Elizabethan England

• Problems Elizabeth faced when she became Queen

  -mother was a traitor: seen as illegitimate

  -she was protestant: religious turmoil- reluctance to change again

  -her gender: mant believed men should rule
• Key features of: Function of government & power

  -Advice : point of contact between E & people

  -Legislation or new laws

  -Taxation - had to ask Parliament to raise tax

  HOWEVER: only temporary & occasional

  -wasn't free to decide topics it debated

  -E believed in divine right & royal prerogative so could decide matters of state w/p them
• Key features of: Function of privy council & power

  responsible of day to day running of country ie military, foreign affairs, religion & Queen's safety

  Made up of E & main advisors

  POWER: if council agreed to an issue, hard for E to refuse it

  -they managed administration of government
• Key features of: Function of lord lieutenants & power

  -appointed by E to take administrative responsibility of an area: settled disputes, collect taxes & raise militia

  POWER: held important roles in court

  HOWEVER: no real power over Queen or say in court dealings
• Key features of: Function of JPs & power


  -Each county had several , ensured order kept & laws passed enforced

  POWER: could send people to prison & collectively give death sentence

  HOWEVER: little influence in court and ruling of country
• Aims of Elizabeth's rule

  -peace

  -prosperity

  -stability
• Problems Elizabeth faced in first 10 years of reign

  -succession: needed an heir to continue tudor line

  -marriage: would lose power & control of country but was expected thing for females

  -religion: needed to decide & enforce to stop disputes & turmoil

  -Mary QofS: claimed to be rightful heir- had support

  -economy: Eng in debt & verge of bankruptcy

  -foreign Policy: France&Spain powerful neighbours, could invade or go to war

  -taxation: inherited debts but raising taxes would make her unpopular
• What did Parliament challenge ELizabeth on?

  'personal affairs' such as marriage, succession, religion, sometimes tried to force E to change her mind but refusing taxations but E never gave into this pressure & remained in firm control for the majority of her reign
• E's favourites in court

  -Sir William Cecil

  -Sir Francis Walshingham

  -Robert Dudley

  -Sir Christopher Hatton
• How did E control her privy councillors?

  -sometimes showed affection & gave rewards

  -normally appointed men to work with those hostile to each other; 'divide & rule' - forced rival factions to work together , compete for affection & give contrasting advice , allowing her male measured decisions
• Why marriage was important & pros

  IMPORTANT: produce and heir - succession

  -avoid civil wars

  -form better political alliances

  -have a man ruling country

  -expected role of women

  PROS: foreign marriage would make a powerful alliance

  -marriage & children would prevent MQofS from ruling

  -providing an heir
• Cons of marriage


  -limit E's personal freedom

  -would have to share power w husband

  -most suitors were Catholic: unpopular choice w the people

  -foreign marriage would make enemies of rejected ones

  -English marriage would unbalance power in different groups at court & cause problems
• E's suitors


  -King Eric of Sweden

  -Robert Dudley

  -King Philip II of Spain

  -Duke Francis
• The Golden Age


  -the elite got richer & contributed to flourishing architecture, arts & education

  -Architecture: 'great rebuilding' done to impress E on her progresses : reflected wealth & stability of era

  -Fashion: used as a status symbol, gentry used money to buy clothes in style of court fashions

  -Theatre: stability of England emphasised, time to focus on past-times & become culturally aware

  -Art: image was important, political purpose & showed status and connections

  -Books&Music: growing interest in culture & entertainment
• Elizabethan Theaters


  -Theatre thrived in 2nd half of E's reign

  -First built in London in 1570s ie The Curtain

  -usually round, open-aired buildings

  -rich sat in galleries

  -poor stood in pits
• Who opposed theatres?


  Puritans & London Authorities

  -believed theatre encouraged immoral and evil behaviour & caused chaos/conflict

  -believed Church attendance was declining as people choosing theatre over it

  -also believed theatres spread plague
• E's attitudes to theatre


  -never attended a public theatre BUT enjoyed plays and often invited companies to court to perform for her

  -was an important patron of The Theatre

  -supported her fave actors & allowed a company to called 'The Queen's Men
• Why did people go the theatre?

  -Poor: watch plays & distract selves; cheap entrance - all could enter

  -Rich: attended so could be seen by other wealthy people; opportunity to show off status & connections: helped business contracts and potential marriages

  -Criminals: easy place for crime to be committed ie theft
• Why was poverty and issue in the Tudor times?

  -dissolution of monasteries: no support for poor

  -population growth: lack of job availabilities & food shortages

  -changes in farming: new methods left many labourers unemployed and homeless

  -bad harvests: led to food shortages & inflation
• Categories of the poor

  -Helpless poor: unable to support self (elderly, orphans, sick, disabled)

  -Deserving poor: people who wanted to work but unable to find jobs in home town

  -Undeserving poor: beggars, criminals, people who refused to work & migrant workers who travelled seeking work - seen as a threat to social order & heirachy
• How government dealt with helpless & deserving poor

  -1560s POOR LAW,

  -the 'poor rate' was a tax passed by government as a system of poor relief

  Didn't end poverty but helped 1000s of people - provided hospitals & housings - poor children were given apprenticeships & deserving poor given jobs and financial support
• How government dealt with underserving poor

  Harshly - publicly whipped, branded and forced to return to home parish

  -repeat offenders imprisoned
• E's religious settlement


  •1558: in 2 elements- act of supremacy and act of uniformity

  - aim to stop constant change of religion. and bring stability - aimed to please as many as possible w middle way
• Act of Supremacy


