Early elizabethan england (c1558-c1588)

• Court

  Noblemen who acted as the monarch's advisers and friends
• Court

  • Advise the monarch
  • Help display the monarch wealth and power
• Privy council

  Members of the nobility who helped govern the country
• Privy council

  • Monitor the parliament, Justices of peace
  • Oversee law and order + security of the country
• Justices of the peace

  Appointed by government, Kept law and order + Heard court cases
• Lord lieutenants

  Noblemen appointed by government, Governed english countries, Raised the local militia
• Parliament

  House of lords: noblemen and bishops, House of commons: elected, Pass laws and approve taxes
• Social hierarchy of countryside

  • Nobility (major landowners)
  • Gentry (own smaller estates)
  • Yeoman farmers (own small amount of land)
  • Tenant farmers (rent land from yeoman farmers + gentry)
  • Homeless
• Social hierarchy of town

  • Merchants (traders)
  • Professionals (lawyers, doctors, clergymen)
  • Business owners (high skilled craftsmen)
  • Craftsmen
  • Unskilled labourers + unemployed
• Elizabethan society

  Own respect to those above you and had a duty of care to those below, Husband: head of household, Wife, children, servant: expected to be obedient to him
• Problems facing elizabeth when she became queen

  • Young and lacked experience (21 years old)
  • Government broke
  • Legitimacy was doubt (pope refuse to recognise her mother's marriage to Henry VIII)
  • Protestant in a catholic based country
  • Unmarried (belief at that time: women should follow men's authority)
• Reason of pope not supporting elizabeth's legitimacy: Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn (elizabeth's mother), Pope refuse to recognise this divorce, Anne boleyn was executed in 1536, Henry originally excluded elizabeth from succession and changed his idea before his death
• Reasons of elizabeth not marrying

  Reduce elizabeth's power as her husband would be expected to govern the country, Marry protestant -> anger catholic (vise versa)
• Elizabeth's character and strengths

  • Confident (win over her subjects + command support in parliament)
  • Resilient (had spent time in tower accused of treason and facing possible execution -> could handle pressure)
  • Well educated (spoke latin, greek, french, italian)
  • Protestants (no. of protestants in england is growing)
• Financial weaknesses in 1558

  Crown was £300000 in debt, Tudor sold off crown lands to pay for wars with france -> crown's income from rents falling, Elizabeth need money to remain secure on the throne (reward her supporters), Crown debased the coinage by reducing the silver and gold content -> inflation
• Ways monarchs could raise money

  • Rents from land (crown lands)
  • Taxes from trade
  • Profits of justice (e.g fines)
  • Loans
• What could elizabeth do to solve financial problems

  Raise taxes to boost crown's incomes (would be unpopular among people), Increase quality of money by increasing gold and silver content (people would struggle to exchange the older ones for new ones)
• Actions elizabeth took to solve financial problems

  1. Hoarded her income and cut her household expense by half

  2. Sold crown lands and raised £120000
• Crown got out of debt by 1574
• Challenges abroad in 1558

  • The french threat (France was wealthier and had bigger population, Elizabeth's cousin, mary, queen of scots was married to Francis (the heir to the french throne), Mary had strong claim to english throne + catholic)
  • The auld alliance (france's alliance with scotland, Mary, queen of scots kept french soldiers in scotland -> could attack england)
  • War was expensive (Crown was in debt and could not afford war, Cannot be in risk of war with other countries)
  • France ended war with spain (French military resources no longer stretched by war in spain -> war with england more likely, Might team up with spain (both catholic countries))
  • The treaty of cateau-cambresis (England lost calais to france, Can't regain as war with france is expensive and dangerous)
• How elizabeth dealt with challenges from abroad

  1. Avoid war with france by signing the peace of troyes (recognise france's claim to Calais)

  2. Imprisoned mary
• Differences between catholicism, protestantism, puritanism

  • Beliefs:

  Catholic: pope is head of church, can forgive sins, 7 sacraments, priest celibate

  Protestants + puritans: no pope, only god forgive sins, 2 sacraments, priest can marry

  Practices:

