Elizabeth I "The Virgin Queen" 1558-1603 Elizabeth, England's most popular ruler, had a difficult childhood, having been declared illegitimate after the fall of Anne Boleyn. Under Mary she was a prisoner, held briefly in the Tower, as a likely focus of Protestant plots. She proved to be a ruler of quality: courageous, shrewd and possessing a potent way with words, although she was politically indecisive. Historically she benefited from the extraordinary cult of 'Gloriana' created around her by her courtiers, and from the exceptional quality of Elizabethan mariners, poets (including Shakespeare) and other Renaissance heroes who ornamented her long and prosperous reign. Her aim was stability and concord, but administration was neglected. Crown revenue declined, corruption crept into government, and a rift began to open between crown and parliament. Elizabeth's major achievement was the settlement of the religious question, with the creation of the Church of England, based on the thirty-nine articles (1563). However it automatically turned English Catholics into traitors, and displeased those radical protestants who came to be known as puritans. The Virgin Queen Although Elizabeth had many suitors, and was romantically linked with Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester she never married. She was able to exploit her availability to some advantage, and it augmented her popularity, always carefully courted with the common people. Yet spinsterhood may have been due to personal preference as well as statecraft.