Editing House of Tudor (section)

=== Pressure to marry ===
[[File:Mary, Queen of Scots after Nicholas Hilliard.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Mary, Queen of Scots]], who conspired with English nobles to take the English throne for herself]]

Even though Elizabeth was only twenty-five when she came to the throne, she was absolutely sure of her God-given place to be the queen and of her responsibilities as the 'handmaiden of the Lord'. She never let anyone challenge her authority as queen, even though many people, who felt she was weak and should be married, tried to do so.<ref name="JonesNorman"/> The popularity of Elizabeth was extremely high, but her [[Privy Council]], her [[Houses of Parliament|Parliament]] and her subjects thought that the unmarried queen should take a husband; it was generally accepted that, once a [[queen regnant]] was married, the husband would relieve the woman of the burdens of [[head of state]]. Also, without an heir, the Tudor line would end; the risk of civil war between rival claimants was a possibility if Elizabeth died childless. Numerous suitors from nearly all European nations sent ambassadors to English court to put forward their suit. Risk of death came dangerously close in 1564 when Elizabeth caught [[smallpox]]; when she was most at risk, she named [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Robert Dudley]] as Lord Protector in the event of her death. After her recovery, she appointed Dudley to the Privy Council and created him [[Earl of Leicester]], in the hope that he would marry [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]. Mary rejected him, and instead married [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]], a descendant of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], giving Mary a stronger claim to the English throne. Although many Catholics were loyal to Elizabeth, many also believed that, because Elizabeth was declared illegitimate after her parents' marriage was [[annulled]], Mary was the strongest legitimate claimant. Despite this, Elizabeth would not name Mary her heir; as she had experienced during the reign of her predecessor Mary I, the opposition could flock around the heir if they were disheartened with Elizabeth's rule.

[[File:El Greco 050.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pope Pius V]], who issued the [[Papal bull]] excommunicating Elizabeth and relieving her subjects of their allegiance to her]]

Numerous threats to the Tudor line occurred during Elizabeth's reign. In 1569, a group of Earls led by [[Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland]], and [[Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland]] attempted to depose Elizabeth and replace her with [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]. In 1571, the Protestant-turned-Catholic [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk]], had plans to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and then replace Elizabeth with Mary. [[Ridolfi plot|The plot]], masterminded by [[Roberto di Ridolfi]], was discovered and Howard was [[beheaded]]. The next major uprising was in 1601, when [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex]], attempted to raise the city of London against Elizabeth's government. The city of London proved unwilling to rebel; Essex and most of his co-rebels were executed. Threats also came from abroad. In 1570, [[Pope Pius V]] issued a [[Papal bull]], ''[[Regnans in Excelsis]]'', excommunicating Elizabeth, and releasing her subjects from their [[allegiance]] to her. Elizabeth came under pressure from [[UK Parliament|Parliament]] to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, to prevent any further attempts to replace her; though faced with several official requests, she vacillated over the decision to execute an anointed queen. Finally, she was persuaded of Mary's (treasonous) complicity in the plotting against her, and she signed the [[death warrant]] in 1586. Mary was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587, to the outrage of Catholic Europe.

There are many reasons debated as to why Elizabeth never married. It was rumoured that she was in love with [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Robert Dudley]], and that on one of her summer progresses she had birthed his illegitimate child. This rumour was just one of many that swirled around the two's long-standing friendship. However, more important to focus on were the disasters that many women, such as her mother Anne Boleyn, suffered due to being married into the royal family. Her sister Mary's marriage to Philip brought great contempt to the country, for many of her subjects despised Spain and Philip and feared that he would try to take complete control. Recalling her father's disdain for [[Anne of Cleves]], Elizabeth also refused to enter into a foreign match with a man that she had never seen before, so that also eliminated a large number of suitors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Warnicke |first=Retha |date=2010 |title=Why Elizabeth I Never Married |journal=History Review |issue=67 |pages=15–20}}</ref>