[Qynvtlur]

England had many great monarchs.

I believe the most influential was Henry VIII, but I dont know if he is the greatest.

I think Elizabeth is the most overrated one, I found it funny in the year 2000 when she was in all those lists of 100 more important people of the last millenium, while Charles V, Philip II, Soliman the Great or Louis XIV did not make it to the lists.

[affozyBoomi]

I think the one with the most lasting influence is Henry II.

Before that, Alfred the Great.

In cultural terms, Elizabeth I's reign saw the huge growth in power and wealth of Puritans in London, the spread of bibles in the English vernacular, the sense of English as a fitting language for great literature, and the first colony in the New World.

The Protestant Wind also meant the failure of the Spanish Armada and the last chance for Catholic Europe to effect any great change in England.