Queen, government and religion 1558-69 Flashcards
(70 cards)
1
Q
ACCESSION
What did Elizabeth’s government look like? (5)
A
- The court
- The privy council
- Justices of the Peace
- Lord Lieutenants
- Parliament
2
Q
ACCESSION
What was the court in Elizabeth’s government?(3)
A
- Made up of noblemen who acted as the monarch’s advisers and friends
- Advised the monarch and helped display her wealth and power
- Members of the court could also be members of the Privy Council
3
Q
ACCESSION
What was the Privy Council in Elizabeth’s government?(3)
A
- Members of the nobility who helped govern the country
- Monitored parliament
- Monitored the Justices of the Peace and oversaw law and order and the security of the country
4
Q
ACCESSION
What were the Justices of the Peace in Elizabeth’s government?
A
- Large landowners
- Appointed by government
- Kept law and order locally and heard court cases
5
Q
ACCESSION
What was Parliament in Elizabeth’s government?
A
- Advised Elizabeth’s government
- Made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons
- Parliament passsed laws and approved taxes(needed because of Elizabeth’s debt)
6
Q
ACCESSION
What were Lord Lieutenants?
A
- Noblemen
- Appointed by government
- Who governed English counties
7
Q
ACCESSION
What was the social hierarchy of the countryside?(90%)(5)
A
- Nobility - major landowners
- Gentry - owned smaller estates
- Tenant farmes - rented land from the yeoman farmers and gentry
- Landless and labouring poor - had to work to provide from themselves and their families
- Homeless and vagrants - moved from place to place looking for work
8
Q
ACCESSION
What was the social hierarchy of towns?(5)
A
- Merchants - traders who were very wealthy
- Professionals - lawyers, doctors, clergymen
- Business owners - highly skilled craftsmen
- Craftsmen - skilled employees
- Unskilled labourers and the unemployed - no regular work and could not provide for themselves and their families
9
Q
ACCESSION
What was obedience and care in Elizabethan society?
A
- Owed respect and obedience to those above you and had a duty of care to those below
10
Q
ACCESSION
Why did many question the ability of Elizabeth to rule?
A
- Previous monarch Mary I had been a weak ruler
- Mary had run a large and ineffective Privy Council burned many protestants and left the crown in debt
11
Q
ACCESSION
What problems did Elizabeth face when she became queen?
A
- Elizabeth’s goverment needed money
- Elizabeth was young and lacked experience
- Needed the support of parliament
- Unmarried and no heir
- Gender
- Legitimacy
12
Q
ACCESSION
What was Elizabeth’s issue with her legitimacy?(3)
A
- Henry VIII had divorced Catherine of Aragon and broke from the Church or rome in 1534
- Pope didn’t recognise this divorce
- Henry excluded Elizabeth from the line of succession 1536 even though he reversed this decision before his death
13
Q
ACCESSION
Why was marriage an issue for Elizabeth?
A
- Marrying a Protestant - would anger catholics
- Marrying a catholic - would anger protestants
- Marriage could involve England in expensive wars, damaging royal finances and requiring taxation
- Elizabeth needed an heir - people were worried about Civil War as a result of the throne being vacant
14
Q
ACCESSION
What is Elizabeth’s character?
A
- Confident and charismatic - enabled her to win over her subjects
- Resilient - spent time in the Tower accused of treason
- Well educated - spoke Latin, Greek, French and Italian
- Understood politics - able to use her powers of patronage
- Protestant - number of Protestants in England was growing, making her position more secure
15
Q
ACCESSION
What was Elizabethan propaganda like?(2)
A
- Elizabeth was happy to portray herself as a strong, legitimate, popular monarch
- Virgin Queen - married only to England
16
Q
ACCESSION
What needed to be done to help England’s finances?
A
- Improve the quality of money
17
Q
ACCESSION
How much in debt was the Crown and what was its annual income?
A
- 300,000 pounds in debt
- 286,667 pounds in debt
18
Q
ACCESSION
What was the financial weaknesses in 1558?(4)
A
- Over 100,000 of Crown debts was owed to foreign moneylenders charging high interest rates
- Mary I sold off lands to pay for wars
- Elizabeth needed money to reward her supporters
- Inflation - coins were worth less
19
Q
ACCESSION
How would monarchs raise money?
