elizabethan society

• Reasons for increased exploration

  • adventure - money
  • standardised maps - 1569 mercator maps , wide spread printing
  • ships - galleons were larger,carry more goods , better guns, fast
  • new nav systems - quadrats made it faster and safer
  • expanding trade - as conflict with spain hit cloth trade with dutch, new world had new items e.g metals, tobacco
• drakes circumnavigation - golden hind

  • 1577 queen hires him to raid spanish new world
  • spanish treasure ship - 40kg of gold worth around 60 mil today
  • NOVA ALBION - claimed as new britian on behalf of queen
  • for profit
  • attack spain who had a monopoly in new world and refused to let england trade as pope had claimed all discoveries in new world to be spains
• SIGNIFICANCE of circumnavigation

  • nova albion - encouraged colonies, trade and exploration
  • declined relations - went against pope saying NA was spains , knighting of drake made war inevitable
  • reputation increased
• Attempted colonisation of virginia ( arrived 1584)

  • 107 colonists went - soldiers, sailers 5 ships

  BENEFITS

  • provides a colse base to attack spanish colonies
  • more trade, new materials, less dependance on european trade
  • roots of empire - could learn from mistakes, a successful colony would lead to others
• FAILURE OF VIRGINIA

  • lack of skills, leadership - lacked physical capacity for manual work
  • native american attack - 1586 natives angered by constant demand for food and diseases brought. Wingina led attack
  • war with spain - threat from armada meant few ships and supplies available
  • lack of food - left too late to plant crops, a ship let in seawater
• Poor

  • 2/3 women
  • 40% under 16
• causes of poverty

  • population growth - increased by 35% during reign, wages didnt grow as fast as prices
  • unemployment - fewer labourers needed due to more efficient farming techniques
  • enclosure - wool trade increases so sheep farming increased, previous common land divided into fields owned by one farmer - anger and resented, cant provide for thier families
  • bad harvests, economic recessions
• views on poor

  • able bodied and impotenet
  • many suspicious of poor
  • poor should be given an opportunity to better themselves. those who refused to do so should be punished
• poor relief act 1576

  • aim - distinguish between able bodied and impotent
  • found able bodied work. if refused to work - imprisoned in house of correction
• poor rate 1558

  • a local tax collected by JPs to help poor
  • JPs fined if they failed to collect it
• statute of artificers 1563

  • Ensured poor rate collected
  • Those who refused to pay were imprisoned
• vagabonds act 1572

  • gov saw vagrants as a threat to public order
  • whipped and hole drilled in ear as a warning to others
  • imprisoned if arrested again
• leisure

  • nobility- hunting, fishing, fencing
  • poor - football
  • both - music , cock fighting , baiting , theatre
• education

  prepared you for the life you were expected to lead

  • upper class- private tutors, finished education in another noble family, unis
  • well off - petty schools up to 10, grammer schools 10-14, dame schools for basic girl education
  • poor - no formal education, learnt from families