Elizabeth

1558-
1603
The death of Queen Mary without children left the throne
to his half-sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn.
She was the last and greatest of the Tudors. “The Tudor
Despotism.” It was the government of people for people,
but not by people.
Dangers (1558-1563)
Elizabeth was confronted at her succession by another claimant
to the throne
 Mary Stuart claims.
1-Catholics denied
Cranmer´s power to annul
Henry VIII´s marriage to
Catherine of Aragone.
Elizabeth was an illegal child.
2-She was a very powerful
personage. She was Queen
of Scotland in her own right,
her husband became King of
France in 1559.
 3-Catholics everywhere
believed that
she was the rightful
heir.
Against her assets
 1-She lost control over Scotland
owing to a great Religious
revolution which swept the country
in 1559. Scottish protestants asked
for Elizabeth’s support and
expelled the French.
2-Mary lost all chance of French
support when her husband died in
1560. He was succeeded by his
young and brother Charles IX,
which meant that power was in the
Queen-Mother, who had no love for
her daughter-in-law .
 3- national feeling was stronger
than religious feeling in the country
Religious Strife
 Elizabeth established a truly national Church
formed by both Catholics and Protestant.
 The Act of Supremacy (1559) merely said
that she was “supreme governor as well of
things spiritual as of things temporal.”
 The Act of Uniformity (1559) compelled the
clergy to use the English Prayer Book
compiled by Cranmer.
3º King Philip II

 As husband of the late Queen he had

contrived that England should once more
come under the spiritual authority of the
Pope, so he offered marriage to
Elizabeth. She was at first tempted, but
eventually she refused the proposal
4º Economic Distress
 To lessen the bad
effects ofApprentices (1563), which
Statute of
enacted that nobody might carry on trade
“enclosures”, she
until he had served a seven years´
encouraged
apprenticeship, and the masters were to
be responsible for the welfare of their
manufactures
apprentices. and
commerce.
Poor Laws (the last and most important in
1601), which provided that a poor-rate
should be raised from landowners in
each district, and used for the relief of the
destitute by elected “overseers.”
The Queen versus the
Catholic Reaction (1560-
1580)
 The Counter Reformation:
“A Counter-Reformation” for the recovery of the Catholic
Church took place during the ´sixties and ´seventies
 Philip of Spain
 Elizabeth Supports Foreign Rebellions Secretly
 Elizabeth profited from the problems that France and
Spain had at home
 The Huguenots, as the French Protestants
 Netherlands revolt of the Prince of Orange
 Catholic Plots
The First Catholic Plot:
The
HerSecond Catholic
own Catholic Plot:
subjects were ready to conspire
In the following
against year, the Pope
her government. issued
The menacea Bull
cameof Excommunication
from (1570)
against Elizabeth,
the Northern declaring that she was a usurper,
counties
andThey
calling upon
hated Englishgreat
Elizabeth’s Catholics to help
minister, to dethrone her.
Sir William
Cecil prevented the assassination of the Queen.
Cecil
In 1568, the northern shires welcomed Mary queen
of Scots
The Duke of Norfolk and the Earls of
Westmorland
PersecutionandofNorthumberland
Catholics Begins: formed a
conspiracy
Theseto compel
events Elizabeth
cause to dismiss
a change Cecil,
for the worse in the
and recognised
position ofMary as the
English heir to the throne of
Catholics
England.
TwoEventually, their forces
hundred English meltedsuffered
Catholics away. death for
their faith in the last twenty years of the reign
The Birth of British
Sea-power (1550-1580)
 Before Britannia ruled the Waves:
 In the Middle Ages European commerce centred in the
Mediterranean, and English merchants for the most part confined
their voyages to the Channel and the North Sea.
 Hawkins and Drake.
 Sir John Hawkins sold negro slaves to the Spaniards.
 Drake was a young man who made up his mind to get even with
the Spaniards on his account
 Unofficial War:
 The inquisition was established in Spanish pots on both sides of
the Atlantic, and a terrible fate awaited English crews who fell into
its clutches. So seamen avenged their peers by clutching Spanish
vessels
The Crisis of the Reign
(1580-1588)
 Alliance with France:By 1580, it had become clear that Elizabeth would
not be able to hold off the attack of Philip II much longer. He had acquired
now Portugal. This drew England and France together, signalised by
negotiations for a royal marriage: the Count of Anjou
 Steps Towards War: In 1583, Burghley unearthed another plot against
the Queen.This time papers related to the Pope, Mary, and the Spanish
ambassador were found. Then came the murder of William of Orange.
Philip tried to gain the Netherlands back.
 Execution of Ex-Queen Mary: One of Cecil’s spies induced a Catholic
name Babington to enter into plot to dethrone Elizabeth with the help
from Spain. The ex-Queen could not deny the plot. The court condemned
her to death
 King Philip prepared his “Invincible Armada” Drake sailed into
Cadiz destroying everything. Then came the death of the able
admiral whom Philip had appointed, and he was replaced by a
nobleman who had never been to see. The weather was in
Elizabeth’s behalf.
“ The Spacious Days”
(1588-1603)
 The Results f the Victory:
 She became a sort of mythical figure to her people- “Gloriana,”
the “Virgin Queen.”
 Literature took the form of play-going
 The Persecution of “Puritanism. She much disliked their view that
bishops should be abolished, for she appointed the bishops
herself, and it was this which gave her control over the Church
 An Anticlimax:
 The year 1598 really marked the end of what we called “The Age
of Elizabeth.” For one thing, Lord Burghly, who had helped the
Queen to guide the destinies of England for forty years, died in
that year
Essex in Ireland:
 The outstanding members of the Council during the last years of
the reign were now Robert Cecil, the son of Lord Burghley, and
Robert Devereux, the brilliant young Earl of Essex. When a
rebellion broke out in Ireland in 1598, Essex felt that his chance
had come to make a great name for himself so he could dominate
the Queen and her Council. This was a futile campaign.
 Essex was sent away from the Court in disgrace. He entered a
conspiracy to compel Elizabeth to dismiss his rivals from the
Council.
 Essex was convicted of high treason, and beheaded
 Gradually, Elizabeth’s strength ebbed away,
and in March 1603, she died. One of her last
actions was to signify that she wished King
James of Scotland to be her successor