Elizabethan England

• During her reign, parliament was called 13 times

  All but 2 of the times were to raise taxes
• House of Lords had 90 members. That was where the parliamentary power was
• House of Commons gained more power and confidence throughout Elizabeth's reign
• "The celibate life is so agreeable and I am so accustomed to it that I would rather go to a nunnery or suffer death than renounce is" Elizabeth 1559
• John Knox


  Wrote a book on how woman should not rule

  Aimed at Queen Mary I but was released at the time of Elizabeth's ascension

  Turned a possible religious ally into an enemy
• "Neustra Señora de la Concepción" 


  £480m worth of Gold

  46 parcels of treasure -> 5 tons; 650 bars of silver; 23000lb of coins; more than 100lb of gold
• Circumnavigation

  Thomas Doughty:

  2nd in command. Wanted to prioritise the circumnavigation over capturing Spanish ships

  Was charged with mutiny and treason - he was beheaded
• Elizabeth's Problems

  • Verge of religious civil war - Elizabeth Protestant due to Katherine Parr. England Catholic due to Mary I
  • Government is in debt - Philip of Spain spent it all on wars
  • ↳ No money for army
  • ↳ England at risk - Spanish want to invade as Elizabeth turned down Philip; French want to control the channel; Scottish want to invade
  • She is paranoid/neurotic - Anne Boleyn (mother) executed when 2; Henry's poor treatment of women; Wicked Uncle Thomas (Katherine Parr's husband); Imprisoned in the tower
  • Seen as illegitimate by Catholics
• Elizabeth's problems as a woman

  • Seen as weak and incapable
  • Last female ruler (Mary I) was a failure -> 300 Protestants killed
  • Other female rulers at the time: Mary Queen of Scots - disgrace (affair)
  • Pressures for marriage:
  • ↳ Leaves her vulnerable and without protection
  • ↳ Marriage brings babies - fear of puerperal fever - killed Jane Seymour and Katherine Parr
• Key Privy Council members

  Sir Francis Walsingham

  • Puritan
  • Very loyal
  • Knighted 1577
  • Controlled secret service

  William Cecil

  • Moderate Protestant
  • Managed patronage system with patronage secretary - Sir Michael Hickes
  • Difficult relation with Dudley

  Robert Dudley

  • "Master of Horse" - in charge of Elizabeth's safety
  • Rumours of romance with Elizabeth
• Parliament

  • Elizabeth saw parliament as an inconvenient necessity
  • Their roles were to turn the monarch's policy into law and to raise taxes

  Monarch's control

  • The queen appoints the speaker
  • Privy council members are MPs and Lords
  • Many owed their position to patronage
  • Queen could block any acts
• Golden Age - Rise of the Gentry

  
  

  • Tudors feared 'old' nobility (hereditary) so their powers etc. are removed
  • Monasteries previously owned 1/4 of the land. Now the gentry own it
  • Growth in trade, exploration, population, etc. made gentry rich
• Golden Age - Fashion

  • Statutes of Apparel - 1574 - controls clothes based on rank
  • Male: hat, cloak, sword, ruff
  • Female: white make-up & blackened teeth - Elizabeth inspired
• Succession Crisis - Why not married? (Theories/Rumours)

  • Experience from Henry & his wives
  • Uncle Thomas - put off men
  • Power would go to the man
  • Can't flirt with a married woman - patronage breaks down
  • Elizabeth 25 at succession - already seen as too old to be unmarried
  • 1566 - Elizabeth banned parliament talking about her marriage after they threatened to cut off money if she did not get married
• Succession Crisis - Suitors

  Prince Eric of Sweden:

  Positives:

  • Protestant
  • Very popular with England and Elizabeth

  Negatives:

  • Sweden is poor
  • Negotiations lasted for years
• Succession Crisis - Suitors

  King Philip of Spain:

  Positives:

  • Spain are very powerful

  Negatives:

  • Catholic
  • Poor marriage with Mary I
  • Spent England's money on war
  • Unpopular
• Succession Crisis - Suitors

  Francis Duke of Alençon:

  Positives:

  • Elizabeth liked him and called him "frog". She seemed genuinely resentful over the end of negotiations: "On Monsieur's Departure"

  Negatives:

