Elizabeth's England in 1558

Elizabeth I became queen in November 1558, aged 25, after the death of her half-sister Mary I. She inherited a country facing serious problems:

• A divided religion — Mary I had restored Catholicism and burned Protestants; the country was split.
• A weak economy — Crown debts and inflation.
• A dangerous position abroad — an unsuccessful war with France had lost Calais (England's last French possession) in 1558.
• Being a woman — many doubted a woman could rule alone, and there was pressure on her to marry.

Elizabeth also faced a legitimacy question: Catholics believed her parents' marriage was invalid, making her illegitimate and giving a rival claim to Mary, Queen of Scots.

How Elizabeth ruled

Elizabeth ruled with the help of trusted advisers and institutions:

• The Privy Council — her most important advisers, led for years by Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley).
• Parliament — called mainly to pass laws and grant taxes, but Elizabeth kept firm control of it.
• Lords Lieutenant and Justices of the Peace — local officials who governed the counties for her.
• Patronage — Elizabeth rewarded loyalty with titles, land and offices, keeping powerful men on her side.

Elizabeth's power rested on the idea of the "divine right" of monarchs, but she also relied on skilful management of her Council, Parliament and the nobility.

Whom did she succeed?

The Religious Settlement

Elizabeth's biggest early problem was religion. In 1559 she created a "middle way" — a Protestant Church that Catholics could also live with. Its key parts were:

• The Act of Supremacy — made Elizabeth "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England (not "Supreme Head", a title chosen to avoid offending Catholics and those who felt a woman should not head the Church).
• The Act of Uniformity — set out one Book of Common Prayer and required people to attend church. Those who did not were fined as "recusants".
• The Royal Injunctions — a set of instructions for clergy and worship.

The Settlement was a compromise: Protestant in doctrine, but keeping some traditional features (like vestments) to keep Catholics onside. Elizabeth famously did not want to "make windows into men's souls" — she cared about outward obedience, not private belief.

Puritans and Catholics

The middle way was attacked from both sides:

• Puritans — strict Protestants who wanted to "purify" the Church of remaining Catholic features. There were clashes over vestments (special robes) and later the Prophesyings (Puritan meetings Elizabeth ordered stopped).
• Catholics — at first many conformed outwardly. But the threat grew: in 1570 the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth, freeing Catholics from obedience to her, and Catholic missionary priests and Jesuits arrived from the 1570s–80s.

The 1570 excommunication was a turning point — it made English Catholics look like potential traitors, and Elizabeth's government treated the Catholic threat far more harshly afterwards.

Date the Settlement

Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's Catholic cousin and, in the eyes of many Catholics, the rightful queen of England. She was a magnet for plots.

• Forced to flee Scotland, Mary arrived in England in 1568, where Elizabeth kept her imprisoned for nearly 19 years.
• As Elizabeth's closest Catholic relative with a strong claim, Mary became the figurehead for Catholics who wanted to overthrow Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's dilemma: executing an anointed queen was dangerous and would anger Catholic Europe — but leaving Mary alive kept the plots coming. Elizabeth hesitated for years.

Ridolfi, Throckmorton, Babington

A series of Catholic plots aimed to kill or overthrow Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne. Elizabeth's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, uncovered them using a network of spies:

• Ridolfi Plot (1571) — a plan for a Spanish invasion, Elizabeth's murder, and Mary to marry the Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk was executed.
• Throckmorton Plot (1583) — a plot for a French-backed invasion to free Mary. Francis Throckmorton was caught and executed.
• Babington Plot (1586) — the decisive one. Walsingham intercepted coded letters in which Mary agreed to Elizabeth's assassination. This gave the proof needed to put Mary on trial.

The plots grew more dangerous over time and increasingly involved Spain. The Babington Plot finally trapped Mary in writing.

The decisive plot

The execution of Mary, 1587

After the Babington Plot, Mary was put on trial and found guilty of treason. Elizabeth reluctantly signed the death warrant.

• Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in February 1587.
• Elizabeth claimed she had not truly meant the warrant to be used, and blamed her secretary William Davison.

