Elizabeth Flashcards
What was elizabethan society like?
(population, life expectancy, wealth, power and religion)
population ; 90% lived in countryside and were poor, 3 million people
average life expectancy; 35
wealth; based on land ownership and money
power; strict social hierarchy with limited social mobility
religion; everyone was christian, the church played a key role in everyday life
social hierarchy in countryside
Nobility
Gentry
Yeomen
Tenant Farmers
Laboring poor
Vagrants/Vagabonds
Social Hierachy in towns
Merchants
Professionals
Business Owners
Skilled craftsmen
Unskilled workers
Unemployed/vagabonds
what was nobility?
those with royal blood and held important roles such as lords and dukes.
What were Gentry?
Key landowners who owned small estates around the country
What were yeoman farmers
owned much smaller areas of land rented out to others to farm
What were tenant farmers
Renter smaller areas of land from yeoman and gentry to farm
What were the labouring poor?
rented rather than owned land
carried out tough physical work on land for the people they rented it from, produced own food.
What’s a vagabond/vagrant?
people often out in f work
homeless and had to beg or steal to survive
moved around to find work
What were merchants?
very wealthy traders in goods from abroad.
what were professionals?
men who had access to education e.g doctors
what were skilled workers?
highly skilled craftsmen such as tailors, blacksmiths
what were craftsmen
skilled employees in above crafts (tailors, blacsmiths, carpenters)
what were unskilled workers?
people with no skills but worked in towns.
Features of elizabethan gov.
What were they?
(5 parts)
court- noble men, close friends and advisors to elizabeth.
privy council - 19 members who met three times a week. Advised elizabeth.
parliament - made up of house or commons and house of lords (noblemen and bishops) parliament could vote on new laws, agree to go war, agree new taxes and they could approve extraordinary taxes which were additional taxes.
Justices of peace- noblemen who kept law and order in local areas and heard court cases.
Lord lieutenant - noblemen who governed english countries and could raise local armies.
What were all the challenges to Elizabeth in 1588?
(10 things)
Legitimacy - didn’t believe she had a legitimate right to be queen
Marriage - wasn’t married, pressured by privy council who believe england would lack stability. she was worried marriage would lessen her authority
Personality - confident, educated, charistmatic. she had poor decision making and often hesitate with her decisions, frustrated advisors.
Children - didn’t have a legitimate heir, making england vulnerable for attack.
Mary I - half sister, executed 300 protestant, lost a war against france and got england in debt, people were worried elizabeth would cause similar problems
Economy - 30000 in debt, raising taxes would make her unpopular, england peers 100000 to foreign lenders
Parliament - could only use her royal proclamation to make decisions, she needed parliaments loyalty
Inexperience - was only 21 and lacked experience, needed strong support from william cecil
Religion - she was a protestant, the pope influenced catholics - country was split
Gender - woman not seen as strong enough to lead army or make tough decisions.
Threats to elizabeth from abroad in 1588
Threats from France
Threats from Scotland
Threats from Rome
Threats from Spain.
Main summaries;
elizabeth was outnumbered by catholic countries who disapproved of her protestantism, catholic countries supported Mary Q of S to english throne l, england was already in debt and wars would be expensive:
What was the importance of religious divisions in england in 1558
Religion influenced every aspect of lives - moral behavior and understanding.
Going to church every week went without question.
Went on pilgrimages and confessed sins.
People were expected to follow faith of monarch, not doing this would result in harsh punishment
What was elizabeth’s believe with the religious divide of 1558?
wanted to be fair to catholics.
Wanted to compromise between two faiths.
Had no interest in seeking revenge and persecuting catholics.
Differences between catholics and protestants
catholics had;
pope
clergy needed to show power
could pay to forgive sins
in mass, bread and wine and were blood and body of christ.
7 sacraments
priests can’t marry
saints can cause miracles
church services in latin
churches highly decorated to show power
majority support in north.
OPPOSITE FOR PROTESTANTS.
