The impact of economic.social and religious developments in the early years of E's rule

Question 1

What was the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 clearly?

Answer 1

Protestant

Question 2

By December 1559 what was the situation with Marian bishops?

Answer 2

All but one refused to consecrate the new Archbishop of Canterbury (Matthew Parker - a Cambridge University Don of moderate views, trusted by E as had been chaplain to her mother) and therefore refused to continue to hold office

Question 3

What happened to the Marian bishops as a result?

Answer 3

Their positions were filled by Protestants exiled under Mary, such as Edmund Grindal, who became Bishop of London in 1560 , their appointments were part of a conscience strategy to reshape the hierarchy of the church of England along more evangelical lines

Question 4

In what ways was Elizabeth more conservative than her strongly Protestant supporters?

Answer 4

She disapproved of clergy marriage, distrusted preaching and favoured the musical culture of the cathedrals and university colleges
It is clear the settlement emphasised the Erastian nature of the Church of England (advocating the doctrine of state supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs)

Question 5

How did the queen view the settlement v how others like Dudley and Cecil viewed it?

Answer 5

The queen viewed it as an act of state, defining the relationship between Crown and Church as it established the Church’s doctrinal position conclusively but not wanting to ‘make windows into men’s souls’
Others believed the settlement was the starting point for spiritual renewal which would lead to the establishment of a true church in England and which saw the English as God’s elect nation - this was the view of key advisers like Cecil and Robert Dudley (from this view puritanism would emerge)

Question 6

What was a Puritan church?

Answer 6

A radical Protestant Church, following Calvinist ideas and totally rejecting Catholic teaching

Question 7

Despite the Elizabethan settlement reforming doctrine what did it not go far enough to do?

Answer 7

Please leading protestants in its reforms on the remaining features of Catholic practice within the Church and it’s structures, disciplinary procedures, services and clerical dress
Their vison of reform was not shared by the Queen - he Church in England was becoming Calvinist in doctrine but only ‘half reformed’ in its structures

Question 8

What was the economic situation like at the time of E’s accession?

Answer 8

A combination of bad harvests, high mortality rates, high taxation and for many a significant cut in real wages meant there was considerable fear about social stability

Question 9

What did the high level of mortality do?

Answer 9

Reduced the supply of labour but increased the bargaining power of survivors

Question 10

What happened in E’s first parliament and what did this mean?

Answer 10

Various pieces of legislation were proposed to deal with a range of problems but none were passed into law
Meaning central government was left with two rather ineffective mechanisms for dealing with the situation, 1) instructions issued to JPs and other officials and royal proclamations (issuing royal proclamations was effectively an admission of government impotence)

Question 11

What did various local authorities try to do and what was the problem with their understanding?

Answer 11

Tried to deal with economic and social issues - although we now know that real wages were falling, most thought that wages were too high

Question 12

What did the Council of the North try to do about wages and other counties?

Answer 12

Tried to get the corporations of York and Hull to enforce a schedule of wage rates which had applied in 1514, and 113 labourers were charged with unlawfully high wages
Counties such as Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Worcestershire tried to establish appropriate wage rates for various trades

Question 13

What was the Statue of Artificers (1563) and what rules did it establish?

Answer 13

It was a national attempt to try to sort out this problem
Rules established: compulsory labour (especially at harvest time), the setting of maximum wage rates by JPs in every county, a prohibition on anyone following a craft unless they had served a 7-year apprenticeship, a minimum period of one year for the hire of workmen during which they could not leave their masters or be dismissed without good cause

Question 14

What did the government lack when trying to solve initial problems?

Answer 14

Powers of enforcement - there was no army of bureaucrats to traverse the country investigating wage rates in every district - it was even difficult for JPs to manage within their own counties

Question 15

What problems remained widespread in late-Tudor England?

Answer 15

Poverty and vagabondage (people who wander from pace to place without a home or job)

Question 16

What were some of the causes of poverty?

Answer 16

Partly due to increase in population, real wages for the labouring poor in Elizabethan England were lower than they had been earlier in the century, with wage rates consistently falling behind rises in prices, harvest failures created food shortages (particularly mid-50’s and mid 90’s), old and infirm suffered particularly badly

Question 17

What had continued despite religious changes but what the issue?

