Elizabethan bakcground Flashcards
who was Elizabeth’s family?
mother = Anne Boleyn
father = Henry VIII
cousin = mary queen of scots
siblings = mary I (bloody mary) , Edward V1
What was Elizabeth’s character like
She was extremely witty and clever but Elizabeth was also famous for her temper, something she inherited from both her father and her mother, Anne Boleyn. She was a master at the art of appearing regal and stately to the public and her advisors. She was a symbol of woman power - ahead of her time. she could speak several languages fluently. she was bold, bad tempered, superstitious, swore, spat, virgin queen, defeated armarda.
what year did Elizabeth become queen
November 1558
she was 25
why was there a possibility that Elizabeth was illegitimate to the throne
- Elizabeth’s father could have been Mark Smeaton or George Boleyn, instead of Henry.
- The Catholic Church had refused to support Henry VIII’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon. This may have made his marriage to Anne Boleyn illegitimate. The Pope had not made Elizabeth’s mother’s marriage to Henry legitimate.
explain Elizabeth’s relationship with Mary I
A zealous Catholic, Mary was fiercely proud of her Spanish heritage. The new Queen passionately hated Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn for displacing her own mother as Queen, and she hated Elizabeth personally as the product of what she regarded as a bigamous marriage. She also hated Elizabeth’s youth and beauty, and her Protestant faith. While Mary’s regime rounded up Protestant heretics, burning nearly 300 of them over 5 years. Elizabeth outwardly conformed by attending
the Catholic mass, but Mary viewed her sister with deep suspicion.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that, at 37 year Mary was unmarried and childless, thus making Elizabeth her heir. Mary swiftly negotiated a marriage to her kinsman, Philip of Spain, provoking Wyatt’s Rebellion in 1554. There was suspicion Elizabeth was involved.
Mary commanded Elizabeth to go to Whitehall Palace, where the Queen could keep an eye on her, but Elizabeth claimed she was ill and unable to make the journey. As Elizabeth was suspected of working secretly with the rebels, Mary ordered her arrest and had her imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Imprisoned at the Tower for two horrendous months, Elizabeth wrote a long letter to her sister protesting her innocence. She was eventually released but Elizabeth was not free and was kept under house arrest firstly at Woodstock in Oxfordshire and later at her own palace at Hatfield. Elizabeth’s tense relationship with Mary continued until her death. Mary’s extreme Catholicism taught Elizabeth that religious matter needed to be controlled well e.g the religious settlement she made.
Explain Elizabeth’s relationship with Henry VIII
Henrys marriage to Anne Boleyn quickly unravelled after the disappointment of the birth of another daughter. In May 1536, when Elizabeth was aged just two and a half, her mother was executed on trumped-up charges of treason, incest, adultery and witchcraft. Elizabeth herself would have no memory of her mother.
A Second Act of Succession declared Elizabeth, like her older half-sister, to be illegitimate with no right to inherit the throne.
Therefore she barely had a relationship with her father and his dealings with marriage likely influenced her to become against marriage due to the natural power of men.
conclusion of the effect of Elizabeth’s early life.
Elizabeth’s life before her accession was unhappy, dysfunctional and brimming with danger. Having lost her own mother as a toddler, and lacking a harmonious relationship with either her father or siblings, Elizabeth twice came dangerously close to execution for treason. However, unlike her sister Mary, whose traumatic life experiences left her embittered and emotionally damaged, Elizabeth’s early life did the opposite. Elizabeth’s miraculous survival served to strengthen her character and mould her into the cautious, clever and courageous Queen she became.
structure of Elizabeth’s government
Queen
Court
Privy Council
Lords Lieutenant
Justices of Peace