Elizabeth religious settlement 1559
What were all the 3 parts?
Act of supremacy
Act of uniformity
Royal injunctions
What was act of supremacy?
(religious settlement 1559)
elizabeth because supreme leader of church.
what was act of uniformity?
(religious settlement 1559)
set out rules for how a church should look and what church services should be like.
what was the royal injunctions
(religious settlement 1559)
set of written instructions issued to clergy reminding them of new rules.
Impact of religious settlement 1559
puritans believed it was still too catholic (smashed glass windows and destroyed church statues)
Most catholic bishops opposed it.
Some catholic nobles refused to attend church
80% of churchy accepted new settlement
most ordinary people accepted it.
How did churches enforce religious settlement?
punishment
a license
visitations
the professions had to have licences.
Countries that were angry about elizabeth’s religious settlement
France
Scotland
Spain
Rome (counter reformation by pope)
Why was mary queen of scot’s a threat to elizabeth
(6 points)
Legitimate claim
No heir
Return to scotland - she married lord darnley and produced a heir which made it so she could raise an army to invade
She had catholic support - from pope, catholic nobles in england, france and spain
She was rutheless - reportedly killed Darnley in 1568
Links to france - could gain support and make a claim for english throne
Elizabeth refused to name her as heir
Elizabeth couldn’t win - didn’t want to seem weak
How did elizabeth deal with mary queen of scots?
(4 points)
- Elizabeth sent money and troops to help scottish protestants fight against any catholics who would help.
- In 1560, she forced mary to sign treaty of edinburgh for mary to give up her claim for throne.
- in 1568, elizabeth placed mary under house arrest in england and always guarded.
- Didn’t yet execute her as it would anger catholics further.
what order was the plots against elizabeth?
ridolfi (1571)
throckmorton (1583)
babington (1586)
Ridolfi plot (1571)
plan
effect
why it failed
impact
Ridolfi was a spy for the pope.
Planned to murder elizabeth, trigger spanish invasion and put mary in power.
Travelled to spanish netherlands to discuss plot with phillip IU
duke of Norfolk would marry mary and lead rebellion
Failed;
William cecil discovered plot and could prove norfolk was guilty of treason.
Impact
Norfolk was execute
Mary was kept imprisoned
Tougher anti catholic laws
Proved spain was a threat
Throckmorton plot (1583)
plan and events
why it failed
impact
Duke of guise to come to england, overthrow elizabeth and free mary and place her on english throne.
Approved by pope and phillip II
Throckmorton promised to pass secret letters between mary and plotters.
Failed
Walsingham discovered the plot, spies found letters at Throckmortons house
Impact
Throckmorton was tortured and executed for treason
Proved france was a threat
More anti catholic laws
Mary catholics fled
11k catholics imprisoned
Babington plot (1586)
Plan
Events
Why it failed
Impact
Murder elizabeth, duke of guise to invade with 60k men and put mary on throne.
Pope and philip II approved of plan.
Babington wrote secret letters to mary to inform her of plot.
failed
Walsingham found letters hidden in wine barrels.
Impact
Babington and plotters were executed,
31 Priests were exegrured
mary was executed in 1587.
Reasons for mary’s execution in 1587
Family
Plots
Deterrent
Catholic figurehead
Parliament acted quickly
No alternative
Mary had an heir
Pressure
The law - she was commiting treason
Imprisonment
Spain had control over netherlands in 1580’s.
What treaty did Spanish and French sign in 1584?
What treaty did elizabeth sign in 1585?
Treaty of joinville which made them allies.
Elizabeth signed treaty of nonsuch in 1585 as an alliance with protestants in Netherlands. She would help them fight the spanish with 7400 troops.
The reasons for the Spanish Armada and Invasion plans of 1588
(5 key points)
Religion - Philip wanted england to be a catholic country again. He had support of pope, supported plots to overthrow her, and she had been helping protestants in netherlands.