Consequences: Mary's death removed the Catholic figurehead inside England — but it enraged Catholic Europe. It gave Philip II of Spain a further reason to attack England, helping to bring on the Armada of 1588.

Date the execution

Why Spain attacked

By 1588 relations with Catholic Spain had broken down. King Philip II sent a great fleet — the Armada — to invade England. The causes built up over years:

• Religion — Philip, a devout Catholic, wanted to overthrow Protestant Elizabeth (the Pope encouraged a "crusade").
• The execution of Mary (1587) removed a Catholic claimant and gave Philip a reason to act.
• The Netherlands — Elizabeth had sent English troops (from 1585) to help Dutch Protestant rebels against Spanish rule.
• Piracy — English "sea dogs" like Francis Drake had raided Spanish treasure ships and ports (Drake's raid on Cádiz in 1587 "singed the King of Spain's beard").

The defeat of the Armada

• The Armada of around 130 ships sailed up the English Channel in 1588.
• The English used faster, more manoeuvrable ships and better cannon. At Calais they sent in fireships, forcing the Armada to scatter.
• Storms — the so-called "Protestant wind" — wrecked many Spanish ships as they fled home around Scotland and Ireland.

Significance: the defeat of the Armada was a huge boost to English confidence and Protestant morale, and it strengthened Elizabeth's position. It did not end the war with Spain, which continued for years.

How the Armada failed

Person / event ↔ significance

Tap an item on the left, then tap its significance on the right.

Exploration and Sir Francis Drake

The Elizabethan age was one of daring voyages of exploration, driven by trade, the search for gold, and rivalry with Spain.

• Improvements in ship design and navigation made longer voyages possible.
• Sir Francis Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe (1577–80), returning laden with Spanish treasure. Elizabeth knighted him aboard his ship.
• Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored attempts to found a colony at Roanoke (Virginia) in the 1580s — though it ultimately failed.

Exploration brought wealth and prestige, but also worsened relations with Spain, since much of the "trade" was really piracy against Spanish shipping.

Poverty and the poor

Elizabethan England saw rising poverty, caused by a growing population, rising prices (inflation), enclosure of farmland, and unemployment.

• People distinguished between the "deserving" poor (unable to work — the old, sick, orphaned) and the "undeserving" poor or "sturdy beggars" (able-bodied but unemployed), who were treated harshly.
• Fear of vagabonds and beggars grew, and towns and parishes began organising relief.
• This led towards the Poor Laws — including the 1601 Poor Law, which made each parish responsible for its own poor (falling just after this period).

Attitudes were mixed: some blamed the poor for their own poverty, but there was a growing acceptance that the state and parishes had a duty to help the deserving poor.

Name the explorer

Education and leisure

Elizabethan society was strongly divided by class, and this shaped both education and pastimes:

• Education grew: grammar schools educated boys of the middling sort, teaching Latin and religion. The wealthy had tutors; universities (Oxford and Cambridge) trained the elite. Most girls and the poor had little formal schooling.
• Leisure reflected class: the rich enjoyed hunting, hawking, tennis and fencing; ordinary people enjoyed football, wrestling, and blood sports like bear-baiting and cockfighting.
• The theatre boomed — purpose-built playhouses like The Theatre and the Globe made playgoing hugely popular for all classes (though Puritans disapproved).

The flourishing of the theatre is a key sign of a confident, prosperous Elizabethan culture — this is the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe.

Head or Governor?

Timeline: 1558 → 1588

Put the events in order

Tap the events in the correct time order, from earliest to latest.

Answering the questions

Edexcel's British depth study on Elizabethan England tests specific skills:

• "Describe two features" — give two points and add detail to each (e.g. two features of the Religious Settlement).
• "Explain why…" — give reasons with supporting knowledge (e.g. why Mary, Queen of Scots was a threat).
• The 16-mark essay — a "How far…" judgement, usually with given prompts you can use or go beyond.

Exam tip: always support your points with precise facts — names (Cecil, Walsingham, Drake), dates (1559, 1587, 1588) and terms (recusant, Supreme Governor). Specific knowledge is what lifts your marks.

The spymaster

Date the Armada

The essentials to remember

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