Elizabeth I Timeline

Question 1

1558

Answer 1

November: Elizabeth became Queen.

November: William Cecil becomes Secretary of State.

Question 2

1559

Answer 2

January: Elizabeth’s Coronation.

February: Queen Elizabeth I establishes the CofE, with the Act of Uniformity 1558 and the Act of Supremacy 1559. The Oath of Supremacy is reinstated.

April: Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis; France makes peace with England and Spain, ending the Italian War of 1551–1559.

August: Matthew Parker appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
Elizabeth sends aid to the Scottish Protestants.

Question 3

1560

Answer 3

February: Treaty of Berwick; Terms agreed with the Lords of the Congregation in the Kingdom of Scotland for forces of the Kingdom of England to enter Scotland to expel French troops defending the Regency of Mary of Guise.

July: The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland and bring peace between England and Scotland.

December: Seventeen-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, is widowed by the death of her first husband, King Francis II of France. Her mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, becomes regent of France.

Question 4

1561

Answer 4

August: Mary, Queen of Scots, is denied passage through England after returning from France.

Question 5

1562

Answer 5

March: The French Wars of Religion begin, a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots).

September: Treaty of Hampton Court between Queen Elizabeth I of England and Huguenot leader Louis, Prince of Condé.

October: Elizabeth falls seriously ill with small pox. Brings into question the situation of succession.

Question 6

1563

Answer 6

The Thirty Nine Articles defining the faith of the Church of England were issued.

Publication of John Foxes’ ‘Book of Martyr’s’.

Parliament press Elizabeth to marry.

Question 7

1564

Answer 7

April: Treaty of Troyes signed between the English and French.

Question 8

1565

Answer 8

Mary, Queen of Scots, widowed, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

Question 9

1566

Answer 9

Parker’s Advertisements issued, leading to Vestiarian controversy over clerical dress.

Elizabeth is again pressed by parliament to marry.

Question 10

1567

Answer 10

June: Mary, Queen of Scots, is defeated at Carberry Hill by the Scottish nobles, and imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle.

July: Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI.

August: Duke of Alba takes control of the Netherlands.

Question 11

1568

Answer 11

The Dutch War of Independence Begins.

May: Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle. After a failed rebellion is forced to flee to England. Elizabeth arrests her upon her arrival.

September: Battle of San Juan de Ulua, English fleet led by John Hawkins clashes with Spanish fleet resulting in the death of 500 English men.

November: Gold Bullion Incident. Elizabeth seizes 5 Spanish ships carrying £85,000 heading towards Netherlands.

Question 12

1569

Answer 12

November - December: Rising of the North in England: Three northern Earls lead a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in an attempt to place the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne but are driven out of the country.

Question 13

1570

Answer 13

February: Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with papal bull.

Question 14

1571

Answer 14

Ridolfi Plot to assassinate Elizabeth.

William Cecil created Lord Burghley.

Question 15

1572

Answer 15

April: Treaty of Blois between England and France.

June: Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk, is executed for his involvement in the Ridolfi Plot.

Cartwright and Field began to campaign to reform the organisation of the English Church.

Question 16

1573

Answer 16

December: Francis Walshingham appointed Secretary of State.

Question 17

1574

Answer 17

February: The fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France.

First Catholic priests trained at the seminary Douai in England.

Question 18

1575

Answer 18

July: Edmund Grindal is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

Question 19

1577

Answer 19

June: Grindal is suspended on account of his failure to suppress prophysings.

November: Seminary Priest Cuthbert Mayne is executed.

Question 20

1578

Answer 20

September-November: Francis Drake, during his circumnavigation of the globe, passes through the Strait of Magellan in his ship, the newly renamed Golden Hind.

Question 21

1579

Answer 21

Marriage negotiations between Elizabeth and the Duke of Alencon.

Question 22

1580

Answer 22

Arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries in England.

