part 1: difficulties of a female ruler Flashcards
(29 cards)
1
Q
why was marriage important?
A
- love
- pressure from parliament
- increase her power and influence
- produce an heir
- join to families together
- money
- political deals
2
Q
disadvantages of marriage
A
- if she married an english noble, it creates jealousy, others might rebel against her
- she would lose her independence, people that believed women were weak would welcome a man to the throne
- religious problems, if she married a catholic the protestants might rebel
3
Q
What would be the problem with marrying a foreigner?
A
- it would give another country too much influence over England
- for example, Mary I married Phillip of Spain, which caused England to become involved in an expensive war with France
4
Q
What would be the problem with marrying a member of the British nobility?
A
other members would get too jealous, anger and resentment
5
Q
What would be the problem with marrying a Catholic?
A
growing anti-Catholicism after the settlement would cause them to be very unpopular, could undermine support for elizabeth
6
Q
why did parliament want elizabeth to marry?
A
- to produce an heir
- questioned a woman’s ability to rule alone
- wanted to use her marriage to form a good alliance
7
Q
where did the pressure come from to marry?
A
- parliament and the privy council
- repeatedly asked her to marry/name an heir but she refused
- refused to even discuss the matter in 1563
8
Q
describe robert dudley as a suitor
A
- protestant
- one of elizabeth’s favourites
- made earl of leicester by elizabeth, high status
- made money through trade
- given a lot of land and country estates from elizabeth
- known elizabeth since childhood
- on privy council and had power and influence in government
- previous wife met her death in suspicious circumstances
- marriage would seem scandalous because his ex wife’s death seemed purposeful
9
Q
describe robert devereux as a suitor
A
- protestant
- wealthy and owned lots of estates
- wealthy when elizabeth granted him a monopoly as the only person allowed to import sweet wine
- made earl of essex by elizabeth, high status
- fought in wars for elizabeth
- on privy council
- 33 years younger than elizabeth
- poor when young
- reckless, immature, ambiguous, arrogant
- robert dudley’s stepson
10
Q
describe duke of anjou as a suitor
A
- catholic
- showed sympathy to protestants
- brother of a french king
- family were wealthy and powerful
- could create a strong alliance between france and england against spain
- however french were unpopular due to mass murder of protestants
- estates in france
- time marriage was considered, elizabeth was 46 so too old for children therefore england could fall under french control when she died if they married
11
Q
describe philip II as a suitor
A
- king of spain
- catholic
- one of most powerful men in the world
- catholic spain was very rich
- marriage would create an alliance between england and spain
- same rank as spain
- very wealthy
- owned new countries
- large army
- threat to england
- no marriage could cause a war, it did and lead to spanish armada
12
Q
why did elizabeth not get married?
A
- her father’s marriages worked out badly so had few good examples to go by
- she would lose her independence
- most suitors were catholic
- marrying a foreign prince could lead to england falling in their control
- may have feared childbirth after witnessing the deaths of motherly figures in her life as they died in childbirth
13
Q
what was the importance of elizabeth never marrying?
A
- used her single status to her advantage: propaganda portrayed her as ‘gloriana-the virgin queen’ who was married to her people and country, she put the stability and security of england before her personal happiness
- she wouldn’t marry anyone who would jeopardise england’s position so showed, wanted to remain independent of any foreign influence
- allowed her to maintain control over england
14
Q
describe the problem of being female
A
- seen as weak
- expected elizabeth to be a figurehead or get a husband to make decisions
- expected to marry
15
Q
advantages of marriage
A
- opportunity to create an alliance with a foreign country
- produce an heir to continue tudor line
16
Q
how did elizabeths parliament work?
A
- she only attended on important occasions
- roughly 450 MPs including merchants, gentry, lawyers
- elizabeth decided when parliament met
- big changes to law and tax needed approval of parliament
- elizabeth decided what parliament could discuss
- passed 434 rules during her reign
17
Q
role of parliament
A
- only called 13 times in 45 year reign for an average of 3 weeks per year
- only 10% MPs spoke in debates
- mostly met to discuss taxes
- e.g 1566 taxes agreed to pay or an army sent to france
- 1581 taxes approved to pay for an army sent to ireland
18
Q
how did parliament oppose elizabeth?
