Chapter 2 - 1558–1569: Legitimizing the Regime

Summary

When Elizabeth succeeded to the English throne in November 1558, she was England's fourth monarch in eleven years (or fifth, if Jane Grey/Dudley is counted). As would become clear during the early years of her reign, her subjects desperately sought the stability that the accession of a seemingly healthy 25-year-old woman heralded. Unlike her half-sister Mary I, Elizabeth faced no opposition to her accession at home, meaning that she and her supporters were able to quickly take over the governance of the nation. This process was not without its bumps: in addition to the influenza pandemic that was raging at her accession (and had potentially claimed the life of her half-sister), Elizabeth had to grapple with a nation fractured by religious division, especially given that her (assumed) Protestantism stood in stark contrast to the Catholicism of many of the English elite. The problem Elizabeth faced finding a bishop to preside at her coronation in January 1559 encapsulates this fragmentation—the bishops may have accepted Elizabeth as their queen but endorsing her confessional beliefs through the act of anointing was a step too far. While this problem has certainly been over-exaggerated in the scholarship, it does emphasize that the new regime had to contend with a range of social, religious, and political issues in a short amount of time.

In the first decade of Elizabeth's reign, a range of commentators, polemicists, and supporters used biblical analogies to legitimize her accession (both as a female king and as a resolute Protestant) and to offer support for England's return to Protestantism. Many of these analogies responded to the religio-political moment—whether this be the passage of the Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy through parliament, or England's support of the French Huguenots during the first stages of the French Wars of Religion—demonstrating how the scriptures were frequently mined for precedent in the present. This chapter analyzes a variety of analogies contained within a range of texts and mediums. It examines the way that the role of providence during both Elizabeth's accession and the nation's return to Protestantism was continually emphasized, the way that typologies vindicated Elizabeth's gender, as well as how the policies of the new regime were afforded varying levels of support and legitimization.