renaissance-art:On January 15, 1559 Elizabeth I was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey during a gran
renaissance-art:On January 15, 1559 Elizabeth I was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey during a grand coronation. Although only 25, Elizabeth’s early years and surprising ascension to the throne were fraught with political perils. The youngest daughter of Henry VIII was third in line for the crown after being restored to the line of succession near the end father’s life. Like Mary before her, Parliament declared Elizabeth illegitimate to clear Jane Seymour’s path to the throne. In 1554, the outbreak of Wyatt’s Rebellion nearly led to Elizabeth’s execution at the Tower, the same death her mother, Anne Boleyn, faced as Mary suspected Elizabeth’s involvement in the plot. Edward and Mary’s tumultuous reigns had led England to the edges of radical Protestantism only for the nation to be violently reunited with Rome. A court in conflict, economic instability, and the painful upheaval of the Reformation was the new Queen’s inheritance. What followed Elizabeth’s coronation was an unprecedented time in British history some refer to as England’s ‘Golden Age’. -- source link