Elizabeth the First:

A Queen Wedded to Her

Kingdom
500 Words in Process Paper

Mahima Kakani
Ji Won Lee
Jacqueline Zhang
Senior Divison
Group Website

In considering the theme of exploration, encounter, and exchange, a majority of

our preliminary topics related to either physical discoveries or mass distributions of ideas.
Queen Elizabeth the First encompassed a variety of characteristics that defined her as a
ruler who stimulated these discoveries and sharing of ideas. But further research revealed
that she was capable of using her gender and sovereignty in order to shape her kingdom
and transform English politics. The Queens exchange in identity as a woman for that of a
sovereign, encounter of the political world, and exploration of social, economic, and
political resolutions for her kingdom drew us into researching such an iconoclastic leader.
To further understand Queen Elizabeth as a leader, we examined her letters. She
was an avid writer, constantly sending off her personal scripts to foreign leaders and
diplomats. Just from her rhetorical technique, we immediately learned that the queen was
a very assertive, defiant woman. When continuing our research, we watched several
documentaries, the most informative being Monarchy by scholar David Starkey. The
way the information was presented caused us to question the circumstances and reasoning
behind Queen Elizabeths actions, rather than simply know that they took place. Next, we
looked to the British Library as the database is rich with primary sources; it is the English
equivalent of the Library of Congress. From the British Library, we were able to put
Queen Elizabeth in a historical and societal context. This let us recognize the uniqueness
of the queen as a female monarch in a patriarchal time period where she was only
expected to marry and bear heirs.
Because a majority of Queen Elizabeths time period was marked by paintings,
letters, and documents, we decided a website was the optimum medium to capture the her
exchange of identity, encounter of real politics, and exploration of ruling England. We

used this medium to collaborate online so that we all had a constant connection to our
research in order to make additions and edits.
After conducting preliminary research and examining the possible interpretations
of the theme, we developed our thesis: Queen Elizabeth the Firsts ability to reconcile
femininity with sovereignty allowed her to overcome the social misogyny that existed
within English and foreign politics. The queen sacrificed the typical duties of a woman
for that of a sovereign by exchanging the expectation of a political marriage with her
devotion to the English people. Queen Elizabeth encountered domestic and foreign
resistance to her power as monarch due to the ubiquitous patriarchal societal standards.
She also met opposition from Puritans and Catholics while engaging in religious reforms.
The queen explored her options during the Spanish Armada and was able to protect
England by defeating the Spanish. She manipulated courtships to instigate short-term
foreign alliances that were beneficial to England during times of foreign conquest and
religious reform. Queen Elizabeth I was a truly revolutionary leader who ruled without a
king and used the contrived weakness of being female to benefit England through novel
political maneuvers.