Asher Sisneros

Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) succeeded Queen “Bloody Mary” Tudor to the throne. Unlike her two siblings, Queen Mary and King Edward VI, she adopted religious agnosticism. Under both of their leaderships, she had conformed to be politically accepted. Under Edward’s reign, she acted Protestant; under Mary, Catholic. Some argue that her faith was disingenuous. Whatever the case, when she ascended the throne, she believed the wisest calculation was religious tolerance. 

Ironically, even though she was far more gracious and less dictatorial than Bloody Mary, her policy was more Machiavellian. After all, Machiavelli preached one thing: be feared but avoid being hated. Mary’s blunder was garnering the hatred of Protestant preachers. Elizabeth, on the other hand, solidified her rule by governing with relative neutrality to avoid creating enemies. 

Her death marked the end of the English Reformation and the end of the religious wars in England. The following decades were marked with relative peace. Those who wanted further reform, such as the Puritans, opted to find it elsewhere: America.