V.

Elizabethan Government

The difficulties Elizabeth experienced governing the English state were enhanced by prejudices against women rulers. Though she presented herself in the traditional images of the monarchy, such as carrying the sword of state, commissioning a portrait showing her bestriding the counties of England, and even appearing in armor, Elizabeth realized the importance of securing the cooperation of powerful men in order to rule effectively. She made extensive use of the Privy Council and summoned ten parliaments during her reign. She used Parliament to raise taxes and to endorse her policies, but also allowed its members to suggest laws regarding local issues, something rarely permitted by prior monarchs. The House of Lords and the House of Commons both grew in size during her reign, but they remained councils of the queen rather than parts of an independent legislature. When she did not like the advice Parliament offered, she ended its sessions.

Elizabeth effectively expanded royal government by increasing the role of sheriffs in the counties and by relying upon justices of the peace to perform the basic administrative work of local government. Thousands of gentlemen served in this capacity, each an official, if unpaid, member of the regime. Meeting in quarter sessions (that is, in sessions held four times a year), justices enforced everything from the Poor Laws to statutes against theft.

At the center of her government, Elizabeth was fortunate in having a succession of capable ministers, including Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, who was her personal favorite. She favored Leicester so extensively their relationship became the subject of rumors. But the ablest of all Elizabethan ministers was William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who held the offices of secretary and treasurer. Burghley served the queen loyally for 40 years and more than anyone else guided Elizabeth’s policies.

Burghley’s lifelong concern was for the queen to provide an heir for succession. Having refused suitors pressed upon her when a princess, as a queen, Elizabeth was never able to make a decision to marry and she had no desire to share power with a husband. She rejected her sister Mary’s husband, Philip II, king of Spain, who wished to remain allied with English naval power, as well as nearly every eligible European royal bachelor, including a future king of France. At first Burghley feared Elizabeth would marry his rival, the earl of Leicester, whose wife had died under mysterious circumstances. Then he feared Elizabeth might suddenly die, throwing the kingdom into chaos, a fear magnified by her bout with smallpox in 1562.

The failure to settle the succession encouraged aristocratic factions to grow around the queen. Until her execution, Mary, Queen of Scots, was a focus of intrigue. In her prime, Elizabeth was adept at balancing competing claimants for her favor, keeping them loyal and dependent. But toward the end of her reign, the contest between Burghley and Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, led to an open rebellion against her. Essex’s attempt to overthrow Elizabeth in 1601 was successfully put down, but it demonstrated that the queen’s power had weakened.