History p2- Elizabeth

• How was order kept in Elizabethan society?

  Keeping order relied on a clear social structure in which everyone knew their place.

  This was because there was no police
• Social hierarchy in Elizabethan society:

  Nobility, Gentry, Yeomen, Tenant Farmers, Landless or labouring poor, Vagrants / homeless
• Hierarchy in Elizabethan towns:

  Merchants, Professionals, Business owners, Skills craftsmen, unskilled workers and the unemployed
• The court

  • close friends and advisors of Elizabeth (nobility)
  • helped her make decisions
  • Queen Elizabeth chose them and is in charge of them
• The Privy Council:

  important group of advisors

  helped Elizabeth make decisions, make sure they were carried out and oversaw law and order and monitored justices of the peace and the proceedings of parliment

  Elizabeth chose them and was in charge
• Parliament:

  • Group was like a government - they would vote on laws.
  • contained members which were the nobility
  • Elections held for parliament but very few people could vote
  • Elizabeth was in Charge, she was the only one who could call and dismiss them.
• Lords Lieutenant

  • members of the nobility often apart of Privy council
  • In charge of maintaining country's militia (= military force of ordinary people in an emergency)
  • Chosen by the monarch
  • Elizabeth was in charge of them.
• Justices of the Peace

  rich gentry or Yeomen - position of status

  • kepr law and order, head of county court cases every 3 months.
  • chosen by the Privy Council
  • Privy Council was in charge of them.
• Elizabeth became queen in 1558
• Who was Elizbeth’s father?

  Her father was Henry VIII
• Divine right to rule: belief that the monarch's right to rule came from God.
• What was patronage and how was it used?

  Patronage: to provide someone with an important job or

  position

  Patronage was used as it was a good way of getting support from people and controlling them.
• What could Elizabeth do as monarch?

  Elizabeth could: (as a part of the divine right to rule)

  • declare war and make peace
  • call and dismiss Parliment, and to agree to, or reject, any law they voted for
  • rule in some legal cases, for example, if the law was unclear or it people appealed judgement

  grant titles, loans , money and jobs.
• Secretary of state was the person in the government that she was closest to, and advised on matters important to the Crown.

  William Cecil was the most important person who had this job.
• Elizabeth could not govern effectively without a Parliment as raising extraordinary taxation could only be done with Parliment’s agreement.
• Royal prerogative -> areas that only the monarch had the right to decide upon
• Elizabeth's legitimacy was in doubt because her father had divorced his first wife. Henry VIlI had divorced Catherine of Aragon in 1533 to try and get a male heir because he believed she could not give him a son. However, the head of the Catholic Church refused to grant the divorce and so Henry created the protestant Church of England and granted himself a divorce.

  Henry married Anne Boleyn in January 1533 and Elizabeth was born in September 1533.

  Catholics refused to accept Henry's divorce so didn't recognise Elizabeth's legitimacy.
• Henry had Anne Boleyn executed in 1536 and declared Elizabeth illegitimate, but he later reversed this decision.
• The Christian religion taught that women should be under the authority of men and that women were incapable of governing. The majority of people thought this.

  Monarchs were also expected to lead their country into battle, and it was thought that a woman could not do this.
• The prejudice against women had not been helped by Mary I, who was England's first Queen.

  She had already lost a war against France, as well as there having been bad harvests leading to starvation.

  Mary had also burned 300 people for their religious beliefs.
• Many people also thought that Elizabeth should marry, but she had no intention of doing so.

  She said that one reason she did not marry was because she would have to marry a foreign prince who would then lead England but put it second to his own country.
• Elizabeth was highly intelligent and well educated. She had an eye for detail and an excellent grasp of politics.

  She was also confident and charismatic, able to make great speeches. She did have a temper people feared.

  Elizabeth did, however, take a long time to make up her mind, which her privy council found frustrating.
• Monarchs could raise money by collecting taxes, taking rent from their land, profits from justice (e.g. fines), and

  loans.
• The Crown was in debt because of costly wars England had before Elizabeth took the shrone. They were in debt of £300,000. Also because a lot of land the monarch owned was sold off. Elizabeth did not want to ask Parliament to raise taxes as they would ask for things in return
• Challenges faced with Scotland

  • Mary, Queen of Scots, married Francis II, King of France. She was a strict Catholic.
  • England's border with Scotland was remote and difficult for English troops to defend.
  • There was often lots of fighting tor this land.
  • Catholics believed Mary, Queen of Scots, was the rightful Queen of England and had a legitimate claim to the throne.
  • Scotland and France had a long standing friendship called Auld Alliance, often helped in war with each other .
  • Mary was determined to replace Elizabeth. Elizabeth had a bitter relationship with her
• How did the Pope challenge Elizabeth in the early years of her reign

  The Pope wanted a counter-reformation. This meant all protestant countes would return to Catholic faith. The Pope supported the Spanish with the take over of the Netherlands. He promised the Spanish money to support invasion.

