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On her accession to the throne Elizabeth I inherited a country in utter turmoil. One contemporary summed up the circumstances inherited by the new regime "The Queen poor. The realm exhausted. The nobility poor and decayed. Want of good captains and soldiers. The people out of order. Justice not executed. All things dear. The French King bestriding the realm." In 1558 England was still involved in a disastrous war with France, Calais had been lost and trouble threatened the Scottish border. "The royal treasury was deep in debt, the coinage debased, trade depressed, the economy in ruins." A succession of poor harvests, an influenza epidemic, led to some of the highest mortality rates of the period. Even religion was not much consolation; the nation was divided on how best to worship God. Taking in to consideration the constant shifting between Catholicism and Protestantism led to a nation segregated by religion. The accession of a Protestant queen only fuelled the flames of religious uncertainty. Elizabeth quickly needed a religious settlement, after years of religious turmoil her subjects had experienced. This came in 1559 and is known as the Religious Settlement. However, just how much it actually settled in religious terms is open to debate as both Puritans and Catholics had become entrenched in their views and position. If religious turmoil continued after the 1559 Settlement it was probably more as a result of their unwillingness to compromise as opposed to the government's stance – though this was still obviously an issue of contention post-1559. The Acts of Supremacy (Appendix 1) and Uniformity of 1559 restored the nation into a moderate Protestant state. After the extremes of the two previous reigns, Mary (Catholic) and Edward VI (Protestant) Elizabeth deliberately tried to follow the "Middle Way" between the two beliefs. The Catholics wanted nothing short of the total restoration of Roman Catholicism in England.
