Elizabeth I

Medieval View of Women

Mary of Guise
Catherine de Medici
Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I
Female rulers of the 16th C.

Elizabeth I:
Tall, graceful, red-haired
Intelligent, vain, determined, practical
Loved flattery, quick to anger

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!”—Elizabeth I upon hearing of her succession to the throne at Hatfield House.

Elizabeth I and her coronation pageant

Elizabeth came to the throne in a time of great trouble for England:
Plague threatened the country.
A debased coinage threatened financial instability.
Religious differences continued.
England was still at war with France and Scotland.

James V and Mary of Guise, parents of Mary, Queen of Scots
Since the death of James V, Scotland had become a province of France!

Mary of Scotland had married Francis II of France.
She claimed three crowns—Scotland, France, and England!

Elizabeth could depend on two sources of support:
English nationalism
The existence of a wide base of religious opinion—ranging from staunchly antipapal Henrican Catholicism to radical Protestants—requiring some sort of religious compromise.

Elizabeth was aided by intelligent and hard-working advisors—and all were Protestant!
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was her principal secretary and Lord Chancellor.
He came from a family that first came to political power under Henry VII—one of the “new men.”
William Cecil

Sir Francis Walsingham was principal secretary for foreign affairs and head of the Elizabethan secret service.
A “Puritan,” his religious views made him popular with Parliament.
He had great ability to discover “intelligence” about Catholics in England abroad.

Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury
William Paulet, Lord Treasurer

Elizabeth’s most pressing problem was religion.
She had no deep religious convictions.
A reformed Catholic under her father
A Protestant under her brother.
A reluctant attendant at Mass under her sister.

The new queen was a politique—she believed that religion should be an instrument of the state and a part of life, not the end of government and the whole of human existence.

To gain as wide a base of support as possible, the religious compromise required agreement on two crucial areas:
The revival of the royal supremacy.
The conversion of the Catholic Mass into a Protestant communion service.

Because many Protestants as well as Catholics were concerned that a woman was not “qualified by God’s Word to feed the flock of Christ,” Elizabeth accepted the title, “Supreme Governor of the Church of England.”

The 1552 Book of Common Prayer (2nd version) was amended to add the words, “This is the body of Jesus Christ, given for thee. . .” to make the service acceptable to those who viewed the Eucharist as a sacrificial ceremony.

Elizabeth hoped to satisfy all Englishmen by making the new religious settlement as moderate as possible—”latitudinarian.”
Most importantly, Elizabeth wanted to create a national English church based on the idea that a loyal subject would leave matters of faith to his/her sovereign.

Both radical Protestants and Catholic bishops appointed by Queen Mary objected to the Elizabethan religious settlement.

The Elizabethan religious settlement succeeded in damping the fires of religious bigotry.
Most Catholic bishops quietly resigned their posts and were replaced by middle-of-the-road Protestants.
Most Catholic laity refused to put loyalty to Pope above patriotism and their duty to the crown.

1559: Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis brought peace to Europe by ending three generations of rivalry between the royal houses of Spain (the Hapsburgs) and France (the Valois).
But, that left France and Spain free to turn their attention to exterminating heresy in Europe.

Philip II of Spain
To seal the new peace, Philip II of Spain married the daughter of the French King, Henri II—Elizabeth of Valois.

Francis II
After his father’s sudden death, young Francis II (15 years old) took the throne.
An essentially leaderless France left the guidance of the Catholic Counter-Reformation to Spain.

The Council of Trent (1555-1563) began the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

St. Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Led by their founder, Ignatius Loyola, the Society of Jesus or Jesuits became the champions of papal authority and the instrument by which the Catholic Church would revitalize its ancient faith.

France was torn by religious civil war for 42 years, culminating in the massacre of 2-3000 Hugenots (French protestants) on St. Bartholomew’s Day in Paris (August 24, 1572).

Civil War in France was both bad and good for England:
Bad
War upset the balance of power in Europe.
No longer could England play France against Spain.
Good
Devastated France could not join Spain in a religious war against England.

Mary of Guise, the French wife of James V, acted as regent for her baby daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary became queen when she was 18 months old.
She was raised in the French court, and at 15 she married Francis II, who died less than one year after their marriage.

