ELIZABETHAN

• coronation

  • 15th january 1559
  • grand and lavish in order to create a strong and powerful initial impression
  • cost £16,000
  • she merged from the ceremony with a big smile which showed she didnt want much of a heirarchy and wanted to reduce class gap at a time of poverty in england
• ROYAL PROGRESSES

  • tour of the country by the monarch and her entourage
  • the only way the general population could see their monarch
  • she stayed in the houses of her aristocratic subjects - gained respect and relations between those who had the largest influence when keeping her on the throne at a time where there was threat of mary queen of scots
  • showed people in poor towns that she saw their struggles at a time of poverty
• maintaining control over government

  • granted patronage - getting them to do things for her and then favouring them with money or higher status which gave them an incentive not to cause drama and work harder.
  • factions - organized ideas into strong ones that could be presented to elizabeth and reduced chaos
• PRIVVY COUNCIL

  • 19 nobleman who were chief advisors - she tried to select ones with a wide range of views
  • dealt with domestic and foreign matters
  • met with almost daily compared to parliament whom she met with very little and didn't value the opinions of
• WILLIAM CECIL

  • secretary of state for 40 years
  • moderate protestant
• ROBERT DUDLEY

  • Earl of Leicester
  • devout puritan
  • didn't get on with cecil
• SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

  • in charge of secret service and foreign affairs
  • devout puritan
• Most important person in local government

  Lord lieutenant

  • kept the queen informed about what was happening in the country
  • one per county
• SHERRIF

  • legal affairs such as appointing juries an dtax collection
• Justice of peace

  • 30-60 per county
  • oversaw law and order at a local level
  • looked over the parish constable and overseer of the poor
• PARISH CONSTABLE

  • control the streets
  • arrest
  • hands on work and consulted with JPs
• PARLIAMENT 


  unfair because;

  • all men voted in by wealthy people so wasn't representative of whole country
  • tightly controlled them because she didnt want them to control the country, only advise her
• How did she control parliament

  • only meet if she called it
  • only talk about what elizabeth decided was appropriate
  • she could dismiss anyone she wanted.
• why did elizabeth need parliament

  • she needed them to raise taxes since she was running the country from her own finances
  • to pass laws
• Issues with parliament

  • Elizabeth had disagreements with MPs because they didn't feel heard by her. so, at a time of inflation when she needed more money, MPSs didn't cooperate.
  • weren't allowed to speak of what they liked such as religion or elizabeths marriage.
• How did people become rich?

  • marrying into richer families
  • coal mining and iron production
  • important jobs in parliament
• Homes of the rich

  • fine paintings and tapestries
  • glazed windows, brick chimneys, geometric patterns
  • stone and brick
  • large, open fireplaces
• Homes of the poor

  • small cottages made of timber and mud
  • thatched roof
• EDUCATION


  RICH

  • sons of wealthy nobles and lords were educated at home in a wide range of subjects
• how did long-term changes to society cause poverty

  • rising inflation - wages couldn't keep up with rising
  • rising population - more pressure on food/housing causing prices to rise
• How did decisions of rulers lead to poverty?

  • foreign wars - taxes had to be increased to fund wars
  • unregulated rack renting meant landowners could charge what they liked and could stop poor renting their land
• How did bad luck lead to poverty?

  • bad harvests and steep rises in food prices, especially in the 50s and 90s
• VAGRANTS

  • HOOKERS - carried wooden hooks and wood use them to grab things through windows
  • DOXYS - female beggars selling things they found
  • CLAPPER DUNGEONS - tied arsenic on their skin to make it look like they were bleeding to gain sympathy
• Government legislation to solve poverty and vagrancy

  • 1572 Vagabonds Act
  • 1576 acts for the relief of the poor
  • 1601 poor law
• 1572 vagabonds act

  • severe penalties such as whipping
  • local people pay poor rates for elderly and sick
  • this deterred vagrants but didn't do much to help the poor
• Act for the relief of the poor

  1576

  • houses of correction where they were sent if they refused to work
  • reduced vagrancy but didn't help the impotent poor
  • gave work to unemployed
• sports

  • rich had more time and money for jousting and hunting
  • poor were strolling players and played quintain
• cruel sports

  • 'cockpits' and 'bear gardens' built for cruel sports such as bull and bear baiting as entertainment for the rich
• theatre

  • 'morality' religious plays
  • 'miracle plays'
  • strolling players were far from religious
  • in 1572 a law passed banning wandering players because;
  • of the content
  • link to vagrancy and begging
  • spread of disease

  This ban led to the formation of companies, which meant the government had more control over what was being performed.

  
  

  increasing popularity meant that theatres were built

  • rose
  • swan
  • globe
• features of the theatre

  • open for daylight
  • people sat in galleries
  • cheapest place at the front for 'groundlings'
  • women were played by boys
• opposition to theatres

  • PURITANS - disapproved of non religious nature of plays and believed it kept people from going to church since plays were often held on Sundays
  • AUTHORITIES - common place for thieves and vagrants, plague and other diseases spread easily
• RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT

  • Aimed to ease the tensions created by the religious divisions of the past 25 years
  • it tried to take elements from Protestantism and catholicism.
• Act of supremacy

  • 1559
  • required all clergymen and government officials to take an oath of supremacy.
  • they were to swear that they would accept Elizabeth as supreme governor of the church
  • ensured that this did not offend catholics who believed the monarch was the head of the church
• Act of uniformity

  • 1559
  • laid down rules about religious services - newly formed prayer book
  • made sure there were elements from both the catholic and protestant practices incorporated in the new church
  • RECUSANTS were people who refused to go to church
• impacts of settlement

  • no mass
  • services and prayer books in english
  • churches can be decorated
  • clergy to wear clerical dress and not to marry
• reactions to settlement

  • majority of clergymen took the oath of supremacy
  • many catholic bishops resigned so didn't provide strong opposition

  ABROAD

  • mainly muted because french were concerned with their own religious problems and spain wanted to maintain friendly relations
• Act of exchange

  • 1559
  • allowed queen to take land and buildings from church
  • this meant that the church would be less able to finance rebellions against her
• early toleration

  • after the middle way Elizabeth knew that lots of people were still catholic so she made sure to tread carefully
  • Protestantism wasn't rigorously enforced
  • recusancy fines werent always enforced

  this was because;

  • it was possible that catholic powers in Europe might try to intervene
  • elizabeth needed to maintain catholic support
• REBELLION OF THE NORTHERN EARLS

  • 1569
  • Strong catholics were upset that elizabeth was intervening in their affairs
  • earls of westmoreland and northumberland marched over 4,500 men into Durham.
  • stormed into a cathedral and destroyed a bible and celebrated a catholic mass
  • earl of sussex marched north and the rebels retreated, 800 were killed

  WHY DID THE REBELLION FAIL?

  • Poor planning
  • elizabeth acted swiftly and with force
  • lack of support for rebels
• ELIZABETHS EX-COMMUNICATION

  • 1570
  • The pope excommunicated Elizabeth by way of the PAPAL BULL
  • released Catholics from any loyalty to Elizabeth and called upon them to remove her from the throne

  WHY

  • trying to capitalise on the discontent caused by the arrival of mqos and the recent rebellion of the northern earls

  HOW DID ELIZABETH REACT?

  • Treason Acts - 1671 - made it illegal to write or say that Elizabeth was not the true queen
  • illegal to bring any papal bull into england