Chapter 17 - Elizabeth I: Character and aims

Question 1

how old was elizabeth when she came to the throne?

Answer 1

25, significantly younger than mary had been

Question 2

what considerable differences were there between mary and elizabeth?

Answer 2

• Elizabeth was considerably better educated
• she had a much shreweder grasp of political processes in their widest sense
• she was also, for the most part, a shrewder judge of character
• she had also learned much from her personal and political experiences

Question 3

how did elizabeth demonstrate her political skills early on?

Answer 3

• her succint dismissal of the executed thomas seymour as a man of much wit but little judgement showed that she had learnt from the temporary disgrace of their relationship
• her clear-headedness under interrogation and marking a letter to her half-sister Queen Mary with diagonal lines so that it couldn’t be doctored were remarkable for someone who was aged only 20

Question 4

what were Elizabeth’s key short-terms aims when she came to the throne?

Answer 4

• to consolidate her position
• to settle religious issues
• to pursue a peaceful settlement with the french

Question 5

why was elizabeth’s succession not opposed?

Answer 5

• it had been laid out in henry’s will
• mary had named elizabeth as her successor
• Philip showed his recognition when he sent his envoy, the count of feria, to see elizabeth a month before Mary’s death

Question 6

why was it in some respects a bad succession?

Answer 6

• england had had a series of bad harvests, so food was scarce and expensive
• the country had suffered a flu epidemic which had brought about the highest mortality rate since the black death
• england had lost calais after a disatrous war with france
• the issue of the queen’s marriage was constantly speculated
• it was evident there would be religious changes

Question 7

what were the key features of elizabeth’s consolidation of power?

Answer 7

• Mary’s key councillors accepted her accession
• william cecil was appointed principal secretary
• elizabeth showed herself to be familiar with the customs associated with monarchs who had newly aceded to the throne by taking herself to the tower, from which she emerged on several occasions to show herself to her new subjects and to benefit from pageants which were organised on her behalf by the city of london
• elizabeth also proceeded quickly (within two months) to her coronation
• she had some measure of international confirmation, philip did not try and disrupt it and tried to broker an alliance

Question 8

why was Nicholas heath announcing elizabeth’s to succession to parliament on the morning of the 17 November politically significant?

Answer 8

• he legally had no right to do so, parliament should have been dissolved
• however, it showed the political elite of the nation collectively assented to elizabeth’s succcession.

Question 9

what were the two key aspects to the form of religion the country would experience?

Answer 9

the legal status of the church and the liturgical books to be used on church services

Question 10

what was there never any doubt about with regard to religion?

Answer 10

the english church breaking with rome once more

Question 11

what was in doubt about the nature of the church once it was separated from Rome once more?

Answer 11

would it be:
- essentially an ‘anglo-catholic’ church, in other words a church whose doctrines and practices remained essentially catholic even though it had rejected papal supremacy
- an apparently moderate protestant church similar to that implied by the Act of Uniformity of 1549
- a more radically evangelical church as implied by the Act of Uniformity of 1552

Question 12

what did the elizabethan religious settlement create?

Answer 12

a ‘via media’ (middle way) between catholicism and protestantism

Question 13

how was the elizabethan religious settlement established?

Answer 13

• through two acts of parliament (the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity)
• the issue of a set of royal injunctions to enforce the acts
• the publication of a new book of common prayer

Question 14

when was elizabeth’s religious settlement?

Answer 14

1559

Question 15

what was introduced in 1563, in addition to the original religious settlement?

Answer 15

the Thirty-Nine articles of religion

Question 16

what did the Act of supremacy (1559) do?

Answer 16

• papal supremacy was rejected
• the reformation legislation of Henry VIII’s reign was restored
• the heresy law revived under mary was repealed
• the powers of royal visitation of the church were revived
• the act described the queen as ‘supreme governor’ rather than as ‘supreme head’ of the church of england as her father had been
• an oath of supremacy was to be taken by clergymen and church officials; there were penalties for refusing to do so. (most marian bishops felt unable to do so and were deprived of their posts)

Question 17

what was the significance of the powers of royal visitation of the church being revived in the act of supremacy?

Answer 17

• this allowed the crown to appoint commissioners to ‘visit, reform, order, correct and amend all such errors, heresies and abuses.’
• this gave huge amounts of potential power to the commissioners, not least because it did not define the ‘heresies’ against which they might take action

Question 18

summarise what the 1559 act of supremacy did?

Answer 18

it restored the legal position of the crown in relation to the church which had been first established in the reign of Henry VIII
it gave legislative authority for the crown to act in matters relating to the church

Question 19

what did the act of uniformity specify the use of?

Answer 19

• the use of a single book of common prayer, a modified version of cranmer’s 1552 book of common prayer

Question 20

what were the modifications made to the book of common prayer included in the act of uniformity?

Answer 20

• variations in eucharistic belief were possible in that both the 1549 wording (‘the body of our lord jesus christ, which was given for thee’), which even the conservative bishop gardiner felt able to accept at the time, and the 1552 wording derived from the beliefs of the swiss reformer Zwingli (‘Take and eat this in remembrance’) were permitted
• the ‘black rubric’, which had been included in the 1552 prayer book to explain away the practice of kneeling at the administration of the eucharist, was omitted

Question 21

what was calvinism?

Answer 21

a more radical form of protestantism put forward in geneva by the french reformer John Calvin

Question 22

what were the royal injunctions in 1559?

Answer 22

a set of instructions about the conduct of church services and government of the church issued in the queen’s name as supreme governor

Question 23

what did the first injunction in 1559 do?

Answer 23

• it emphasised the suppression of superstition (i.e. catholic practices) and the need ‘to plant true religion to the extirpation of all hypocrisy, enormities, and abuses’.