Scotland remained Catholic after the death of James V, but Protestant influence increased.
Scottish Protestants posed as nationalists who wanted to liberate Scotland from France.
1557: Calvinists in Scotland formed an association, the Lords of the Congregation, sworn to defend their faith and drive out the foreigners.
John Knox

1560 was a tumultuous year in Scotland.
England, France, and Scotland signed a peace treaty in June that caused the French to withdraw and leave the Scottish government under the control of the Lords of the Congregation.
Later in the year, Francis II died and Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to her kingdom.

Mary Stuart—beautiful, bright, temperate in religion but lacking in judgment, especially about men
John Knox—glum, parsimonious, and utterly devoted to the Calvinist creed.

Mary of Guise
Catherine de Medici
Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I
John Knox’s First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women attacked the women rulers of 16th C. Europe

Mary Stuart and the English Crown
Henry VII
Henry VIII (1)James IV m. Margaret m. (2)Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus
Mary Tudor Elizabeth Edward VI
James V
Mary Stuart
Margaret m. Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox
m. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
James VI

Mary Stuart made three mistakes that led to the loss of her Scottish crown in 1567:
She asked Elizabeth to designate her as heir to the English throne;
She married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley;
She apparently conspired with her lover, Lord Bothwell to murder Darnley.

Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Mary Stuart and her third husband, James Hepburn, Lord Bothwell

James VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots
In 1567, Mary abdicated in favor of her baby son and fled to England, where Elizabeth placed her in “protective custody” for the next 19 years.

Mary’s marital troubles convinced Elizabeth that she was right to remain unmarried.
Most of her subjects regarded an unmarried queen as unnatural and a danger to the realm.
No agreement, however, existed over just who that husband should be!
But as long as Elizabeth remained single and childless, Catholic Mary Stuart was her heir—and England faced a future of religious war.

Elizabeth’s “Robin”—Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex

Mary Stuart quickly became the center of opposition to Elizabeth.
A series of inept plots by English Catholics attempted to put Mary on the throne.

In 1570, the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth and absolved English Catholics of their duty of obedience to the monarch.
But Philip preferred Protestant Elizabeth to a Catholic Mary supported by France
Philip II of Spain
European rulers also plotted Elizabeth’s removal

An independence movement in the Spanish Netherlands gained secret assistance from England.
When England began to openly aid the Protestant Netherlands, Philip began to plot with Mary Stuart.

In 1586, Mary’s “casket letters” were intercepted by Sir Francis Walsingham’s secret service, and Mary was condemned to death.
Elizabeth was reluctant to execute a reigning sovereign, but ultimately gave her consent.
Mary lost her head on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle.

Only when Philip of Spain became convinced that he would be unable to reconquer his rebellious subjects in the Netherlands, did he attempt to invade England.
The Spanish Armada, 1588

Sir Francis Drake
The Golden Hind

Voyages of Sir Francis Drake

Reconstruction of the Golden Hind in London

Route of the Spanish Armada in 1588

Queen Elizabeth’s “Armada Portrait”

Both Catholics and radical protestants presented threats to the stability of Elizabethan England.

Parliament responded with a series of increasingly harsh penal laws intended to force religious conformity:
Priests who still said the Mass could be charged with treason.
Communicants were subject to monetary fines.
Many emigrated to the continent;
Some conformed outwardly while continuing to worship in secret.

The “Priest’s Hole” at Coughton Court, Warwickshire, England
“Priests’ Holes” where Catholic priests could hide can still be seen in many Tudor-era English homes.

Protestant “Puritans” split into three groups, based on their view of church government:
Episcopals: remained within the establish Church of England, but worked for greater voice for the laity in questions of both form and faith.
These are the moderates and controlled the Puritan movement until 1640.
Penal Laws applied to Protestant non-conformists, too.

Protestant “Puritans” split into three groups, based on their view of church government:
Presbyterians: authority should be vested in several layers of jurisdiction from the local church laymen (in Scotland, the kirk), to the provincial synod, to the General Assembly of the Faithful.
Penal Laws applied to Protestant non-conformists, too.

Protestant “Puritans” split into three groups, based on their view of church government:
3. Separatists: worshipped apart from Protestant Anglican services in individual congregations (or conventicles)
Penal Laws applied to Protestant non-conformists, too.

Robert Browne
Robert Brown, early Separatist leader, insisted on complete autonomy of every parish, subject only to the will of Christ.
The first Congregationalist community formed at Norwich in 1581, and the second (shortly after) at Scrooby.
Although the Brownists advocated democracy at the parish level, many congregations became subject to the direction of their elected ministers.

Views of Scrooby village, Notinghamshire—home of the American “Pilgrims.”

