Challenges to the rule of Queen Elizabeth I

Cards (7)

  • Mary, Queen of Scots

    Elizabeth's cousin, had a dynastic claim to the line of succession to the English throne
  • Mary, Queen of Scots
    • She was a Catholic and half-French, making her unsuitable as a monarch to the majority of English people
    • Her life had been filled with dramatic events - she became Queen of Scotland at 6 days old, her first two husbands died, she was implicated in the second one's murder, she was forced to abdicate and was imprisoned
    • She managed to escape and fled to England where she sought refuge from Elizabeth in 1568
  • Mary, Queen of Scots was in England

    Her threat to Elizabeth became more immediate
  • Elizabeth's dilemma
    What should she do with Mary, Queen of Scots?
  • Many English Catholics supported the idea of Mary being named as Elizabeth's successor, if the queen did not marry and have children
  • Reasons why some Catholics supported Mary replacing Elizabeth as Queen of England

    • They thought Elizabeth was illegitimate and so felt she had no right to be on the throne
    • They thought Mary would restore the supremacy of the Catholic Church and reverse Elizabeth's Religious Settlement
  • Mary's connections to France, both through her mother and her first husband, also made her a potentially dangerous threat to England