elizabethan Flashcards
Why did people not want Queen Elizabeth to rule?
- Women couldn’t rule effectively (pressure to find a husband)
- Who would become king after her death?
How did Queen Elizabeth use propaganda to maintain public support?
- portraits (showing her off as a powerful woman)
- plays (emphasised her wealth and power)
- went on journeys around England ( allowed to public to praise and see her)
What is patronage?
When Queen Elizabeth gave rewards to her royal court in favour of supporting her
How was the main way to gain power and status?
By having a good relationship with Queen Elizabeth
Who was the royal court?
Large group of people who surrounded the queen at all times
Who did the royal court include?
- personal servants
- members of the privy council
- members of the nobility
- ambassadors
What were courtiers?
They had to compete with one another for Queen Elizabeth’s favour
Who were the Privy Council?
- around 20 men
- most trusted advisors
What were the two main rules of the privy council?
- gave advice to the queen
- managed the administration of government
Who was William Cecil?
- Queen Elizabeth’s closest advisor in 1558
Did the Privy council have to make Queen Elizabeth follow the advice they give?
No, the Queen always decided if the advice was right or wrong
What was the role of the local government?
Supervise the running of each county and enforce laws
What was the role of the parliament?
- grant Elizabeth’s taxes
- help Queen Elizabeth to gauge mood of the country and levels of support
To pass new laws, parliament had to?
Approve
How was parliaments powers were limited?
- couldn’t debate topics that aren’t allowed (permission from the queen)
- issuing a royal proclamation (allows to make new laws without parliament’s consent)
How did the privy council help Queen Elizabeth to manage parliament?
- privy council sat in parliament and acted as royal spokesmen
- the speaker was closely monitored by the privy council (help Queen to control parliament)
- Queen Elizabeth made speeches in parliament so the members of parliament obey her)
What did England turn into?
A Protestant country
What was the middle way?
Tried to satisfy everyone
What were the puritans?
- strongly anti-catholic
- puritan mp’s resisted Queen Elizabeth’s religious settlements
Who was Archbishop Whitgift?
- made an attack on puritan clergy
- made a campaign that made puritans feel like there was no hope of reforming
When did Elizabeth make Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, a member of the privy council?
1593
What did the two groups in Elizabeth’s court argue on?
- royal patronage and influence
- strategy in the war in Spain
When did Essex launch a rebellion
1601
What was Essex’s punishment from the Queen after fighting the rebels?
- house arrest
- banished from court
When was the rebellion of the earl of Essex?
8th February 1601
What was the rebellion of earl of Essex?
attempt to seize the Queen and force her to replace her closest advisors
What was a result of the rebellion of earl of Essex failing?
- supporters abandoned him
- executed
When was the Throckmorton plot?
1583
Who was included in the Throckmorton plot?
- Francis Throckmorton
- Pope
- Philip II of Spain
What was the aim of the Throckmorton plot?
To assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary
Why did the Throckmorton plot fail?
- plot uncovered by Walsingham who placed Throckmorton under surveillance for several months
Who was Francis Walsingham?
Elizabeth’s principal secretary and spy master
When did the Babington plot occur?
1586
What was the aim of the Babington plot?
- assassinate Elizabeth and give Mary the throne
Who was Anthony Babington?
Was responsible for sending information to Mary and passing back her replies
How did Walsingham uncover the Babington plot?
Using a double agent, he intercepted all letters and had them decoded
When did Babington get excecuted?
August 1586
What plot led to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots?
Babington plot
What did England and Spain go to war for?
the Netherlands
When was Queen Mary found guilty of treason?
October 1586
When was Mary get excecuted
8th February 1587
After Mary’s execution, what happened?
Increased catholic opposition abroad and made a foreign invasion
What were church papists?
They attended Protestant church services but still practiced Catholicism in their home
What was the aim of Jesuit and seminary priests?
Help Catholics keep their faith and encourage them to oppose the religious settlements
When were two anti catholic acts made?
1581
When were two anti catholic acts introduced
1581
What did the two anti catholic acts include
- Fines for those who attended Catholic mass
- treason to convert to Catholicism or persuade others
In 1588, what happens in terms of Catholicism
Recusants couldn’t buy or sell land and could have their property taken away if didn’t pay fines
Why did England and Spain go to war?
Over the netherlands
When did Elizabeth sign the treaty of nonsuch
1585
What did the treaty of non such promise?
Provided military assistance
When did the armada begin
1588
How many soldiers were involved in the Spanish Armada
18000
List some things that didn’t go to plan for Spain in the Spanish Armada
- England sent fire ships to the Spanish ships and the sailors headed for open sea but they couldn’t return to their defensive points
— Five Spanish ships sunk, and the rest of the fleet was forced too sail away from the French coast into the North sea
After deciding to call off the attack on England, what did the Spanish encounter near Scotland and Ireland?
Powerful Atlantic storms
Who did French catholics form an alliance with in the Spanish Armada?
Spain
When did the war with Spain continue until
1604
Who became richer in during Elizabeth’s reign?
the gentry
what did the gentry do to improve living standards in the 1570’s?
built or improved their homes
- showed off wealth with glass windows
who were below the gentry in the social hierarchy
the middling people
- had to work for survival but were rich enough to pay taxes
who were the wealthiest middling people
yeomen and merchants
how did merchants become rich
- through growth of towns and the development of international trade
- used money to buy land and become part of the gentry
who were the lower down middling people
shop-keepers and small farmers
- risk of slipping into poverty
what were the helpless poor
- couldn’t support themselves i.e elderly and disabled
what were the deserving poor
people who wanted to work but couldn’t find a job in their area
what were the underserving poor
- beggars, criminals and people who refused to work as well as migrant workers
what are ways poverty increased
- religion
- population growth
- poor law acts
- agriculture
How did religion increase poverty
Henry VIII closed down monasteries and sold off most of their land - dissolution of the monasteries
Why did changes in agriculture leave many people unemployed and in poverty?
