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Elizabeth I - 1558-1603, BACKGROUND
Elizabeth ascended the throne on…
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BACKGROUND
- Elizabeth ascended the throne on 17th November, this was quite easy as Mary had acknowledged her status before she died. and the treaty with Philip meant he accepted her right to rule. However Elizabeth inherited dire political and religious instability. Elizabeth also wanted to convert the country back to Protestantism, she regarded her government as her royal prerogative.
- Religious Settlement - 1559
Elizabeth was protestant, her education was conducted by teachers who where knowledgeable about Lutheran ideas she was symbol of the break with Rome as her father had broken with the catholic faith to marry her mother.
However she was aware of the religious turmoil and that the vast majority was catholic. But she didn't want to create martyrs she also liked some traditional teachings, such as ornaments of the catholic church.
She appointed Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury, her settlement came in the form of two acts, injunctions and 39 articles
- The Act of Supremacy
- Repeal of heresy laws, re-established by Mary
- Oath of supremacy to be taken by all members of the clergy, declaring elizabeth to be supreme gov
- it gave the queen the role of supreme governor, this was to relive both sides, as catholic refused to believe that anyone other than the pope could be the head of the church and protestants believed that nobody was head of the church
- Act of uniformity
modification of the 1549 prayer book
- set out the appearance of the church, introduced a protestant communion book but kept catholic artefact's
- what priests should wear another nod to Catholicism
- this is because people where less concerned with the theological disputes and would accept protestant ideas about worship but would find abrupt changes to the church appearance more jarring
- the 1559 injunctions
these where a set of instructions about the conduct of church services
- attack on catholic practises, ordered the removal of ornaments and banned pilgrimages and use of candles
- every church had to have a English bible but also works of Erasmus
- 39 articles of 1563
defined the doctrine of the church, they were Calvinist
- The significance of the settlement
Some people may argue that Elizabeth was pushed into the more protestant settlement, and she wanted it to be much more catholic because of the international situation.
However it solved many problems
- The injunctions and 39 articles, out line doctrine this cleared up confusion
- Calmed tensions she reached a balance
- Changed religion from Roman Catholicism
- Changed the legal framework for the Elizabethan church
- Elizabeth's concessions towards Catholics were not as harsh as Marys
yet it created many problems
- Localised opposition, ignored book of common prayer and stuck to traditional Catholicism
- Political foreign implications, France and Spain where catholic powers
Philip and the pope might excommunicate Elizabeth
- Previous changes caused rebellions
- Causes
Many Northern nobles were committed Catholics, Mary was a figurehead for the restoration of a catholic England
- Elizabeth had reduced the power of northern nobles and increased her power through the council of the north which was made up protestant nobles.
- Northerners believed members of Elizabeth's privy council where getting to powerful such as William Cecil
Background
- Mary was Elizabeth's cousin, she became queen of Scotland in 1547, she was forced to abdicate after the death of her husbands but she returned to England in 1568
- Why was she a threat?
People believed Elizabeth to be illegitimate because henry the 8th had divorced his first wife, and Catholics did not recognise divorce so his marriage to Anne was not legitimate
- Mary had a strong claim to the English throne
Elizabeth had converted England to to Protestantism, Mary was catholic and many viewed her as a figurehead and a replacement to the throne
- In 1569 the duke of Norfolk hatched a plan to marry Mary and have her recognised as Elizabeth's heir, This was supported by catholic nobles such as Northumberland and Westmoreland
This plan was uncovered and the earls feared they would be executed to escape punishment they rebelled and tried to overthrow elizabeth
In Nov 1569, the earls captured Durham they celebrated catholic mass, then marched south to Derbyshire where Mary was imprisoned
Before the rebels reached derby a large royal army forced them to retreat Elizabeth showed the rebels little mercy, Northumberland was executed along with 400 rebel troops
- was this a threat?
Most serious rebellion it posed a threat to Elizabeth's rule and showed Mary was a real threat,
However there was little support for the revolt among other Catholics and ordinary people, this was the last time Catholics tried to remove elizabeth by force. The rebellion was short-lived and it was poorly organised with poor leadership.
- The Ridolfi plot, 1571
Involved marrying Mary to Norfolk and to involve Spain, Ridolfi left England and met Duke of Alva carrying coded messages. They then met Pope and Philip (led to the deterioration of Anglo Spanish relations) in March 1871 Mary gave her consent to overthrow elizabeth.
Philip told over to prepare an army of 10,000 men
Walsingham used his spies to uncover the plot the letters implicated Norfolk and Mary was found guilty and executed
- The Throckmorton Plot -1583
this was a plan to utilise French and Spanish troops to oust Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots
the plot was devised by Throckmorton along with his brother and agents from Spain
English spies uncovered the plot Throckmorton was tortured he also incriminated the Spanish ambassador Mendoza.