  As a new queen, the Pope influenced other Catholic countries to attack and remove Elizabeth while she was vulnerable

  Had an ability to influence the actions of Catholics in England.
• How did Spain challenge Elizabeth in the early years of her reign

  Spain sent troops to the Netherlands to overtake the Dutch government. They wanted the nethertands to become a Catholic country.

  King Philip II took more land in the Netherands and based a lot of troops.

  King Philip II was a constant threat to Elizabeth 's protestant power and made threats to her.

  Spain was a powerful country which competed with England to increase it's empire in the 'New word' America
• how did France challenge Elizabeth in the early years of her reign

  France and England have often been traditional enemies of each other and had wars. France and spain were no longer at war. Rumoured that they might join in alliance to threaten Engand's power and religion.

  In 1569, Elizabeth decided to give I port of Calais in France back to them. This created peace but took away a key military base for England. France was wealthy country and had a bigger population in 1558.
• English Reformation changed the main religion of England to Protestantism from Catholicism.

  This was changed by Henry VIII in 1532

  This changed because he wanted to divorce his first wife. He created the Church of England.
• what did Roman Catholic believe

  The Bible was written in Latin, even though ordinary people could not read or white.

  Underneath the Pope are cardinals, archbishops, and priests

  The Church is the communication between God and the people.

  The Church can forgive sins

  Priests are special and wear vestements

  Churches should be highly decorated in honour and

  glory of God . Priests are forbidden to marry.
• What did Protestants believe

  They translated the Bible to English. People felt they had a relationship with God.

  No Pope, everyone is equal - no need for cardinals, archbishops and priests.

  People can have their own relationships with God.

  Only God can forgive sins

  Priests did not wear special clothing

  Plain and simple Churches to focus on worship

  Priests can marry
• How did Elizabeth’s legitimacy cause religious division


  Elizabeth I was Protestant, but many historians now believe that the majority of the country was Catholic when she came to the throne. Lots of Catholics did not see Elizabeth as a 'legitimate Queen because they did not recognise Henry VIl'S marriage to her mother after he divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. There was also a Roman Catholic alternative to Queen, which was Mary I.
• How did Catholic clergy / bishops cause religious division

  In 1558 most of England's clergy were Catholic. Changing the religion of the country needed an Act of Parliament, and whilst the House of Commons would be likely to agree with Elizabeth, there were many Catholic Bishops in the House of Lords who would want the country to be Catholic. Although many priests changed their religion to keep their jobs, others were committed Catholics and would not agree to work in a Protestant Church.
• How did geographical division cause religious division

  There were also geographical divisions. Parts of England were more Catholic than others, meaning that the people living there were less likely to accept Protestantism. Lancashire was one of these areas. They tended to be far away from London.

  Parts of the north were more Catholic and more remote communities were more likely to be Catholic. London, East-Anglia, and the south tended to be Protestant. This is because they had closer links with the Netherlands where Protestantism had become popular.
• How did Puritans cause religious division

  When Mary I was queen of England, around 300 Protestants were burned for their religious beliefs. Many more of them escaped into exile into the more tolerant Netherlands. They returned to England when Protestant Elizabeth returned to the throne with much more extreme beliefs. These were called Puritans because they wanted to 'purify' the Christian religion by getting rid of anything that wasn't in the Bible. Puritan Churches would be very basic without any altars or special clothes for priests.
• The act of Supremacy:

  This act (or law) made Elizabeth the supreme leader of the Church of England rather than the Pope.
• Oath of Allegience : all clergy had to swear an oath of allegiance to her
• An Ecclesiastical High Commission was created which meant a group of people made sure all clergy did as they were told and followed the religious settlement.

  People who did not follow the Religious Settlement could be punished.
• Act of Uniformity:

  This act (or law) set out rules for how a church should look and what church services should be like.
• The Bible or "Book of Common Prayer"

  A Book of Common Prayer was to be used in all churches and was witten in English

  The Clergy had to use the new Bible or be punished

  • The Book of Common Prayer was deliberately unclear so Catholics and Protesants could read their own meaning to it