- farmers rented small strips of land in large open fields to grow what they needed
- landowners developed new techniques to make more money from their land / instead of sharing open fields among many farmers, they enclosed these fields to create a few large farms
- new farms required few labourers, so farmers who rented land were evicted
How did population growth increase poverty
- food production couldn’t keep up with the growth in population so food prices rose more quicker than wages
What was the poor law act of 1597
- overseers collected taxes for the poor, provided them with work and gave out food and clothing
What was the poor law act of 1601
- outlined the role of the overseers more clearly and informed parishes of the poor relief they were expected to provide
How did families play an important role in Elizabethan society?
- Elizabethan family life was hierarchical
- extended family was important as it formed a family’s social life
- families were usually loving and had close relationships with family members
Why did people marry in Elizabethan society
- increase a family’s wealth or social standing
- husband was head of the household and the woman would cook, clean and look after the child
Why did children leave home to learn new skills
- richer children were often sent to school to become skilled apprentices or noble households to become knights
- poor stayed at home to work
Who attended theatres and how much cost
Rich and poor
Cost one penny to go in
Why was Elizatbeths reign seen as the Golden Age in terms of theatres
Huge number of plays written that are still performed today
Women weren’t allowed to perform on stage
Plays performed by acting companies I.e admirals men
What was opposing theatres
- overtime purpose of plays changed
- puritans disagreed with this change and classed it immoral and a sin that women weren’t allowed on stage
- city of London thought theatres were disruptive and a place for pickpocketing
Start of exploration including Drake and Raleigh
- early 1580s, England claimed some territory in North America but hadn’t managed to establish a successful colony yet
- 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert set out to establish a colony in Newfoundland, but it failed
- Elizabeth gave Walter Raleigh permission to explore and colonise unclaimed territories / lizzy wanted Raleigh to establish a colony on the Atlantic coast of North America
How did Raleigh’s attempts to colonise Virgina were unsuccessful
- 1584 = Raleigh sent a fact finding mission to North America and landed on Roanoke Island, explored the area and returned to England with two native Americans
- 1585 = Raleigh sent 5 ships to Virgina and 108 settlers tried to establish a permanent colony on Roanoke
- when Francis Drake visited Roanoke in 1586 he returned because low on supplies but some stayed
- a third expedition returned to Roanoke in 1587 and no one was there - it was deserted (thought to be killed by local people or delayed by Spanish Armada
What were the several factors leading to the failure of the Roanoke colony
Bad timing = if supply ships hadn’t been delayed by the Armada, colony might have survived
Lack of supplies = didn’t take enough supplies and found it hard to grow food on Roanoke
Poor planning = poorly organised as Raleigh’s funds were too limited
How did Elizabeth strengthen trade in Europe
- encouraged the development of Englands international trade by giving charters to some merchants - charters gave them exclusive rights to trade in a particular part of the world
Why did England build trade links with Asia
1583 = John Newberry and Ralph Fitch, sailed through Mediterranean and went overland to India, they reported back to Elizabeth huge wealth and prospects for trade
East India Company was set up in 1600 to trade with Asia, it sponsored successful trading expeditions to the region in 1601 and 1604
How did rivalry with Spain encourage exploration
- more and more tension = less and less English merchants to trade in Europe
- Elizabeth encouraged English merchants to get involved in long distance trade
- wealth of regions attracted English soldiers who hoped to get rich by trading illegally with Spanish’s colonies and raiding Spanish settlements and treasure ships
Who was Francis Drake
- 1577-1580 sailed the world
- sent by queen Elizabeth to explore the coast of South America
- planned to make money by raiding Spanish colonies and treasure ships
- on his return, Elizabeth knighted Drake and it encouraged more English sailors to set out on long distance journeys
Who was John Dee
- helped Francis Drake plan his voyage
- Elizabethan scientist
- personally advised Elizabeth on British colonisation in America
Whose expeditions didn’t work
John Davis and Richard Hawkins
Why did John Davis expedition unsuccessful
- tried to discover new trade routes to East and South Asia via Canada in 1585, 1586 and 1587
- sailed around the coast of Greenland and Canada but didn’t find a way through
Why was Richard Hawkings expedition unsuccessful
- 1594 = sailed into South Pacific and raided Spanish colonies on west coast of South America
- captured by Spanish and goods he stole didn’t make it back to England
Witches in Elizabethan society
- associated with evil
- blamed storms, illnesses and bad harvests on witches
- usually blamed on older women who didn’t fit in society
How did Elizabethans become more hostile towards witches
- books became widely available that had evil of the devil (associated with witches)
- lizzy banned catholic rituals used to cleanse someone of the devil or evil spirits
- witch hunting became more popular across Europe
What was the Witchcraft Act of 1562
All acts of witchcraft were a crime
Witches found guilty were hanged or a prison sentence of one year
First trials were held in 1566 in Chelmsford
How many people were accused and executed of being witches between 1570 and 1609
- 263 assumed
64 executions
