This is a summary of the article "Elizabeth I: Exception to the Rule" by Helen Castor in History Today. In the article, Castor analyzes the history of queens and kingship itself in medieval England. Nowadays it is very common to see a woman gain complete power, whether it is something as simple as choosing what to wear, or something as complex as making the final decisions in a successful company, which she owns. Over the centuries, women as a whole have made great strides towards equality and will continue to do so. Having a female monarch seemed completely unnatural in the 12th century and there was a severe civil war over Matilda's claim to the throne. Until the second half of the 16th century, England had been ruled by kings. The unexpected death of Edward VI in 1553 provided the opportunity for the crown to pass to two queens, Mary Tudor also known as the infamous Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I also known as the Virgin Queen. In medieval England the power of the crown was male. A woman was classified as incapable of fulfilling the obligations of a king, such as maintaining order within the kingdom and defending the country. A queen was supposed to be the wife of a king and exemplify the feminine aspects of lawmaking and warfare, not its equivalent. This is the reason for Henry VIII's tenacity in wanting to father a son to begin a memorable line of Tudor kings. Despite the absence of a law preventing a woman from inheriting the crown as was the case in France, Henry did not consider himself to have left his throne to a woman. After the sudden death of Louis Joan was… middle of paper… Illip would have the title of King of England, but no authority. In November 1558, at the age of 42, Mary died childless, and her crown passed to her twenty-five-year-old half-sister, Elizabeth. Only six months after the publication of Knox's First Blast, the rise of this Protestant queen confronted John Knox with the imperative need to rectify his opinion on female domination. Elizabeth was not dazzled and when he returned from Geneva to Scotland in 1559, she did not allow him onto English soil, leaving him to venture into the more dangerous Northern Sea Route to Lea. Rather than follow the pattern everyone expected Elizabeth to do, she chose to be different. Elizabeth chose to use her power, not by force but by asserting herself as something unique. Elizabeth was the exception; she was an icon as well as a queen, and for this she will be remembered.