17th Century England Context

Question 1

How did the Feudal System impact 17th century England?

Answer 1

In decline following the Black Death, it was abolished in 1660
→ It had created gaps in wealth, education and life experience

Question 2

What were cultural classes like in 17th Century England?

Answer 2

• The Elite (nobles + learned elite)
• The Middle Class (merchants and professionals)
• The Common Class (90% of the population)

Question 3

What was the urban and rural culture?

Answer 3

Both cultures were centered in religious practices
Urban → higher levels of literacy, grand processions
Rural → lower levels of literacy, gatherings were community or family based

Question 4

How did Elizabeth rule?

Answer 4

Privy Council
Presence around the country
Parliament

Question 5

What was the role of the Privy Council?

Answer 5

Conducted business on her behalf
Appointed Justices of the Peace
Sat as a court of trial

Question 6

How did the Local Court System work?

Answer 6

• Assize court → held by a visiting royal judge, jury came to a verdict
• Justice of the Peace / Regional Court → met more frequently, once every quarter
• Cases were referred from the Hundreds and Manorial courts

Question 7

What was the economic context of 17th Century England?

Answer 7

• Rising population, combined with a bad harvest, led to price rises
• Unemployment rose: less demand for wool, enclosure of land
• Taxes were increased to pay for wars in Europe

Question 8

What were the attitudes to the poor like?

Answer 8

• Poverty was mainly considered to be the person’s fault
• The Impotent Poor: unable to work due to illness, age or disability
• The Able Bodied Poor: physically able to work and so forced through tight laws and rules

Question 9

What were the Poor Laws?

Answer 9

• The JPs responsibility to collect the Poor Rate (a tax for supporting the poor)
• Begging was banned and anyone caught was whipped
• Almshouses were established to look after the impotent poor

Question 10

What was the Act of Uniformity (1559)?

Answer 10

• Made Protestantism the official faith of England
• Compromised with some aspect of Catholic religious practice
• Broad support from people across the Christian spectrum

Question 11

What was the Act to Retain the Queen’s Subjects (1581)?

Answer 11

• People could be fined £20 for failing to attend a Protestant church
• Actively converting people to Catholicism led to an accusation of treason and potential execution

Question 12

What were religious challenges?

Answer 12

Catholic
1570: Papal Bull excommunicated Elizabeth and encouraged plots
1586: The Babington Plot, resulted in the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
Puritan
At first many Puritans seemed to accept the Settlement, but they soon started organising campaigns to make it more Protestant.
They raised their points in Parliament, but did not on the whole get involved in plots to overthrow Elizabeth

Question 13

What was the European Reformation?

Answer 13

• In 1517 Martin Luther published his ‘95 Theses’, the reasons why he was angry with the Catholic Church
• It encouraged others across Europe to challenge the Catholic Church, the collective name of the new way of understanding Christianity is Protestantism

Question 14

What was the Henrician Reformation?

Answer 14

• Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, and was desperate to have a male heir, this didn’t happen
• Henry petitioned the Pope for a divorce, citing a verse in the bible that implied his marriage was illegal in the eyes of the Church. The Pope declined.
• This angered Henry, who having been influenced by Protestants, made the decision to break from the Catholic Church. The Church of England was effectively created

Question 15

What was Counter Reformation?

Answer 15

• The Catholic Church felt threatened by the sudden growth in Protestantism
• In 1545 the Catholic Church made the decision to actively try and challenge the Protestant Church
• This led to them setting up Catholic Schools and sending missionaries across Europe

Question 16

How was there an increase in Catholic Intolerance?

Answer 16

• Following the 1605 Gunpowder Plot there was an increase in sanctions for Catholic followers.
• Two Catholic Kings were removed from power: Charles (1625) James II (1688)
• Hundreds of Catholics began to leave England as a result of intolerance

Question 17

How was there an increase in Protestant dominance?

Answer 17

• In 1611 the King James Version of the Bible was published. This became the authorised version of the Bible in England.
• The Protestant attitudes of Parliament were a driving factor in their decision to remove King Charles from power.

Question 18

What were the new ideas that came about?

Answer 18

• Some people felt that Protestantism didn’t go far enough and new religious sects were created
• William Harvey challenged the ancient Church teachings of how the body worked
• Descartes and Isaac Newton began to challenge ancient Church teachings of how the Universe worked

Question 19

Who was King James VI’s family?

Answer 19

• Mother: Mary, Queen of Scots. She was forced to abdicate in 1567. She was later executed by Queen Elizabeth I for plotting against her.
• Father: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was killed, believed to be assassinated in 1567, 8 months after James was born.

Question 20

What was King James VI’s upbringing?

Answer 20

• James was coronated in 1567, shortly after his mothers forced abdication
• James was entrusted to prominent, Protestant and Humanist scholars
• James was treated harshly by his tutors but they engendered a love of learning in him

Question 21

What was James VI’s religion?

Answer 21

• During the 1560s the Scottish Kirk (church) had experienced its own reformation, along Calvinist lines (another form of Protestantism)
• James was a staunch Calvinist and actively saw the presence of Catholicism as the anti-Christ working in Scotland

Question 22

What was a witch?

Answer 22

• A term used to describe someone who was believed to have supernatural powers, that they had acquired from the Devil
• Between 1500-1700, thousands of people, predominantly women, were executed as a result of witchcraft accusations

Question 23

What was Malleus Maleficarum?

Answer 23

• A book published in 1487 by Heinrich Kramer, a monk in the Holy Roman Empire
• A handbook for inquisitors and judges of witch trials which: outlined the nature of accusations, how a trial should be carried out, and justification for why witches were women.

Question 24

What was the Diabolic Pact?

Answer 24

• Actively working and making a covenant with the devil
• The witch would be assisted by a familiar, a spirit animal that fed off their blood
• If a number of witches met the Devil together it was called a sabbat