Elizabeth - historical background
Why did Catholics and Protestants fight each other?
The Christian religion began in Israel after the death of Jesus Christ Ð traditionally AD33 Ð and was spread around the world by the Roman Empire from the fourth century onwards. The head of the church, the Pope, resided in Rome and almost all Christians were loyal to him. Even when the Roman Empire collapsed, the church hierarchy continued.
In 1517, Martin Luther, a theology professor, nailed a piece of paper to a church door in Wittenburg, Germany. It complained that the church had become corrupt and thus indirectly questioned the authority of the Pope. This event gave rise to a movement known as Protestantism, which was opposed to the established religious order.
Different protestants had different views on how the Christian religion should be administered, but were united on a number of issues. They believed that man could achieve salvation simply by following the Bible Ð their souls did not rely on the intercession of priests. The churchÕs vast estates and wealth, as well as many of its rituals, were therefore wordly and unnecessary.
In the four decades that followed LutherÕs poster, Europe split into two camps: Roman Catholics (who wanted to maintain the traditional church) and Protestants (who wanted to change it). For a century afterwards, the continent was wracked by religious wars.
On the one hand, adopting Protestantism allowed rulers to take over their nationÕs churches and appropriate their wealth and power. On the other, such actions would risk civil war and war with Catholic countries.
ElizabethÕs family background
ElizabethÕs father was Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 to 1547 and had six wives. The first was Catherine of Aragon, his dead brother (Henry VII)Õs widow and the daughter of the King of Spain. She gave him a son, who lived only a few weeks, and five daughters - only one of which, Mary, survived.
Desperate for a son to succeed him, Henry asked the Pope to annul the marriage. The Pope, under pressure from Spain, refused. Henry reacted by angrily taking the English church out of the PopeÕs control and under his command.
Henry divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, who gave him another daughter, Elizabeth. When Anne was beheaded for alleged adultery, the child Elizabeth became a ÔbastardÕ (the official name for a child born out of wedlock) and was brought up away from the royal courts.
HenryÕs next wife, Jane Seymour, died of an infection a few weeks after giving him a son, Edward. His next three wives (Anne of Cleves Ð divorced, Catherine Howard Ð beheaded, and Katherine Parr Ð survived) bore him no children.
When Edward IV succeeded his father, he implemented changes to make the English church more Protestant.
After EdwardÕs death in 1553, there was a failed attempt to put the Protestant Lady Jane Grey (a cousin of Henry VII) on the throne. She ruled for nine days before being sent to the Tower. The Catholic daughter of Henry VIII, Mary, was pronounced Queen and returned the church to Catholicism.
It is at this point that the film begins.