Elizabeth I & Her Court Flashcards
All 17 cards in this deck
Who was William Cecil?
Elizabeth's chief minister: Secretary of State, then Lord Treasurer from 1572 (made Lord Burghley in 1571).
Why did some English Catholics regard Elizabeth as illegitimate?
They did not recognise Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn as legal.
Who was Sir Francis Walsingham?
Elizabeth's Secretary of State and spymaster, who ran a network of spies and informers and intercepted coded letters, uncovering the Babington Plot.
Who were Elizabeth I's parents, and when did she become queen?
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; she became queen in 1558.
What was patronage in Elizabethan England?
The granting of titles, jobs, land and privileges (such as monopolies) in return for loyalty and support.
True or false? The Elizabethan Court was a single fixed place, Whitehall Palace.
False. The Court was wherever the Queen was living, so it moved with her between palaces such as Windsor and Hampton Court, and went on progress to nobles' houses each summer.
Who was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester?
Elizabeth's closest favourite and a leading Privy Councillor, made Earl of Leicester in 1564.
True or false? When Elizabeth went on progress and stayed at a noble's house, the Queen paid for the visit.
False. The host noble paid: a royal visit was an honour but an immense expense.
Who was Sir Christopher Hatton?
A courtier from a gentry family who rose through Elizabeth's favour to be Captain of her bodyguard, a Privy Councillor and, from 1587, Lord Chancellor. A moderate Protestant hostile to the Puritans; he died in 1591.
What was the Privy Council?
The small group of leading advisers the Queen chose (about 19 at first, fewer later) who met almost daily to advise her and run the government, sending orders to Lord Lieutenants and JPs. Elizabeth was free to ignore their advice.
Give one reason Elizabeth went on progress.
Any one: it let ordinary people see her and built their loyalty; it honoured the nobles who hosted her; the hosts paid, which saved her money; it moved the Court away from London in the plague season.
How did Elizabeth use 'divide and rule' with her councillors?
She deliberately kept rival factions on the Council, such as the cautious William Cecil and the more aggressive, Puritan-leaning Robert Dudley, so that she heard competing advice, they competed for her favour, and the final decision stayed hers.
Who was Robert Cecil?
William Cecil's son, trained in government by his father and Walsingham. He joined the Privy Council in 1591, became Secretary of State in 1596 and was the dominant minister after his father died in 1598, the great rival of Essex.
Who was Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex?
Robert Dudley's stepson and Elizabeth's leading favourite in the 1590s: a dashing soldier, famous for the capture of Cadiz in 1596, who became a Privy Councillor in 1593. He was proud and quick-tempered, and Robert Cecil's bitter rival.
What kind of education did Elizabeth receive?
An exceptional one for a woman of her time. Taught by humanist scholars, above all Roger Ascham, she became a gifted linguist, at home in Latin and several modern languages and able to read Greek.
What happened to Elizabeth after Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554?
Suspected of backing the rising against her sister Mary I, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London for about two months and then kept under house arrest at Woodstock.
What was a monopoly in Elizabethan England?
The sole right, granted by the Crown, to make, sell or import a particular product, such as salt or playing cards. Monopolies rewarded courtiers at no cost to the Crown but pushed up prices.