, the brave soldier who died fighting the Spanish at Zutphen, in the Netherlands, was a fine poet. Elizabeth's reign saw a flourishing of plays and poetry. The Globe Theatre, since restored in 1996, could hold nearly 3,000 people. The outstanding playwright was William Shakespeare, but at the time he was one of many highly regarded dramatic poets. Others had more than one occupation. Playwright Christopher Marlowe, murdered in a tavern brawl, is thought to have been a secret agent; Edmund Spenser, who wrote The Faerie Queene, helped in the plantation (settlement) of Ireland.
England led the way in the writing of music for keyboard instruments, and much traditional church music was written at this time. Two outstanding musicians were Thomas Tallis and his pupil William Byrd. Towards the end of Elizabeth's reign madrigals (love poems sung by several voices without musical accompaniment) were introduced into England. Thomas Morley edited a collection of madrigals in honour of Elizabeth, called The Triumphs of Oriana, but it was not published until after the Queen's death.
FOCUS ON THE THEATRE
England's first theatre was built at Shoreditch. It was based on the enclosed courtyard of big inns, where actors used to perform. The theatre was built by actor-manager James Burbage. The building was simply called 'The Theatre'. It was open to the sky, like the later Globe Theatre where Shakespeare acted. Other theatres, such as the Blackfriars and the Whitefriars, had roofs.
1562-64: Elizabeth I sends forces to France to help the Huguenot (French Protestants) in their revolt against the Catholic government. John Hawkins becomes the first English slave trader.
1565: Mary, Queen of Scots marries her cousin Lord Darnley. Royal Exchange, London, founded. John Hawkins brings back sweet potatoes and tobacco.
1566: Darnley and others murder David Rizzio, Mary's secretary.
1567: Darnley murdered; Mary marries Bothwell. Mary abdicates; succeeded by son James VI, aged one. Earl of Moray becomes Regent: Mary held prisoner.
1568: Mary escapes to England and becomes prisoner of Elizabeth.
1569: Rebellion in the north of England: Durham Cathedral plundered.
1570: Pope Pius V declares Elizabeth a usurper and heretic.
1572: Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Northumberland executed for treason. Francis Drake attacks Spanish harbours in the Americas.
1573: John Hawkins begins to reform the Navy.
1575: MP Peter Wentworth claims freedom from arrest for Members of Parliament for discussing key areas of government.
1576: James Burbage opens first theatre at Shoreditch.
1577-80: Drake's voyage round the world. Drake returns from voyage and is knighted by Elizabeth.
1583: Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for England. Edinburgh University founded.
EXPLORATION
WHEN THE ITALIAN EXPLORER Christopher Columbus approached Henry VII in 1492 for funds to pay for his voyages of discovery, Henry, known for his financial caution, turned him down. Columbus was eventually funded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who benefited greatly from his discoveries in America. Five years later Henry VII did finance John Cabot's expedition. Cabot was a sailor from Genoa, Italy, who was based in Bristol. His voyage led eventually to the founding of the first British colony in America, at Newfoundland (in present-day Canada). Later a rich cod-fishing trade developed there. Henry VII was pleased with the results and gave Cabot a pension of £20.
THE RISE OF THE NAVAL POWERS
From the end of the 15th century, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and later England, started on a series of daring expeditions to claim new lands and wealth on the other side of the world. The European powers intended to ship spices, precious metals, cotton and others materials back home. To do this they all needed strong navies. Henry VIII helped to establish a reliable English navy of 50 to 70 ships and about 8,000 sailors, as well as a network of dockyards. One of the new ships he had built was the Mary Rose, named after his favourite sister, but it capsized and sank before his eyes on July 19, 1545.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Sir Francis Drake was an accomplished explorer and sea captain who served Elizabeth loyally and helped England become a major sea power. Between 1577 to 1580, he and his men on the Golden Hind made an epic voyage around the world, the first crew to do so. Elizabeth and others bought shares in the voyage, the object of which was to plunder the Spanish colonies as well as to explore a way by sea to Asia and its riches. Elizabeth gave Drake a knighthood on his return.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH
Walter Raleigh was a great soldier, explorer, and writer. The story Raleigh removing his coat and placing it over a large puddle so Elizabeth could avoid getting wet may not be true. But he did become one of the Queen's favourites at Court. Elizabeth wanted colonies for England - chiefly to establish trading posts for merchants and so bring wealth to the country. In 1584, Raleigh sent 100 colonists across the Atlantic to America to find gold and take possession of new lands. Queen Elizabeth was impressed with the venture and so he named the new land Virginia after her, because people called her the ''Virgin Queen''. Raleigh was also the first person to introduce tobacco and potatoes into England from the American colonies.
