elizabethan england

• Hierarchy in countryside


  • 1. Nobility
  • 2. Gentry
  • 3. Yeomen
  • 4. Tenant farmers
  • 5. Landless and working poor
  • 6. Homeless and beggars
• Hierarchy in towns


  • 1. Merchants
  • 2. Professionals
  • 3. Business owners
  • 4. Skilled craftsmen
  • 5. Unskilled workers
  • 6. Unemployed
• Government


  • Court - Noblemen who advised the queen
  • Parliament - Houses of Lords and Commons. Advised Elizabeth's government
  • Privy Council - Nobles who helped govern the country
• Elizabeth's problems when she became queen in 1558

  • She was young and inexperienced
  • She was Protestant so not supported by English Catholics
  • Many people (especially Catholics) thought she was illegitimate and had no right to the throne
  • She was unmarried
  • The Crown (government) was £300,000 in debt
  • Mary I had sold off Crown lands and borrowed from foreign countries
  • France, Spain and Scotland were all Catholic countries and believed Mary, Queen of Scots had a stronger claim to the throne of England than Elizabeth
  • France and Scotland were old allies
• Elizabeth's character

  • She was very well educated, confident and charismatic
  • She believed in her divine right to rule
  • She had an excellent understanding of politics
  • She was strong willed and stubborn
• Religious Divisions in 1558

  • Catholic
  • Protestant
  • Puritan
• Catholic


  • Pope is head of the church
  • Priests can forgive sins
  • Bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ
  • Services in Latin
  • Churches highly decorated
  • Catholics were the majority in the north and west of England
• Protestant

  • No pope
  • Only God can forgive sins
  • Bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ
  • Services in English
  • Churches should be plain and simple
  • Protestants were the majority in the south-east, East Anglia and London
• Puritan


  • Very strict Protestants (shared many beliefs but more extreme, e.g. no decoration in churches, no bishops or cardinals)
  • Puritans found in London and East Anglia
• The Church of England in society

  • Enforced the Religious Settlement
  • Gave spiritual and practical advice
  • Preached the government's message
  • Everyone had to pay a 10% tithe (tax) to fund the Church
• Elizabeth's Religious Settlement, 1559

  1. Aimed to establish a religious form that would be acceptable to Catholics and Protestants

  2. The Act of Uniformity established the appearance of churches and how services should be conducted

  3. The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. All clergy had to swear an oath of allegiance to her

  4. The Book of Common Prayer introduced a set of new church services to be used in all churches

  5. The Royal Injunctions forced all clergy to teach Royal Supremacy, keep an English Bible, report people who refused to attend church
• The majority of ordinary people and 8,000 of the 10,000 clergy accepted Elizabeth's Settlement
• Challenges to the Religious Settlement

  • Puritan challenge at home (THE PURITAN CHALLENGE WAS VERY SMALL)
  • Catholic challenge abroad
  • Catholic challenge at home
• Puritan challenge at home

  • Disobeyed parts of the Religious Settlement
  • Crucifix Controversy - refused to display crucifixes in churches, which had been ordered by Elizabeth to please the Catholics. Elizabeth backed down
  • Vestment Controversy -refused to wear the vestments (special clothing worn by clergy). In 1566, 37 Puritan priests resigned after refusing to wear new vestments when ordered
• Catholic challenge abroad


  • The Catholic Church in Europe began a 'Counter Reformation' to undo the Protestant changes
  • The pope excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, which could encourage attacks on England from Catholic countries
  • Elizabeth backed the Protestants in a religious war in France in 1562
• Catholic challenge at home


  • One third of the English nobility and gentry, particularly in the north and west of England, were recusants (refused to attend church) because they did not agree with the Settlement
  • This was encouraged by the pope
  • This was a major cause of the Revolt of the Northern Earls (1569-70)
• Mary, Queen of Scots


  • She was Elizabeth's second cousin so had a good claim to the throne of England
  • She was a Catholic so her claim to the throne was supported by many English Catholics
  • She was believed to have been involved in her husband's murder, which led to a rebellion in Scotland. Mary fled to England in 1568. This made her more of a threat to Elizabeth, so she was imprisoned
• The Revolt of the Northern Earls, 1569-70


  1. To make England Catholic again

  2. The Earls resented their loss of influence in Elizabeth's court when she appointed 'new men' such as William Cecil and Robert Dudley

  3. To marry Mary, Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk, depose Elizabeth and make Mary queen

  4. Rebels, led by the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland, marched to Durham and took control of the cathedral. They then continued south

  5. BUT support did not arrive from Spain

  6. Elizabeth moved Mary to Coventry, away from the rebellion

  7. Many northern landowners stayed loyal to Elizabeth
• Significance of the failed Revolt of the Northern Earls

  • It showed that Mary, Queen of Scots couldn't be trusted
  • It led to Elizabeth's excommunication by the pope, which encouraged further plots against Elizabeth
• Ridolfi Plot, 1571


  1. An Italian banker, Roberto Ridolphi, who was a spy for the pope, planned to murder Elizabeth, start a Spanish invasion and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne

