"Courageous, Zealous, Learned, Wise, and Chaste" – Queen Elizabeth I's Biblical Analogies After Her Death

Abstract

During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I of England was the subject of various biblical analogies. Much of the current historiography, however, does not continue analysis of these literary devices after the Queen's death in 1603. Primary source documents show that their use did not cease with the Queen's death. These analogies appear to have continued for two primary purposes. Analogies legitimised a questionable event that had occurred during Elizabeth's reign, and portrayed these decisions as an example for the current Protestant monarch to imitate. Also, in the years after the Queen's death, analogies reinforced England's Protestantism (and its divine sanction), and gave the Stuart monarchs an example to emulate in religio-political matters.