Organic Theory of Society—the King was head of State, as the head controlled the body.

The Elizabethan Parliament
Theory of Absolute Monarchy:
Society is organic and hierarchical
Obedience to legal authority holds society together.
“One head, one governor, one law”—Elizabeth I

King-in-Parliament
When Elizabeth sat with the Lords and Commons and legislation was enacted by the whole Parliament under the direction of the “King”—the voice of the whole kingdom was speaking.
“King-in-Parliament” was the highest authority in the land and the greatest bulwark against rebellion.

William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Parliamentary leadership was exercised by the Privy Council:
Its members piloted legislation through Parliament and determined the subject and length of debates.

But Elizabeth was always careful to maintain the initiative in the lawmaking process:
She influenced the Commons by manipulating public opinion and by exercising patronage.

The Speaker of the House of Commons:
A royal appointee
Controlled the timing of bills, curtailed debate, announced ayes and nays.
“You, Mr. Speaker, should perform the charge Her Majesty gave you at the beginning of this Parliament—not to receive bills of a nature which is displeasing to Her Majesty.”—an Elizabethan Privy Councilor

During the reign of Elizabeth I, the Commons fulfilled the role assigned to it—a docile, silent, obedient junior partner of the triumvirate of Queen, Lords, and Commons.

Elizabethan Paternalistic Government
Essentially medieval in outlook
Strict regulation of the economy
Guaranteed a fixed labor supply
Discouraged social mobility
Curtailed economic freedom
Anti-capitalistic!

The Crown regulated the economy for the “general good of the Kingdom.”
Statute of Artificers (or Apprentices), 1563
Reflected basic social premises of Tudor paternalism
All men and women had a social and moral obligation to work
Society is a hierarchy and everyone has a place.

Statute of Artificers (Apprentices)
7 year apprenticeship mandated for all trades
No apprentice could leave before the term of his indenture was up
No servant could be fired without cause.
Apprentices had recourse in court, if they were mistreated by their masters.
Wages were regulated and conditions of labor were inspected.

Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601
Poor relief was traditionally viewed as the responsibility of individuals who gave alms to the poor.
After 1590, economic recession brought English peasants close to starvation.
Only the State had the resources to handle poverty on a large scale.

Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601
Everyone had a right to work.
Parishes were ordered to provide work for the unemployed, aid for the sick, protection for the aged, and punishment for those who preferred begging to an honest day’s labor!

Parish map of England
For most Englishmen, the jurisdictional unit where governmental, social, and economic discipline was most immediately felt was the local parish or county.
Most offenses were heard in local courts.
Punishment for minor crimes was usually on the local level.

The key to a well-ordered community in Elizabethan England was the family unit—a “little commonwealth.”

Family unit statistics for Elizabethan England:
Late marriage—27-28 for men; 25-26 for women
Nuclear, 2-generation family units—husband, wife, and \
2-3 children
Most households had 1 or more servants
Servants started working in their teens and worked 10-12 years before marrying and establishing their own households.
15% of all children died in their 1st year; another 10% died before age 10
Those who reached age 30 had a life expectancy of 60.
Death of a spouse and subsequent remarriage was common

The main purpose of the family unit was security—
The cooperation of husband and wife was necessary in a precarious economic system that required both to work.
Children could be either a heavy economic burden or an economic necessity as supplementary labor in a family business or farm.

The father was head of the household and responsible for the good discipline of all who lived under his roof.
The family was the school in which “the first principles and grounds of government and subjection are learned.”

Elizabethan Culture: a “wide and universal theater”

Renaissance Men
William Shakespeare Francis Bacon
Christopher Marlowe Ben Jonson
Edmund Spenser Walter Raleigh
Humphrey Gilbert Richard Grenville
Francis Drake John Donne

Sir Walter Raleigh
A “Renaissance Man” for the Elizabethan Age

The “Lost Colony” of Roanoke

William Shakespeare
The Globe Theater

Reconstruction of the Globe Theater in London

Interior of the reconstructed Globe Theater in London

Shakespeare’s “history plays” begin with the deposition of Richard II and end with Henry VIII.

Scientific Method:
Generalizations on the basis of evidence
Francis Bacon

Increasing literacy in Elizabethan England:
About 30% of the total population was literate;
But 100% of gentry was literate.
Primary and advanced grammar schools were endowed, but students paid tuition.
Aim of schools was to teach “Knowledge of duty to God, their prince, and all others in their degree.”