Question 24

what did the injunctions in 1559 do?

Answer 24

• protestant character
• emphasised that the eucharist be administered at a simple communion table rather than an altar, this was a clear signal that religious practice should move in the direction of reform
• called for the removal from the church of ‘things superstitious’
• traditional catholic practices such as pilgrimages and the use of candles were described as (works devised by man’s fantasies)
• parish churches were required to purchase an english bible and a copy of Erasmus’ Paraphrases

Question 25

what made the injunctions evidently more protestant?

Answer 25

the visitors nominated by cecil to enforce them were strongly protestant

Question 26

how did the injunctions demonstrate some of Elizabeth’s personal idiosyncrasies?

Answer 26

• her disapproval of clerical marriage was signalled by the fact that prospective wives of clergy had to produce a certificate signed by two justices of the peace signifying their fitness for such a role
• also typical of the queen herself was the desire to persuade people to ‘forbear all vain and contentious disputations in matters of religion’

Question 27

when was the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis?

Answer 27

April 1559

Question 28

when was the death of Henry II of France, and the succession of Francis II, husband of MQS?

Answer 28

June 1559

Question 29

when was the treaty of berwick?

Answer 29

February 1560

Question 30

when was an english army sent to scotland to assist the lords of the congregation?

Answer 30

March 1560

Question 31

when was the treaty of edinburgh?

Answer 31

July 1560

Question 32

when was the death of Francis II?

Answer 32

December 1560

Question 33

when was there an english intervention in france, on the side of the Huguenots?

Answer 33

October 1562

Question 34

when was the treaty of Troyes?

Answer 34

April 1564

Question 35

who was england in conflict with when Elizabeth came to the throne?

Answer 35

France

Question 36

what had been the impact of the war with france?

Answer 36

england had lost calais and it had seriously weakened the crowns finances

Question 37

what was agreed at the treaty of cateau-cambresis?

Answer 37

• England and France reached an agreement over calais
• France would retain calais for 8 years, after which time calais would be restored to english control provided england had kept the peace in the meantime.
• if France failed to return calais, they agreed to pay 500,000 crowns (£125,000) to england

Question 38

what problems did the accession of Francis II create for Elizabeth?

Answer 38

• he was married to MQS, the main catholic claimant to the throne
• Brought the strongly catholic Guise faction to power in France
• the Guises wanted to use scotland as instrument of french policy once more

Question 39

why did the lords of the congregation request assistance from Elizabeth?

Answer 39

• french troops were sent to garrisson major scottish fortresses
• this alarmed john knox and his political allies, the lords of the congregation, who were seeking power in edinburgh

Question 40

why was elizabeth reluctant to intervene in scotland?

Answer 40

• she was cautious about interfering in the domestic affairs of another nation in which subjects were rebelling against sovereign authority
• she also loathed john knox, who had written against ‘the monstrous regiment of women’

Question 41

why did cecil strongly support intervening in scotland?

Answer 41

• he sympathised with the religious predicament of scottish protestants and he knew that england would be more secure without a french force north of the border
• he wanted the removal of MQS
• he wanted to incorporate scotland within a wider british imperial state, which he considered necessary for the survival of protestant england

Question 42

what support did cecil have from the council for his views on scotland?

Answer 42

it was a minority position on the council and he was oppossed by his normal ally and brother-in-law Sir Nicholas Bacon

Question 43

how did cecil persuade elizabeth to intervene in scotland?

Answer 43

• he played on her insecurity, he pointed to the actions of francis and mary in using the english coat of arms on their own heraldic device
• he even suggested his own resignation if elizabeth failed to support him

Question 44

why is the intervention in scotland a clear illustration of how foreign policy can be influenced both by religion and a key individual?

Answer 44

• obviously the french were catholic and a threat
• cecil persuaded elizabeth

Question 45

what was the intervention in scotland initially limited to?

Answer 45

money and armaments

Question 46

how did the intervention in scotland escalate?

Answer 46

• towards the end of december 1559 the navy was sent to the firth of forth to stop french reinforcements from landing
• the lords of the congregation were offered conditional support in the treaty of berwick
• in march 1560 an army was sent north
• the army and navy blockaded leith, although the seige failed

Question 47

what circumstances forced a french withdrawal from Leith?

Answer 47

• the french fleet was severely damaged by a storm
• the regent mary of guise died
• this meant cecil was able to secure favourable terms at the treaty of edinburgh

Question 48

why had cecil triumphed in the intervention in scotland?

Answer 48

• the lords of the congregation were accepted as a provisional conciliar government
• the guises had fell from power (ableit through favourable circumstances with the death of francis)
• MQS’s influence on french policy came to an end
• the interests of scottish protestants had been protected and MQS’s power had been reduced

Question 49

when did conflict between protestants and catholics break out in france?

Answer 49

March 1562

Question 50

who encouraged elizabeth to put military pressure on the french crown to ensure the return of calais?

Answer 50

Robert Dudley

Question 51

what did elizabeth promise the hugeunot leader?

Answer 51

6000 men and a loan of £30,000

Question 52

why were the english forced to seek unfavourable peace terms at the treaty of Troyes?

Answer 52

• the hugenuenot army was defeated and conde was captured
• the duke of guise on the catholic side was assassinated.
• with both sides leaderless they united to drive the english out of le havre

Question 53

what were the consequences of the treaty of troyes?

Answer 53

• she lost calais
• she lost prestige

Question 54

how did the treaty of troyes impact elizabeth’s future foreign policy?

Answer 54

she became more cautious about supporting protestant causes on the european continent: possibly too cautious in the case of the netherlands