THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WORLD LEADERS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

his death in 1553, Elizabeth’s life was in peril. Edward, who
had been raised Protestant in his father’s new church, was
succeeded by Elizabeth’s older half sister Mary, a religious
zealot set on returning England, by force if necessary, to
the Roman Catholic faith. This attempt, along with her
unpopular marriage to the ardently Catholic king Philip
II of Spain, aroused bitter Protestant opposition in
England. In a charged atmosphere of treasonous rebellion
and inquisitorial repression, Mary suspected Elizabeth of
plotting with the Protestants to gain the throne and had
her imprisoned for two months in the Tower of London.
Elizabeth narrowly escaped death.
When Mary died on November 17, 1558, Elizabeth
came to the throne amid bells, bonfires, patriotic demon-
strations, and other signs of public jubilation. The queen
began at once to form her government and issue procla-
mations. She reduced the size of the Privy Council, in part
to purge some of its Catholic members and to make it
more efficient as an advisory body. Elizabeth carefully bal-
anced the need for substantial administrative and judicial
continuity with the desire for change, and she assembled a
core of experienced and trustworthy advisers, including
William Cecil, Nicholas Bacon, Francis Walsingham, and
Nicholas Throckmorton. Chief among these was Cecil
(afterward Lord Burghley), whom Elizabeth appointed
her principal secretary of state on the morning of her
accession. He was to serve her (first in this capacity and
after 1571 as lord treasurer) with remarkable sagacity and
skill for 40 years.
Elizabeth restored England to Protestantism. The Act
of Supremacy, passed by Parliament and approved in 1559,
revived the antipapal statutes of Henry VIII and declared
the queen supreme governor of the church. The Act of
Uniformity established a slightly revised version of the