Elizabeth I society Flashcards
What were the changes to the Elizabethan nobility?
- remained under aristocratic domination
- duke was the highest peerage title and the last 4 from 1547 to 1572, Somerset, Norfolk, Northumberland and Suffolk met bloody ends
- After 1572, no more dukes were named
- less concerned with defences
- the other four ranks had less umbers to enhance their prestige through large building projects to accommodate the queen when she toured the country such as Burghley house
- Elizabeth herself chose not to emulate such grandeur, being inclined on cost grounds to modify Henry VIII’s building projects
What were the changes to the Elizabethan Gentry?
- embrace a wide social range from influential shire knights and figures of national importance such as Sir Christopher Hatton to modest landowners
- included county gentlemen and esquires who dominated local government as JPS through local office without receiving any tangible rewards
- they increased in size
- the proportion of the wealthy increased
What were the other social Elizabethan changes?
- the gap between the rich and the poor increasing leading to consumerism amongst the prosperous classes
- land incomes increased especially from 1570
- poor sectors were vulnerable to enclosure and decline in real wages
- 4 million people by 1603
- most people still lived in the countryside
- London spread out of its borders as the population reached to 150,000 people and it was a magnet to migrants
- the largest provincial cities were Norwich and Bristol
- Few other cities had population in excess of 5000
When was a law against vagrancy passed?
1547
What happened to poor relief in 1572?
An act established the principle that local rate payers should be required to pay a rate for the relief of their own poor. Branding soon became a punishment for the undeserving poor
What was the 1576 poor law?
it attempted to create a national system of poor relief to be financed and administered locally. Under the act, towns were required to make provision for the employment of the deserving poor
What was the 1597 act?
It laid down that first - time offenders should be whipped and then sent back to their birthplace; repeat offenders could be executed
What happened to poverty and the poor relief from 1597 - 1601?
Act completed the legislative process towards the 1601 poor law. The parish became designated as the institution required to raise the rates for, and to administer poor relief. Each parish was to appoint an overseer of the poor to ensure efficient collection of poor rates and their appropriate distribution. Their key role was to look after the impotent poor (deserving poor who couldn’t look after themselves), setting the able- bodied to work and apprenticing poor children under the supervision of JPs
What happened in Wales?
- Despite the linguistic and cultural differences between England and Wales, the Welsh border was less of an issue for Elizabeth
- The structure of the border administration through the marches and the council of Wales remained in operation
- Welsh wasn’t used in government
- The language was still preserved through the translation of the bible, dictionaries, grammars and the common book of prayer
- Poverty did remain epidemic and although Welsh gentry prospered under Elizabeth, the disproportionate number of Welsh gentry implicated in the Essex rebellion suggest a significant level of discontent with the political situation towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign
What was the main issue with the council of the north?
Appointing the office of president of the council as she didn’t trust the northern nobility and a southern magnate was distrusted in the north and council
What were the main issues in Scotland?
- a lawless subculture of violence and sheep and cattle rustling made it difficult for authorities to control the area
- Elizabeth appointed southerners as warden rather than noble families like the Percies or Dacres to maintain control
- She instead appointed second-rank northern land owners for control such as Sir John Forster who was more successful in exploiting his office than border security
- The northern rebellion exposed more security issues as the rebel leaders fled to Scotland
- In 1585, Francis Russel was murdered on the border creating a long - term problem in Anglo - Scottish relations
- Through diplomacy, James VI accepted an annual pension of £4000 along with potential succession claims
How does John Guy describe Ireland?
a “breeding ground for fortune hunters,”
What happened in Ireland until 1585?
- Elizabeth proclaimed herself supreme governor of the Church of Ireland in 1560 but she lacked the power to impose Protestantism due to Catholocism, language, customary laws, and landownership
- The “get - rich - quick,” mentality of the English incomers and frequent use of marital law led to bad relations with the Gaelic Irish and the Old English (English and Norman descendants from the eleventh century)
- Rebellions in the south broke out in 1569 - 73 and 1579 - 82
- The latter rebellion was used to allow the Spanish incursion into the county Derry
- Anglo-Irish relations further declined due to the brutal response from the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Grey of Wilton to the 1579 - 82 rebellion
What happened in Ireland from 1585?
- The earl of Tyrone (from 1585) rose up against Elizabeth in 1595 in Ulster
- The Spanish attempted to exploit the situation by including an Irish contingent in the armada of 1596
- Despite its lack of success, it signaled panic amongst Elizabeth and her councillors because of Spanish intentions
- This was made worse by the rebel’s victory at the battle of Yellowford in August 1598 increasing their control of Ireland “beyond the pale,”
What was the role of the earl of Essex?
- In 1599, he became lord lieutenant of Ireland
- Essex disobeyed Elizabeth by confronting Tyrone for a truce
- As the truce expired, Tyrone camped south near Kinsale on the coast to connect with Spain at the height of his power
- Elizabeth tried to eliminate Essex’s weak leadership by making Lord Mountjoy and Sir George Carew, the lore lieutenant
- Over 3000 troops landed in Kinsale in September 1601
- On Christmas Eve, Tyrone retreated to Ulser before eventually negotiating peace with Mountjoy in March 1603
- Due to Elizabeth’s death, Mountjoy’s terms were generous
- James I returned to original policies with Ireland and entrusted rule in Ireland to the nobility