1584: Sir Walter Raleigh tries to establish a colony near Roanaoke Island, Virginia (now North Carolina).
1586: Drake raids Santo Domingo and Cartagena in West Indies. Francis Walsingham uncovers Babington Plot, involving Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary condemned for treason.
1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, executed. Drake partly destroys Spanish fleet at Cadiz. War with Spain breaks out.
1588: Philip II launches ''Invincible Armada'' against England, but it is destroyed.
1590: First Shakespeare plays performed.
1592: Plague kills 15,000 Londoners.
1593: Poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe murdered.
1595: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, heads rebellion in Ireland.
1595: Spaniards land in Cornwall, burn Mousehole and Penzance. Raleigh explores Orinoco River in South America.
1597: John Harington describes his new invention, the water-closet.
1598: Battle of the Yellow Ford: Irish defeat the English.
1599: Earl of Essex becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland; he concludes truce with Tyrone, but is arrested at home. Lord Mountjoy succeeds Essex as Lord Deputy of Ireland. East India Company founded.
1601: Essex dabbles in plots, is tried for treason and executed. Spanish army lands in Ireland, but surrenders at Kinsale.
1603: Mountjoy crushes Irish rebellion. Elizabeth I dies; succeeded by James I of England (James VI of Scotland). Amnesty in Ireland. Main and Bye Plots against James I: Raleigh is jailed for involvement.
THE STUARTS
(1603-1714)
ELIZABETH I'S HEIR WAS JAMES VI of Scotland, son of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. The family of Stuart had ruled Scotland for 232 years before James VI united England and Scotland under a common crown, thought not yet in law. Eventful as those years had been, they were not so dramatic as the following 111 years during which the Stuarts ruled over England, Wales, Scotland and , in name, over Ireland. In that time the combined nation underwent two revolutions: the English Civil War 1642-1645 which ended with the execution of Charles I, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was a bloodless affair, when the Dutch prince William of Orange was invited to become King of England in place of Catholic James II, and so secure the Protestant succession for the English throne.
At first the Stuart monarchs claimed to rule by divine right; eventually it was made plain that they ruled by the consent and invitation of Parliament. The death of Charles I brought a period known as the Commonwealth when England was ruled by Oliver Cromwell and Parliament. On Cromwell's death, Parliament called Charles II back from exile and in 1660 the monarchy was restored. By the end of the Stuart period England and Scotland were formally united, and Ireland was more controlled by the English than before. Meanwhile, the British were expanding overseas. Many colonies, were set up in the North America. The religious tensions at home drove some people abroad to escape persecution. The most famous group was the Pilgrim Fathers, who founded the Plymouth Colony in America in 1620. Elsewhere, British traders established settlements in southern Africa and India which would eventually develop into an empire.
James I
THE NEW KING James I of England was, as he said himself, an ''old and experienced king''. He had already ruled Scotland for 25 years as James VI. The son of Mary Stuart and Lord Darnley, he believed in the divine, or God-given, right of kings to rule, and had managed the Scottish Parliament more or less as he liked. The English Parliament was far less easy to handle, insisting that the king could rule only by its consent. James supported the Protestant Church and was determined to enforce its practices.
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