A
- became more influential and assertive throughout reign
- started speaking out against her in debates about marriage and succession, huge pressure to marry
- some puritan MPs disagreed with her middle-way and threatened not to grant her taxes, elizabeth said religion was a matter for the state and not for parliament
- puritan MP peter wentworth complained MPs weren’t free to discuss what they liked so elizabeth sent him to the tower of london for a month
- MPs felt monopolies were unfair and were being abused as they gave one person the sole right to trade a good, elizabeth began to cancel some monopolies towards the end of her reign
19
Q
how successfully did elizabeth control parliament?
A
- attend in person to charm members
- able to use veto and block laws
- imprisoned awkward MPs
- could get rid of a difficult parliament
- privy council members in both house of lords and commons
- many MPs owed positions to patronage so reluctant to oppose her too much
20
Q
succession crisis
A
- nearly died of smallpox in 1562
- lady mary grey and mary queen of scots both had claims to throne
- MQoS stuart claim through henry viii’s sister margaret, catholic
- LMG, suffolk claim through elizabeth’s sister mary
- towards end resolved itself as james VI obvious pick
- protestant, claim recognised by william cecil
- she refused to name a successor but was widely accepted it would be him
21
Q
problems towards end of reign
A
- ageing monarch: becoming less popular, sense that england needed new ideas and a new monarch
- economic problems: cost of defeating armada caused high taxes and inflation, terrible harvests between 1594 and 1597, food prices rose and widespread hunger, poverty and crime increased
- military problems: been at war with spain for many years, spent lots of money, had to send an army to ireland to deal with catholic rebellions
- political problems: key ministers had died and now younger and more ambitious ministers craved power
22
Q
robert devereux background
A
- stepson of her favourite robert dudley who was a respected member of royal court
- young, eloquent, good-looking, popular, favourite with elizabeth
- ambitious, arrogant, short-tempered
- disrespectful to elizabeth, hated cecil family, rivalry with robert cecil
23
Q
robert devereaux favouritism
A
- appointed to privy council in 1593 after elizabeth became infatuated with him
- queen gave him a monopoly of sweet wine, made a fortune
- won military success against spanish in 1596 so gained further admiration
24
Q
what happened during and after he returned from military success in spain?
A
- lead successful attack on spanish port of cadiz, destroyed warships
- whilst gone elizabeth made robert cecil her secretary of state
- returned as a hero and power went to his head
- argument with queen during a privy council meeting
- he turned his back on her and she retaliated by slapping him around the head
- he drew his sword but was stopped by other councillors
- elizabeth put him under house arrest but took no further action despite him not apologising
25
what happened in january 1599?
- elizabeth made essex lord lieutenant of ireland
- sent to crush irish rebellion but wasn't happy at first as he feared cecil would become more powerful while away
- instead of crushing, he made peace with the rebel leader and even knighted some of his army leaders which elizabeth had forbidden him to do
- experienced a rapid fall from grace on return
- banned from court
- sweet wine monopoly not renewed
- began to built up large debts
26
describe the essex rebellion 7th february
- 7th february 1601
- gathered 300 supporters
- plan to seize queen and remove robert cecil from court
- rumours of plan spread through london
- on 7th february 1601 his supporters put on a play of Richard II at the globe in which the king is overthrown
- elizabeth furious and summoned essex to court
27
describe essex rebellion 8th february
- 8th february 1601
- essex refused to appear in front of privy council
- 4 councillors sent to his home to arrest him but he took them hostage
- he marched into london with supporters
- cecil labelled him a tratitor and many rebels surrendered
- position weakened so returned home but soldiers blocked route, he escaped by river thames
- found hostages had been released at his house
28
consequences of essex rebellion
- essex put on trial for treason two weeks later
- found guilty
- identified members of his family in rebellion so elizabeth agreed to have a private execution in return
- executed at tower of london on 25th february 1601
- ending of rebellion showed elizabeth still had control but was weakened
29
causes of essex rebellion
- rivalry with cecil
- his ambition and power
- ireland
