D

Elizabeth was a very bright woman and a shrewd politician.Her reign was a golden age that English people were proud of.She settled the religious controversy once and for all，setting the Church of England on a moderate Protestant path.She was meticulous about administration and used Parliament and other government institutions effectively.She paid great attention to trade and commerce，which brought economic prosperity.She built up a powerful navy and made England into a power to be reckoned with in Europe.She was very careful to win the support of her subjects，and made her policies known to all English people and foreign governments by distributing explanatory pamphlets.

Elizabeth was a product of the Reformation as her mother was the woman HenryⅧmarried after he divorced Catherine.She naturally wanted to turn the English church back towards Protestantism.However，her political shrewdness told her that it would be politically dangerous to return the country to Protestantism immediately after her succession，because she needed the support of Spain whose king opposed Protestantism in England.Only when she was firmly settled on the throne and felt that she no longer needed protection from Spain did she began to tackle the religious problem.Even then，she did not take drastic measures as her sister Mary had done.She was determined to make the English church comfortable，moderate，and popular.She made some concessions to satisfy extreme Protestant reformers.In addition，Elizabeth allowed the Catholics to take an oath of obedience to the Crown and punished those who refused to do so as traitors instead of religious heretics，thus depriving the Catholics of martyrs.Furthermore，the Catholic archbishops and bishops who swore allegiance to the Crown were allowed to sit in the Upper House of Parliament.Meanwhile，she passed laws to suppress the Puritans who attacked her settlement as political expediency and wanted to purify the Church of England of Catholic elements.With these measures，Elizabeth achieved religious unity within the nation.The Church of England up to the present has remained largely the same as it was in Elizabeth’s time.

Administratively，Elizabeth believed in strong and effective rule and efficient government.She personally selected a group of loyal，competent，and hard⁃working people of moderate background to staff the Privy Council，an institution still exists today.The Privy Councilors helped her to form national policies and ensured the cooperation of the Parliament since most of them were members of Parliament.Beneath the Privy Council，there was a salaried bureaucracy of about 500 people who worked in the treasury，the judiciary，and various regional agencies.Besides these，Elizabeth’s government had a huge group of unpaid officials who were natural leaders of society because of their ownership of land.Among these，the 1，500 or so justices of peace were the most important.They were chosen by the Privy Council and were often members of Parliament.They were responsible for collecting taxes，maintaining social order，administering justice，and raising troops in time of emergency.

In foreign policy，Elizabeth began as an ally of her brother⁃in⁃law，the“most Catholic king of Spain”.But Elizabeth later began to ally with Protestants on the continent against Spain.In addition，England ignored Spain’s monopoly on trade in the Caribbean and traded slaves there.The English also carried out a policy of piracy on the open seas.Supported by Elizabeth，English captains like Sir Francis Drake，known as the sea dogs，preyed on Spanish merchant ships.All of these factors made a war with Spain unavoidable.In 1588，the Spanish Armada of 130 ships carrying 31，000 men sailed to attack England.But the Armada was defeated by the English fleet which Elizabeth had carefully built up.The defeat of the Armada helped to bring about the subsequent decline of the Spanish empire and launched England on its way to become a great sea power.

Elizabeth never married and had no heir.When she died in 1603，the Tudor monarchy came to an end.Parliament chose Elizabeth’s cousin，James VI of Scotland，to succeed to the English throne as James I of England.This began the reign of the House of Stuart in England，which lasted until 1714.