History - Elizabethan England c1568 - 1603 Flashcards
How did Elizabeth’s background make it difficult for her to be a Queen?
- Henry the VIII died in 1547 and her little brother Edward was made king and he was Protestant, however he died young and her sister Mary became queen and she was Catholic.
- This meant that nearly 300 protestants were burnt at the stake because Mary was trying to convert the country back to Catholicism.
- There was a rebellion in 1554 which Mary suspected that Elizabeth was involved in and she was arrested and charged for treason.
- Luckily there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Elizabeth was a part of the plot and 4 years later Mary died and Elizabeth became queen.
Who revolted against Henry VIII because of becoming the Head of the new Church of England?
- In 1536, a serious rebellion broke out in the North of England. Over 200 rebel leaders were executed.
What problems did Mary I leave for Elizabeth to have to deal with? (4)
- There were enormous depts and an unhappy country.
- She executed 90 rebels in 1554.
- There were 2 terrible harvests, prices rose sharply and thousands of people died of starvation and disease.
- Mary also joined and unsuccessful war with Spain against France.
What problems did Edward VI have which also caused problems later for Elizabeth? (5)
- Decoration such as wall paintings and stained glass windows, were removed from churches.
- A new prayer book, which used English rather than Latin was introduced.
- In 1549, catholics in Devon and Cornwall rebelled because of these changes; 2500 of them were executed for their role in the rebellion - angering people.
- Many people were living poverty and harvests were bad so prices rose. Many farmers lost their jobs when some landowners started enclosing land to keep sheep instead of growing crops.
- This causes a rebellion in Norfolk in 1549 which resulted in 3000 dead who were killed by soldiers sent by the government.
Patronage - What was the system of power in the Elizabethan era? And what roles did they play? (5)
- God
- Monarch - gives reward and jobs in national government to
- Nobles - Wealthiest landowners - they were expected to be advisors and often appointed as Lord Lieutenants who were to provide well trained soldiers.
- The Gentry - Knights, Lawyers and Merchants - Owned land but less wealthy than Nobles - Ran the local government as Justice of the Peace. About 40 in each county. Had to please the Nobles and collected taxes.
- Everyone else - yoemen - farners who owned their own land. - Tenant farmers etc - Worked for people above them and served as soldiers when needed. They were expected to be loyal but could cause rebellions.
What was the importance of patronage? (2)
- The monarch needed help controlling the country.
- However, they always had to ensure that they pleased the Queen if not they could lose their role.
What was the importance of the Government? (4)
- The royal court was the centre of government - settle arguments and ask for advice.
- Whenever the Queen went somewhere, the court moved with her - The queen would rarely stay in one place for more that 2 weeks. She would spend most of her time in Whitehall but other places like Windsor too.
- Power depended on keeping close to the Queen - Due to the system of Patronage, people wanted to keep good relationships with those above you. They would find it easier to attract loyal supporters form the gentry.
- The Queen used patronage to keep courtiers loyal - Her favourite courtiers were given accommodation, while others had to find a place to stay. However, she would share titles and positions around. She would allow some Catholics to come to court even though she was protestant.
What was Court life like? (2)
- Elizabeth was at the centre of the royal court - She would spend a lot of time in her privy chamber (private rooms). A small group of ladies in waiting would take care of her and they were expected to tell her what was happening in court.
- Elizabeth used ceremonies and entertainments to demonstrate her power - It was for fun but also designed to impress anyone who saw it. She would do dancing, hunting and feasts.
What was the Privy council? (2)
- Most powerful courtiers were members that would advise the queen and support her as much as possible, many of they were her closest advisers.
- The Secretary of State was the Queen’s main adviser and the leading Privy Counsellor.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Propaganda?
- Propaganda - Helped create a positive image of the Queen through written publications and pictures.
What was the role of the Privy Council in People Management?
- People management - The Lord Treasurer was responsible for finances and spending.
The Lord High Admiral commanded England’s Navy
The Lord Chamberlain ran the royal household and booked appointments for Elizabeth. He also controlled who could enter the Privy Chamber and meet the Queen.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Policy?
- Advised the queen on important issues such as religion, and foreign policy.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Protection?
- Protected the Queen, by using spies to uncover plots against her and helping her crush rebellions. They also organised England’s defence against foreign invasion.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Pathway to the Queen?
- The Secretary of State was most in contact with the Queen. All letters to the Queen passed through the Secretary of State first.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Problem Solving?
- The Secretary of State was also expected to deal with any day - to day problems that arose.
What was the role of the Privy Council in Pariament?
