As the Protestant Reformation moved throughout Europe it affected various countries differently.

Rulers were either eager or unwilling to accept the reformation and incorporate it into their country. Elizabeth 1 of England and Catherine de Medici of France were notable rulers that had to deal with the Protestant Reformation which often threatened the monarchy. Even though they practiced their preferred religion they were willing to subordinate their religious interest for the welfare of the state. With their religious policies Elizabeth was able of increase Englands power while France went into civil war under Catherine. Elizabeth and Catherine were similar in their overall goal of political unity but differed in amount of power and how they dealt with religious differences. To begin with, Elizabeth 1 was a politique and preferred political unity to religious unity. Being a Protestant herself she promoted it and gave Protestant people government offices as Catholics fled to continental Europe. Unlike her half-sister Mary 1 which executed thousands of Protestant in a five year period, Elizabeth executed fewer Catholics in her forty-five years reign. She let people worship any religion freely, except Puritans who threatened the crown, in order to prevent rebellion and hatred towards the monarchy. Even in all of her efforts to have religious balance she could compromise with the extremist of either religion with caused some turmoil. Furthermore, Catherine de Medici was also a politique, though not as notable as Elizabeth. Catherine was a Catholic and wanted a purely Catholic France but that would cause the Guise family to become too powerful and take over the throne. In order to maintain the monarchy she passed the January Edict, which was an attempt to compromise with the Protestants and allowed them to worship freely outside of towns, also decreasing the power of the Guise family. As the Protestants started becoming more powerful Catherine started supporting the Guise and it eventually lead to a failed assassination of Coligny and The Saint Bartholomews Day Massacre killing numerous Protestants. A major difference which affected their religious policies was the amount of power available to them. For Elizabeth she was the absolute ruler of England and had greater influence and power over laws and acts passed. She became Supreme Governor of the Church of England so she could also pass religious reforms and laws a lot easier than Catherine. She never married in order to have ultimate rule of England and not have a king interfere with her reign and policy of religious freedom in order to maintain the monarchy. With this power and her policies to balance Catholicism and Protestantism England saw a peaceful and prosperous time. On the other hand Catherine was only a regent queen as there were male heirs to the throne, such as Frances II and Charles IX, but not old enough to rule for themselves. This made it a lot harder to make laws and religious reforms. With the rivalry between the powerful families supporting different religions and no powerful ruler civil war broke out in France. This eventually weakened France. In conclusion the Protestant Reformation brought turmoil in most of Europe. As politiques Elizabeth and Catherine did everything possible to maintain political unity and didnt care as much for religious unity. Elizabeth had better results than Catherine due to the amount of power she had.