government

• Royal Court

  the centre of government used for decision-making and patronage
• Privy Chamber/Council


  less influential under Elizabeth because she wanted to be an active ruler and reduce opportunities for faction-fighting therefore council was smaller and more efficient
• function of Privy Chamber/Council

  • manage finances and Parliament
  • enforce 1559 Religious Settlement
  • oversee national defence
• how many Privy Council members?

  10
• Royal ministers

  • William Cecil as chief adviser
  • Conservative ministers = Duke of Norfolk and Marquis of Winchester
  • Favourite = Robert Dudley
• Robert Dudley

  Earl of Leicester 1564
• William Cecil


  Lord Burghley 1571
• 1570s - reshaping of Privy Council led to reduced influence of traditional conservative aristocracy and emergence of Protestant councillors

  • Francis Walsingham - Principal Secretary; chief spy master 1573-90
• Walsingham and Cecil

  devised a spy network - Walsingham convinced Elizabeth to execute Mary Queen of Scots 1587
• Conservative figures

  • Christopher Hatton
  • Thomas Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex
  • Sir James Croft
• Strongly Protestant Councillors

  • Earl of Leicester
  • Earl of Warwick
  • Sir Francis Knollys
  • Walsingham
  • Burghley
• Faction Rivalry 1590s


  Robert Cecil vs Earl of Essex - Essex's failed armed coup against Cecil who was well-prepared therefore Essex executed in 1601

  • his incompetence and lack of political judgement
• Factional Rivalry


  none due to limited influence of ministers - none had complete control over patronage
• Robert Cecil


  Burghely's son, Leicester's stepson - favoured by Elizabeth and disliked by Essex
• Parliament


  less important and only 2 functions: grant taxations and law making
• Law making

  • most laws passed were religious - 1559 Acts of Uniformity & Supremacy, penal laws against Catholics
  • social policy laws - 1597-98 & 1601 Acts for poor relief
• Grant taxation

  11 out of 13 asked to grant revenue
• House of Lords more important than House of Commons
• Issues of Succession

  • 1559 deflected issue of marriage
  • 1563 smallpox though, she opposed succession discussion
  • 1566 Leicester banished from court for pressing Elizabeth to marry
• Parliamentary Clashes 1593

  • Whitgift's punitive Act against sectaries was criticised by Burghley's associate therefore Queen barred his advancement as she saw it as personal criticism
  • imprisonment of Peter Wentworth for asserting Parliament's rights to discuss matters that were Elizabeth's prerogative
• Parliamentary Clashes 1601


  relationship with Elizabeth broke down - issues of monopolies

  • compromise ended with Golden Speech
• Golden Speech


  a farewell from Elizabeth
• sectaries

  Protestant sects rejecting Church of England and royal supremacy
• monopolies


  the right to sell a commodity by an individual or company
• penal laws against Catholics

  • 1571 Act - treasonable to public papal bulls
  • 1581 Act - Retain Queen Majesty's Subjects in their Due Obedience
• Elizabeth's foreign policy had an impact on her domestic policies as she needed money to pay for wars so she increased taxation which led to resentment among the poorer classes who felt they couldn't afford to live. This could have contributed to social unrest such as the Northern Rebellion (1569) and the Rising of the North (1570).
• Elizabeth's foreign policy also influenced her marriage plans as she knew if she married a foreign prince then she would be subjected to his influence and possibly lose power. Therefore she never married and instead relied upon her councilors to advise her.
• Elizabeth's foreign policy also influenced her relationship with Parliament as she used them to raise taxes to fund her military campaigns. In return she promised to grant them more rights and freedoms. For example in 1563 she granted freedom of religion to Protestant dissenters and in 1572 she allowed Puritan ministers to preach without being arrested.