England In 1558 Flashcards
Parts of government in Early Elizabethan England
Parliament
Privy council
Lord Lieutenants
Justices of the peace
The court
What was Parliament?
Part of government that established new laws and approved taxes
Advised Elizabeth’s government, made up of the House of Lords and House of Commons
Who were the Privy council?
Elizabeth’s closest advisors
Members of the nobility who helped govern the country. They monitored parliament, Justices of the peace and oversaw law and order and the security of the country
What was the house of lords made up of?
Noblemen and Bishops
How was the composition of the House of Commons decided?
People were elected (though very few people could vote)
Who were Lord Liuetenants?
Noblemen, appointed by government, who governed English counties and raised the local militia
Who were Justices of the Peace?
Large landowners appointed by government, who kept law and order locally and heard court cases
What was the court?
Made up of noblemen who acted as the monarch’s advisers and friends. They helped display her wealth and power. (Members of the court could also be members of the privy council)
Social hierarchy of the countryside
Nobility (major landowners, often lords, dukes or earls)
Gentry (owned smaller estates)
Yeomen farmers (owned a small amount of land)
Tenant farmers (rented land from the yeomen farmers and gentry)
Landless and labouring poor (did not own or rent land, had to work or labour)
Homeless and vagrants (moved from place to place looking for work)
Social hierarchy of towns
Merchants (traders who were very wealthy)
Professionals (lawyers, doctors and clergymen)
Business owners (often high skilled crafsmen, such as silversmiths, glove makers, carpenters or tailors)
Craftsmen
Unemployed and Unskilled labourers (no regular work and could not provide for themselves and their families)
What percentage of the population of Elizabethan England lived in the countryside?
90%
What percentage of the population of Elizabethan England lived in towns ?
10%
Obedience and care in Elizabethan society
Wherever you were in Elizabethan society, you owed respect and obedience to those above you and had a duty to care to those below.
The problem of Marriage for Elizabeth
If Elizabeth married a Protestant, this would anger catholics
If she married a catholic this would anger protestants
Marriage could involve England in expensive wars
Marriage was needed for Elizabeth to have an heir
Elizabeth’s character and strengths
Confident and charismatic
Well educated
Resilient
Excellent grasp of politics
Protestant
Elizabeth: Confident and charismatic
This enabled her to win over her subjects and command support in parliament
Elizabeth: Resilient
She had spent time in the tower accused of treason and facing possible execution. She could cope with the pressures of being queen.
Elizabeth: Well educated
She spoke Latin, Greek, French and Italian
Elizabeth: Excellent grasp of politics
She understood the interests and ambitions of her subjects and was able to use her powers of patronage effectively.
Elizabeth: Protestant
The number of protestants in England was growing, making her position as queen more secure. She could claim divine right with growing conviction.
Elizabeth - Reinventing the role
Elizabeth was able to use her strengths to reinvent herself as a different type of monarch. She liked to demonstrate that, even though she was female, she was no ordinary woman. She therefore argued that she did not need to marry and could govern England on her own.
Elizabethan propaganda
Throughout her reign, Elizabeth was happy to portray herself as a strong, legitimate, popular monarch and a ‘Virgin Queen’ - married only to England and not to a prince or king. This is reflected in paintings such as the one of her coronation, which shows a confident but feminine monarch rightfully crowned queen.
What was patronage?
The monarch could use the granting of lands, jobs and titles to reward her supporters. People who received these positions could use them to become wealthy.
What was Elizabeth’s nickname?
‘The Virgin Queen’ because she remained unmarried
Financial weaknesses in 1558
The Crown was £300,000 in debt in debt and had an annual income of £286,667.
Mary Tudor had sold off Crown Lands to pay for wars with France , so the Crown’s income from rents was falling.
Over £100,00 of Crown debts was owed to foreign moneylenders (the antwerp exchange), which charged a high interest rate at 14%.
Financial weakness: Inflation
Since the 1540s, the Crown had debased (devalued) the coinage, by reducing its silver and Gold content, in order to make more money to fight wars against france. This resulted in inflation, as the value of currency fell.
What could Elizabeth have done to solve her financial problems in 1558?
Raise taxes to boost the crown’s income
Improve the quality of money by increasing the gold and silver content in the coinage
What did Elizabeth do to combat financial weaknesses
- She did not raise taxes but insteas hoarded the income and cut her household expenses by half
- Like her predecessors, she sold crown lands, raising £120000
(By 1574, the queen could claim that the crown was out of debt for the first time since 1558)
Effects of Elizabeth’s policies
In spite of Elizabeth’s careful management of Crown finances, there was limited reform. Parliamentary grants were raised locally, with many landowners acting as Lord Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace, pocketing some of the proceeds before the rest was sent to the Crown.
This meant that ordinary people faced a heavier financial burden while the wealthy benefitted.
Challenges from abroad facing Elizabeth in 1558
The French threat
The Auld Alliance
France ending its war with Spain
England losing calais to France
Cost of war
The French Threat
France was wealthier than England and had a bigger population. Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots,was married to the heir to the French throne. Mary had a strong claim to the English throne and English Catholics might rally to her if the French invaded.
Cost of War
War was an expensive business and the crown was in debt, England could not afford a war with france, scotland or spain, as this would be ruinously expensive and deepen the government’s debts.
France ending its war with Spain
French military resources were no longer stretched by war with Spain, making a war with England more likely. There was also the possibility that France and Spain, both Catholic countries, would unite against Protestant England. Spain also had troops in the Netherlands, not far from England.
The Auld Alliance
France’s alliance with Scotland threatened England. Mary of Guise (James V’s widow), who ruled Scotland on behalf of her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, kept French soldiers there, who could attack England. The relationship between France and Scotland was further strengthened by the marriage of Francis (the heir to the French throne) to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1558. Francis became King Francis Il of France in 1559.
England losing Calais to France
Under the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis England had lost Calais to France. This was England’s last remaining territory on the continent and there was pressure on Elizabeth to regain it. However, war with France would be expensive and dangerous.
How Elizabeth dealt with challenges from abroad
• She sought to avoid war with France by signing the Peace of Troyes (1564), which recognised once and for all the French claim to Calais.
• Elizabeth was able to deal with the threat posed by Scotland by placing Mary, Queen of Scots,
who fled Scotland in 1568, in custody in England.
• By imprisoning Mary and making peace with France, Elizabeth had only one significant threat by
1569: Spain.
