Elizabeth and Government

Question 1

Who was William Cecil?

Answer 1

Protestant; secretary of state, Elizabeth’s principal adviser. He supervised all govt. business and not afraid to disagree with Elizabeth, utterly loyal to and trusted Elizabeth. Father figure. Lord Burghley from 1571.

Question 2

Who was Robert Dudley?

Answer 2

Protestant; Earl of Leicster, Elizabeth’s closest friend, when his wife died in suspicious circumstances Elizabeth realised it was folly to marry him. Earl of Leicster 1564.

Question 3

When was William cecil Lord Burghley from?

Answer 3

1571

Question 4

When was Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester from?

Answer 4

1564

Question 5

Who was Sir Nicholas Bacon?

Answer 5

The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal

Question 6

Who was Sir Thomas Parry?

Answer 6

Household official

Question 7

Who was Sir Christopher Halton?

Answer 7

Promoted to Lord Chancellor in 1587.

Question 8

Who was Sir F. Walsingham?

Answer 8

Promoted to secretary of state in 1573 with special responsibility for foreign affairs.

Question 9

Who was Robert Devereux?

Answer 9

2nd Earl of Essex; Dudley’s step son; Elizabeth’s favourite courtier from 1587; sent to Ireland in 1599; executed in 1601 after failed rebellion.

Question 10

What key event’s happened in 1558?

Answer 10

Elizabeth becomes queen and appoints Cecil as Secretary of State.

Question 11

What key event happened in 1560?

Answer 11

Death of Amy Rosbart (Dudley’s wife)

Question 12

What key event’s happened in 1562?

Answer 12

Elizabeth becomes seriously ill with smallpox; Dudley and Thomas Howard become a member of the PC

Question 13

What key event happened in 1563?

Answer 13

Trouble in parliament over marriage - Archduke Charles.

Question 14

What key event happened in 1564?

Answer 14

Dudley becomes Earl of Leicester

Question 15

What key event’s happened in 1566?

Answer 15

More trouble in parliament over marriage/ succession; MQS gives birth to James VI of Scotland.

Question 16

What key event happened in 1568?

Answer 16

MQS arrived in England

Question 17

What key event’s happened in 1571?

Answer 17

Cecil becomes Lord Burghley; Ridolfi plot, Strickland’s bill and suspension from Parliament over Prayer book reform. Wentworth and Free speech.

Question 18

What Key event happened in 1573?

Answer 18

Sir Francis Walsingham becomes Secretary of State; council works in a mostly unified way. Their chief disagreement was often with the queen herself.

Question 19

What Key event’s happened in 1576?

Answer 19

Trouble in Parliament over free speech (Wentworth); discussions in the PC over sending aid to the Dutch which was held off until 1584.

Question 20

What key event happened in 1579?

Answer 20

Courtship of Alencon (French) split the council and renewed between 1581-82 but he died in 1584.

Question 21

What key event’s happened in 1586 - 1587?

Answer 21

A difficult parliamentary session and lasted the longest with 5 months over the issue of MQS; executed i 1587 after the 2 houses had joined together in presenting a petition asking Elizabeth to carry out the legal penalty for treason; Wentworth and free speech.

Question 22

What was the Privy Council?

Answer 22

Committee of people appointed by monarch to advise her and run the government; oversaw law and order, local government, the security of England and proceedings in parliament; around 20 members; full council did not often meet however the inner circle met frequently - sometimes daily and would advise monarch on serious state matters such as war, foreign policy and religion.

Question 23

What was the court?

Answer 23

People who lived in, or near, whichever palace the monarch currently resided; made up of members of the nobility including their sons and daughters, who sort positions and roles within royal service or the government, attending court required the monarch’s permission.

Question 24

What was the parliament?

Answer 24

Consisted of House of Lords (bishops and nobles) and the House of commons (Rich gentry and relations of nobles, elections held each new parliament, but very few people could vote) could only be called and dismissed by the monarch; Elizabeth called parliament 13 times.

Question 25

What was local government?

Answer 25

Council of Wales and the Council of the North; each country headed by Lord Lieutenants; the real work of maintaining order fell to JP’s; Parish constables helped them

Question 26

What were the 3 main factions?

Answer 26

William Cecil vs Robert Dudley
Dudley vs Howard Alliance (Norfolk and Sussex)
Robert Cecil vs Essex (later in the period)

Question 27

What was patronage?

