Elizabeth I and Isabella I Midterm

~ Elizabeth I of England knew that religion could tear her country apart, and made special precautions to keep every one of her citizens happy, unlike Isabella I of Spain, who let her religion prevent her from seeing what was best for her country.

- Isabella I

• Spanish Inquisition
• Spanish Netherlands
• Granada

- Elizabeth I

• Compared to her sister Bloody Mary
• Emphasis on Protestantism, but not too much
• Compared to her successor, James I and his son Charles

- How they were the same

• Though different religions, still strong beliefs

**In the 15th and 16th centuries, religion was a big part of politics in every European country.  Alliances were formed because of shared religions.  Countries were brought together and made stronger by a religious identity.  However, religion also had the power to make a country weaker.  Entire wars like the Thirty Years War broke out based off of religion.  Because different rulers had different religious preferences, it was difficult for a ruler to please all of his or her subjects.  However, Elizabeth I of England knew that religion had the ability to tear her country apart, and made special precautions to keep every one of her citizens happy, unlike Isabella I of Spain, who let her religion prevent her from seeing what was best for her country.

**Elizabeth I's predecessor Mary was very Catholic, burning Protestants that opposed her and trying to force her religion on her already-Protestant subjects.  After her sister's reign, Elizabeth had a lot of religious mess to clean up.  She reinstated all of the previous Protestant acts that her brother Edward IV and her father Henry VIII had had in place, but in doing this did not threaten any of the subjects that had been Catholic.  She put her subjects before her religion, just like she had put her country before her love life and had never gotten married.  Though it was hard for a ruler to keep his or her country happy, Elizabeth put her country's religious needs before her own and did just that, making her a politique.

**Isabella I of Spain, on the other hand, was very strictly Catholic.  She exhausted many of her country's resources in order to remove the Muslim population in the stronghold of Granada, losing many workers that would have greatly benefited her country.  She imposed the Spanish Inquisition on her people, forcing them to convert to Catholicism.  She tried to force her religion on the Dutch, taking over the Spanish Netherlands.  The Dutch did not want this, so they asked England for help, and Elizabeth I and her army was able to completely obliterate the Spanish armada, with Isabella coming off the worst in this battle.

**Though they went about their politics in different ways, both Isabella and Elizabeth were adamant about their beliefs.  One of the first things Elizabeth did when she came to power was institute all previous Protestants acts.  Though she did not force anyone to convert, she was sure to make her religious preference known.  Isabella was a bit more obvious about her religion, but both women wanted to leave an impression on their country about what they thought the right religion was.  Because religion was such an important factor in politics at this time, both rulers made sure that theirs was known.

**Elizabeth I and Isabella I were both very strong rulers, but one used religion to help make her country stronger, and the other's religion happened to weaken their country.  Elizabeth was able to establish a sense of English Protestantism in a peaceful way, not having to do anything like the Spanish Inquisition.  Isabella, on the other hand, was too eager to fight for her religion, when fighting would not have been necessary at all.  If she had gone about it in a more peaceful way, it is possible that her country may have been as successful as England at this time.