mirrors into men's souls

When the protestant Elizabeth I attempted to resolve religious disagreement in her kingdom she promised the catholics that she will not make mirrors into men's souls, meaning that as long as they went through the motions of attending the Church of England to assure their allegiance to her, and lived quietly, she would turn a blind eye to what they did in private and leave them alone.

Bearing in mind the preceding bloody rule of his sister, Mary I, her resolution was intelligent and benign.

Most catholics did what was reasonably required and prospered -- some being bribed with knighthoods -- but a few leading catholic families rebelled against her rule and her situation was made more threatening by the Pope publicly dispensing English catholics from allegiance to her, thereby sanctioning her assassination and causing her to take a less benign alternative.

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Was Ireland England’s First Colony?

In many respects Ireland to Elizabeth I’s Protestant Christian England is very much like Iraq to Ahmadinejad’s Shia Muslim Iran, and -- disregarding the oilfields -- if Ahmadinejad were to extend Iranian rule into Iraq it would be largely for the same reason that Elizabeth extended English rule into Ireland. It would be a purely strategic political decision, to prevent being sandwiched between nations ruled by the same dominant religious-political power – in Ahmadinejad’s case the Sunni Muslims of Saudi Arabia, and in Elizabeth’s case the Pope in Rome.

Ireland was a problem for Elizabeth because it was run by the catholic priests and had the potential to harbor subversives and act as a launching pad for a foreign-backed western invasion – which, along with an eastern invasion from France or Spain would have destroyed England.

By extending English crown control over Ireland – and suppressing rebellions – Ireland could be seen as England's first colony but it was not colonized or plundered in the same sense that later colonies were; and real oppression of the Irish came under Oliver Cromwell, not Elizabeth I.

Read the full story Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I