Elizabethan England

• Problems Elizabeth inherited 1558-69

  • Debt-Mary had left a debt of £250,000
  • Gender - People saw female ruler as weak
  • legitimacy- been declared illegitimate after her mothers death
  • Religious Conflict-Father protestant Brother protestant sister catholic and made England catholic
• Government

  • Privy council- 19 Men would advise not control, met with Elizabeth everyday
  • Parliament- Introduce new laws under tight control
  • lord lieutenants- In charge of training local army
  • Justice of Peace- kept law and order in local areas
• Religious Settlement

  Act of Supremacy

  • Elizabeth made supreme governor of the church. Taking power away from catholic pope in Rome. This appeased catholics and puritans who were against having monarchs as head of religion
• Religious Settlement

  Act of Uniformity

  • Made protestantism the official faith of England. There was a revised prayer book and retained some catholic traditions
• Religious divisions

  • Monarchs believed that everyone had to follow the same religion to make country unite
• Challenges from abroad

  • France had been at war with England and Spain were close ally.
  • Mary QoS had close links to France
  • Elizabeth made peace with France but doesn’t reign Calais
• Fear of Catholic plots

  • Rulers of most powerful countries in Europe were catholic and plots often had foreign backing
• Papal Bull of Excommunication - 1570

  • Catholics were released from any loyalty to Elizabeth
  • called them to remove Her from the throne
• Church of England

  • Centre of community life
  • supported people through hardship
• Puritan Threat

  • Wanted clergy to wear black and plain churches
  • services run by selected communities
  • did not believe in head of church
• Catholic threat

  • Wanted pope in Rome as head of church
  • wanted bible in latin
• Mary QoS

  • married king Francis of France who then died
  • Then married lord Darnley who was a descendant of king Henry
  • strengthen her claim to the throne often had foreign backing
• Revolt of the Northern Earls - 1969

  • Earl of Northumberland and Westmoreland hatched a plan to get Mary out of prison and onto the throne
  • Army of 60,000 soldiers in attempt to return England back to catholicism
• Why did the Revolt of the Northern Earls fail?

  Weak leadership- Not brave decisive leaders

  Lack of support from abroad- Spanish ambassador gave impression Spain would help however they didn’t

  Lack of support from England- Most English catholics didnt support revolt
• The Ridolfi Plot- 1571

  • Ridolfi was an Italian banker planned to assassinate Elizabeth and make Mary queen
  • had support from Spain, Duke of Norfolk and Mary

  Elizabeths Actions

  • Plot was uncovered by Cecil
  • Ridolfi and Spanish ambassador arrested and expelled
  • Duke of Norfolk was executed
• Throckmorton Plot 1588

  • Throckmorton organised plan for France to invade England and replace Elizabeth with Mary

  Elizabeth‘s Actions

  • Throckmorton was executed
  • Mary was moved to Tutbury castle, held in isolation allowed no visitors
• The Babbington Plot- 1586

  • Sir Babbington planned to rescue Mary from jail and murder Elizabeth
  • Secret letters sent between the plotters And Mary were discovered which gave evidence for her guilt

  Elizabeths Actions

  • led to executions of Mary and 6 other plotters
• Sir Francis Walsingham

  • secretary of state or spymaster
  • uncovered lots of plots againts Elizabeth
  • network of spies and agents overseas
  • spies were deployed to root out info for walsingam
  • intercepted coded letters and messages
• Relations With Spain

  • Religious rivalry- Spain was catholic, England was Protestant. Evidence of Spanish involvment in plots
  • Political rivalry- phillip was ruler of most powerful country
  • Trade rivalry- New world was controlled by Spanish empire. England could make money by attacking Spanish ships and treasure fleets. Francis Drake had permission to plunder spanish ships
• Dutch Revolt

  • Protestants in Netherlands began a revolt against Spanish rule in 1572
  • elizabeth secretly helped Dutch rebels as she knew Dutch revolt would keep Spanish to busy to threaten England
• Treaty of Nonsuch 1585

  • Elizabeth was protector of Dutch protestants
  • Army of 7000 men led by earl of Leicester send to help rebels
  • England was allowed to use brill and flushing as base for England soldiers
• Spanish Armada 1588

  A fleet of armed Spanish warships sailing towards England in crescent formation because of Eglands interference with the Netherlands
• Why did Spanish Armada fail?

  • Poor Spanish Leadership and planning- Duke of medina was inexperienced and had no naval background, ignored advisors
  • Effective English leadership- Elizabeth had listened to advisors. Soldiers stationed across England waiting for invasions
  • Bad Weather- Wind made it impossible for Spanish ships to sail. `ships frequently smashed into each other. Many soldiers fell overboard
  • Superior English tech- English ships had cannons which could be loaded quickly and fired from a safe distance
• Leisure Activities

  • Baiting- animals fighting till death entertainment for all classes
  • Real Tennis- upperclass men cross between squash and tennis
  • football- lower class men often violent people killed
  • inns taverns gambling tobacco archery fishing hunting
• Education

  • Grammar schools- sons of wealthy families from age of 7 wealth than ability
  • Uni & inns of court- boys of wealth family age of 14 classical education
  • Girls education- wealthy often taught at home by tutors, learned languages as well as music and dance
  • petty and dame schools- boys went to petty and girls went to dame, learnt reading writing and maths
  • apprenticeships- young men from age of 14 live in households with masters
• Increase is Poverty

  • Rising population- population rose, higher demand for goods and increase in prices
  • Inflation- prices increased, wages decreased more people around to work
  • Cloth trade collapse- decline in demand for woollen cloth, led to unemployment,
  • Monasteries- provided food and shelter for homeless however king Henry viii closed them down
  • Bad Harvest- harvest particularly bad in 1590s leading to high demand
• Attitudes towards the poor

  • Puritans- anyone who refused to work should be punished, vagabonds were idleness
  • Doctors-outbreak of plagues and vagabonds carried diseases
  • JPs- beggars were a threat to society and often turned to crime
  • Government- worried about rebellion
• New legislation

  The Vagabonds Act 1572

  • begging was banned
  • anyone found guilty of being an unlicensed vagabond over the age 14 would be whipped and have their right ear burned of with hot iron

  Act for the Relief of Poor 1576

  • recognised a third class of poor, those who were able bodied and unable to find work
  • JPs were to build house of corrections (prison) in each County
  • those who refused to work would be sent there
• Sir Francis Drake- famous seaman of Elizabeth reign, first Englishmen to said around the world circumnavigating the globe

  • Played a role in Spanish armarda by attacking Cadiz in 1587
  • launchef successful attacks on Spanish empire
  • claimed new land for England
• • astrolabe- used to calculate the position of sun and stars, helpful with making out time and ships position
  • printing press- maps could be produced, standardised and distributed more easily
  • map- helped explorers understand longitude and latitude
• Raid on Cadiz

  • Drake sailed with fleet of ships into bay of Cadiz
  • destroyed ships and captured some containing food and water
  • drake referred to raid as ’singing of the king of beard‘ as it caused great embarrassment for Philip
• John Hawkins

  key exploration- African slave trade

  captured and sold African slaves in America

  Key impact- developed better fighting galleons

  His designs were important in Helping to lead England To victory
• Walter Raleigh

  key exploration- set up colony on Roanoke islands

  wanted to establish colonies for Elizabeth in North America

  key impact- colonisation of North America