Elizabethan Government

Question 1

Why was the royal court important in her rule?

Answer 1

Elizabeth could seek advice on an individual basis. The court was part theatre, part place for patronage. It existed where the queen was.

Question 2

The court was part patronage, what does this mean?

Answer 2

It is a system by which the Crown distributed favours to those who seemed to be loyal.

Question 3

What were the two main areas of the court?

Answer 3

The Presence Chamber and the Privy chamber.

Question 4

What was the Presence Chamber?

Answer 4

A relatively open area to anyone with the right status or connections.

Question 5

What was the Privy Chamber?

Answer 5

This was both more private and more important, though considerably less influential than it had been during the reign of the Tudor kings because Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber no longer had the rights of access to the monarch which they had previously enjoyed. Admission to this was carefully guarded.

Question 6

Who operated the court?

Answer 6

This came under jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain, who was usually a member of the nobility under Elizabeth and some were close relatives as well.

Question 7

An example of a Lord Chamberlain appointed who was a member of the nobility and a close relative to Elizabeth.

Answer 7

Her cousin Lord Hunsdon appointed in 1585.

Question 8

What became more important as her reign progressed?

Answer 8

The ceremonial aspects of courtly life.

Question 9

What does Christopher Haigh argue about courtly life under Elizabeth?

Answer 9

Increasingly, Elizabeth turned her politicians (eg Cecil) into counters and her courtiers (such as the Earl of Leicester) into politicians.

Question 10

What was the main formal body in which the queens principal ministers came together?

Answer 10

The Privy Council, responsible for policy advice and administration.

Question 11

What are the details regarding the meeting up of the Privy Council?

Answer 11

It met regularly with most attracting an attendance of about ten members

Question 12

Why shouldn’t the importance of the Privy Council as a decision-making body be overestimated?

Answer 12

Because Elizabeth often consulted with ministers on an individual basis.

Question 13

Who was established as Elizabeth’s key minister at the beginning of the reign and came to dominate the Council?

Answer 13

William Cecil anticipated his rise to power even before Mary’s death. The Spanish ambassador described him, a month before this event, as ‘the man who does everything’.

Question 14

Who was Cecil joined in the Council by early in the reign?

Answer 14

His close associates including Sir Nicholas Bacon, Francis Russell Earl of Bedford and Sir Francis Knollys.

Question 15

Which ministers contained more conservative views?

Answer 15

Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, the Marguis of Winchester, the Earl of Sussex and the Earl of Shrewsbury.

Question 16

When did Elizabeth’s favourite join the Council?

Answer 16

Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester joined in 1562.

Question 17

What reshaping of the Privy Council took place in the 1570’s?

Answer 17

The influence of the traditional conservative aristocracy was reduced with the downfall and execution of Norfolk and the death of Lord Treasurer Winchester. A nucleus of firmly Protestant councillors were appointed: Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Sidney and the Earl of Leicester’s brother, the Earl of Warwick.

Question 18

How was the advancement of the Protestants in the 1570’s balanced?

Answer 18

By the promotion of more conservative figures such as Sir James Croft and Sir Christopher Hatton.

Question 19

What does John Guy argue as the result of the changes made in the 1570’s?

Answer 19

In the development of an inner ring of eight councillors. Some were militant Protestants (Walsingham, Leicester, Mildmay, Knollys, the Earl of Bedford and Burghley) the only relatively conservative figures were Sussex and Hatton.

Question 20

What did the execution of Mary Queen of Scots result in?

Answer 20

The breakdown in the relations between Elizabeth and her Privy Council.

Question 21

What problems weakened Elizabeth’s Council from the later 1580’s?

Answer 21

1. Ministers died in quick succession. The earl of Leicester died in September 1588 and other administratively able ministers also died. By 1597 the Council only had 11 members.
2. The queen failed to make immediate replacements and when she did she tended to rely on the middle aged sons of former councillors who often lacked their fathers skills.
3. An absence of senior noblemen on the Council which suggested that Elizabeth’s Council no longer included the country’s most important families.
4. Elizabeth refused to let Burghley to retire, although his effectiveness diminished during the 1590’s. He appointed his son, Robert Cecil, to the Privy Council who had to undertake an immense administrative burden on account of his father.
5. The promotion of the younger Robert Cecil angered the Earl of Essex, who was a temperamental man who opposed Cecil.

Question 22

What helped prevent factional rivalries get out of hand?

Answer 22

The structure of the government. No single minister, even Cecil, had complete control over patronage. The various influential families at court and within the Council balanced one another. Thus, relatives of the Boleyns featured in the senior ranks of Crown service in substantial numbers, while Elizabeth’s late stepmother’s family, the Parrs, along with their close connections, also featured strongly, certainly early in the reign. Although the Earl of Leicester and Cecil disagreed over the queen’s potential marriage, they tended to cooperate over other issues, being able to work together most of the time because they needed each other.

Question 23

When did the clashes between Cecil and Essex come to a head?

Answer 23

In the Essex rebellion of 1601.

Question 24

What was Essex’s response to his declining influence?

Answer 24

To plan an armed coup which would bring down Cecil and his other enemies. However his plans were rumbled. Cecil was well prepared and Essex was finally forced to surrender. He was quickly tried and executed in 1601. By this time, the rule of Elizabeth and Cecil had become unpopular and the attitudes of Essex and his associates reflected a larger discontent, tied in with the queen’s diminishing authority.

Question 25

Which parliament saw the first difference in opinion between parliament and the queen?

Answer 25

Her second parliament from Jan-April 1563. A large number of MP’s urged Elizabeth to marry, even though they were infringing the royal prerogative by doing so.

Question 26

In which parliament was the execution of Mary Queen of Scots called?

Answer 26

May-Jun 1572, parliament called for her execution but the queen refused.

Question 27

What was the problem with granting taxation?

Answer 27

Of the 13 parliamentary meetings, all but 2 requested revenue. Despite her attempts to economise, Elizabeth was frequently forced to resort to levying ‘extraordinary’ revenue to pay for the Crown’s expenditure because the level of her ordinary revenue had fallen in real terms. However, persistent failure to reform the system of direct taxation meant that the yield of extraordinary revenue through the subsidy declined also in real terms.