Elizabeth's motivations for remaining single were numerous and diverse. One of her greatest motivations was her personal desire for autonomy. From foreign threats in the form of religious institutions such as Catholicism in Spain and France, to the military challenges posed by those same nations, Elizabeth's only hope for successfully securing and maintaining her rule as a female monarch during a time when the world would not entertain such a notion of kingship, was to feint, bluff, trick, and play off all the different factions against each other, thereby creating a complicated and delicate balancing act. Elizabeth chose not to marry because she wanted to control her own life. In a male dominated world, Elizabeth would have been viewed to