Answer 17

Offerings of private benefactors (who traditionally left money for the establishment of alms-houses for the poor) but this was no longer enough
Cecil was concerned that the large numbers of homeless and unemployed could threaten law and order

Question 18

What is the difference between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor?

Answer 18

The deserving were deemed entitled to receive some form of limited assistance to alleviate their condition whereas the underserving were entitled to be punished
The deserving included the old, widows and those whose disabilities prevented them from securing employment

Question 19

What had the reformation destroyed in terms of relief?

Answer 19

Most of the institutions providing poor relief - as the Church had previously held the man responsibility for providing poor relief - alternative forms of relief were now necessary

Question 20

What attempts did parliament make to deal with the poor problem?

Answer 20

Acts had been passed in 1552 and 1555 and the Elizabethan regime continued this process
A further ineffective act was passed in 1563 but its impact was limited
National legislation continued to lag behind local provision which had been set up in a number of boroughs (most notably Norwich and Ipswich)
Not until the 1570’s that Parliament began to seriously understand the problem

Question 21

What were the government more successful in, in terms of economy?

Answer 21

Restoring confidence in the currency - both Mary and Northumberland had sought to re-stabilise the currency but it was E who was able to do so

Question 22

What scheme was announced early in the reign to re-stabilise the currency and what were the effects?

Answer 22

Scheme announced for the withdrawal of debased coins and their replacement by soundly minted coins
While some individuals suffered as a result of the scheme, it did ensure that only sound coins were in circulation and the government did not resort to debasement for the rest of the century
Prices continued to rise but the government could no longer be held responsible

Question 23

What did many returning Protestant exiles initially see E as and what was the issue with this?

Answer 23

As their ‘ English Deborah’ - the old Testament heroin who had protected the Israelites from their Canaanite enemies so by analogy E would protect the godly from what they regarded as the evils and superstitions of Catholicism
E was a reluctant ‘Deborah’ and many of the religious problems of her reign were to stem from E’s unwillingness to fulfil the role given to he r by her more religiously enthusiastic councillors

Question 24

What was the fundamental paradox of Elizabeth’s reign? (religion)

Answer 24

Her most enthusiastic supporters often demonstrated a Protestant zeal which ensured their loyalty to the queen but which was wholly at variance with E’s own sceptical and sometimes conservative approach to religious matters

Question 25

What was the character of the settlement defined by over the next four years?

Answer 25

Two developments - the 1562 publication of ‘an apology of the church of England’ by John Jewel and the publication in 1563 of the Thirty-Nine-Articles of Religion

Question 26

What was the 1562 publication of ‘an apology of the church of England’ by John Jewel

Answer 26

Jewel (bishop of Salisbury) had been in exile in Mary’s reign, argued that the Church of England was returning to the true position abandoned many centuries earlier by the Church of Rome so there was an essential continuity between the early Church and the beliefs of the reformers

Question 27

What was the thirty-Nine-Articles of Religion of 1563?

Answer 27

The articles sought to define the difference between the Church of England and the Catholic Church
They were broadly supportive of reformed doctrine (especially that which was emerging out of Switzerland) , but they attempted to adopt a broad and comprehensive approach to essential beliefs

Question 28

What has the term ‘mid-Tudor crisis’ been used to explain and what assumption does it rests on?

Answer 28

The significance of the reigns of Edward and Mary as well as in some accounts the las years of Henry VIII and the first few years of the reign of Elizabeth
Rests on the assumption that the reign of Edward and Mary pale into insignificance when compared with the solid achievements of the reigns of Henry VIII and later years of Elizabeth

Question 29

How are the mid-Tudor years often viewed?

Answer 29

As unproductive, uncreative and strife-ridden, inefficiency in government , economic and social distress and failures in FP also emphasised - popularity of this idea likely a reflection of the importance of Henry VIII and Elizabeth as monarchs

Question 30

How has the view of the mid-Tudor years been challenged?

Answer 30

Some have stressed the positive features of 1547-1558 and that the less desirable features e.g. rebellion that challenged the crowns religious policies and social dislocation were just as apparent in the mid 1530’s than in 1549