"Elizabeth, again like her father, learned to use the possibility of matrimony as a diplomatic trump card or, more crudely, as bait: after all, marriage to the queen of England would be a peaceful and inexpensive way for Spain or France to win that country into an alliance and, perhaps, even back to Catholicism. Throughout the first half of the reign, especially during foreign policy crisis, she entertained a steady stream of French princes and German dukes, all of whom offered undying love- and diplomatic alliance. Unlike her father, however, she knew that marriage was a card that she could only play once. Once played, her freedom of maneuver and, with it, that of her country, would be virtually eliminated. Instead, she preferred to play potential suitors against each other in a brilliant game of amorous, albeit duplicitous, diplomacy."
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Poets from EnglandTranslators from EnglandAnglicans from the United KingdomWomen from EnglandMonarchs from England
Original Language: English
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Sources
Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 120-121
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
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Elizabeth I of England
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