- Helped control what happened in parliament, decided what could be debated and made speeches to support or explain the Queen’s policies.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Delay? (2)
- She would make it clear who would make the big decisions.
- She refused to be rushed into making important decisions. - Reminded them of who was in control.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? A small team?
- Mary used to have 50 counsellors by Elizabeth limited the team to 19, which made it easier to control. Sometimes, she attended meetings of just 8 or 9 counsellors.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Written records?
- Elizabeth used detailed notes of discussions to question or catch them out.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Careful Selection? (3)
- Elizabeth chose her counsellors very carefully.
- She did not want to offend powerful nobles who could turn against her.
- For example, she did not appoint her closest friend Robert Dudley for 4 years because she thought that might make existing counsellors jealous.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Divide and rule?
- She deliberately chose counsellors with different viewpoints to let her listen to all sides and them make the final decision herself.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Rewards?
- If a counsellor did well she would give them a jobs that allowed them to become rich which encouraged counsellors to remain loyal.
How did Elizabeth control her Privy Counsellors? Punishments? (3)
- If a counsellor upset Elizabeth he would be quickly dismissed.
- Elizabeth would also display her anger, sometimes randomly to keep the counsellors on their toes.
- Only 2 counsellors rebelled against her - the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Essex who were both executed.
Who was Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley? (1520 - 89)
1. Background and Previous experience
2. Religion
3. Personality and relationship with other counsellors
4. How he served Elizabeth
- Member of the Gentry and was well educated, went to Cambridge Uni and a member of the Privy Council
- Was a Moderate Protestant
- Wanted to bring the country together and avoid war, Intelligent and hard working. Not a afraid to disagree with Elizabeth but very loyal.
- Elizabeth’s most trusted advisor, served her for 40 years.
Became Secretary of State in 1558 and in 1590 and was Lord Treasurer in 1572.
Who was Sir Christopher Hatton? (1540-91)
1. Background and Previous experience
2. Religion
3. Personality and relationship with other counsellors
4. How he served Elizabeth
- Member of Gentry, went to Oxford Uni and was a lawyer
- Moderate Protestant, and sympathised with Catholics.
- Intelligent, calm and kind
- Organised the Queen’s progresses.
Made Lord Chancellor in 1587
Captain of Queen’s bodyguard.
Who was Sir Francis Walsingham? (1532-90)
1. Background and Previous experience
2. Religion
3. Personality and relationship with other counsellors
4. How he served Elizabeth
- Member of the Gentry, Studying at Cambridge and was a well educate lawyer and was multilingual.
- A Puritan, wanted to remove decoration from Churches and make services simpler. And believed that Catholics were a threat to the country.
- A brilliant organiser, often disagreed with William Cecil. Once the Queen threw a slipper at his head for criticising her.
- Put in charge of secret service.
Helped uncover a Catholic plot against Elizabeth in 1571.
Took over William Cecil as Secretary of State in 1572.
In 1586, found evidence that Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary queen of Scots, was involved in a plot to murder her.
Who was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester? (1533-88)
1. Background and Previous experience
2. Religion
3. Personality and relationship with other counsellors
4. How he served Elizabeth
- Member of Nobility, Well educated, Childhood friend of Elizabeth, there were rumours that they were in love.
- A puritan
- Very ambitious, good organiser and disliked William Cecil
- Loyal adviser to Elizabeth and was made Earl of Leicester in 1564.
In 1588 he was in charge of the land forces during the Spanish Armada
How did Elizabeth influence her public image? (2)
- She would wear a white face mask to make her look young and to hide her smallpox scars
- She would also wear a wig by the 1850’s to cover up the fact that she had lost her hair.
How was publishing and play controlled? (3)
- There were only 60 printing presses in England at the time. This made it easy for the Privy Council to censor any books or pamphlets that they disproved of.
- The government briefly shut down London’s theatres in 1597 when a play seemed to criticise the Queen.
- Books that supported the Queen and made fun or enemies such as the King of Spain were encouraged.
What was the Royal progress? (2)
- She would go on regular tours around the country and visit the houses of Nobility or wealthy Gentry and were expected to have feasts and stay free of charge.
- She travelled with many of her counsellors.
What were the Portraits of Elizabeth like?(3)
- They were carefully controlled images.
- They showed positive images of the queen and spread positive messages
- Some were sent abroad and were meant to impress foreign rulers.
What messages did Elizabeth’s portraits put across? (6)
- That she was England’s rightful ruler - many Catholics didn’t believe that she was the rightful queen so she would have an orb and sceptre and symbols of monarchs power to show that she belonged.
