Elizabethan England c1568–1603: overview

This British depth study examines one of the most celebrated periods in English history: the reign of Queen Elizabeth I from 1568 to her death in 1603. Students are expected to understand politics, society, culture, and religion, and to analyse a specific historic environment through sources.

The four topic areas

1. Elizabeth's court and Parliament (H4.1)

Elizabeth ruled through personal monarchy: decisions, ministers, and patronage all controlled by the Queen. The Privy Council advised; Parliament met infrequently. She maintained authority through patronage, royal progresses, and the cult of Gloriana (propaganda as the "Virgin Queen"). Key advisers: Robert Cecil, William Burghley, Francis Walsingham.

2. Life in Elizabethan times (H4.2)

Hierarchical society: monarch → nobility → gentry → yeomanry → peasantry. The gentry were the most dynamic class. Hardwick Hall exemplifies gentry prosperity. The Poor Law 1601 established national poor relief. Grammar schools expanded; the Globe Theatre opened (1599); Drake and Raleigh explored and privateered.

3. Troubles at home and abroad (H4.3)

Elizabeth faced religious, dynastic, and foreign threats:

• Religious settlement 1559: Act of Supremacy + Act of Uniformity — a Protestant-Catholic compromise.
• Mary Queen of Scots (1568–1587): Catholic rival, centre of plots, executed February 1587.
• Spanish Armada (1588): defeated by fireships and storms. Tilbury Speech: "heart and stomach of a king."
• Ireland: Tyrone Rebellion 1594–1603; Essex failed; Mountjoy suppressed it just before Elizabeth's death.

4. The historic environment (H4.4)

AQA requires detailed knowledge of one specific site — in recent series, Hardwick Hall or the Globe Theatre. Students must be able to: identify the site's historical context; analyse specific features from sources; make inferences about Elizabethan society while acknowledging the limits of sources.

Key skills examined

• Source analysis: provenance; inference; limits.
• Interpretation questions: "how far do you agree with [historical claim]?"
• Knowledge and understanding: specific events, dates, and their significance.

Key vocabulary

Privy Council; patronage; cult of Gloriana; royal progress; religious settlement; recusancy; Mary Queen of Scots; Babington Plot; Spanish Armada; Tilbury Speech; Poor Law 1601; grammar schools; gentry; Hardwick Hall; Globe Theatre; divine right.