A
- Rents and income from their own lands(Crown lands)
- Taxes from trade(customs duties)
- Special additional taxes
- Profits of justice
- Loans
20
Q
ACCESSION
What could Elizabeth do to solve her financial problems in 1558?
A
- Raise taxes to boost the Crown’s income
- Improve the quality of money by increasing the gold and silver content in the coinage
21
Q
ACCESSION
What was the effects of Elizabeth’s policies?
A
- Limited reform
- Ordinary people faced a heavier financial burden while the wealthy benefitted
22
Q
ACCESSION
What did Elizabeth do to fix the financial problems?
A
- She did not raise taxes but instead hoarded her income and cut her household expenses by half
- She sold Crown lands, raised 120,000 pounds
23
Q
ACCESSION
When was the Crown out of debt?
A
1574
24
Q
ACCESSION
When Elizabeth became queen in 1558 what countries challenged Elizabeth?
A
- France
- Scotland
- Spain
- Spanish Netherlands
25
# ACCESSION
What was the French threat?
- France was wealthier than England and had a bigger population
- MQs was married to the heir to the French throne
- Mary had a strong claim to the English throne and English Catholics
26
# ACCESSION
What was the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis?
- England lost Calais to France
- Pressure on Elizabeth to regain it
- War with France would be expensive and dangerous
27
# ACCESSION
What was the Auld Alliance?
- France's alliance with Scotland
- Mary of Guise had French soldiers who could attack England
- Marriage of MQs and Francis - heir to the French throne
28
# ACCESSION
What was the France and Spain threat?
- French military resources no longer stretched by war with Spain
- Makes a war with England more likely
- Possibility that France and Spain would unite against Protestant England
- Spain had troops in the Netherlands, not far from England
29
# ACCESSION
What was war being an expensive business as the issue?
- England could not afford a war with France, Scotland or Spain
- Expensive and deepen the goverment's and Crown debts
30
# ACCESSION
How did Elizabeth deal with the challenges from abroad?
- Signed Peace of Troyes (1564) which recognised once and for all the French claim to Calais
- Elizabeth was able to deal with threat posed by Scotland by placing Mary, Queen of Scots who fled Scotland in 1568
- Imprisoned Mary and made peace with France, only Spain as a threat in 1569
31
# ACCESSION
When was the Peace of Troyes?
1564
32
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
Why was religion important in Elizabethan England?
- Religious teaching and practices guided people’s morals and behaviour as well as their understanding of the world
- People believed that going to church, attending pilgrimages and confessing sins reduced time in purgatory where the soul was purged of sin using 'spiritual fire' before reaching heaven
33
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
When was the English Reformation?
1532
34
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the religious divisions in England and Europe?
- Protestants in Northern Europe(Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany) and mostly south-east England(London, Kent, East Anglia)
- Protestants became Puritans - people who wanted to purify the Christian religion by getting rid of anything not in the Bible
- North of England remained largely Catholic who supported Mary, Queen of Scots
35
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
Why was the North of England more Catholic?
- It was further away from the monarch in London
- Protestantism had not reached the more isolated communities in the North
36
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGON
Why was the South-East of England more Protestant?
- Closest to the monarch's influence in London
- Established links to Protestant states like the Netherlands and Germany
- Persecuted Protestants who fled from Europe usually settled in the south of England
37
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was Elizabeth's religious settlement 1559?
- It aimed to find a ‘middle way’ between Catholicism and Protestantism. She wanted to create a Protestant Church that the majority of Catholics could accept. She established a Church that looked Catholic but conducted Protestant services.
38
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was the Act of Supremacy?
- Elizabeth named herself Supreme Governor of the Church of England
- All government officials and clergy had to take an oath
accepting Elizabeth's authority as Supreme Governor
- Created an Ecclesiastical High Commission which ensured that churches were following Elizabeth's Religious Settlement
39
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was the Act of Uniformity?
- Ensured all churches looked the same
- Churches could have decorations and congregation could sing hymns
- Priests had to wear special vestments - puritan clergy did not believe in this
- Everyone had to attend church on Sundays - many higher class catholics were fined one shilling for every absence
40
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the Royal Injunctions?