Politics- treaty of joinville meant he could use french port for more supplies, he was angered by elizabeth signing treaty of nonsuch, he was keen to expand his empire, saw elizabeth as a weak leader.
Economic- english stole spanish gold, affecting their economy.
Tactical - also controlled portugal which gave phillip more access to coastline? duke of parma successfully controlled netherlands.
Revenge - Drakes attack in america’s left without useful resources and gold and silver, and his attack on cadiz was humiliation for Cadiz and disrupted preparations for invasion:
What was the plan for the Spanish armada invasion?
Philip ordered 130 ships.
30000 men to invade with 2431 guns.
Commanded by duke of medina sidonia
March on London to remove Elizabeth
118 catholic priests on board to help counter reforms england.
27k troops on land at kent.
Meet up with duke of parma from netherlands
sail up english channel and resuplly in calais
What were the key events of the spanish armada?
4 events
29th july / fire beacons alerted commanders to armada off coast of cornwall
31st july / battle of plymouth - two large spanish ships captured
3rd august / battle of isle of wight - spanish ships outgunned by english and forced up english channel
8th august / battle of grave lines - english fire ships caused spanish to panic in poor weather. failed to meet up with duke of parma.
What were the 8 reasons the spanish armada failed?
Ship design - slower to turn and manouvere, older canons were slow to reload. English cannons shot 6x faster and further, and had new and faster galleons.
Decision Making - Phillip II - ignored advice from naval commanders, dictated tactics from spain.
Elizabeth I- trusted her naval commanders to lead attack.
Spanish planning - food was stored in poor wooden barrels and rotted, due to drakes raid on cadiz in previous year. Spanish couldn’t meet with duke of parma to resupply, been at sea for 10 weeks before reaching england, priests on board had little experience fighting.
Communication - Spain - no communication between duke of medina sidonia and duke of parma so armada couldn’t resupply in netherlands, had to rely on small shipments of supplies which took over a week. England - fire beacons were lit when armada was spotted which quickly informed drake and elizabeth of their arrival.
Tactics - England had fire ships, kept their distance so spanish couldn’t board, at gravelines spanish were forced to cut anchors and blown off course by wind.
The weather - spanish wasn’t used to coping with unseasonal stormy weather.
Weapons - Spanish brought poor quality and too few canon balls.
Leadership at sea - duke of medina sidonia reluctant to take command, little naval experience and was sea sick, and had little knowledge of english waters and coastline. England - francis drake and hawkins were experienced.
Englands 5 consequences for beating spanish armada:
English navy - showed strength and skills of navy , merchants more confidence to explore and trade around world.
Influenced dutch protestants to keep fighting
Anglo dutch alliance strengthened, england no longer isolated against catholic nations.
Protestant faith strengthened- god supported them as they were victorious
Elizabeth used this as a propaganda victory.
Spanish concequences of the failed spanish armada
Many spanish ships shipwrecked and thousands of sailors killed.
Spanish finances - was expensive and a huge cost - economy going down.
Spanish morale goes down, more other countries willing to challenge spanish power
Fight continued, and philip continued to challenge england during elizabeth’s reign.
Why did poverty increase in elizabethan england)
population growth
sheep farming
inflation of food prices
enclosed land - people were evicted
poor harvests
higher rents
closure of monasteries
poor trade with spain.
Elizabeth’s policies to poor
Poor rate - poor given money or items they could use
Charity / church and rich donated money to help, christian duty to help.
Stature of artificers 1563: punish anyone who refused to pay for tax for poor relief.
Poor relief act 1576 - justices of peace provided able bodied poor with wool and raw matierials to make items and sell, those who refused to work were sent to a prison called house of correction.s
Vagabonfs act 1572- vagrants punished harshly - whipped, imprisoned and hanged. Set up national poor rate for deserving poor.
What were idle poor?
Fit for work but lazy.
Blamed for crime.
Seen as vagabonds, deceived public.
Punished harshly.
What were deserving poor?
seeking genuine help
can’t work
included sick, disabled and elderly.
