Elizabeth

• Queen Elizabeth I


  Queen of England
• King Philip II


  King of Spain
• Pope Pius V


  Head of the Catholic Church
• Mary, Queen of Scots


  Queen of Scotland and Elizabeth's cousin
• Mary of Guise


  Mary, Queen of Scots' mother
• Sir William Cecil


  Elizabeth's Secretary of State
• Sir Francis Walsingham


  Elizabeth's 2nd Secretary of State & Spymaster
• Sir Francis Drake


  Privateer (pirate) and worked for Elizabeth
• Sir Walter Raleigh


  In charge of colonising the New World
• The Duke of Alba


  Spanish Duke who crushed the Dutch Revolt
• The Duke of Parma


  Spanish Duke stationed in the Netherlands and involved in the Spanish Armada
• The Duke of Medina-Sidonia


  Spanish Duke who led the Spanish Armada
• Thomas Percy


  Catholic Earl of Northumberland who was one of the Northern Earls who revolted
• Charles Neville


  Catholic Earl of Westmorland who was one of the Northern Earls who revolted
• Thomas Howard


  Protestant Northern Earl who revolted and was supposed to marry Mary, Queen of Scots
• Roberto Ridolfi


  One of the main people in the Ridolfi Plot to remove Elizabeth and replace with Mary
• Francis Throckmorton


  One of the main people in the Throckmorton Plot to remove Elizabeth and replace with Mary
• Anthony Babington


  One of the main people in the Babington Plot to remove Elizabeth and replace with Mary
• Duke of Alencon


  French heir to the throne who helps Elizabeth in the Netherlands
• Events at home


  • 1558: Elizabeth crowned queen
  • 1559: Elizabeth's Religious settlement
  • 1563: Statute of Artificers
  • 1568: Mary Queen of Scots flees to England
  • 1569: Revolt of the Northern Earls
  • 1570: Pope excommunicates Elizabeth from Catholic Church
  • 1571: Ridolfi Plot
  • 1572: Vagabonds Act
  • 1576: Poor Relief Act
  • 1583: Throckmorton Plot
  • 1585: All Catholic priests ordered to leave country
  • 1586: Babington Plot
  • 1587: Mary Queen of Scots is executed
  • 1603: Death of Elizabeth
• Events abroad


  • 1566: Dutch Revolt
  • 1568: Genoese Loan
  • 1576: Spanish Fury
  • 1576: Pacification of Ghent
  • 1577-80: Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe
  • 1580: Drake knighted
  • 1584: Treaty of Joinville
  • 1585: Treaty of Nonsuch
  • 1585: War begins with Spain
  • 1588: Spanish Armada attacks
  • 1601: Poor Law
• Elizabethan society


  • Clear social structure with nobility at the top, gentry, yeoman, tenant farmers, landless/labouring poor, and vagrants at the bottom
  • Government had many different organisations that did different jobs
• Divine Right


  Belief that God had chosen the monarch to rule
• Monarch


  Could declare war, dismiss parliament or reject its laws, grant titles or positions to people (patronage)
• Secretary of State


  Elizabeth's most trusted privy council member, most famous is Sir William Cecil
• Elizabeth's character and strengths

  • Intelligent with excellent grasp of politics, spoke multiple languages, understood court politics and betrayals, had a temper, persuasive and confident speaker, sometimes took a long time to make decisions
• Monarch and parliament


  Government could raise extraordinary taxes in an emergency, some laws needed to be approved by parliament, Royal Prerogative covered things like foreign policy, monarch's marriage and succession
• Early threats and problems for Elizabeth

  • Legitimacy
  • Gender and marriage
  • Finances
  • France and Scotland
  • France and Calais
• Reformation


  Reforming the church, changing it to Protestant
• Protestantism vs Catholicism


  • No Pope, Bible and services in English, direct relationship with God, priests not special, plain churches
  • Pope is head of Church, Bible and services in Latin, need Church to forgive sins, priests are special, highly decorated churches
• Religious division in England 1558


  • Most of country Catholic, clergy problem, geographical divisions, Puritans
• Elizabeth's Religious Settlement 1559

  1. Act of Supremacy

  2. Act of Uniformity

  3. Royal injunctions
• Impact of Religious Settlement

  • On clergy: 8000 out of 10,000 priests took Oath of Supremacy
  • On people: Ordinary people accepted it, new prayer book helped, some Protestants became violent
• Enforcing the Religious Settlement


  Protestant bishops visited churches, first visits resulted in 400 clergy being fired, some destroyed Catholic decorations
• Challenges to the Religious Settlement

  • Puritans: Crucifix controversy, Vestment controversy
  • Catholics: Papacy encouraged resistance
  • France and Spain: Elizabeth's foreign policy
• Mary, Queen of Scots


  Had a strong claim to the English throne, was currently in France married to the French king
• Elizabeth didn't punish harshly those Catholic Recusants who didn't attend, if she killed those who refused they could become martyrs and get sympathy
• Mary, Queen of Scots


  Mary had a strong claim to the English throne. She was currently in France as she was married to the French king, Francis II
• Mary of Guise


  Elizabeth's mum, had been ruling Scotland, but was overthrown by Scotland's Protestant lords who supported Elizabeth
• Treaty of Edinburg


  Said Mary Queen of Scots would give up her claim to the throne