Elizabethan Period
1558 CE to 1603 CE
The Elizabethan Era, the period associated with Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558–1603), is often considered to be the golden age in English history.
It is the height of the English Renaissance and sees the flowering of English poetry and literature.
This is also the time during which Elizabethan theater flourishes and William Shakespeare and many others, composed plays that broke free of England's past style of plays and theater.
It is an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation becomes the national mindset of all the people.The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the contrasts with the periods before and after.
It is a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that are to engulf the seventeenth century.
The Protestant/Catholic divide is settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament is not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
England is also well-off compared to the other nations of Europe.
The Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of foreign domination of the peninsula.
France is embroiled in its own religious battles that are only settled in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes.
In part because of this, but also because the English have been expelled from their last outposts on the continent, the centuries-long conflict between France and England is largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.England’s one great rival is Spain, with which England conflicts both in Europe and the Americas in skirmishes that explode into the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604.
An attempt by Philip II of Spain to invade England with the Spanish Armada in 1588 is famously defeated, but the tide of war turns against England with a disastrously unsuccessful attack upon Spain, the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589.
Thereafter Spain provides some support for Irish Catholics in a draining guerilla war against England, and Spanish naval and land forces inflict a series of defeats upon English forces.
This badly damages both the English Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeth's prudent guidance.
English colonization and trade will be frustrated until the signing of the Treaty of London the year following Elizabeth's death.England during this period has a centralized, well-organized, and effective government, largely a result of the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII.
Economically, the country begins to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.
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Spanish convoys are making regular runs along the sea route from the New World to the Orient by the end of the sixteenth century.
The Quest for Gold in the Early Modern Period (15th–18th Centuries)
During the Early Modern period (15th–18th centuries), the pursuit of gold was a primary motivation for European exploration and expansion. Spain, Portugal, France, England, and the Netherlands all sought vast wealth in the New World, Africa, and Asia, fueling imperial rivalries, colonization, and global trade networks.
Gold as the Driving Force of Exploration
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The Age of Exploration (15th–16th Centuries)
- The Portuguese and Spanish were the first European nations to launch major expeditions, motivated by the search for gold and other riches.
- The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided the newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal, giving Spain dominance in the Americas and Portugal control over Africa and Asia.
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Spanish Conquests in the Americas
- Hernán Cortés (1519–1521) conquered the Aztec Empire, seizing vast amounts of gold and silver from Mexico.
- Francisco Pizarro (1532–1533) overthrew the Inca Empire, capturing the legendary golden ransom of Atahualpa and flooding Spain with Andean treasure.
- The Spanish Empire relied heavily on gold and silver from the Americas, particularly from:
- Potosí (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico)—major sources of silver.
- The Manila Galleons, which transported New World silver to Asia in exchange for luxury goods.
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Portugal’s Gold Rush in Brazil (18th Century)
- While Portugal initially focused on trade routes in Africa and Asia, the discovery of gold in Brazil (1690s) led to a massive gold rush.
- By the 18th century, Brazil had become the world’s largest gold producer, contributing over half of the world's gold supply.
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English and French Expeditions
- England and France, arriving late to the colonization race, also sought gold in the Americas but initially found little success.
- Instead, they turned to fur trade (North America), cash crops (Caribbean and North America), and piracy against Spanish treasure fleets.
Impact of the Gold Rush Mentality
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Fueled European Imperialism
- The promise of gold justified conquests, enslavement, and brutal exploitation of indigenous peoples.
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Created the First Global Economy
- New World gold and silver became the foundation of European finance and trade, enabling the rise of global commerce.
- Spain became the wealthiest European power, though it also suffered from inflation and economic instability due to its overreliance on bullion.
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Encouraged Further Expeditions and Colonization
- Rumors of golden cities (e.g., El Dorado, Cíbola, Quivira) led to numerous failed expeditions across the Americas.
- The search for gold continued into the 18th century, with European powers exploring Africa, the Pacific, and deeper into the Americas.
Conclusion: Gold as the Engine of European Expansion
The quest for gold was a primary driver of European exploration, shaping colonial economies, global trade networks, and imperial rivalries. While Spain and Portugal initially reaped the greatest rewards, the desire for gold led all European powers to expand their reach, ultimately transforming the world economy and paving the way for modern capitalism.
Spain tries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to maintain a monopoly on trade and colonization in its New World colonies, but northern European powers are increasingly attracted to the region by the potential for trade and settlement.
These powers have resorted to smuggling, piracy, and war in their efforts to challenge and then destroy Spain's monopoly.
The Dutch, English, and French encroach on Spain's New World possessions in the seventeenth century.
Mary’s union with Philip has produced two false pregnancies but no heir.
English forces have fared badly in the conflict with France and as a result lose Calais, England's sole remaining continental possession, on January 13, 1558.
