History- Elizabethan

• Features of Elizabethan government

  • Court
  • Privy Council
  • Parliament
  • Lord Lieutenants
  • Justices of the Peace
• Lord Lieutenants

  Noblemen appointed by the government, who governed English counties and raised the local militia
• Parliament

  Advised Elizabeth's government, made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons
• House of Lords

  • Nobles and bishops
• House of Commons

  Elected, though very few people could vote
• Extraordinary taxation

  Extra taxes required to pay for unexpected expenses, especially war
• Militia

  A force of ordinary people (not professional soldiers) raised in an emergency
• Elizabeth did not possess complete power, as she could not pass laws without parliament's approval, or raise taxes without parliament's agreement
• Social hierarchy in the countryside

  • Nobility (major landowners)
  • Gentry (owned smaller estates)
  • Yeoman farmers (owned a small amount of land)
  • Tenant farmers (rented land)
  • Landless and labouring poor
  • Homeless and vagrants
• Social hierarchy in towns

  • Merchants (traders)
  • Professionals (lawyers, doctors, clergymen)
  • Business owners (skilled craftsmen)
  • Craftsmen (skilled employees, including apprentices)
  • Unskilled labourers and the unemployed
• Wherever you were in Elizabethan society, you owed respect and obedience to those above you and had a duty of care to those below
• When Elizabeth became queen, she had to find a way of establishing her authority as reigning monarch
• Legitimacy

  Whether a monarch is lawfully entitled to rule
• If Elizabeth married a Protestant, this would anger Catholics, and if she married a Catholic, this would upset Protestants
• Marriage could involve England in expensive wars, damaging royal finances and requiring taxation
• Elizabeth's character and strengths

  • She was confident and intelligent, spoke several languages, and understood the interests and biases of her subjects
  • She was a charismatic leader who could use her powers of patronage effectively
  • Although she was Protestant, she sought to maintain the support of Protestants and Catholics
• Divine right

  The idea that God alone appointed the monarch, meaning that to challenge the monarch was to challenge God
• Elizabeth faced a number of financial challenges at home when she became queen
• Financial weaknesses in 1558


  • Need to improve the quality of money
  • Crown was £300,000 in debt
  • Over £100,000 of Crown debts owed to foreign moneylenders
  • Crown lands had been sold off
  • Coinage had been debased (devalued)
• Elizabeth did not raise taxes but instead hoarded her income and cut her household expenses by half
• By 1574, the queen could claim that the Crown was out of debt for the first time since 1558
• Key features of Elizabeth's religious settlement of 1559

  • Act of Uniformity
  • Act of Supremacy
  • Ecclesiastical High Commission
  • Royal Injunctions
  • Book of Common Prayer
• Ecclesiastical


  Anything to do with the Church
• The aims of Elizabeth's religious settlement were to be inclusive and acceptable to as many of her subjects as possible
• 8,000 clergy out of about 10,000 accepted the religious settlement, but many Marian Bishops (Catholic Bishops appointed by Mary Tudor) opposed it and had to be replaced
• The majority of ordinary people accepted Elizabeth's religious settlement
• Elizabeth's religious settlement


  Inclusive and designed to be accepted by as many of her subjects as possible
• Communion Sacrament


  Could be interpreted to mean the body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation) or an act of remembrance
• Protestants would have approved of the ban on pilgrimages to 'fake' miracles, while Catholics would have approved of the possibility of 'real' miracles
• Catholics would also have approved of the use of candles, crosses and vestments in church services
• Impacts of the religious settlement

  • 8000 clergy out of about 10000 accepted the religious settlement
  • Many Marian Bishops (Catholic Bishops appointed by Mary Tudor) opposed the settlement and had to be replaced
  • The majority of ordinary people accepted Elizabeth's religious settlement and attended the church services, even though many of them held on to Catholic beliefs
• The Royal Injunctions


  • All clergy were required to teach the Royal Supremacy
  • Report those refusing to attend church to the Privy Council, absentees were fined a week's wages
  • Keep a copy of the Bible in English
  • Have a government licence to preach
  • Prevent pilgrimages, religious shrines and monuments to 'fake' miracles
  • Wear special clothes (vestments)
• Role of the Church of England in society

  • Preached the government's message, as those who refused to do so would be denied licence
  • Provided guidance for communities, the parish church helped people in times of hardship and uncertainty
  • Enforced Elizabeth's religious settlement of 1559
  • Dealt with marriage, sexual offences, calendar fasts and inheritance through Church Courts
  • Legitimised Elizabeth's rule, the Church encouraged people to remain loyal to and not rebel against their monarch
• Role of parish clergy in village life

  • Major figure in the village community and conducted church services including baptisms, weddings and funerals
  • Offered spiritual and practical advice and guidance to people, especially when times were difficult
  • Funded by taxes or tithes, or by other sources of income, such as the sale of church pews
• Role of parish clergy in town life

  • Parish churches in towns contained a much wider collection of people, including merchants, craftsmen, labourers and vagrants
  • There was often a wider range of religious beliefs, too, especially in London, which contained mainstream Protestants, Puritans and Catholics
  • Due to overcrowding, parish clergy in towns had a wider range of issues to deal with than was the case in rural parishes, including poverty, vagrancy and diseases
• Puritans


  Radical Protestants who wanted to purify the Christian religion by getting rid of anything that wasn't in the Bible
• Puritan beliefs


  • Wanted to develop their own Church, which would not be controlled by the queen, with no bishops and priests not wearing vestments
  • Wanted to make the world a 'more godly place' by banning 'sinful' activities, such as gambling and cock fighting
  • Wanted a simpler style of worship, whitewashed churches and no 'graven images' (worship of religious idols)
  • A minority believed the monarch could be overthrown in certain circumstances
• Many Puritans were anti-Catholic and believed the pope was the "anti-Christ"
• Other Puritans-millenarians - believed the world was ending and that Christians had to prepare for Jesus' return
• The nature of the Puritan challenge

  • Elizabeth, cautious not to upset her Catholic subjects, demanded that a crucifix be placed in each church. Puritans opposed this, and, when some Puritan bishops threatened to resign, Elizabeth backed down, as she could not replace them with educated Protestant clergy
  • Elizabeth wanted the clergy to wear special vestments, as described in the Royal Injunctions. Puritans resisted this, arguing that clergy should either wear no vestments or simple vestments. In 1566 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Parker, required priests in his Book of Advertisements to attend an exhibition showing the vestments they must wear. This resulted in the resignation of 37 Puritan priests, who refused to attend church and to wear the new vestments as required