t they had on Protestant rebels. She feared this same galvanizing spirit could also inspire Catholics. The Queen recognized her tedious position, doing her best to maintain diplomatic foreign relations with all European countries. She wanted to avoid wars at all cost, but especially in relations with Spain. Elizabeth needed Philip's protection against France. As one contemporary commented, "[w]ith him, therefore, she puts on as Catholic a turn as possible. The candles on her altar are lighted or extinguished; the crucifix appears or disappears."
             Thus, religion was a very difficult course to navigate. Elizabeth successfully did so via moderation. As the historian Jasper Ridley emphasized, the "only moderate in religion was the queen herself, who was a moderate not so much because she believed in moderation as a principle, but because of her own religious preferences." Elizabeth effectively employed this moderate stance to unify England around a central religion, later called Anglicanism. Her reign's major accomplishment was her effective execution of a religious policy which endorsed Protestantism, but at the same time was moderate enough so as not to cause violent Catholic rebellion. This provided the country with an unprecedented unity conspicuously absent during the polarizing reigns of Edward VI and Mary I. The
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