Although this territory had recently become financially burdensome, the effects of its loss are ideological.
Mary will later lament that when she dies the words "Philip" and "Calais" will be found inscribed on her heart.
The roughly three hundred Protestants burned at the stake for their beliefs in the past three years have earned the queen the epithet “Bloody Mary.” Hundreds of other Protestants have spent the later years of her reign in exile on the Continent.
When Mary dies at forty-two on November 17, 1558, probably of ovarian cancer, her twenty-five-year-old half-sister, who has lived quietly, awaiting her opportunity to succeed, ascends the throne without incident.
Lady Margaret Douglas, the daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor (daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland), had in 1544 married Matthew Stewart (1516–71), 4th Earl of Lennox.
Because of her nearness to the English crown, Margaret had been brought up chiefly at the English court in close association with Princess Mary (afterward Queen Mary I), who had remained her fast friend throughout life.
On Elizabeth's accession in 1558, Lady Lennox retires to Yorkshire, where her home at Temple Newsom becomes a center for Roman Catholic intrigue.
She is determined to secure the succession to both thrones for her family.
John Hawkins, born into a family of seafarers at Plymouth, is the son, by Joan Trelawny, of William Hawkins the elder, a confidant of Henry VIII of England and one of the principal sea captains of England.
Young Hawkins, who made his earliest voyages to the Canary Islands as a young man, is probably the first major English slave trader, although some sources point to John Lok in 1553.
Hawkins’ first voyage, of 1555, had led three small ships to the Sierra Leone coast in order to capture slaves.
He had left Africa with a cargo of around three hundred enslaved West Africans, having seized them from the Portuguese.
Despite having two ships seized by the Spanish authorities, he had sold the slaves in Santo Domingo and thus made a profit for his London investors.
His voyage had caused the Spanish to ban all English ships from trading in their West Indies colonies.
Twenty-seven in 1555, he marries Katherine Gonson, whose father is treasurer of the navy.
Elizabeth's immediate and lasting aim is to reunite England—now at its lowest ebb since Tudor rule began in 1485—reestablish the Anglican church, fend off foreign threats, and bring her people as much peace and prosperity as possible.
On the morning of her accession, Elizabeth, herself a moderate Protestant, names as her secretary of state Sir William Cecil, who shares many of her views.
With his help, Elizabeth concludes the famous Elizabethan Settlement for the Church of England.
The Settlement excludes papal authority and reinstitutes the Book of Common Prayer, an English-language liturgy, but does not recognize the demands of the more extreme Puritans, who wish to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence.
John Dee, the alchemist, astrologer, and mathematician, is asked to name a propitious day for Elizabeth's official coronation.
Francis Walsingham returns from the Continent and immediately secures a prominent position among Elizabeth’s advisors, as well as a seat in Parliament.
Elizabeth names as master of the horse her court favorite, Robert Dudley, pardoned for his involvement in his father's plan to secure the succession to the throne of Lady Jane Grey in 1553.
Knox returns from Geneva to England in May 1559, when conflict between Catholics and Protestants has reached a fever pitch.
He preaches a later-famous inspirational sermon against idolatry at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Perth.
Robert Dudley had been counted among Princess Elizabeth's special friends by Philip II's envoy to the English court a week before Queen Mary's death.
He had on November 18, 1558, the morning after Elizabeth's accession, witnessed the surrender of the Great Seal to her at Hatfield, and on the same day became Master of the Horse, an important court position entailing close attendance on the sovereign.
It suits him, as he is an excellent horseman and shows great professional interest in royal transport and accommodation, horse breeding, and the supply of horses for all occasions.
Dudley had also been entrusted with organizing and overseeing a large part of the Queen's coronation festivities.
Dudley had in April 1559 been elected a Knight of the Garter in the good company of England's only duke and an earl, causing great wonder.
The ambassador of the neutral Republic of Venice, by his office the most detached of the foreign envoys, soon wrote home: "My Lord Robert Dudley is ... very intimate with Her Majesty.
On this subject I ought to report the opinion of many but I doubt whether my letters may not miscarry or be read, wherefore it is better to keep silence than to speak ill." Philip II had already been informed shortly before Dudley's decoration: “Lord Robert has come so much into favour that he does whatever he likes with affairs and it is even said that her majesty visits him in his chamber day and night.
People talk of this so freely that they go so far as to say that his wife has a malady in one of her breasts and the Queen is only waiting for her to die to marry Lord Robert ... Matters have reached such a pass ... that ... it would ... be well to approach Lord Robert on your Majesty's behalf ...
Your Majesty would do well to attract and confirm him in his friendship.” Within a month, the Spanish ambassador, Count de Feria, counted Robert Dudley among those three persons who "rule everything".
Visiting foreigners of princely rank are bidding for his goodwill.
He acts as official host on state occasions and is himself a frequent guest at ambassadorial dinners.