ELIZABETH I SOCIETY/REBELLION

Question 1

WHAT elements of society changed under Elizabeth?

Answer 1

• No more dukes created after 1572
• Nobility more peaceable and started to live in country houses rather than castles
• Gentry increased in size and wealth
• Gap between rich and poor widened
• Continued decline in real wages

Question 2

WHAT elements of society stayed the same under Elizabeth?

Answer 2

• Society still under aristocratic domination
• Majority still lived in the countryside
• On the whole, most layers of society (e.g. labourers) differed little.

Question 3

WHAT was the impotent poor?

Answer 3

Subcategory of the deserving poor, comprising of those who could not look after themselves (e.g. the sick or elderly)

Question 4

WHEN was the Vagrancy Act under EdVI?

Answer 4

1547

Question 5

WHAT did the 1547 Vagrancy Act do?

Answer 5

Introduced that vagabonds could be sold into slavery as a punishment, but it was ultimately unenforceable in most cases.

Question 6

WHEN were the different Poor Laws passed under Elizabeth I?

Answer 6

• 1572 (Poor Relief Act)
• 1576
• 1597 (Poor Law Act)
• 1598 (Poor Law Act)
• 1601 (Poor Law Act)

Question 7

WHAT did the 1572 Poor Relief Act do?

Answer 7

• Established that local rate-payers had to pay a rate for the relief of local poor people.
• Introduced branding as a punishment for vagabonds

Question 8

WHAT did the 1576 Poor Law do?

Answer 8

Attempted to create a national system of poor relief, with towns being required to make provision for the employment of the deserving poor.

Question 9

WHAT did the 1597 Poor Law Act do?

Answer 9

Introduced that first-time offenders should be whipped and sent back to their birth parish, and repeat offenders should be executed

Question 10

WHAT did the 1598 and 1601 Poor Law Acts do?

Answer 10

• Parishes were required to raise rates for, and administer, poor relief
• Overseers of the poor were given these responisibilities

Question 11

WHAT is one example of the aristocracy feeling safer in Elizabethan England?

Answer 11

Many aristocrats began to abandon fortified castles in favour of comfortable, but indefensible county homes

Question 12

WHAT was Elizabethan policy for Ireland?

Answer 12

To Anglicise Ireland both religiously and in secular matters.

Question 13

WHAT title was Elizabeth given in the Irish Church and WHEN?

Answer 13

Supreme Governer of the Church of Ireland, 1560

Question 14

WHY was it difficult to enforce English rule in Ireland under Elizabeth I?

Answer 14

• Ireland was mostly Catholic (difficult to convert a whole country)
• Language barrier (most Irish people only spoke Gaelic)
• There were bad relations between the Gaelic Irish and the English people who had moved there to exploit their different landownership laws.

Question 15

WHEN were the first two (minor) rebellions in Ireland under Elizabeth?

Answer 15

• 1569 - 1573
• 1579 - 1582

Question 16

WHEN was the third/major rebellion in Ireland under Elizabeth?

Answer 16

1595 - 1603

Question 17

HOW did the major Irish rebellion under Elizabeth I begin?

Answer 17

• Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, rose in rebellion in 1595, linked with the Spanish Armada
• Rebels won Battle of Yellow Ford, 1598, and took control of much of Ireland

Question 18

WHEN was the Battle of Yellow Ford?

Answer 18

1598

Question 19

WHAT was the Battle of Yellow Ford?

Answer 19

Battle during the Irish rebellion against English rule in 1598. The rebels won and it seemed that Tyrone and his allies would create an independent Catholic Ireland, allied with Spain.

Question 20

HOW did Elizabeth respond to the Irish rebellion?

Answer 20

• At first, she sent Essex in 1599, who disobeyed her orders and failed to regain control in Ireland
• She then appointed a new Lord Lieutenant, Lord Mountjoy, who triumphed against the rebels in 1601

Question 21

WHO was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under Elizabeth I?

Answer 21

• The Earl of Essex
• Lord Mountjoy (after Essex’s campaign failed)

Question 22

WHEN was peace agreed with Ireland under Elizabeth?

Answer 22

1603, even though she had died by then. Mountjoy possibly offered generous terms to the rebels as he wished to leave Ireland and work with James I

Question 23

WHAT were the consequences of the Anglo-Irish conflict under Elizabeth?

Answer 23

By the end of her reign, much of Ireland had been destroyed and the Crown had spent large sums of money on the conflict. In the end, it only resulted in a legacy of bitterness among the Irish.

Question 24

WHO controlled the northern border under Elizabeth?

Answer 24

• Wardens of the three border marches
• The Council of the North

Question 25

WHAT type of people did Elizabeth appoint as wardens of the (northern) border marches?

Answer 25

She would sometimes appoint from the second rank of northern landowners

Question 26

HOW did Elizabeth deal with problems along the northern border?

Answer 26

She gave James VI an annual pension of £4000 along with hints about his possible succession to the English throne, ensuring that border lawlessness was minimised

Question 27

WHAT problems did Elizabeth have with the Council of the North?

Answer 27

She felt unable to grant the president of the Council position to a member of the northern nobility, but she faced problems when she awarded the post to a southern magnate

Question 28

WHAT were some problems Elizabeth had with Wales during her reign?

Answer 28

• Poverty remained a problem there
• A disproportionate amount of Welshmen were implicated in the Essex ‘rebellion’, suggesting political discontent

Question 29

HOW was the Welsh language being used under Elizabeth?

Answer 29

• It disappeared from government
• It was preserved in religion (e.g. the Bible and Book of Common Prayer were translated into Welsh)

Question 30

WHEN was the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 30

1569

Question 31

HOW stable was society under Elizabeth?

Answer 31

Relatively stable. Even in periods of harvest failure and rising prices in the 1590s, stability prevailed. The only significant rebellion was the Northern Rebellion in 1569.

Question 32

WHAT were the causes of the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 32

• Some genuine religious grievances
• The leaders felt dishonoured not to be controlling the northern government
• Some believe it was linked with a courtly conspiracy, planning to restore Mary to the throne.

Question 33

WHO were the leaders of the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 33

The Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland

Question 34

WHAT are some key events of the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 34

• Rebels marched to York, but made no attempt to capture it, or march any further south
• Rebels besieged the Crown’s stronghold of castles in Durham
• After hearing news of a Crown force heading north, the rebels disbanded and fled to Scotland

Question 35

WHY did the Northern Rebellion fail?

Answer 35

• Disorganisation, poor leadership and a lack of clarity
• Lack of expected foreign support
• Decisive action from the authorities, particularly Cecil
• Rebellion was geographically limited
• Little support from the northern earls

Question 36

WHAT was the significance of the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 36

• Highlighted the London government’s lack of comprehension of north/south divides and problems with raising forces
• Demonstrated Elizabeth’s ruthlessness in government
• Lack of enthusiasm for the rebellion shows little support for getting rid of Elizabeth.

Question 37

HOW did Elizabeth deal with the rebels of the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 37

• Mass executions of rebels were ordered, although it is unclear how many were carried out
• Lands of rebel leaders confiscated to the Crown