Elizabeth- Life in Elizabethan times / The rising gentry and arts

Question 1

What granted a growth in the gentry?

Answer 1

• The Tudor’s marginalisation of ‘old’ nobility (e.g. Elizabeth only having 55 Lords at the end of her reign)
• Dissolution of the monestaries had allowed many gentry to buy up land
• Growth in trade from exploration gave people more excess money to spend
• Improvements in education e.g. ‘chap books’ being sold by street sellers

Question 2

Famous Elizabethan musician?

Answer 2

William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons

Question 3

Who was a famous Elizabethan scientist?

Answer 3

William Harvey (was born in Elizabethan times) → blood circulation

Question 4

What laws passed by Elizabeth controlled what clothes you wore depending on social rank?

Answer 4

the Statue of Apparel

Question 5

What was the period known as in which many new buildings were created?

Answer 5

The ‘Great Rebuilding’

Question 6

What style infulenced Elizabethan architecture?

Answer 6

Italian Renaissance

Question 7

Example of house built under Elizabethan England?

Answer 7

Longleat House

Question 8

How were new Elizabethan houses different?

Answer 8

• Lots of windows to let light in
• Chimneys allowed for multiple floors
• Decorative gardens
• Often built with an ‘E’ shaped floorplan → Elizabeth?

Question 9

What plays had existed before theatre in Elizabethan times?

Answer 9

Biblical mystery and miracle plays that had been performed in public areas since medieval times

Question 10

What happened and when in London that further pushed people’s initial dislike of the theatre?

Answer 10

An earthquake in the South East of England in 1580 → God’s punishment of the theatre

Question 10

When was a law passed against actors?

Answer 10

1572- actors seen as vagabonds and criminals
Actors had to be licensed

Question 11

Theatre in London and when it was opened?

Answer 11

The Globe- 1599

Question 12

How many acting companies were there by the end of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 12

40 companies

Question 13

What were theatres similar in design to?

Answer 13

Bear-bating pits to make them easily convertible

Question 14

Who were 2 Elizabethan playwrights?

Answer 14

• William Shakespeare
• Christopher Marlowe

Question 15

What statistic demonstrates increasing population?

Answer 15

Population of London quadrupled to 200,000 people since the start of the Tudor era

Question 16

How did Elizabeth use the theatre?

Answer 16

• propaganda and spreading her own messages through it (e.g. Shakespeare’s play Richard III presenting the Tudors very positively)
• patronage- e.g. the Queen’s Company

Question 17

What’s a play that was influenced by Elizabeth’s propaganda?

Answer 17

Richard III

Question 18

What literature was written that supported Elizabeth’s image → propaganda?

Answer 18

Foxe’s Book of Martyr’s
‘Bloody Mary’ popularised from this, Foxe presented Elizabeth as rescuing England from catholic rule

Question 19

Who painted miniatures?

Answer 19

Nicholas Hilliard

Question 20

How did Elizabeth spread her cult of personality?

Answer 20

Portraiture e.g. The Rainbow Portrait and using symbolism such as pearls to display her virginity and purity