  2. Mary would then marry the Duke of Norfolk

  3. Ridolfi travelled to the Netherlands to discuss the plot with Philip II of Spain and the Duke of Alba

  4. Philip instructed Alba to gather 10,000 troops for the invasion

  5. Sir William Cecil discovered the plot and had the Duke of Norfolk tried for treason and executed

  6. Elizabeth would not agree to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
• Significance of the Ridolfi Plot

  It confirmed that Spain, English Catholics and Mary were all still a major threat to Elizabeth
• Throckmorton Plot, 1583


  1. The French Duke of Guise plotted to invade England, overthrow Elizabeth and make England Catholic

  2. Philip II of Spain offered to help pay for the revolt

  3. The pope gave his approval

  4. Francis Throckmorton offered to pass letters between the plotters and Mary

  5. Sir Francis Walsingham (Secretary of State) discovered the plot

  6. Throckmorton was executed
• Significance of the Throckmorton Plot

  • It showed the threat from France and Spain
  • Elizabeth cracked down on Catholic sympathisers: 11,000 were imprisoned or kept under house arrest
• Babington Plot, 1586


  1. The Duke of Guise planned to invade England, murder Elizabeth and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne

  2. This plot was also supported by Philip II and the pope

  3. Walsingham intercepted letters between Mary and Babington which proved her involvement in the plot

  4. Babington and the other plotters were executed

  5. In October 1586, Mary was sentenced to death

  6. Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant in February 1587
• Significance of the Babington Plot

  • It led to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Persecution of Catholics intensified
• Francis Walsingham and the use of spies


  • Walsingham was Elizabeth's Secretary of State or 'spy master'
  • He used a network of spies and informants in every town and city in England, as well as abroad
  • He used ciphers (codes) for all his correspondences
  • He used torture and execution to deter people from committing crimes against Elizabeth
• Why was Mary, Queen of Scots executed in 1587?

  • Walsingham's evidence proved that she had been involved in the Revolt of the Northern Earls and the plots against Elizabeth
  • The Spanish support for the attempts to put Mary on the throne threatened England's security
  • Her claim to the English throne gave Catholics an alternative monarch to Elizabeth, especially once the pope had excommunicated Elizabeth
• Relations with Spain


  • Spain=Catholic, England=Protestant - saw each other as a threat
  • Philip II had been involved in the plots against Elizabeth
  • Many in Elizabeth's government were angry at Spain's persecution of Protestants in the Netherlands and encouraged Elizabeth to get involved. She secretly provided money to the rebels fighting against Spain and encouraged English privateers to attack Spanish ships
  • After the Spanish Fury, when unpaid Spanish troops sacked Antwerp, relations between England and Spain deteriorated further
• Francis Drake used torture and execution to deter people from committing crimes against Elizabeth
• Why was Mary, Queen of Scots executed in 1587?

  Walsingham's evidence proved that she had been involved in the Revolt of the Northern Earls and the plots against Elizabeth
• Mary, Queen of Scots' claim to the English throne

  Gave Catholics an alternative monarch to Elizabeth, especially once the pope had excommunicated Elizabeth
• Reasons for political and religious rivalry between England and Spain

  • Spain=Catholic, England=Protestant - saw each other as a threat
  • Philip II had been involved in the plots against Elizabeth
  • Many in Elizabeth's government were angry at Spain's persecution of Protestants in the Netherlands and encouraged Elizabeth to get involved
• After the Spanish Fury, when unpaid Spanish troops looted the town of Antwerp


  17 Dutch provinces joined an alliance against the Spanish (the Pacification of Ghent) calling for Spanish troops to leave the Netherlands
• By late 1584, Spain had largely re-established control of the Netherlands


  But blamed England for supporting the rebels and for privateers attacking Spanish ships
• Reasons for commercial rivalry between England and Spain

  • England and Spain were rivals for trade and resources from the New World, Turkey, China, Russia and North Africa
  • English traders resented Spanish control of the trade routes into parts of Europe and that traders to the New World had to have a licence from Spain
  • English privateers (financed by investors including Elizabeth) raided Spanish colonies and ships
• Between 1577 and 1580 Sir Francis Drake captured £400,000 of Spanish silver and gold
• Elizabeth knighted Francis Drake, showing her support for his actions against Spanish ships. This angered Philip further
• Treaty of Nonsuch


  1. England signed it in 1585

  2. Agreed to pay for 7400 soldiers, led by Robert Dudley, to fight with the Dutch rebels against the Spanish

  3. This gave Philip a justification for raising an Armada to attack England
• Attack on the Spanish navy in Cadiz


  1. Carried out by Francis Drake in April 1587, under Elizabeth's orders

  2. 30 ships and the majority of their supplies were destroyed

  3. This attack became known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'

  4. It took Spain a year to rebuild the fleet
• Spanish Armada


  In 1588 Philip ordered an Armada of 130 ships to sail to the Netherlands, collect 27,000 troops under the command to the Duke of Parma, transport them to England and attack London