Elizabeth Russian Yelizaveta Petrovna (b. Dec. 18, 1709, Kolo- menskoye, near' Moscow, Russia—d. Dec. 25, 1761, St. Petersburg) Empress of Russia (1741-61). Daughter of Peter I and Catherine I, she was proclaimed empress after staging a coup d’etat and arresting Ivan VI, his mother, and their chief advisers. She encouraged the development of edu¬ cation and art and left control of most state affairs to her advisers and favorites. Her reign was characterized by court intrigues, a deteriorating financial situation, and the gentry’s acquisition of privileges at the expense of the peasantry. However, Russia’s prestige as a major European power grew. Russia adhered to a pro-Austrian, anti-Prussian foreign policy, annexed a portion of southern Finland after fighting a war with Sweden, improved its relations with Britain, and fought Prussia in the Seven Years' War. Elizabeth was succeeded by her nephew Peter III.
Elizabeth I (b. Sept. 7, 1533, Greenwich, near London, Eng.—d. March 24, 1603, Richmond, Surrey) Queen of England (1558-1603). Daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, she displayed precocious seriousness as a child and received the rigorous education normally
reserved for male heirs. Her situation was precarious during the reigns of her half brother Edward VI and her half sister Mary I. After Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion in 1554, she was imprisoned but later released. Her accession to the throne on Mary’s death was greeted with public jubila¬ tion. She assembled a core of experienced advisers, including William Cecil and Francis Walsingham, but she zealously retained her power to make final decisions. Important events of her reign included the restoration of England to Protestantism; the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots; and England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada. She lived under constant threat of conspiracies by British Catholics. Over time she became known as the Virgin Queen, wedded to her kingdom. Many important suitors came for¬ ward, and she showed signs of romantic attachment to the earl of Leices¬ ter, but she remained single, perhaps because she was unwilling to compromise her power. She had another suitor, the 2nd earl of Essex, executed in 1601 for treason. Though her later years saw an economic decline and disastrous military efforts to subdue the Irish, her reign had already seen England’s emergence as a world power and her presence had helped unify the nation against foreign enemies. Highly intelligent and strong-willed, Elizabeth inspired ardent expressions of loyalty, and her reign saw a brilliant flourishing in the arts, especially literature and music. After her death, she was succeeded by James I.
Elizabeth II in full Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (b. April 21,1926,
London, Eng.) Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952. She became heir presumptive when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated and her father became king as George VI. In 1947 she married her distant cousin Philip, duke of Edinburgh, with whom she had four children, including Charles, prince of Wales. She became queen on her father’s death in 1952. Increasingly aware of the modem role of the monarchy, she favoured simplicity in court life and took an informed interest in government business. In the 1990s the monarchy was troubled by the highly publi¬ cized marital difficulties of two of the queen’s sons and the death of Diana, princess of Wales. In 2002 the queen’s mother and sister died within two months of each other.
Elizabeth II, 1985.
KARSH-CAMERA PRESS/GLOBE PHOTOS
Elizabeth City (pop., 2000: 120,568), northeastern New Jersey, U.S. Located on Newark Bay adjacent to Newark, it is connected by bridge to Staten Island. Settlement began in 1664 with the purchase of land from the Delaware Indians. The first colonial assembly met there (1668-82). It was the scene of four military engagements during the American Revolu¬ tion. It grew throughout the 19th century and is now highly industrial¬ ized, with important shipping operations. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr attended an academy in Elizabeth, and Princeton University originated there (1746) as the college of New Jersey.
Elizabeth Islands Chain of small islands, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. Extending southwest for 16 mi (26 km) from the southwestern tip of Cape Cod, the group lies between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. The islands were visited in 1602 by the English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold, who established a short-lived (three-week) colony on the west¬ ernmost island of Cuttyhunk 18 years before the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth. Naushon, the largest island, was a British naval base during the War of 1812. The islands, covering an area of about 14 sq mi (36 sq km), are mostly privately owned. Cuttyhunk is a popular base for sport¬ fishing.
Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint (b. 1207, probably Pressburg, Hung.—d. Nov. 17, 1231, Marburg, Thuringia; canonized 1235; feast day November 17) Princess of Hungary canonized for her devotion to the poor. She married Louis IV of Thuringia, who died of plague in 1227 en route to the Sixth Crusade. She then joined the Third Order of St. Francis and devoted her life to the poor and sick, for whom she built a hospice. As a young girl, Elizabeth is said to have stolen bread, which she gave to the poor, and later distributed grain during famines. In the best-known legend, which is often depicted in art, Elizabeth met her husband unexpectedly on one of her charitable errands; the loaves of bread she was carrying were
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Elizabethan literature ► elm I 615
miraculously changed into roses. This transformation convinced him of the worthiness of her kind endeavours, about which he had been chiding her.
Elizabethan Vi-.li-zo-'be-thonV literature Body of works written dur¬ ing the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Probably the most illustrious age in the history of English literature, the Elizabethan era saw a flowering of poetry, produced a golden age of drama, and inspired a wide variety of splendid prose. The period encompasses the work of Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and others. Though some patterns and themes persisted, the tone of most forms of literary expression, especially drama, darkened rather suddenly around the start of the 17th century. See also Jacobean literature.
elk Any of several species of large deer in the genus Cervus, notably the red deer of Europe, the Kashmir stag, and the Himalayan shou, as well as the North American deer more correctly called wapiti. The creature called elk in Europe is a member of the species ( Alces alces) known in North America as moose. The name is also applied to the extinct Irish elk.
Elkin, Stanley (Lawrence) (b. May 11, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 31, 1995, St. Louis, Mo.) U.S. writer. He grew up in Chi¬ cago; from 1960 he taught writing at Washington University. His works explore contemporary life with tragicomic wit and imaginative insight. Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers (1966) was an acclaimed col¬ lection of short stories on Jewish themes. The novel The Franchiser (1976) tells of Ben Flesh, who, like Elkin, suffered from multiple scle¬ rosis, which is for Flesh both an enlightenment and a burden. The Living End (1979) consists of three interwoven novellas.
Ellesmere, Lake Coastal lake, eastern South Isiand, New Zealand. Located on the southern side of Banks Peninsula, the tidal lake, which is shallow and brackish, is 14 mi (23 km) long by 8 mi (13 km) wide and is no deeper than 7 ft (2 m). The lake sustains great flocks of waterfowl.
Ellesmere \'elz-,mer\ Island Island, Nunavut, Canada. The largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and lying off the northwestern coast of Green¬ land, it is believed to have been visited by Vikings in the 10th century ad. It is roughly 300 mi (500 km) wide by 500 mi (800 km) long, the most rugged in the Arctic Archipelago, with towering mountains and vast ice fields. Cape Columbia is the most northerly point of Canada. Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve (established 1986) became Quttinirpaaq National Park in 2001.