  • Catholic
  • French
  • Negotiations last more than a decade
  • At time of negotiations (1583) Elizabeth is 50 and Francis is 20 years younger
  • ↳ What happens if they marry, there is no heir and Elizabeth dies?
  • 1572 - St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Protestants in France - French very unpopular
  • Pamphlets written against Francis
• Succession Crisis - Suitors

  Robert Dudley (Dud Dud Dudders):

  Positives:

  • Elizabeth wants to marry him

  Negatives:

  • He was already married
  • His wife died in suspicious circumstances ("fell" down the stairs) so marriage with Elizabeth would be scandalous
• Succession Crisis


  • 1562 - Elizabeth gets smallpox. It looks like she is going to die
  • She survives but is strongly encouraged to marry or choose an heir - she does neither
• Succession Crisis - Potential Heirs

  Suffolks:

  • Who Henry said in his will should take over
  • But Elizabeth imprisoned them for marrying without her permission

  Stuarts:

  • Negative: Catholic
  • Elizabeth instructs Dudley to marry Mary Queen of Scots for some Protestant control - Mary refuses
• Succession Crisis - Resolution

  • Sorted itself out as most potential heirs died before Elizabeth did
  • King James VI of Scotland has the strongest claim
  • 1590s - it seemed to be accepted that he would take over
  • 1601 - Correspondence about the succession begins
  • 1603 - He becomes king with little problem
  • ↳ England and Scotland are united
  • He becomes King James I and VI
• Golden Age - Theatre

  • Start of reign - no theatres; actors travelled preforming plays based on Bible stories - Seen as beggars; Puritans hated them
  • 1572 - Law passed meaning actors must be licensed - they get organised
  • 1576 - "The Theatre" opens - 1st theatre
  • 1599 - "The Globe" opens - 5th theatre
  • End of reign - 7 major theatres, 40 companies

  Why popular?

  • Cheap; poor segregated from rich; social event; plays linked to ordinary life
  • Popular with Elizabeth - propaganda - "Henry V", "Richard III"
• Golden Age - Poverty - Causes

  • 43% population increase
  • Due to war in Antwerp, England's main export (wool) stops
  • High taxes as government in debt from wars
  • 1590s - String of poor harvests
  • Enclosure - previously open fields split into hedged off sections
  • ↳ Peasants used to claim and farm a section of a field for food
  • ↳ These are now sheep fields
  • ↳ Peasants loose land and jobs - land owners get richer
  • Monasteries close - no one helping the poor
• Golden Age - Poverty - Solutions

  NATIONAL

  • Recoinage - wage limit introduced to slow inflation
  • Act passed to slow enclosure

  LOCAL

  • Norwich - Established workhouses, collected money (alms) for the poor, attempted to control begging
  • London - Hospitals opened - Bart's (sick), St. Thomas' (elderly), Christ's (orphans), Bethlehem "Bedlam" (insane)
  • Local laws gradually become national
• Golden Age - Poverty - Solutions

  Act for Relief of the Poor - 1601:

  • everyone pays towards a poor tax which is given to the deserving poor and workhouses
  • Orphans given apprenticeships
  • Food, clothes, handouts, etc. for the poor introduced
  • Those who couldn't find work could go to a workhouse
  • Begging is banned
• Golden Age - Cult of Elizabeth

  • Portraits of Elizabeth used as propaganda, showing off wealth and power
  • Elizabeth controlled plays at the Theatres
  • ↳ Presented Elizabeth positively eg. by praising Henry V and by making fun of Richard III
• Causes of Exploration

  1. Desire to catch up with Spain and Portugal - already split-up the new world
  2. New ideas and inventions to be discovered
  3. Trouble with the Ottoman Empire - Blocked or charged Christians passing through, alternative route needed
  4. OTHERS: Rob Spanish ships; Fun and exciting; Patronage; National prestige
• The Sea Dogs - 1 of 2

  Francis Drake:

  • Puritan privateer
  • Benefitted England with knowledge and money
  • Motivated by money

  Martin Frobisher:

  • Privateer
  • Motivated by personal ambition
  • Brought back 200 tonnes of a useless ore
  • Wanted to find north west passage over Canada
  • Experience used in the Armada
• The Sea Dogs - 2 of 2

  Sir Walter Raleigh:

  • Puritan privateer and explorer
  • Discovered parts of America
  • Brought back potatoes and tobacco
  • ↳ Boosted England's economy
  • Helped defeat the Armada