- That she was powerful - she would be standing or a map of England with her hand on a globe.
- That she was wealthy - she would wear expensive dresses and jewellery.
- That she was young and healthy - Hid signs of aging as it was a sign of weakness.
- That she was a wise and successful ruler - shown with a serpent which symbolised wisdom and would be shown bringing sunshine representing hope.
- That she protected her people - some show symbols showing her as a mother, willing to sacrifice herself to protect them.
What plots was Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk a part of?
- In 1571, he got involved in the Ridolfi Plot. The plan was to land 6000 Spanish troops in England, where they would join English Catholics to remove Elizabeth from the throne. But the plot was uncovered and the Duke was executed in June 1572.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with the Catholic Church? Religion
- They believed that the Churches should be well decorated. They might rebel if Elizabeth made the Church more Protestant.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with heirs? Succession
- If Elizabeth did not have any children, Mary Queen of Scots had the strongest claim. But she was Catholic.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with the King of Spain? Political
- King Philip of Spain hoped to marry Elizabeth, but he was Catholic. If she refused and reintroduced Protestantism, he might attack. Spain was the most powerful country in Europe.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with debt? Economical
- Mary I had fought an expensive war against France, so Elizabeths started her reign with massive debts. And did not have enough money to pay for a full - time army.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with the Privy Council in terms of heirs? Succession
- Parliament and the Privy Council wanted Elizabeth to marry and produce and heir. People feared that if she died without an heir, it would lead to civil war.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with Parliament in terms of power? Political
- Parliament was growing more powerful and demanding more say in how the country should be run.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with how people saw her as a female ruler? Succession
- Some people feared that a young woman ruler would not have the strength of character to control the powerful male nobles.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with the Protestants? Religious
- They believed that the monarch should be in charge of the country’s Church and that there should be little decoration in Churches.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with Puritans? Religious
- They wanted very plain churches and simple services. There were lots of Puritans in parliament.
What was Elizabeth’s problems with trade? (Hint - Wool) Economic
- Country’s most important industry was making woollen cloth. This was sold abroad but by the early 1550’s the trade was collapsing. The government were earning less from taxes and thousands of spinners and weavers were unemployed as a result.
How did Elizabeth control the parliament? (3)
- She decided when the parliament met.
- She decided what parliament could discuss.
- She could dismiss parliament if it refused to do what she wanted but she was willing to compromise.
Elizabeth did face some opposition from parliament? What was Puritan opposition like? (4)
- They wanted MP’s to be able to discuss what they want in parliament.
- They wanted the organisation of the Church to be changed. They wanted less decoration and no bishops.
- They wanted her to marry a Protestant Prince to make sure that the heir was Protestant.
- John Stubbs wrote a pamphlet criticising her for considering a French Catholic and he was imprisoned and his right hand was chopped off.
What type of opposition did Elizabeth face about monopolies? (4)
- The monarch could grant a monopoly.
- Towards the end of her reign, many MP’s complained about her giving monopolies to members of her Privy Council or favourite courtiers.
- In 1601, she compromised and started to cancel some monopolies.
- However these are exceptions, for most of her reign, she was able to control parliament and gain taxes and changes to the law that she wanted.
What were the disadvantages of Elizabeth marrying? (3)
- She could lose her independence, her husband might try to control and rule the country himself.
- If she marries and English Noble, it could make other powerful men jealous and they could try and rebel against her. If she doesn’t marry they will stay loyal to her and some might try to impress her in order to marry her.
- Marrying a Catholic prince would add to her religious problems. Most people in England are protestant and do not want to be ruled by a foreign monarch and not by a Catholic.
There were 3 main suitors for Elizabeth to marry? King Philip II of Spain?
- Had been married to Mary I and was keen to regain hit title of King of England. She rejected him because of the unrest it caused when her sister married him and because of the the unsuccessful war against France with him.
There were 3 main suitors for Elizabeth to marry? Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester? (4)
- They were childhood friends and there were rumours that they were in love.
- However, he was married and in September 1560 Dudley’s wife was found dead, even though the death was seen as an accident, there was suspicion that Dudley or Elizabeth was involved in the death.
- This meant that he was out of the question, even though he waited for years to marry, he eventually gave up and married her cousin in 1578.
- Other nobles were also jealous of their relationship.
There were 3 main suitors for Elizabeth to marry? Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon? (3)
- He seemed to be a good contender because Elizabeth seemed to get a long well with him.
- She used to call him her “frog”.
- William Cecil was in favour for the idea but others such as Dudley and Walsingham were strongly against it because he was from a Catholic country.