- Requirement for clergy to teach that the Queen was in charge of the Church
- Priests needed a license to preach
- Privy Council received information about anyone who refused to attend church
41
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the three causes of Elizabeth's religious settlement?
- The English Reformation
- Mary I's punishment of Protestants
- Religious differences across England
42
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the aims of Elizabeth's religious settlement?
- Wording of new Prayer Book could be understood to mean different things
- Communion Sacrament - body and blood by Catholics, Protestants as act of rememberance
- Protestants would have approved of the ban of pilgrimages to fake miracles, Catholics would have approved of possibility of real miracles
43
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the consequences of the religious settlement?
- Elizabeth became supreme governor
- Churches looked catholic
- The Bible and church services were in english
- Increased government control
44
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was the role of the Church of England?
- Church courts - moral matters like marriage, sexual offences, wills and inheritance
- Gave guidance - poor went to the church for support, advice
- Reinforced the monarch's power - religious settlement, church's support increased the legitimacy of the monarch
45
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was the role of parish clergy in village life?
- Major figure in the village community and conducted church services(baptisms, weddings, funerals)
- Spiritual and practical advice and guidance - like during the poor harvest
- Funded by taxes or tithes, gentry funded some parishes while others were independent of local landowners
46
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What was the role of parish clergy in town life?
- Parish churches in towns contained a much wider collection of people
- Role of clergy varied within towns, in London some were very wealthy while some were relatively poor
- Because of overcrowding in towns, parish clergy had a wider range of issues to deal with (e.g poverty vagrancy and diseases like smallpox and plague)
47
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
What were the reactions of the settlement from the clergy and the people?
- Clergy: 8000 out of 10000 clergy agreed to take the oath to follow it, less acceptance from bishops so she appointed 27 new ones to help her position as queen be more secure
- People: wording of the prayer book meant both P+Cs could interpret it based on their beliefs, North was slower to accept it - loads of recusants paying the one shilling fine to avoid attending church, Elizabeth feared rebellion if she aggressively imposed the settlement, let them go at their own pace
48
# SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION
How did the Church of England enforce the settlement?
- Prosecuted people who refused to follow
- Conducted visitations to ensure - clergy had taken oath, church services followed terms
- First visitation resulted in 400 clergy losing their jobs
-
49
# CHALLENGE TO SETTLEMENT
Who were the Puritans?
- Radical Protestants who wanted to purify the Christian religion by getting rid of anything not in the Bible
- Develop their own Church not controlled by the queen
- Priests would not wear vestments
- Banning sinful activities like gambling and cock fihgting
- Simpler style of worship
50
# CHALLENGE TO THE SETTLEMENT
What was the nature of the Puritan challenge?
- Crucifixes were set in place to not upset her Catholic subjects - Puritans opposed this
- Vestments wanted clergy to wear special vestments as described in Royal Injunctions, resulted in the resignation of 37 Puritan priests who refuesd to attend church and wear the new vestments
- Opposed to bishops
51
# CHALLENGE TO THE SETTLEMENT
What was the Counter Reformation and when did it start?
- 1517
- Catholic Church's attempt to reverse the Protestant Reformation in Europe and stop its spread
- 1566 Pope issued an instruction to English Catholics to not attend Church of England services
52
# CHALLENGE TO SETTLEMENT
What was the nature of Catholic threat at home?
- Catholic hostility towards Protestants
- Pope instructs English Catholics not to attend Church of England services
- Recusants - those who practiced the Catholic religion in secret, one third of the English nobility
- Revolt of the Northern Earls 1569-70
53
# CHALLENGE TO SETTLEMENT
What was the extent of the Catholic threat?
- Catholic nobility resented their loss of influence under Elizabeth + disliked growing influence of Sir William Cecil and Robert Dudley
- Nobility in the north were very influential and always enjoyed independence - well placed for a rebellion against Elizabeth
- Pope's instruction
54
# CHALLENGE TO SETTLEMENT
What was the Catholic challenge in France?