  Catholic: services in latin, priests wear vestments, church highly decorated

  Protestants: services in english, priests wear simple vestments, church plain and simple

  Puritans: services in english, priests wear simple vestments, church no decoration

  Support:

  Catholic: north and west england

  Protestants: south east england

  Puritans: london, east anglia
• Aim of elizabeth's religious settlement

  Inclusive and accepted by different religious
• Elizabeth's religious settlement

  1. The act of uniformity (Dictate the appearance of churches + how religious services were to be held, Everyone have to attend church)

  2. The act of supremacy (Elizabeth became supreme governor of church of england, Clergy and royal officials had to swear an oath of allegiance to her)

  3. A commission about the church was established (Keep discipline within the church and punish disloyal clergy)

  4. The book of common prayer (Set church service to be used in all churches)

  5. The royal injunctions (Instruction to clergy, Instructions on how people should worship god and how religious services should be conducted)
• 8000 clergy out of 10000 accepted the religious settlement, Majority of ordinary people accepted it and attended the church services
• The royal injunctions on what the clergy were required to do

  • Teach royal supremacy
  • Report those refusing to attend church to privy council
  • Keep a copy of bible in english
  • Have government licence to preach
• Role of the church of england in society

  • Preach government's message (priest need license to ensure that they are preaching elizabeth's religious and political message)
  • Provide guidance for communities (help people in times of hardship)
  • Responsible for church courts (marriage, sexual offences, wills and inheritance)
  • Visitation (inspection on churches to ensure they obeyed the religious settlement)
• Role of parish clergy in village life

  • Conduct church services (marriages, baptism)
  • Offer spiritual and practical advice
• Puritans

  Want to develop their own church that is not controlled by the queen, Want to ban sinful activities like gambling, Simpler style of worship (undecorated churches), Mostly anti catholic
• Puritan challenge: (crucifix)

  Elizabeth don't want to upset her catholic subject -> demanded that a crucifix to be placed in each church, Puritans oppose and some puritans bishops threaten to resign
• Puritan challenge: (vestments)

  Puritans resisted on wearing vestments, 37 puritan priests lost their post
• The counter reformation

  Catholic church's attempt to reverse the protestant reformation in europe and stop its spread
• Recusants

  People who practised the catholic religion in secret
• Why was mary important: Catholic, No concerns about her legitimacy, Involved in plots against elizabeth
• Mary leaves scotland

  Francis II died, Mary returned to scotland and married henry stuart but was murdered later, Mary married Earl of Bothwell, Scots assumed that mary murdered henry stuart, Protestant scottish lords rebelled + imprisoned her + forced her to give up her throne, Mary escaped and raised an army, Army defeated, Fled to england to seek help from elizabeth, Imprisoned in comfort in england
• Elizabeth's option with mary

  Help mary regain her throne: anger scottish nobility, the auld alliance with france could be revived to threaten her, Hand mary over to scottish lords: mary might face execution by scottish noblemen, she is the wife of Francis II and this might provoke france into alliance with spain to war, Allow mary to return france: might provoke a french plot that aim to replace elizabeth with mary, Keep mary in england: at risk that catholic plotters will overthrow her with mary
• Why did the northern earls rebel

  • Wanted to make england catholic again, Lost lots of influence at court under elizabeth, Fear civil war as elizabeth refused to get married
• The rebels of the revolt of the northern earls

  • Thomas percy (major catholic landowner)
  • Ann percy (wife of thomas)
  • Charles neville (major catholic landowner)
  • Jane neville (wife of charles)
  • Thomas howard (senior noble and protestant, planned to marry mary
• Progress of the revolt of the northern earls

  Mary marry thomas howard (duke of norfolk)

  1. Remove elizabeth and become queen
  2. Robert dudley told elizabeth about the plot
  3. Thomas howard was arrested
  4. Thomas percy and charles neville have support from their wives
  5. Took control of durham cathedral and other northern church
  6. Elizabeth moved mary to coventry to stop her escaping to join the rebels
  7. Rebels captured hartlepool
  8. Support from spain never arrived
• Reasons why the revolt failed

  • Support from spain never arrived, Many northern landowners remained loyal to elizabeth