  John Hawkins:

  • privateer
  • Motivated by money and his love of sailing
  • Established the slave triangle which lasted for hundreds of years
  • Developed smaller, faster ships
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - The Acts

  Act of Supremacy - 1559

  • Re-establishes separation from the Pope
  • Elizabeth is Supreme Governor (but not Supreme Head)
  • All Bishops must swear an oath of loyalty to Elizabeth
  • Keeps episcopal structure

  Act of Uniformity - 1559

  • Sets out beliefs of the Anglican Church
  • Clergy are allowed to marry; service and Bible in English not Latin
  • New prayer book "Common Book of Prayer" introduced
  • Catholic pilgrimages and images of saints are banned
  • Allows ornaments on the alter
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Puritan Opposition

  • Angered as some Catholic elements are kept

  Edmund Grindal:

  • Pro-Puritan Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Allowed people to spread Puritanism

  John Whitgift:

  • Anti-Puritan Archbishop of Canterbury - replacement for Grindal
  • Sacked 300 clergy
  • All have to swear acceptance of Bishops and "Book of Common Prayer"

  Perter Wentworth:

  • Puritan MP sent to prison for talking about Puritanism in the Commons

  William "Stubby" Stubs:

  • Hand chopped off for printing Puritan leaflets
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Opposition


  • Angered as Church of England is Protestant and Puritanism is spreading across Europe
  • Jesuits are the Catholic terror group
  • 1570 - Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth

  Edmond Campion:

  • Jesuit Priest running secret mass, watched by priest hunters, chooses death over renouncing Catholicism

  Margaret Clitheroe:

  • Hid priests in her home in York
  • Chooses death over renouncing Catholicism
  • Squashed to death
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Response to Catholic Opposition

  • 1571 - Treason Act - Death for denying Elizabeth's supremacy or importing Papal Bull
  • 1581 - Recusant fine increased to £20
  • 1585 - Act against Jesuit and Seminary priests - Elizabeth fears them; they leave the country
  • 1593 - Large Catholic gathering banned
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots

  1569 to 1586

  All attempting to establish Mary Queen of Scots as Queen of England
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots

  1569 - Northern Rebellion:

  • Mary Queen of Scots flees Scotland after her affair
  • Cumbria is a Catholic and she ends up in Carlisle Castle
  • Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland plan to take Mary to London and overthrow Elizabeth
  • Elizabeth foils the plot
  • Mary is moved to a different prison; Westmorland escapes and a man from every village in Westmorland is executed; Northumberland is executed
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots


  1571 - Ridolfi Plot:

  PLAN:

  • Bring 6000 Spanish soldiers to England
  • It was estimated about half of English nobility was Catholic and would rebel
  • Then Elizabeth would be executed
  • The Duke of Norfolk would marry Mary and make her queen

  RESPONSE:

  • Walsingham's spy network foils the plan
  • Spanish Ambassador expelled
  • Duke of Norfolk executed
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots

  1583 - Throckmorton Plot:

  • Throckmorton as the intermediary between Mary and the Spanish Ambassador

  PLAN:

  • French & Spanish Catholic force with money from the pope added to an uprising of English Catholics would overthrow Elizabeth and make Mary queen

  RESPONSE:

  • Walsingham spies for 6 months, the plan is foiled
  • Spanish Ambassador expelled
  • Throckmorton executed
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots

  1586 - Babington Plot:

  • Sir Anthony Babington - a recusant - writes to Mary in code
  • They plan to invite the Spanish to kill Elizabeth making Mary the queen
  • Walsingham intercepts and decodes these letters for 2 years, collecting evidence

  RESPONSE:

  • Babington executed
  • Elizabeth signs the execution warrant for Mary Queen of Scots, she says she didn't mean to
  • 1588 - Mary executed
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Catholic Plots

  • 1569 - Northern Rebellion
  • 1571 - Ridolfi Plot
  • 1583 - Throckmorton Plot
  • 1586 - Babington Plot
  • 1588 - Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
• Drake's Circumnavigation - Causes

  Drake's hatred of Spain:

  • 1572 - looting trip to Spanish Panama with John Hawkins but Spain break their temporary truce
  • ↳ All but his ship were lost and this turned his relationship with Spain.
  • Puritan - he hated Catholic Spain