GCSE History Elizabethan England (). For AQA students only. This helped me achieve a grade 9 at GCSE History during the 2023 exams. Super helpful as complete summary of all the course as well as facts that can be easily used in your essays. Last page contains the way to answer all the questions in ...
Elizabethan England (1568-1603)
Parents = Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII (Anne executed by Henry).
Siblings = Edward VI (died young as King) & Mary I (devout Catholic, killed 300 Protestants,
also known as Bloody Mary, also married King Phillip of Spain - very controversial)
1558, Elizabeth made Queen of England.
Belief in the Great Chain of Being: God → Monarch → Nobles → Gentry → Everyone Else
Nobles - wealthy landowners, expected to be Queen’s leading advisors & also provide
trained soldiers for her. Lord Lieutenants. Loyalty to the monarch if they kept them happy if
not could rebel w/ their private armies.
Gentry - knights, merchants, lawyers. Had to be JPs (Justices of the Peace) & run local gov,
around 40 per county, collect taxes, set wages, decide on punishments for criminals, not
paid but lots of local power & influence. Loyalty to the nobles as they owed their positions to
them.
Everyone Else - Tenant/Yeomen farmers, labourers, craftsmen/women. Provided men as
soldiers when needed, worked for people above.
Patronage: Using your wealth, power & influence to reward others in return for loyalty &
support
Importance of court & court life:
- Royal court was centre of gov → Queen brought together most important people to
give rewards, settle arguments & ask for advice
- Wherever the Queen went, the country moved with her → Main palace @
Whitehall but she rarely spent 2+ weeks there as visited noble’s grand houses, great
honour for them but extremely expensive
- Power depended on keeping close to the Queen → If a noble had her favour &
patronage, able to attract loyal supporters from the gentry
- The Queen used patronage to keep courtiers loyal → Her fav courtiers given
accommodation whilst others had to find their own places to stay. Skilfully used it to
make as many nobles as possible happy by sharing titles & positions.
- Elizabeth was at the centre of royal court → Would spend lots of time in her privy
chamber (private rooms) w/ small group of ladies in waiting who looked after her.
- Elizabeth used ceremonies & entertainment to demonstrate her power →
Courtiers expected to display their obedience/loyalty to her @ these ceremonies, she
also loved dancing, music, art & sport - entertainment for fun but also to impress
others.
Monarch dominant in all Parliament affairs - could veto acts, Parliament could be called at on
request of Queen, matters mostly decided by monarch & privy council, gov happened thru
court.
Privy Council provided important advice to Queen (esp on foreign threats or foreign/religious
policies), carried out important jobs for Elizabeth (secretary of state in close contact always
and alerted Queen of any day-to-day problems, propaganda to create positive image of
Queen, Parliament - helped control what happened in Parliament, protection of Queen e.g.
spies), Elizabeth controlled her Privy Council skillfully e.g. 19 ppl vs Mary 50 (organised
, people into dif gov departments e.g. Lord Treasurer for finances, Lord High Admiral for the
seas e.t.c)
How did Elizabeth win support & influence people?
● Propaganda → Progresses showed off Elizabeth’s wealth & power through
processions & progresses, Public image used a white ‘face mask’ to make her look
young to hide smallpox scars on her face & also wore a wig & expensive clothes,
Portraits as most never saw her irl they were full of symbols/details that spread
positive messages also painted her prettier and whiter. Artists had to get her
permission to produce a portrait of the Queen & in 1596 any portraits that caused
Queen ‘great offence’ were burnt.
● Censorship → Publishing & Plays as only 60 printing presses it was easy for Privy
Council to censor any books/pamphlets that disproved of gov, briefly shut down 1597
theatres London after play seemed to criticise Queen. Published their own books to
defend their decisions & mock her enemies e.g. King of Spain, portraits also burnt.
Portrait Propaganda = Young & healthy face to not show ageing as sign of weakness,
sceptre & orb to show she was England’s rightful ruler (against Catholic belief) also symbol
of power & authority, expensive dresses & jewellery to show wealth, pelican in symbols e.g.
brooches as pelicans according to legends help others by sacrificing their own food (how
Eliz helped her people/mother of them), Tudor rose to show her loyalty & rightfulness,
serpent symbols to symbolise wisdom, rainbow symbols to show her wiseness & success as
a ruler - rainbow after a storm shows she brought hope to the country.
Elizabeth’s Key Ministers:
- Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley) → experienced (Edward VI) well-educated, v
loyal 40 years service, not afraid to disagree with Elizabeth, managed meetings of
parliament
- Sir Francis Walsingham → never tried to flatter Eliz, not afraid to disagree w/ her,
Eliz valued his clear honest advice, often disagreed w/ Cecil, great organiser,
secretive cunning, well-educated, spoke French & Italian, many good European
connections
- Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester) → member of nobility, youngest son of the Duke
of Northumberland, childhood friends w/ Eliz, remained close, rumours of the 2 in
love
- Sir Christopher Hatton → Well-educated, sympathised with Catholics, captain of
the Queen’s bodyguard, helped Eliz control MPs, very loyal
Met with Privy Council 3-7 times a week. She appointed them.
Elizabeth decided what Parliament should discuss & banned religion or succession as
topics. MP Peter Wentworth pressured her to name a successor so arrested & imprisoned.
Puritan MP John Stubbs wrote pamphlet criticising Eliz for considering Catholic proposal,
imprisoned & right hand cut off.
Also willing to compromise @ time with Parliament e.g. MPs got what they wanted if she did
too like laws and taxes. Used patronage. Used system of monopoly throughout her reign too:
- Monopolies = someone could be the only person allowed to make or sell a particular
product. As a result, faced no competition & could rise prices. Many complained
about favouritism though so 1601, she started to cancel some monopolies
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