Buy Hammered Shilling Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) Coins

Queen Elizabeth I was born in 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth had a troubled upbringing, mainly due to religion. She was wholly Catholic but forced to live under her father's, half-brother's and then half-sister's staunchly Protestant rules. As queen, Elizabeth ended the religious fanaticism that had cast its shadow over the country and saw in a golden age for England. She was a devoted queen – so much so that she never married and was instead ‘married to her people'. She steered England to becoming powerful in the arts, trade and politics of Europe and went down in history as one of England's greatest monarchs.