Elizabethan Rule | History for Year 6 PDF Download

Gloriana?

Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603, earning the nickname ‘Gloriana’ for the perceived glory she brought to her kingdom. She actively promoted this image through commissioned portraits, plays, and poetry. However, by the end of her reign, challenges such as population growth and poor harvests led to widespread poverty and rebellions. Despite her efforts to establish the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, she faced opposition from both Catholics and Puritans, who were radical Protestants.

Expansion of the Arts

• The Elizabethan era saw a flourishing of theatre in England. At the start of Elizabeth’s reign, there were no permanent theatres, and plays, often religious, were performed by travelling actors. From the 1560s, dedicated theatres emerged in London, including the Red Lion (1567), the Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577), the Rose (1587), the Swan (1597), and the Globe (1599). A vibrant community of actors and playwrights developed, with figures like Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Dekker, and William Shakespeare producing popular comedies and tragedies, including revenge tragedies. Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, many still performed today.
• Theatre became a popular pastime across social classes, with theatre designs reflecting this: cheaper standing areas in front of the stage and pricier covered galleries for wealthier audiences. However, concerns arose about theatres’ societal impact. Puritans worried that plays distracted people from religious observance, while others feared theatres would foster crime, pickpocketing, and the spread of diseases like the plague.

Elizabethan Society

Elizabethan society was rigidly hierarchical, with little social mobility, meaning people typically remained in the social class they were born into.

Expansion of Wealth

For some, the Elizabethan era was a time of growing prosperity:

• Land redistributed from monasteries under Henry VIII was purchased by men seeking the prestige of landownership.
• The wool trade generated significant profits for some.
• Queen-supported trading companies were established to yield high returns.
• Elizabeth backed privateers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake, who attacked foreign ships, particularly Spanish ones, to seize valuable goods, often taken from colonized Americas. Elizabeth profited from the trade in enslaved people through her support of privateers. Hawkins, for instance, forcibly captured 300 West Africans, selling them to Spanish plantations for pearls and sugar. Elizabeth invested in his subsequent voyages, providing ships, supplies, and guns, and granted him a coat of arms featuring an enslaved African.

Elizabethan Houses

• The nobility displayed their wealth by building grand homes in ‘E’ or ‘H’ shapes, moving away from earlier Tudor designs centered around a communal great hall. These layouts separated servant quarters from family spaces, with chimneys enabling individual fireplaces for private rooms used for dining, sleeping, and leisure. 
• Long galleries with ornate plasterwork or wood carvings provided indoor exercise spaces and areas to display portrait collections. Large, expensive glass windows were a status symbol, as seen in Hardwick Hall, built by Robert Smythson for Bess of Hardwick, famously described as “more glass than wall.” 
• The gentry and merchants, enriched by sheep farming or trade, also built lavish homes filled with luxury goods like Italian velvet and glass, Turkish carpets, and Indian spices.

Poverty in Elizabethan England

• Despite the wealth of some, poverty surged, leading some historians to question whether Elizabeth’s reign was truly a ‘Golden Age.’ England’s population doubled from 2 million to 4 million during the Tudor period, straining resources. 
• Poor harvests toward the end of Elizabeth’s reign drove up food prices, making starvation a real threat for ordinary people. This led to increased homelessness and migration as people sought work, raising fears among the gentry, nobility, and government that the poor might turn to crime.
• Elizabethan society distinguished between the ‘deserving’ poor (those unable to work due to illness, disability, or old age) and the ‘undeserving’ poor (able-bodied unemployed, unwed mothers, or those seen as wasteful). Attitudes toward the poor were often harsh.

Legal Attempts to Address Poverty

• In 1572, a law targeted ‘vagabonds’ or homeless individuals, introducing a compulsory local tax to aid the poor but also permitting harsh punishments like branding, whipping, imprisonment, or execution for persistent homelessness. 
• The Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601, applied nationally, introduced Overseers of the Poor, with each parish electing two to manage relief efforts.

Religious Conflict

• Following the Catholic reign of her sister, Mary I, Elizabeth sought a moderate Protestant path through the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, using parliamentary laws to establish a Church of England that balanced Protestant and Catholic elements. She retained some Catholic-style church decorations and ambiguous prayer book wording to appease both groups. Initially tolerant of Catholics, Elizabeth faced resistance from Puritans, who wanted a more thoroughly Protestant church and sometimes sought independence from her authority.
• A minority of Catholics plotted against Elizabeth, aiming to replace her with her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. In response, Elizabeth imposed heavy fines on Catholics who skipped church services and restricted their travel. These measures were tightened after four plots against her.

Mary Queen of Scots

• Mary, a Catholic and queen of Scotland since infancy, fled to France to avoid capture by Henry VIII, who sought to marry her to his son, Edward. In 1558, she married Francis, heir to the French throne, becoming queen of France in 1559 until his death in 1560. 
• Returning to Scotland, she faced a Protestant-dominated nobility led by figures like John Knox, who opposed female rulers and her Catholicism. Forced out of Scotland after eight years, Mary left her young son, James, as king and sought refuge in England, expecting Elizabeth’s support.
• However, Elizabeth’s advisors, like William Cecil, viewed Mary’s Catholicism as a threat. Within a year of her arrival, Catholic rebels in northern England attempted to place Mary on the throne. Subsequent plots, including one in 1570 spurred by the Pope’s declaration of Elizabeth as an illegitimate heretic, intensified tensions. 
• Elizabeth imprisoned Mary for 19 years. In 1587, Mary was executed after being implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth. Elizabeth claimed she did not intend immediate execution, but her privy councillors acted swiftly. Mary’s death shocked Catholic leaders in Europe and contributed to Spain’s decision to invade England in 1588.

The Spanish Armada

Initially, England and Spain were allies, with Philip II married to Elizabeth’s sister, Mary. Elizabeth maintained friendly relations, but tensions grew due to her Protestantism, her support for Protestant rebels in the Netherlands, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and raids by English privateers on Spanish ships. In 1588, Philip launched the Spanish Armada, a fleet of 130 ships, to invade England. The Armada failed due to skilled English naval commanders, storms that sank many Spanish ships, and the superiority of English warships over Spain’s transport vessels. Elizabeth used the victory for propaganda, with medals proclaiming, “God blew and they scattered.” However, wars with Spain continued, draining resources, leaving soldiers unpaid and injured, and increasing poverty.

A Golden Age?

Elizabeth’s reign brought cultural and societal changes:

• Theatre flourished, offering entertainment across classes, though some worried about crime, disease, and religious distraction.
• Wealth grew for some, enabling grand homes, but this was partly fueled by the slave trade.
• Poverty surged, with harsh laws punishing the poor, though some relief was provided.
• The Religious Settlement aimed for moderation but failed to satisfy Puritans or Catholics, leading to plots and repression.
• The execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the defeat of the Spanish Armada heightened tensions with Catholic Europe, and ongoing wars strained England’s resources.

Key Points

• Elizabeth I, a Tudor queen, ruled England from 1558 to 1603, the last Tudor monarch.
• Her reign is often called a ‘Golden Age’ for its cultural, economic, and exploratory advancements.
• Modern historians question this label, citing poverty, religious strife, and foreign conflicts as evidence of its limitations.