Daughter of Henry VIII, queen of England and Ireland (1558–1603). Succeeding her Catholic sister Mary I, Elizabeth re-established a moderate form of Protestantism as the religion of the state. None the less, her reign was dominated by the threat of a Catholic restoration (eventually leading to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots) and by war with Spain, during which the country was saved from invasion by the defeat of the Armada in 1588. Her reign was characterized by a flowering of national culture, particularly in the field of literature, in which Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Spenser were all active. Although frequently courted, she never married.