Page 287 - Encyclopedia Of World History

elizabeth i 637

Further Reading was only two years old, her father (King Henry VIII,
Cohen, B. I. (1996). Benjamin Franklin’s science. Cambridge, MA: Har- 1491–1547; reigned 1509–1547) executed her mother,
vard University Press.
Davis, L. J. (2003). Fleet fire:Thomas Edison and the pioneers of the elec- Anne Boleyn (his second wife), and Elizabeth was
tric revolution. New York: Arcade. declared illegitimate. After her father died, her brother
Fara, P. (2003). An entertainment for angels: Electricity in the Enlighten- Edward (1537–1553; reigned 1547–1553), the son of
ment. New York: Columbia University Press.
Gillmor, C. S. (1971). Coulomb and the evolution of physics and engi- Henry’s third wife, inherited the throne but lived for only
neering in eighteenth-century France. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni- a short time. In 1553 Elizabeth’s Catholic half-sister Mary
versity Press.
Heilbron, J. L. (1979). Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: A study Tudor (1516–1558; reigned 1553–1558), who was
in early modern physics. Berkeley: University of California Press. Henry’s daughter by his first wife, became queen. In
Home, R.W. (1992). Electricity and experimental physics in eighteenth- March 1554 Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of
century Europe. Brookfield,VT: Variorum.
Israel, P. (2000). Edison: A life of invention. New York: John Wiley and London, accused of plotting against Mary and of refusing
Sons. to embrace the Catholic religion. Elizabeth was released
Nye, M. J. (1996). Before big science:The pursuit of modern chemistry and in May but remained under suspicion and was carefully
physics 1800–1940. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Meyer,W. H. (1971). A history of electricity and magnetism. Cambridge, watched until Mary died childless in 1558.
MA: MIT Press. In this context the fact that Elizabeth ever became
Morus, I. R. (1998). Frankenstein’s children: Electricity, exhibition, and
experiment in early-nineteenth-century London. Princeton, NJ: Prince- queen, much less that she reigned for forty-five years, is
ton University Press. remarkable. However, she had been forced to learn the
Pancaldi, G. (2003). Volta, science and culture in the age of enlightenment. skills of survival at an early age, and these skills served her
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Prout, G. H. (2003). Life of George Westinghouse. Whitefish, MT: throughout her life.
Kessinger. Still relatively young at twenty-five when she took the
throne, Elizabeth knew that, unlike her father, she could
not use an autocratic approach based on absolute power.
She would have to rule in a more sophisticated way. She
Elizabeth I also knew the value of wise counsel. She created a small
(1533–1603) cabinet of trusted advisers, the most influential of whom
Queen of England was William Cecil (1520–1598). When she appointed
Cecil as her secretary of state, she told him, “This judge-
lizabeth I reigned as queen of England from 1558 to ment I have of you, that you will not be corrupted by any
E1603. During that time England began its rise to manner of gift, and that you will be faithful to the state,
become the empire “on which the sun never sets.” Under and that without respect of my private will, you will give
Elizabeth popular culture flourished; her court became a me that counsel you think best, and if you shall know
focal point for writers, musicians, and scholars such as anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy, you
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and Francis Bacon shall show it to myself only” (Luke 1973, 28). During the
(1561–1626) and explorers such as Francis Drake (c. next forty years Elizabeth rarely made an important deci-
1540–1596) and Walter Raleigh (c. 1554–1618). The sion without consulting Cecil, although she did not
English economy expanded greatly. She also encouraged always defer to his advice.
a spirit of free inquiry that in turn facilitated the Scientific Elizabeth was an intelligent ruler and made herself
Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. familiar with all aspects of policy within and outside her
Elizabeth inherited an England that was troubled by realm. Accordingly, people could deceive her only with
inflation, bankruptcy, disastrous wars, and religious con- difficulty. Being multilingual, she was able to talk directly
flict. Poverty and disease were common. From childhood with ambassadors from many countries, and this fact
Elizabeth’s own life was fraught with danger. When she ensured that no information could be lost in translation.