AP Exam Free Response #1

Compare and contrast the religious policies of Elizabeth the 1st of England and Isabella I of Spain
Outline: Elizabeth- head of protestant English church, more tolerant of other religions in her realm, Did not follow the catholic church and the pope
Isabella- Wanted her country to be completely catholic, started inquisition which forced moors and Jews either to leave or convert, followed the Catholic Church and the pope.

Elizabeth the 1st and Isabella of Spain were both remarkable monarchs during a period of great religious reformation and change in Europe. The reformation was sweeping across Europe from Germany and the Catholic Church had started its counter reformation. Both rulers had very different religious policies to one another like how in Spain Isabella instigated the inquisition with the support of the Vatican in an attempt to purge Spain of all non-Catholics while Elizabeth in England was more tolerant of religions beside the English church and allowed Catholics to worship in private. Isabella followed the word of the Vatican and the pope while Elizabeth was her own leader in terms of religious policies. Their differences in Religious policies set the stage for England to come out on top of Spain by the 17th century and caused a disaster for Spain that it never recovered from.


Before the marriage of Isabella and her husband King Phillip Spain was not untied, their marriage brought the country together and united it. One of their first acts was to start the inquisition. This was a court supported by the Vatican which basically ordered anyone who was not Catholic in Spain to convert to Catholicism or be either killed or deported. This included all the moors living in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and all the Jews who lived in Spain. Although the inquisition did unite Spain religiously it also made Spain weaker in terms of specialist trade and industry. Many of the people they deported were skilled tradesmen who were forced to leave rather than convert. The inquisition killed Spain’s cultural diversity and weakened its economy.

On the other side of Europe Elizabeth the 1st was ruling as the head of the English Church created by Henry VIII after he split from the Catholic Church. Elizabeth’s policies towards Jews, Catholics and other minority religious sects were much more forgiving even though the Catholics in England strongly supported rejoining the Catholic Church. Elizabeth herself was a politique, meaning she often sacrificed personal opinion for the good of her throne and country. Even if she wanted the Catholics expelled from the country she knew that doing so would cause much resentment. This preserved England’s religious and cultural diversity.

Throughout the 16th century the Popes in the Vatican had wanted to regain England as a catholic nation. Persuaded by Papal power to attack England and restore her Catholicism, in 1588 King Philip and Queen Isabella sent a huge Spanish armada which heavily outnumbered the English fleet into the English Channel to attack and Conquer England. However, bad weather and superior English ships defeated the Armada and almost the entire fleet was crushed. Spain never recovered from this devastating loss and the results of the battle made sure that England now secure against papal invasion.

Isabella and her husband Phillip’s religious policies did not help Spain other than to unite it religiously under Catholicism. They had lost much of their diversity and skilled tradesman when they purged them during the Inquisition and their decision to follow the Vatican’s orders and attack England was disastrous for their Country. Elizabeth’s more moderate policies allowed the English economy to flourish and England to become secure from invasion for centuries to come.