What was the solution to the succession problem? (3)
- Mary Queen of Scots has the strongest claim to succeed, however she was Catholic.
- But after she was executed in 1587, her son who was Protestant was a great heir.
- William Cecil was in favour for the succession. In 1601, Robert Cecil helped prepared James VI to become King. He then became King of England and Scotland - first time both had the same monarch.
How did the Earl of Essex become an important figure at court? (2)
- 1584 - Age 17 he went to the court of the first time and added glamour and was entertaining. He became one of Elizabeth’s favourite courtiers.
- In 1596 - Age 29 He led a successful attack on the Spanish port of Cadiz. He destroyed many Spanish warships and returned to England a national hero.
What political problems did Elizabeth have at the end of her reign?
- She had gained the loyalty of many advisers, however by 1600 the most trusted and experienced advisors had died and younger men had replaced them and often fought amongst themselves. She no longer had as much control as before.
What military problems did Elizabeth have at the end of her reign? (2)
- England had been at war with Spain for a long time and large sums of money were spend helping fight against Spanish rule in the Netherlands.
- She also had to send an army to Ireland after a rebellion started there.
What economic problems did Elizabeth have at the end of her reign? (3)
- Between 1594 and 1597 there were 4 terrible harvests. Food prices rose and there were widespread hunger.
- Crime and poverty increased and there were riots.
- At the same time of fighting a war with Spain meant that taxes increased too. This was very unpopular.
Why did the Earl of Essex fall out with Elizabeth? (4)
- He wanted to be Elizabeth’s main advisor, however when he was fighting the Spanish, Robert Cecil was made Secretary of State.
- When he returned, he insulted the Queen and she punched him in the ear, he nearly drew his sword but stormed out the room. He was banned from court.
- He was then sent to Ireland to put down a rebellion but he went against the Queen’s wishes and made peace with the Irish Rebels. He was banned form court again and she took away him government jobs.
- She also refused to renew his monopoly for selling sweet wines.
Who took part in the Essex rebellion and when did it happen? (2)
- February 1601
- Essex gathered 300 supporters of unemployed soldiers and nobles who were disappointed. His plan was to get rid of Robert Cecil and to replace him and his friends.
What were the main events of the Essex Rebellion? (8)
- 8 February 1601, Essex refused to appear before the Privy Council so 4 Privy Counsellors were sent to his house where they were arrested and imprisoned.
- He then marched into the centre of London thinking people would join them but they didn’t.
- Essex was declared a traitor but promised his supporters that if they left him that they would be pardoned and some did surrender.
- Essex’ position was weakening so he thought he would use the hostages at home to influence the Queen.
- The Privy Council sent soldiers to bock Essex’s rout back home, there was some fighting but he escaped through the River Thames by boat.
- When he got home, he found that his hostages had been released, and the armed soldiers were surrounding his house.
- He surrendered and the rebellion was over in just 12 hours.
- He was then executed at the Tower of London on 25 February 1601.
How did Chimneys improve living standards? (2)
- Homes could now have proper roofs, not thatched roofs.
- The houses could also be divided into upstairs and downstairs rooms.
How did Glass Windows improve living standards? (2)
- Replaced smaller windows with wooden shutters.
- This meant homes could now be lighter and warmer.
How did Diet improve living standards? (2)
- Yoemen and their families usually ate well, although they could not afford the fine wines and huge feasts that the gentry enjoyed.
- However, for those at the bottom if the social hierarchy, life could be very different.
How did Poverty impact living standards? (2)
- Many craftspeople, labourers or servants were forced into poverty by bad harvests, rising food prices and unemployment.
- They struggled to pay their rent and buy food for their families.
How did Bad Housing impact living standards? (3)
- Labourers’ cottages were small and had no chimneys or glass windows.
- Smoke could only escape through the thatched roof.
- The small shuttered windows made it dark inside, and the floor was an earth floor.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Patronage?
- Some gentry were given an important job in the government. If she didn’t like someone she would sideline them.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Politics?
- The gentry dominated the House of Commons and helped to run local governments as Justices of the Peace. This gave them political power and influence.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Monasteries?
- Henry had closed the monasteries and they had owned around 1/4 of land in England, and now this land was bought by gentry and rented out to farmers.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Industry?
- Some could make more money from their land by rearing sheep to supply the cloth industry, or by mining coal or making iron.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Rising Prices?
- Food prices were bad for the poor but they helped farmers make bigger profits.
How did the gentry grow richer and more powerful in Elizabethan England? - Marriage?
- Marrying into a richer family was one way of acquiring wealth.