Question 23

1581

Answer 23

March: The Parliament of England’s Act against Reconciliation to Rome imposes heavy fines for practising Roman Catholicism.

December: Edmund Campion, Jesuit priest, executed.

Question 24

1583

Answer 24

August = John Whitgift is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and issues his Articles enforcing conformity and obedience among the clergy.

Throckmorton Plot

Question 25

1584

Answer 25

July: William of Orange is assassinated.

December: Treaty of Joinville signed between Phillip II and the French Catholic League.

Bernadino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, is expelled from England for his involvement in the Throckmorton Plot.

The Bond of Association is formed in which loyal subjects of the Queen pledge allegiance to her and promise to avenge her murder, should it take place.

Jesuits, etc. Act was passed and commanded all Roman Catholic priests to leave the country in 40 days or they would be punished for high treason, unless within the 40 days they swore an oath to obey the Queen.

Question 26

1585

Answer 26

May: Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports, precipitating the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).

August: Treaty of Nonsuch signed between England and the Dutch, committing Elizabeth to military intervention in the Netherlands.

Question 27

1586

Answer 27

February: Treaty of Berwick in which Elizabeth and James VI of Scotland pledge friendship.

Babbington Plot

August: MQofS arrested for her involvement in the Babbington Plot.

Question 28

1587

Answer 28

February: Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.

April/May: The Singeing of the King of Spain’s Beard, the attack in the Bay of Cádiz, by the English privateer Francis Drake against the Spanish naval forces assembling at Cádiz. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and substantial supplies were destroyed or captured. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish plans to invade England by more than a year.

Question 29

1588

Answer 29

May: The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from the Tagus estuary heading for the English Channel.

July: The first engagement between the English and Spanish fleets, off Plymouth, results in a victory for the English under command of Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.

August: The English enjoy a string of victories - Isle of Portland, Gravelines, Flanders. Most of the fleeing Spanish ships are sunk in storms.

Question 30

1589

Answer 30

The Portuguese Expedition.

Question 31

1590

Answer 31

April: Sir Francis Walsingham, the leader of Elizabeth’s spy network, dies.

August: Robert Cecil becomes Secretary of State.

Question 32

1591

Answer 32

August: Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex leads an English army in support of the Protestant Henry IV of France at the Siege of Rouen.

November: Christopher Hatton is killed and Robert Cecil is promoted to the Privy Council.

Question 33

1592

Answer 33

William Cecil falls seriously ill.

Question 34

1593

Answer 34

The Act of Seditious Secretaries made Puritanism an offence.

Question 35

1594

Answer 35

August: The Tyrone Rebellion in Ireland begins.

Summer: First of a series of bad harvests.

Question 36

1595

Answer 36

August: Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins depart from England on their final voyage to the Spanish Main which ends in both of their deaths.

Question 37

1596

Answer 37

Worst Harvest of the Century.

July: An English fleet, commanded by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lord Howard of Effingham, sacks Spanish port of Cádiz.

Question 38

1597

Answer 38

Successive harvest failures lead to dearth.

Act for the Relief of the Poor passed providing the first complete code of poor relief and was later amended by the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601, which formed the basis of poor relief for the next two centuries.

Question 39

1598

Answer 39

August: William Cecil, Lord Burghley, dies.

August: Battle of the Yellow Ford in Ireland: Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, gains victory over an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal in the Nine Years’ War against English rule.

Question 40

1599

Answer 40

September: Essex returns from Ireland.

Question 41

1601

Answer 41

August: Essex granted freedom, but the source of his basic income—the sweet wines monopoly—was not renewed. He shifted “from sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion.” Essex Rebellion begins, ending with its defeat and Robert Devereux’s death.

Amended Poor Law is passed - Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601.

Question 42

1603

Answer 42

March: Death of Queen Elizabeth and the succession of James VI of Scotland.

March: Surrender of Tyrone.

Question 43

1604

Answer 43

The Anglo-Spanish war ends.