Elizabeth I

Elizabeth's Childhood and Youth Elizabeth was born near London on Sept. 7, 1533. Her father was Henry VIII, "bluff King Hal". Her mother was Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry's six wives. Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had only one surviving child, Mary. Henry wanted a male heir, so he asked the pope to annul the marriage. Because the pope refused, Henry broke away from the Roman Catholic church and set himself up as head of …

…proclaimed James I of England, thus uniting the crowns of the two kingdoms. The things we think of chiefly as marking the reign of Elizabeth are the religious question, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the flourishing of literature. Also important, however, were hundreds of laws on shipping, commerce, industry, currency reform, roads, poor relief, and agriculture. These laws shaped the policy of England for more than two centuries after Elizabeth's reign had ended.