Answer 27

Rewarding of supporters with offices, titles and wealth.

Question 28

What does Prorogue mean?

Answer 28

The suspension of a parliamentary session without dissolving parliament and calling new elections.

Question 29

What does prerogative mean?

Answer 29

The rights claimed by the monarch. These included settlement of religion, Foreign policy, marriage, succession and right to grant monopolies.

Question 30

What were suitors?

Answer 30

Nobles who sought Elizabeth’s hand in marriage.

Question 31

Who were some of Elizabeth’s suitors?

Answer 31

Phillip II of Spain 1559
Eric of Sweden
Francis Duke of Alencon (youngest son of King of France)
Archduke Charles of Austria (son of Ferdinand I)
All of them were catholic except Eric of Sweden.

Question 32

What problems faced Elizabeth in 1558?

Answer 32

What religious position to take, some questioned Elizabeth’s legitimacy to rule; some questioned her ability to rule as a women, the crown was financially weak (debt). She didn’t know who to appoint to her PC, who should Elizabeth marry, challenges from France, Spain and Scotland.

Question 33

Why were there questions over Elizabeth’s legitimacy?

Answer 33

Some people didn’t accept Henry’s divorce from Catherine so believed his marriage to Anne Boleyn was illegitimate; when Anne Boelyn was executed for treason, Henry declared Elizabeth illegitimate and towards the end of his life Henry restored Elizabeth to the line of succession.

Question 34

Why were there questions over whether a queen could rule successfully?

Answer 34

Women expected to be under the authority of men, obedient to their husbands/fathers; many thought women did not have the intelligence or emotional resilience to deal with questions of state, monarchs expected to be able to lead their armies into battle, the reign of Mary I, with its disastrous war against France and its social and economic problems seemed to confirm that a woman was not suited to the role of monarch.

Question 35

Why were there questions over appointments to the Privy Council?

Answer 35

Appointing one person would often alienate others, some of the most powerful nobles lacked ability and skills to be a PC; Mary I’s PC were experienced but all Catholics and so not entirely suitable to Elizabeth. As a women Elizabeth was supposed to under the authority of men, but as a monarch she had to show authority over all men; if she made her closest friend and potential husband Dudley a councillor this would make others jealous.

Question 36

Why was Elizabeth’s marriage a question in 1558?

Answer 36

A heir would ensure political stability and the continuation of the Tudor dynasty. If she married an English noble it would be unpopular among other nobles, but a foreign noble would be unpopular especially after Mary I’s marriage to Phillip II of Spain. Most European nobles were catholic which would alienate her from the PC and parliament.

Question 37

Why did the question of marriage fade by the 1580’s

Answer 37

Her age made the birth of an heir unlikely, question of marriage faded but the question of succession remained a very pertinent one.

Question 38

Which of her suitors did Queen Elizabeth consider?

Answer 38

Duke of Alencon

Question 39

What was the queen’s relationship with parliament?

Answer 39

Tudors needed parliament to pass legislation and approve taxes. queens refusal to allow parliament to interfere with what she saw as her prerogative led in the 1570s to protests about freedom of speech. She curtailed sessions of parliament as long as she could and helped by loyal outlook of most MPs. Her control over parliament source of controversy. Historians now agree that her relationship with parliament was harmonious and productive, with possible exception of the 1590s.

Question 40

What were Elizabeth and Parliaments main areas of debate about?

Answer 40

Religion
Marriage/succession
Finance (monopolies)
MQS

Question 41

How did Elizabeth control parliament?

Answer 41

• Isolating extremists through promises of moderate reform
• Making strong speeches to representatives from the commons
• Directly intervening to preserve the royal prerogative
• Influencing choice of speaker
• Imprisoning awkward members
• Summoning, porouging, dissolving sessions of parliament
• Managing Parliament’s time
• Having her councillors present in parliament.

Question 42

How did Elizabeth control local government?

Answer 42

Influence of nobility was a major consideration. Queen needed to control powerful local families, the links between central and local govt. formed a framework that enabled Elizabeth to enforce policy and maintain law and order. JP’s used to enforce this but historians now think they were not as compliant as once believed, most important strategy to control localities was the use of royal prerogative and propaganda. Most riots and unrest occurred in 1590’s and motivated by economic grievances.