The Elizabethan era is often referred to as the Golden Age of English history.  Elizabeth reigned from 1558-1603, and her reign saw relative peace come to England:  peace between the Catholics and Protestants, and peace between parliament and the monarchy.  The conflict between France and England also calmed during Elizabeth's reign. 

This also proved to be the height of the English Renaissance, producing the best in English poetry, music, other literature, and theatre.  Notables such as Shakespeare wrote during this period, of course.

In contrast, the continental Renaissance had waned by this time. 

The Protestant Reformation also became more acceptable to the English people during this period.   

England possessed a centralized, well-organized, effective government during Elizabeth's reign, and the government and the English benefited from trans-Atlantic trade.

If this is what you mean by status, England (or Great Britain) was one of the two strongest countries in Europe during the time that Queen Elizabeth ruled.  It was only really rivalled by Spain in terms of power.

Because of this, some of the more important European events in this time were things that happened between the two countries.  Perhaps the biggest event of this time was the attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588.

A couple of big events in France were the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestants in 1572 and the Edict of Nantes that ended the Catholic-Protestant fighting in 1593.