"Some think one thing, some another, and only God can say whose judgment is best." -Queen Elizabeth I 

England in the 1500s saw great changes in views of religion which led to political unrest. If a person did not follow the ‘favoured' religion for the time, they were punished severely. During the reign of Henry VIII and his son Edward VI Catholics were heavily punished. However, during the reign of Queen Mary, England was made Catholic for a time being. Mary's execution of Protestants led to her nickname of ‘Bloody Mary'. Elizabeth, having grown up around this unrest, and possibly because of the impact of her mother's own execution, believed that religion was personal and therefore not to be punished. She allowed her subjects to practice their ‘favoured' religion as long as it did not disrupt the order of society.

Her tolerant view only stretched so far, though; being a nervous person, she punished anyone who posed a threat to her regime severely. They almost always were Catholic revolts that supported her Catholic cousin: Mary, Queen of Scots.