Elizabeth Flashcards
Problems of government in the 1580s and 1590s:
- several ministers died in quick succession, most notably the Earl of Leicester in 1588
- Elizabeth would not allow Cecil to retire despite ill health
- clashes between Robert Cecil and Leicester’s stepson, the Earl of Essex
- the great nob!e families were no longer represented on the Council
- Elizabeth was slow to replace deceased members and often appointed less capable men
From 1593, relations between Crown and Parliament deteriorated:
1593: Peter Wentworth was imprisoned, with three colleagues, for arguing for a named successor to Elizabeth. The queen saw this as an attack on her royal prerogative
1601: relationship broke down in the debate over monopolies (the sole right to sell or manufacture a particular commodity was bought by an individual or company). Compromise was achieved and session ended with the ‘Golden Speech’
Elizabeth’s suitors:
Robert Dudley: English nobleman but opposed by Cecil and marred By scandal over death of first wife
Philip II of Spain: keen to maintain influence in England, devoutly Catholic
The archdukes of Ferdinand and Charles: Catholic
Francois, Duke of Anjou: brother of King Henry III of France, Catholic
Threat Mary Queen of Scots posed:
- posed a continuous threat to Elizabeth, since some English Catholics saw her as the rightful monarch. This was increased when Elizabeth was excommunicated in 1570, meaning the pope freed her Catholic subjects from the need to obey her.
- her execution after the Babington Plot in 1586 gave Philip II an excuse to send an Armada against England in 1588
England’s relations with Spain (1570s):
- John Hawkins trading activity threatened the Spanish trading monopoly in the Carribbean
- in the Netherlands, Catholic Philip II clashed with Dutch Protestants. Elizabeth reluctantly supported these protestants. English expulsion from English ports of the Sea Beggars in 1572 sparked a revolt in the Netherlands against Spanish rule.
- 1568, English seized Spanish vessels and confiscated the money that they carried.
England’s relations with Spain (1580s):
- Privateers continue to capture considerable quantities of Spanish bullion
- 1584: Philip’s Treaty of Joinville with the Catholic league in France provided the final straw and an Anglo-Spanish war broke out 1585
The Anglo Spanish War 1585-88:
- Elizabeth made the Treaty of Nonsuch with the Dutch Protestant rebels and sent troops to the Netherlands.
- 1587: English successfully attacked Spanish ships at Cadiz delaying the launch of the Spanish Armada
- 1588: Philip’s huge Armada set sail with plans to load a Spanish army in the Netherlands, for an invasion of England. Forced by unfavorable winds to round Scotland and Ireland, losing many ships to rocks and storms
Nobles in society:
- great landowners
- dominant and political social role
- senior military positions
- no dukedoms created after 1572
- indulged in massive house-building projects
- less opportunity to fulfil a military role
Gentry in society:
- included a wide social range
- prominent in local government
- served as MPs
- growth in numbers
- landed incomes increased
Bulk of population:
- growing mercantile and professional classes in towns, with political influence, sometimes bought landed estates and entered ranks of the gentry
- some families ‘married up’
- widening gap between rich and poor (60% below poverty line)
- decline in real wages
- increase in landless poor
Examples of external trade:
- a flourishing cloth trade with the Netherlands
- a broadening of overseas markets
- three expeditions by John Hawkins
- the formation of a number of trading companies
Examples of prosperity (part 1):
- agricultural production increased overall
- cloth-making in rural areas increased
- new urban settlements developed, thriving on a broad range of manufacture
- London grew and provided a market for internal goods
- shipbuilding and its associated ports grew and prospered with the growth of trade
examples of prosperity (part 2):
- Legislation to regulate trade and industry proliferated. This was a sign of the government’s awareness that the taxes and duties which could be levied on manufacturers brought wealth to the country as a whole:
- acts to regulate trade in cloth, leather, coal, iron, grain and timber
- two navigation acts to promote the use of English ships
- Statute of Artifices (1563), to fix prices, regulate wages, restrict workers’ freedom of movement and control apprenticeships
Depression:
- four successive bad harvests 1594-7 led to some serious poverty
- by 1596 real wages had collapsed to less than half the level of nine years earlier
Those who had strong religious convictions who actively worked against the settlement:
- recusants (Catholics who paid fines rather than attend Anglican services)
- Puritans (a new group, opposed to all Catholic practices, which emerged in the 1560s)
