Elizabeth was the unwanted daughter of King Henry VIII, the king who killed her
mother, because she did not bear a son. Elizabeth grew up in a country at war with it self
in the wake of King Henry's religious reforms. Through no fault of her own, Elizabeth
was cast aside by her own father; resulting in a lonely childhood and adolescence. While
her half sister Mary I was queen, as a young women Elizabeth lived quietly, waiting for
her opportunity to succeed. On November. 17, 1558, Mary died and Elizabeth began her
reign. During her years as a queen, Elizabeth influenced England greatly, with
which to this day the Elizabethan age is most often associated.
Education was one of Elizabeth's greatest influences on England. Perhaps her
influence on the importance of education as a young girl and her longed desire to learn
helped her strive for this particular goal. Children in those days began their studies really
early in the morning. They were expected to work long hours with out getting distracted.
Over the years her tutors wrote glowing reports on her excellent progress. At ten years
old, Elizabeth was excellent at Latin, and she could speak Italian pretty well. She was
also taught ancient and modern languages, religion, history, geography, mathematics,
science, and music. She kept up her studies even when she became queen.(Zamoyska
10-11) Queen Elizabeth introduced to her country the seeds of freedom, which English
men now took for granted. The growing number of printing presses made books more
readily available, because an increasing amount of people, both men and women began
As a Protestant, Elizabeth influenced her country's religious decisions.
According to Zamoyska: While Mary was still queen of England, Elizabeth did not want
to risk her greatest opportunity of being next in line. She had a difficult task of having to
conform openly to the Catholics, while still k...