The plot showed Spain's real involvement and that they were Catholic resistance still active
this led to the bond of association to seek out those who wanted to kill the queen
- The Babington Plot - 1586
Mary sent letters greeting to assassinate Elizabeth these letters were intercepted by Walsingham spies
what was Walsingham wanted to find legal evidence that was stand against her court, she was tried in November 1586
however it is best to execute marry and she was forced into signing the death warrant but had no intention of sending it away however the council sent it without Elizabeth's knowledge mary was executed on the 8th February 1587 and died a martyr.
there were political, religious and economic tensions
- political
spain was a great imperial power. In europe philip ruled Spain, the netherlands and parts of italy. He had a large empire in america. By 1570s England was starting to have ambitions for an empire of its own, this lead to growing rivily.
- Relgious- Philip was a devout catholic and disliked elizabeths religious settlement. He became invloved in several catholic plots against elizabeth. Such as the Ridolfi Plot.
- Economic- Elizabeth encouraged privateers to trade illegally with Spanish colonies, raid spanish ships and attack the treasure fleets carry gold and silver from america to Spain
Elizabeth also rejected philips proposal
The execution of Mary Queen of Scots meant the detrioation of anglo-spanish relations was inevietble
- Eventually England and Spain went to war over the Netherlands
in 1581, Protestant rebels in the Netherlands decalred independance from spain
- in 1584 rebel leader, william the silent was assassinated.
- Elizabeth decided to help the rebels, in 1585 she signed the treaty of Nonsuch which promised military assistance.
(Elizabeth wanted to protect Dutch Protestantism and prevent Philip from forcing Cotholicsm on the Netherlands. She wanted to proetct the dutch port of Antwerp)
- Philip saw the treaty of Nonsuch as a declaration of war on spain in response he started to build the Spanish Armada
- In April 1587 Drake attacked the port of Cadiz destroyed around 30 ships
- This delayed the armada for a year, this caused supply problems as they had to make barrels oit of unseasoned wood, this also effected the morale of Spanish troops
- The Spanish Armada
by 1588 the armada was a huge fleet of 130 ships with 18,000 soilders
Philip appointed the Duke of medina sidonia he had a high social status but had little military or navel experiance
The armada reached the English channel in July 1588, it sailed in a creasant formation, which used the large armed galleons to protect the weaker supply and troop ships
- The English attacked the spanish at Calais and Gravelines, 5 spanish ships were sunk and the fleet was forced to sail away into the North sea
The journey back was a disaster as the troop was unfamialir with the dangerous route and encountered powerful atlantic storms. less than half the sleet and 10,000 men made it back to spain
- Englands victory removed the threat of Spanish Invasion.
- Philip sent two futher Armadas but both were unsucessful, although war carried on for 15 years the armada was the last serious threat to Elizabeths throne
- This victory contributed to Englands development of a strong navel power, Many English ships went on many voages of discovery and established valubale trade routes
- The english victory boosted Elizabeths populairty and strengthened the protestant cause.
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- WAR IN NETHERLANDS
was strategic and economic importance because it was the centre of cloth trade antwept was vital to englands trade as 78% of all english exports is cloth
and if spain took control of netherlands they could attack england from both sides
- The treaty of nonesuch- 1585 lis agreed to supply 6,400 solders and 600k of florins to the dutch rebels fighting against the spanish
philip became resentful he thought liz was challenging his sovereignty
- ACTIONS OF THE ENGLISH
- gold bullion incident 1568, spanish ships carrying 85k for duke of alva was intercepted by liz this caused problems for the spanish army
futher more drakes circumvaviagtion in 1577-80 he attcked spanish ships in 1577 and stole 140k of treasure
1587 drake also attacked the spanish port of Cadiz and seized a tonne of supplies - lead to spanish armarda
- ACTIONS OF THE SPANISH
- 1571 ridofi plot involved philip, planned to assinate liz and make mary queen
1583 throckmorton plot, was a plan where te french army was to invade england and replace liz w mary this would be paid for by the pope and king philip of spain
and the battle of san juan de ulva in 1568 where john hawkins was attacked by the spanish there was a loss of 4 ships and deaths around 500
Hawkins accused the Spaniards of the not honouring the treaty of peace 1567
- TRADING DISPUTES
England tried to spread Protestantism in Netherlands and the cloth makers there resented higher prices charged by Liz to cover the increased taxation from the new book of rates
- 1580 Spain annexed Portugal, England feared Spain had now access to the riches of Portuguese African and oriental possessions
- Granville banned import of English cloth
liz retaliated by banning all Netherlands imports
- liz contemplated sending drake to seize Azores regions or Portugal, this angered Philip he envisioned Azores becoming a vital base in Spanish communications with the new world
what was the impact?
damaged each side, elizabeth had to find new trading partners in Baltic and Russia
co-operation was no longer a economic necessary