  1559

  -England became a protestant country

  -E became governor NOT HEAD of Church

  -all clergy & members of court had to accept E's title - if refused were imprisoned

  -Bishops were to help E govern (Catholics liked)
• Act of Uniformity


  1559

  -Protestant prayer book and Bibles- English

  -English services

  -clergy allowed to marry

  -ornaments & decorations allowed in Churches (Catholics liked)

  -low recusants fine (Catholics liked as could afford to miss Protestant services)
• Catholic threats


  -1569: Mary Queen of Scots arrives in England

  -1569: Northern rebellion

  -1570: E excommunicated by Pope, Catholics encouraged to overthrow her

  -1571: Rodolfi plot

  -1580: arrival of Jesuits

  -1583: Throckmorton plot

  -1586: Babington plot
• the Northern rebellion


  1569

  -MQofS arrived in England- gave Catholics hope she could replace E and restore Catholicism in England

  -Duke of Norfolk & some Catholic nobles planned to overthrow E, plan got uncovered & they feared execution so rebelled & captured Durham & then headed to where Mary was held but army forced them to retreat and many were executed
• Seriousness of Northern rebellion


  -most serious rebellion of E's reign

  -posed major threat to reign & showed danger of Mary as a rallying point for English Catholics

  -created wide-spread fear & hatred of Catholics

  HOWEVER: there was little support from rest of Catholic nobility & ordinary people - chose to support Queen
• E's new laws against Catholics

  1571: illegal to own Catholic items (rosary)

  1581: much harsher recusancy fines (£20)

  -high treason to covert to Catholicism

  1589: Catholic priests ordained after 1559 considered traitors as were people who protected them

  1593: Statute of confinement- catholics could not travel + 5 miles from home town
• Puritan threat


  -wanted a more Protestant Church

  -strongly anti-Catholic wanted all traces removed from Church

  — by 1570s Puritasn concerned with lack of educated priests to preach - introduced 'prophesysings' -E thought this was encourage Puritan opposition & in 1576 orders Archbishop of Canterbury to stop them, he refused and was suspended and put under house arrest

  -E then ordered regulations & censorships to put on Puritan priests
• Mary Queen of Scots

  Born: 1542

  Died: 1587

  -became Queen of Scotland @ 6 days but lived in France for early life , mother ruled in her absence

  -had a son; James VI

  -related to Henry VIII , cousin of Elizabeth & Catholic - claim to throne
• The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots

  1586

  -proven Mary had role in Babington plot and she was put on trial and executed
• Consequences of execution of MQofS

  -English: under control & no further religious rebellions

  -Scotland: Mary's son James made unhappy feelings known but blamed council rather than E and took no action

  -France: strong protests from people but King needed E as an ally so no action taken

  -Spain: already at war with England by 1567, gave Phillip II an excuse to attack England- Armada sailed in 1588
• Francis Drake


  -'El Draque'

  -English, First man to survive circum-navigating the globe

  -was made a privateer by E which gave him a license to steal off the Spanish

  •Drake's journey suggests the reasons for voyaging were:

  -for monetary purposes : to steal off Spanish and bring wealth back to English

  -to discover new lands & colonise them- power to England
• Consequences of Elizabethan exploration

  SHORT TERM:

  -increased hostility between Spain&England

  -brought wealth to England

  -discovery of new substances ie tobacco

  -improved E's images

  LONG TERM:

  -built English naval power

  -broadened knowledge of the world

  -expanded British empire

  -increased wealth & trade links for England

  -encouraged others to invent things and discover for themselves

  -confirmed E's power to those who doubted her
• Walter Raleigh


  1584, sent settlers to establish a permanent colony in North America in a place called Roanoke , soon ran low on supplies and abandoned the colony and returned home

  - sent a second group in 1587, who were expecting supplies which got delayed by Armada & when supply ship arrived in 1590- all settlers had disappeared
• Reasons for conflict between Spain and Enlgand

  -religious differences - E's settlement angered Philip as he was a devout Catholic- view E as a heretic

  -marriage proposal- rejection infuriated him

  -economic/power conflict- P wanted to power and wealth- saw it as simply a religious conquest to unite Catholicism in England & Spain

  -role of privateers- attacks on Spanish ships & ports by English angered P / the Spanish

  -problems in the Netherlands- E sent money to rebels fighting against the rule of P to secure their support
• The Spanish Armada


  -Fleet assembled by King Philip II of Spain to invade England

  -However Drake was sent by E to spy on Spanish preparations & attack their ships & supplies - in 1587 he attacked the port of Cadiz & delayed the Armada for more than a year

  -they then sailed in 1588
• Spanish tactics


  STRENGTHS:

  -had 800 experienced sailors & 19,000 trained soldiers

  -had 130 ships&64 battleships - could create a crescent formation

  -more ships than English- strength in numbers

  -gathered more troops: both Spanish and Dutch

  WEAKNESSES:

  -food supplies ie bacon/fish rotted easily

  -larger ships were slow, heavy & difficult to handle in rougher seas

  -fighting tactics were poorly thought out: method was to get as close as possible to board enemy ships & capture them- open to close range enemy fire

  -weapons=canons: short distance only

  -inexperienced leader of fleet
• English tactics


  STRENGTHS:

  -experienced team leading fleet

  -English fighting in home territory- knew dead better

  -stronger, lighter, faster ships - manoeuvred easily

  -food supplied daily - healthy&good morale

  -most weapons were light and easy to move

  WEAKNESSES:

  -soldiers hadn't been paid- unmotivated

  -canons could not be fired effectively over long distances

  -commander had little experience himself fighting at sea