Elizabethan society, 1558-88

Question 1

Attitudes towards education

Answer 1

• No national system of education
• Only 15-20% of the population
• View was that only rich needed to attend
• People saw no need to provide a formal education for the majority.

Question 2

Changing influences on education

Answer 2

• By the early 1500s, Humanists argued that education was important.
• Protestants argued that people should be able to read scriptures.
• The growth of he printing press made books more accessible.
• The growth of trade required people to be able to read and understand basic maths to record transactions.

Question 3

Parish Schools (up to age 10)

Answer 3

• Set up locally by the Churchand run by the clergy.
• Taught basic literacy to the children of yeoman farmers and craftsmen.

Question 4

Grammar Schools (boys 10 to 14)

Answer 4

• Independent to the church and charged fees.
• Scholarships were available
• Boys were taught: Latin, French, Debating, Latin, Greek and Philosophy.

Question 5

Petty Schools (up to age 10)

Answer 5

• Run privately from peoples homes
• Attended by the children of the gentry, yeoman, farmers and craftsmen.

Question 6

Universities (ages 14 to 15 onwards)

Answer 6

• Only Oxford and Cambridge
• Study geometry, music, astronomy, philosophy, law and divinity.
• The highest possible qualification was a doctorate

Question 7

Educating girls

Answer 7

• Girls from better off families attended Dame Schools run by wealthy women in their homes.

Question 8

Hunting

Answer 8

• Nobles
• Took plave on horseback with hounds or with birds, involved men and women.

Question 9

Fishing

Answer 9

• Nobles
• Done by men and women

Question 10

Real Tennis

Answer 10

• Nobles
• Played indoors (men only).

Question 11

Football

Answer 11

• Farmer, Craftsmen and the lower classes
• Men only - could be violent and men often died in matches.

Question 12

Wrestling

Answer 12

• Men of all classes took part in public wrestling matches with people gambling the outcome.

Question 13

Literature and theatre

Answer 13

• Mystery plays (enjoyed by catholics) were replaced by non-religious plays and shown in theatres like Red Lion and the Rose.
• Comedies were popular and supporters included the Queen and their performers were called the Queen’s men.
• All social classes attended the theatre.

Question 14

Music and dancing

Answer 14

• Maany Elizabethans played instruments including lutes, spinets and harpsichords.
• Musical performances were played everywhere like functions, streets and public occassions.
• Accompanied plays and theatre.
• Dancing remained a precious pastime as it brought together men and women.

Question 15

What was poverty during Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 15

• Spending more than 80% of your income on bread
• Being unemplyed or ill so you couldnt provide.
• Being unable to afford the rising cost of food
• Needing poor relief or charity

Question 16

What types of people were poor?

Answer 16

• Widows or women abandoned by their husbands and their families.
• The sick and the elderly
• Orphaned children - 40% of the poor were under 16
• People on low wage
• Interants, vagrants and vagabonds - homeless people who moved from their parishes for work.

Question 17

Reasons for poverty in Elizabethan England

Answer 17

• Bad Harvest
• Enclosure
• Population growth
• Increasing demand for land

Question 18

Population growth

Answer 18

• Grew from 3 million in 1551 to 4.2 million by 1601 - increased labour supply which decreased wages.

Question 19

Increasing demand for land

Answer 19

• As population increased more people needed land
• Drove up rents and resulted in entry fees - many people couldn’t afford to pay those

Question 20

Bad Harvest

Answer 20

• Hit substance farmers reduced the food supply and drove up prices.

Question 21

Enclosure

Answer 21

• Land was divided into fields for animal husbandry, arable farming or both and given to farmers who farmed for profit.
• This denied people of use of common land which meant they were unable to provide for their families.

Question 22

Changing attitudes towards the poor

Answer 22

• The fear that poverty led to disorder and was the cause of a potential rebellion
• The cost of dealing with the poor
• Population change meant the poverty was more noticable.
• Changing economic circumstances forced authorities to be more harsh towards the poor.

Question 23

Elizabethans and poverty

Answer 23

Many Elizabethans distinguished poverty between:
- the deserving or impotent poor
- the idle or undeserving poor

Question 23

Poor rate

Answer 23

A local tax organised by Justices of the Peace with the proceeds spent on improving the lives of the poor. They were given money or things to make and sell.

Question 24

1563 Poor Relief Act

Answer 24

• JPs were required to provide the poor with wool and raw materials to make and sell things.
• The poor who refused would be sent to a prison called the house of correction.

Question 25

1572 Vagabonds Act

Answer 25

Vagrants were:
- Whipped and a hole drilled through each ear as a mark of shame, to warn others of their vagrancy
- Imprisoned if arrested again for vagrancy
- Given the death penalty for a third offence

Question 26

Expanding trade

Answer 26

-Trade was expanding in the new world
- English merchants needed new trading opportunities as war with spain had severely damaged the wool and cloth trades.

Question 27

The development of standardised maps

Answer 27

• The Mercator Map of 1569, gave sailors and traders greater confidence that they were going in the right direction - envouraging further voyages.

Question 28

Adventure

Answer 28

• Some young elizabethan men, like Francis Drake, undertook voyages of discovery and exploration.
• They published accounts of their travels and it persuaded others to venture as well.

Question 29

The Triangular Trade

Answer 29

• The trader and explorer John Hawkins discovered that iron goods and guns could be sold in West Africa to buy slaves, which could be sold to the New World in exchange for rum, spices and tobacco, which would then be sold to europe.
• Other merchants and traders copied this lucrative triangular trade.

Question 30

Why did Drake circumnavigate the globe?

Answer 30

• He was attacking Spain, his main purpose was to raid Spanish colonies in the Pacific
• Revenge - The Spanish had attacked Drake’s fleet as St Juan de Ulua and most of his men had been killed.
• Profit - Loot, booty and trade meant there were huge profits to be made, which made people invest in his expedition including Elizabeth.

Question 31

The significance of Drake’s circumnavigation

Answer 31

• Englands reputation as a sea faring power increased
• England increasingly their navy as their best means of defence
• Colonies were established in New England due to further trade and exploitation
• English ships began to trade in: China, West Africa and India
• Declinign relationships with Spain

Question 32

Sir Walter Raleigh

Answer 32

• In 1584 Elizabeth granted him to explore and settle lands in NA.
• He did not lead the colonists but he was significant in raising funds for thr project and persuaded people to settle in Virginia.

Question 33

Why was Virginia colonised?

Answer 33

• Trade: Ironware, woollen cloth and hunting knives in return for animal skins, cold and other commodities that could be sold at a profit.
• England would be less dependent on Spain, France and Italy for imported goods.
• Provides a base for attacking Spanish settlers and colonies

Question 34

Who went to Virginia?

Answer 34

• A party of 107 colonists - almost all men - set out for Roanoke in 1585
• Led by Richard Grenville
• Brought things like : Food, salt, fresh water, tools and equipment and weapons

Question 35

Reasons why the colonisation failed

Answer 35

• Lack of food: The ship carrying their food sank and they were unable to provide for themselves due to leaving too late for crop season.
• Poor leadership: Richard was hot headed and did not get along with others, John ehite abandoned his colony. This meant that colonists had little direction or purpose.
• Native American Attack: In 1586, Algonqiuan Chief Wingina led an attack on the colonists. It was beaten off but forced colonists to abandon Roanoke and its possible that the second colony was wiped out by another attack or assimilated with local Indian tribes.

Question 36

The significance of the attempted colonisation of Virginia

Answer 36

• Served as a template for future settlements, including that of Jamestown in 1607
• By the end of the 17th century, 13 colonies has been established along the eastern seaboard of the New World.