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The situation on Elizabeth’s accession (Anne Boleyn (Anne Boleyn was…
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Religious division
Catholic church
Services were in Latin,
They had decorated churches,
They have a crucifix
Protestant Church
Services were in English,
They didn't have any statues or decorations in churches,
They didn't have a cross.
When Elizabeth came to the throne most people were Catholic, especially in the North.
Mary's reign made it difficult to reintroduce Protestantism as Mary had scared away most protestants as she executed them, which meant there weren't many protestants left.
Elizabeth was protestant, and most of her advisors were protestant too.
Some Catholics refused to accept Elizabeth as head of church as they believed the pope was head of church, and that Elizabeth was illegitimate.
Choosing her councillors
The privy council acted as Elizabeth's advisors, and their main job was to provide opinions on matters.
It was important for Elizabeth to keep the council balanced, as she didn't want to upset any group, and having different groups on the council allowed her to see all the opinions.
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Challenges from abroad
Spain was very powerful, and also Catholic. This meant
Spain was more likely to attack England as it used
Protestantism, which they disagreed with, and as they
were powerful it would be hard to defend against.
France was a threat as they were allied with Scotland. This meant if they attacked, they could easily overwhelm England as they're on either side of England, meaning they'd have to fight on 2 fronts, which would split their army.
England changing to protestant made them more likely to be attacked as most countries surrounding England were catholic, meaning they didn't like England turning protestant, therefore making them more likely to be attacked.
The problem of legitimacy, Marriage & succession
People thought Elizabeth was illegitimate as they believed the pope was head of the church, and since they hadn't granted a divorced to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, they believed that his marriage to Anne Boleyn wasn't proper, therefore making Elizabeth illegitimate.
People believed Elizabeth would marry quickly to get a heir to the throne, and as people thought it would help the nation.
The foreign candidates Elizabeth was most likely to marry was Philip of Spain and Eric of Sweden. She couldn't marry Philip of Spain as he was Catholic, while Elizabeth was trying to make the country Protestant, and at the time Sweden wasn't very powerful, and people didn't want the queen marrying a foreigner.
Financial weakness
England was lacking money up to when Elizabeth started to reign as England was at war, because they had been helping Spain.
To deal with financial problems Elizabeth tried rented out land to Nobles, and land owners.
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Poverty
Elizabeth was concerned about poverty when she came to the throne because there was lots of debt from war.
She was concerned about harvests as there had been a number of bad harvests in a row, which had caused famine, but the harvest of 1558 helped as it was very good.