Key Topic 2 - Challenges to Elizabeth at home and abroad

Question 1

When was the revolt of the northern earls?

Answer 1

1569

Question 2

2 reasons why the northern earls rebelled

Answer 2

Earls lost influence at court under Elizabeth

Earls wanted England Catholic; they resented the appointment of James Pikington, protestant, as Bishop of Durham in 1561

Question 3

2 reasons why revolt of northern earls failed

Answer 3

Spanish support was never delivered

Many landowners did not want to risk losing wealth gained by Henry VIII’s dismissing of monastries by backing a failure

Question 4

2 features of Ridolfi Plot and its date

Answer 4

1571
Roberto Ridolfi plotted to murder Liz, start a Spanish invasion and put Mary on the throne
Phillip instructed Duke of Alba to prepare 10,000 troops to support

Question 5

Why did Ridolfi Plot fail?

Answer 5

Sir William Cecil discovered plot and proved Norfolk’s guilt by autumn 1571

Question 6

2 significances of Ridolfi plot

Answer 6

Reinforced Spanish threat

Proved Mary’s guilt

Question 7

2 features of Throckmorton Plot and date

Answer 7

1583
French Duke of Guise, Mary’s cousin, plotted to invade and overthrow Liz, free Mary and make England catholic. Francis Throckmorton would pass letters between Mary and plotters
However, Sir Francis Walsingham’s spies found papers at Throckmorton’s house in November 1583

Question 8

What happened to Francis Throckmorton?

Answer 8

Arrested and tortured in November 1583. He confessed and was killed in May 1584

Question 9

2 significances of Throckmorton plot

Answer 9

11,000 Catholics were imprisoned/under surveillance

1585 Act of Parliament made aiding Catholic priests punishable by death

Question 10

2 points of Babington plot and date

Answer 10

1586
Anthony Babington wrote to Mary in July 1586, proposing that French Duke of Guise would invade and kill Liz and put Mary on the throne
Walsingham read these letters, and plotters were hanged, drawn and quatered

Question 11

2 significances of Babington plot

Answer 11

October 1586, Mary was sentenced to death. She was beheaded in February 1587
In 1586, 31 priests were executed

Question 12

2 features of Walsingham’s spy network

Answer 12

Used agent provocateurs to encourage plotters to justify their arrest
Used ciphers (codes) for letters. He could also decipher letters of plotters, with help of Thomas Phelippes

Question 13

2 reasons why Mary was executed

Answer 13

Involved in plots

The pope excommunicated Liz in 1570, making Mary an alternative Catholic monarch (Catholics saw her as legitimate)

Question 14

2 points of English aid to Dutch ‘sea beggars’

Answer 14

Support in fighting the Spanish, led by John Casimir, a foreign mercenary
English privateers encouraged to attack Spanish shipping

Question 15

2 points of Spanish Fury and the Pacification of Ghent

Answer 15

Lack of funds for Spanish soldiers meant troops looted Antwerp
After this, 17 Dutch divisions, catholic and Protestant, united against the Spanish, drawn in a document called the Pacification of Ghent

Question 16

When was Treaty of Joinville signed?

Answer 16

1584

Question 17

2 points of Drake’s privateering against Spain

Answer 17

In 1572, Drake captured £40,000 of Spanish gold in one raid

1577-80, saw Drake capture £400,000 of Spanish gold and silver

Question 18

2 points of Treaty of Nonsuch

Answer 18

1585, with Dutch rebels

England would pay for an army on 7,400 men, led by Robert Dudley

Question 19

2 reasons why 1585-88 campaign in Netherlands was unsuccessful

Answer 19

Some of Dudley’s officers, William Stanley and Robert York, defected to Spain, damaging relation with Dutch
Dudley failed to stop Spanish from capturing a deep-water port in Ostend

Question 20

2 points of Drake’s attack on Cadiz (Singeing of the King’s beard)

Answer 20

March 1587, Liz ordered Drake to attack Spanish navy

Between, 19 and 22 April, he attacked Cadiz, destroying 30 ships and many supplies, delaying the Armada a year

Question 21

2 points of Phillips’s strategy in the armada

Answer 21

Used 130 and 2431 guns across English channel to Netherlands

From there, ships would join Duke of Parma and move 27,000 troops to Kent

Question 22

Timeline of the Spanish Armada, 1588

Answer 22

29 July - Armada spotted in English Channel
31 July - Battle of Plymouth. 2 spanish ships caught
3-4 August - Battle of Isle of Wight. Spanish outgunned by English and forced further up the Channel
8 August - Battle of Gravelines. Drake’s fireships cause Spanish to scatter and never link with the Duke of Parma

Question 23

3 reasons for English victory in Armada

Answer 23

Drake’s fireships cause captains to panic, cutting their anchors so their ships drifted in North sea
Spanish fleet at sea for 10 weeks, food had rotted
English canons mounted on smaller gun carriages than on Spanish ships, allowing faster reload

Question 24

2 consequences of English armada victory

Answer 24

More protestants as victory suggested God was on Liz’s side

Boosted english navy, encouraging exploration