Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era covers the years of Queen Elizabeth I’s rule, from 1558 to 1603, and is often called the golden age of English history. This period saw a capable government, thanks to earlier reforms by Henry VII and Henry VIII, and a growing economy fueled by trans-Atlantic trade and privateering.

Theatre

The Protestant Reformation gained wider acceptance among the people, and it was the final era before England united with Scotland under a single crown. England began exploring and expanding overseas. Culturally, it marked the peak of the English Renaissance, with poetry, music, literature, and especially theatre flourishing—playwrights like William Shakespeare broke new ground.

This age stood out from the reigns before and after. It was a short time of internal peace, sandwiched between the Wars of the Roses, the English Reformation, and religious strife between Protestants and Catholics, and later the English Civil War and political battles between parliament and the monarchy that filled the rest of the 1600s. Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement temporarily resolved religious conflict, and Parliament was not strong enough to challenge royal authority.

England was better off than many European nations. The Italian Renaissance had ended after the Italian Wars, leaving Italy poor. France was caught up in its Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598, and the long-running Anglo-French Wars were mostly paused during Elizabeth’s reign.

England’s main rival was Habsburg Spain. Their conflicts in Europe and the Americas led to the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War from 1585 to 1604. In 1588, Philip II of Spain tried to invade with the Spanish Armada, but it was famously defeated.

Government

In military terms, Elizabethan England was not especially successful, but it avoided major defeats and built a strong navy. Overall, Elizabeth gave the country a long period of general peace and increased prosperity, largely by stealing from Spanish treasure ships, raiding poorly defended settlements, and selling African slaves. She inherited a nearly bankrupt state, but her frugal policies restored fiscal order, clearing the regime’s debt by 1574. Ten years later, the Crown had a surplus of £300,000.

Economically, Sir Thomas Gresham founded the Royal Exchange in 1565, the first stock exchange in England and one of the earliest in Europe—a major development for England’s economy and eventually the world’s. Taxes were lower than in other European countries, and the economy grew, though wealth was distributed very unevenly. Still, there was more wealth overall at the end of Elizabeth’s reign than at the start. This peace and prosperity allowed the attractive developments that “Golden Age” supporters highlight.

Plots, intrigues, and conspiracies

The era was also full of plots and conspiracies, often political and involving the highest levels of society. Officials in Madrid, Paris, and Rome wanted to kill Elizabeth, a Protestant, and replace her with the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, to restore Catholicism in England. The Ridolfi plot was stopped in 1570. In 1584, the Throckmorton Plot was uncovered after Francis Throckmorton confessed to planning to overthrow the Queen and bring back the Catholic Church.

Another major conspiracy was the Babington Plot, which directly led to Mary’s execution. It was discovered through double agent Gilbert Gifford, working under spy master Francis Walsingham. The Essex Rebellion of 1601 had a dramatic twist: just before the uprising, supporters of the Earl of Essex—including Charles and Joscelyn Percy, younger brothers of the Earl of Northumberland—paid for a performance of Richard II at the Globe Theatre, apparently to stir public ill will toward the monarchy. At Essex’s trial, actor Augustine Phillips of the Chamberlain’s Men reported that the conspirators paid the company forty shillings above their usual rate to stage the play, which the players thought was too old and unpopular to draw a crowd.

In Elizabeth’s last decades, she gave James VI of Scotland an annual subsidy, which helped maintain peace between England and Scotland. James’s courtiers and diplomats kept a secret correspondence with Elizabeth’s ministers, and it became clear he would succeed her. Plots continued into the new reign.

In the Bye Plot of 1603, two Catholic priests planned to kidnap King James and hold him in the Tower of London until he agreed to be more tolerant toward Catholics. The most dramatic was the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. It was discovered in time, and eight conspirators were executed, including Guy Fawkes, who became the iconic evil traitor in English lore.