What actions demonstrated that Elizabeth I was both a clever and fair ruler?

Wikepedia will help you more than Yahoo can. Search her decisions about religion and also the period of the SPanish Armada.

Wikepedia will help you more than Yahoo can. Search her decisions about religion and also the period of the SPanish Armada.

Elizabeth I retained her position well against her rival, Mary Queen of the Scots. She tried to compromise and negotiate with her sister, despite the fact she knew this was useless. In the end, it was either Mary or herself. She played it very cleverly and came out ahead. When it came to the ambitious men in her midst, she kept them at arms length, even the ones she trusted and loved. A good example was Sir Walter Raleigh, who she eventually had to execute due to his indiscretions with women. As far as the Spanish Armada was concerned, she was not the tactician, but she certainly had a hand in appointing the best commanders available and then allowing the advanced naval technology to do her talking for her. She gambled and got lucky and never backed down to European powers, including the Pope. Hope this helps.

Er - just to point out Mary Queen of Scots was Lizzie's cousin, not her sister. And Walter Raleigh was executed by James I. It was Essex Elizabeth chopped. Her religious policy was moderate, acceptable to everyone but extreme Catholics and extreme Puritans. Most of her subjects were more than happy with her settlement. (Her brother Edward had run things as an extreme Calvinist Protestant, her sister Mary Tudor as an extreme and bigoted Catholic. Neither was popular.) She famously stated that she had no wish to have a mirror into men's souls - in other words she was *relatively* tolerant in an intolerant world. Compare and contrast to Philip II of Spain. Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded her navy against the Armada, was a Roman Catholic. She was also extremely skilled at picking effective ministers - and playing them off against one another so that she remained in charge.

Er - just to point out Mary Queen of Scots was Lizzie's cousin, not her sister. And Walter Raleigh was executed by James I. It was Essex Elizabeth chopped. Her religious policy was moderate, acceptable to everyone but extreme Catholics and extreme Puritans. Most of her subjects were more than happy with her settlement. (Her brother Edward had run things as an extreme Calvinist Protestant, her sister Mary Tudor as an extreme and bigoted Catholic. Neither was popular.) She famously stated that she had no wish to have a mirror into men's souls - in other words she was *relatively* tolerant in an intolerant world. Compare and contrast to Philip II of Spain. Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded her navy against the Armada, was a Roman Catholic. She was also extremely skilled at picking effective ministers - and playing them off against one another so that she remained in charge.