Elizabeth Tudor has been called "perhaps history's greatest monarch." She is by far histories most powerful woman. The government of England in the time of Elizabeth I was very different to its modern day counterpart. Queen Elizabeth was very much a ruler, unlike the monarchs today who are largely figureheads, and made all the major decisions of government herself. The crown was not above the law, but had to act in accordance with it, but Elizabeth was still a very authoritative woman. No law could be passed without her consent. She could choose the religion of the country, decide when parliament was going to sit and what they could discuss, opt whether or not the country would go to war, make decisions regarding education, the welfare of her subjects, even what food they should eat and the clothes they were to wear. She also had the right to send men or women to prison and, or order executions. Everyone in the country had to obey her. Not to obey her was against the law, and could be treason, for which the penalty was dismemberment and death. (Life and Times).
The reign of Elizabeth I began with a sense of uncertainty and danger, which would rarely leave it. The fears that assailed her new subjects at the end of 1558 were shared by many of their European neighbors, for England did not stand-alone. "Invasion of strangers, civil dissensions, the doubtful disposition of the succeeding prince, were cast in every man's conceit as present peril." (Brigden pg 213) The whole premise of Elizabeth's right to rule was her divine right as a sovereign. She made no attempt to hide the fact that she believed that she was the child Henry VIII had wanted. To the rest of the world she was illegitimate, her father's marriage to Anne Boleyn being void, and had no authority to govern. Only to her subject's reliance in their social hierarchy kept her on the throne.
Elizabeth determined to rule by love rather than by fear.