- 1562 - Religious war in France
- Elizabeth backed French Propestants in hopes to take back Calais in return
- Elizabeth could not afford to upset both France and Spain as this would increase threats to her throne
55
# CHALLENGE TO SETTLEMENT
What was the threat of the papacy?
- Counter Reformation - Pope was prepared to end Protestant rule in England
- Disapproved of the steps that Elizabeth had taken to supress Catholicism after the revolt
- Pope exocommunicated Elizabeht in 1570 - encouraged Catholic powers like France and Spain to attack England
56
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why did Mary have a claim to the throne?
- Descended from Margaret Tudor - Henry VIII's sister
- Catholic and legitimate claim to the throne
- Married to the French king, Francis II
- Inherited the Scottish crown
57
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why was Mary important?
- Catholic - meant that Catholics(including nobility) would be prepared to support her claim to the throne
- No concerns about her legitimacy - Elizabeth's legitimacy was questioned as her parents marriage was seen as invalid by Catholics
- Mary would always be at the centre of Catholic plots and conspiracies against Elizabeth - involved English plotters and foreign power
58
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
What happened when Mary left Scotland?
- Death of Francis II in 1560 caused Mary to come back to Scotland
- Married Henry Stuart producing an heir - James Stuart, then he was murdered
- Married Earl of Bothwell - Scots assumed Mary murdered Henry Stuart and in 1568 they rebelled against her, imprisoned her and forced her to abdicate
- Mary escaped and raised and army which was defeated
- Mary fled to England seeking her cousin Elizabeth's help against the Scottish rebels
59
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why was Mary imprisoned in England in 1568?
- Mary was held in England under guard while Elizabeth decided what to do with her
- Scottish rebels demanded that Mary be handed over and tried for the murder of Henry Stuart
60
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why was Mary's arrival to England an issue to Elizabeth in 1568?
- By remaining in England she could encourage rebellion as many members of Catholic nobility believed they could overthrow Elizabeth and place Mary on the throne
- But if action was taken against Mary as an annointed monarch, it would reduce Elizabeth's status, power and authority
61
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why would helping Mary regain her throne be an issue?
- This would anger the Scottish nobility and leave Elizabeth facing a Catholic monarch on her nothern border
- Auld Alliance with France could then be revived to threaten her
62
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why would handing Mary over to the Scottish lords be an issue?
- She was the widow of French King, Francis II
- Mary's imprisonment and execution could provoke France, driving them into alliance with Spain, leading both countries into war with England
63
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why would allowing Mary to go abroad be an issue?
- Could see her return to France
- Could provoke a French plot that aimed to remove Elizabeth from the English throne and replace her with Mary
64
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why would keeping Mary in England be an issue?
- Best option for Elizabeth
- It carried the risk that Catholic plotters might try to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with Mary
65
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
What was the Casket Letters Affair?
- Meeting set up at York to hear the case against Mary
- Scottish lords brought letters written by Mary and Earl of Bothwell showing she plotted to murder Henry Stuart
- Mary said she was an anointed monarch and would not offer a plea unless Elizabeth guaranteed a verdict of innocence
- Conference did not reach conclusions so Mary remained captive in England
66
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
What did Elizabeth ensure by not handing over Mary?
- The Scottish nobility would not imprison or execute Mary
- the French would be satisfied
- her subjects did not punish an anointed monarch
67
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why did Elizabeth not make Mary her heir?
- Would upset English Protestants - including her Privy Council
- Leading her to have few supporters left
- The concept of a Catholic heir in the vent of Elizabeth's death would result in civil war
68
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Why did Elizabeth and Mary's relationship decline between 1559-69?
- Treaty of Edinburgh 1560
- Elizabeth sent money and troops to support the Scottish Protestant lords 1559
- Mary's involvement in Revolt 1569
69
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
What was the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560?
- Treaty between England, France and Scotland
- French and English troops ordered to leave Scotland
- Ended the alliance between Scotland and France
- Included a provision that Mary would renounce her claim to the English throne but she never agreed to this
70
# MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
What was the rebellion against Mary of Guise in 1559?
- Scottish Protestant lords rebelled against Mary of Guise who was ruling Scotland on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots
- Elizabeth secretly sent money and troops to the rebels because there was a threat of France invading England
