KT3: ELIZABETHAN SOCIETY IN THE AGE OF EXPLORATION (1558-1588)

Question 1

Why did education become more popular in the Elizabethan era?

Answer 1

-protestants argued that people ought to be able to study scriptures which meant that people had to be able to read
-growth of printing press meant books became less expensive, giving people more opportunities to read
-growth of trade required ordinary people to be able to read, write and understand maths so they could record transactions properly. this encouraged more people to become literate

Question 2

What were the different types of schools/education?

Answer 2

-grammar schools
-petty schools
-universities
-private tutors
-parish schools
-dame schools

Question 3

Grammar schools

Answer 3

-attended by sons of gentry, merchants, yeomen and craftsmen aged 10-14
-charged fees
-boys taught Bible, debating, latin, french, greek and philosophy (sons of yeomen and craftsmen taught reading, writing and maths)

Question 4

Petty schools

Answer 4

-attended by sons of gentry, merchants, yeomen and craftsmen up to age 10
-run privately from peoples homes

Question 5

Universities

Answer 5

-attended by boys aged 14+
-oxford and cambridge
-studied geometry, music, astronomy, philosophy, medicine, law, and divinity

Question 6

Private tutors

Answer 6

-delivered education privately to children of the nobility

Question 7

Parish schools

Answer 7

-attended by sons of yeomen and craftsmen
-set up by church and run by clergy
-taught basic literacy

Question 8

Dame schools

Answer 8

-attended by girls
-run by wealthy women in their homes
-taught reading, writing, arithmetic and sewing

Question 9

What changed in terms of education?

Answer 9

-children were now educated independently of the church
-scholarships allowed people from poorer backgrounds to receive an education
-literacy improved (by the end of the era 30% of men could read/write)

Question 10

What activities did members of the nobility enjoy?

Answer 10

-hunting
-fishing
-real tennis
-bowls
-fencing

Question 11

What activities did farmers, craftsmen and lower classes enjoy?

Answer 11

-football (very different from today - no limit on no. of players and often involved violence)
-wrestling

Question 12

What were common spectator sports in Elizabethan england?

Answer 12

-cockfighting (cockerels attacking each other using their beaks and metal spurs)
-bear-/bull-baiting (involved dogs attacking a chained up bear/bull and them fighting to the death)

Question 13

What was enjoyed by both upper classes and lower classes?

Answer 13

theatre

Question 14

How were both upper classes and lower classes able to enjoy theatre?

Answer 14

-different seats for different classes
-poorer audience members stood around the stage
-wealthier people sat under cover around the theatre’s walls

Question 15

What were the reasons that caused poverty to increase?

Answer 15

-population growth and rising prices
-sheep farming
-enclosure
-collapse of the cloth trade
-war

Question 16

How did population growth and rising prices cause poverty to increase?

Answer 16

-england’s population grew by 35%
-with more people to feed and bad harvests prices went up
-more people meant lower wages. people then struggled to pay for bread
-with more people, cost of rent went up as there was competition

Question 17

How did sheep farming cause poverty to increase?

Answer 17

-sheep farming caused unemployment to rise as less people were required for sheep farming

Question 18

How did enclosure cause poverty to increase?

Answer 18

-enclosure meant replacing large fields with smaller privately owned ones
-this led to small farms merging and tenant farmers being evicted
-although growing crops on enclosed land improved farming there was now less need for labourers to work on the land causing unemployment to rise again

Question 19

How did the collapse of the cloth trade cause poverty to increase?

Answer 19

-woollen cloth was england’s main export
-there was a decline in demand and this led to unemployment

Question 20

How did war cause poverty to increase?

Answer 20

-taxes were increased to compensate for the price of waging war

Question 21

Why did the government decide to take action against poverty?

Answer 21

-fears that the ‘social order’ might be threatened if the growing number of poor people ganged together and vagabonds and beggars might turn to crime
-fears that the poor might spread disease
-landowners giving more to the poor

Question 22

What were the 3 categories that the poor were split up into?

Answer 22

-helpless poor (those unable to support themselves including young orphans, the elderly, the sick, and disabled people)
-the deserving poor (people who wanted to work but weren’t able to find a job)
-undeserving poor (beggars, criminals, people who refused to work and vagabonds)

Question 23

What laws were put in place to help the helpless and deserving poor?

Answer 23

-1563 poor law - gave magistrates power to raise local funds for poor relief and introduced fines for people who refused to pay
-1572 poor law - gave local officials the power to to decide how much people should pay. by the end of the century there was a national system of taxation to pay for poor relief. taxes were used to provide hospitals and and housing for the sick, the elderly and disabled people and local authorities were expected to provide work for the deserving poor
-1576 poor law - poor people could be sent to prison if they refused to take work

Question 24

What were the laws put in place to punish the undeserving poor?

Answer 24

-1563 poor law - the undeserving poor could be publicly whipped
-1572 poor law - the undeserving poor were whipped and and had a hole punctured through their right ear. repeat offenders could be imprisoned or executed

Question 25

Why were the undeserving poor treated so harshly?

Answer 25

-they were seen as a serious threat to society
-many believed that poor criminals and vagabonds had encouraged the revolt of the northern earls in 1569

Question 26

Why did exploration increase?

Answer 26

-new technology (eg: improved maps and new navigation methods) allowed for longer journeys
-improvements in ship building (from the 1570s the english began to build larger and longer ships which were better suited for long ocean voyages because they were faster, more stable, easier to navigate and could carry more supplies)
-rivalry with spain encouraged exploration
-expanding trade routes and markets for products, especially the new world
-men such as francis drake sought adventure and to discover or explore new lands

Question 27

Who was the first english sailor to circumnavigate the globe and when?

Answer 27

-Drake
-1577-1580

Question 28

What were the impacts of drake’s circumnavigation of the globe?

Answer 28

-increased england’s reputation as a great sea-faring nation
-encouraged further exploration
-increased trade
-contributed to declining relations with Spain.

Question 29

Colonisation of virginia

Answer 29

-in 1585, raleigh sent 5 ships to virginia letd by sir richard grenville
-108 settlers tried to establish a permanent colony on roanoke whilse grenville went back to england for supplies
-when drake visited the colony in 1586, grenville still hadnt returned and the settlers were running low on supplies
-most of the settlers decided to return to england with drake although a small group of men were left t maintain the clony
-a 3rd expedition reached virginia in 1587 and found it deserted (the people who stayed behind were thought to have been killed by natives)
-around 100 settlers began to build a colony
-they were expecting supplies in 1588 but hte fleet got delayed by the armada and when the ships finally reached roanoke, thee settlers were gone

Question 30

Why did the attempt to colonise virginia fail?

Answer 30

-the voyage left England too late to be able to plant crops in Virginia as it wasn’t the right season to do this
-the Tiger which had the supplies onboard was destroyed meaning that the colonists had a lack of supplies
-raleigh had recruited a poor group of people with the wrong skills. the colonists lacked farmers but had many craftsmen who were not appropriately skilled to farm and produce crops so those who arrived in Virginia could not set up a settlement
-colonists who were chosen had no experience of establishing colonies
-conflict with native americans