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