Challenges at Home & Abroad Flashcards
All 32 cards in this deck
What was the Revolt of the Northern Earls, 1569–70?
A rebellion by the Catholic Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland that aimed to depose Elizabeth and crown Mary, Queen of Scots.
Give one significance of the Revolt of the Northern Earls, 1569–70.
It raised the profile of, and increased, open Catholic opposition to Elizabeth.
What was the Ridolfi Plot (1571)?
A plot by the Italian banker Roberto Ridolfi to murder Elizabeth, land Spanish troops from the Netherlands, and marry Mary, Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk so she could take the throne.
What was the Throckmorton Plot (1583)?
Francis Throckmorton's plan for a French invasion led by the Duke of Guise, with funds from Spain and the Pope, to free Mary, Queen of Scots and make her queen.
What was the Babington Plot (1586)?
A plan by Anthony Babington to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, supported by the Pope and Philip II.
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.
Give one reason Mary, Queen of Scots was executed in 1587.
Walsingham's evidence from the Babington Plot letters implicated her in a plan to assassinate Elizabeth.
Give one significance of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587.
It removed the figurehead of Catholic plotting in England, but angered Catholic Europe and helped persuade Philip II to launch the Armada.
What did the papal bull of 1570 do?
It excommunicated Elizabeth, calling her the 'pretended queen', which encouraged English Catholics to flout the religious settlement and increased the risk of foreign invasion.
How did John Hawkins's voyages worsen commercial relations with Spain?
He traded illegally with Spain's New World colonies, threatening Spanish power there, and Elizabeth did nothing to stop him.
What was the Treaty of Joinville (1584)?
An alliance between Philip II of Spain and the French Catholic League, led by the Duke of Guise, which raised fears of Spain and France uniting against England.
What was a privateer in Elizabethan England?
A sailor licensed by the crown to attack and rob foreign ships; Drake's raids on Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean stole vast amounts of treasure and angered Spain.
True or false? Elizabeth had no connection with Drake's privateering raids on Spanish shipping.
False. The Spanish suspected she supported his raids, and she shared in the treasure he brought back.
What was the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585)?
An agreement between Elizabeth and the Dutch Protestant rebels in which she promised to send troops and money against Spain.
What did Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, do in the Netherlands from 1585?
He led English troops there, stopped the Spanish capturing the deep-water port of Flushing, and accepted the title of Governor-General, which angered Elizabeth and Spain.
Give one reason Elizabeth intervened directly in the Netherlands in 1585.
To stop Spain gaining full control of Dutch ports, which could be used to launch an invasion of England.
What was the raid on Cadiz (1587), known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'?
Drake's attack on the Spanish naval base at Cadiz, destroying ships and supplies, which delayed the Armada by a year and left it short of provisions.
What was Philip II's invasion plan for the Spanish Armada of 1588?
The Armada, led by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, would sail up the Channel to the Netherlands, collect the Duke of Parma's army and invade England.
What did the English fleet do when the Armada anchored off Calais in 1588?
They sent fire ships into the Spanish fleet, breaking its crescent formation, and then attacked at the Battle of Gravelines.
Give one English naval advantage that helped defeat the Spanish Armada.
English ships were more manoeuvrable in the Channel and had superior long-range artillery.
Give one reason for the Armada's defeat that was not English tactics.
The wind blew the fleet north past Parma's army, and storms off Scotland and Ireland wrecked many of its ships.
True or false? The Spanish had failed to capture a deep-water port before launching the Armada.
True. This meant their ships could not dock close enough to collect Parma's army.
Give one political reason the Northern Earls rebelled in 1569.
They resented losing power at court to Elizabeth's Protestant favourites, such as William Cecil and Robert Dudley.
Why did Elizabeth's seizure of the Genoese loan (1568) anger Spain?
Spanish ships carrying money borrowed from Genoese bankers to pay Alba's army in the Netherlands took refuge in English ports, and Elizabeth kept the money. Spain lost funds for its troops and hit back by seizing English goods.
What was the Council of Troubles (the 'Council of Blood') in the Netherlands?
A tribunal set up in 1567 during the Duke of Alba's harsh campaign to crush Protestantism and rebellion. It executed many Dutch Protestants, so Elizabeth's councillors saw Spain as a threat to England.
Roughly how much Spanish silver did Drake seize in his raids around Panama in 1572–73?
About £40,000, a huge loss that angered Philip II.
Why did Elizabeth knighting Drake in 1581 worsen relations with Spain?
She knighted him aboard the Golden Hind after he had plundered Spanish ships and ports, so Philip II saw it as open royal approval of piracy against Spain.
Why did the assassination of William of Orange (1584) matter to Elizabeth?
The Dutch rebels lost their leader just as the Duke of Parma was winning back the Netherlands, so the revolt looked likely to collapse without direct English help.
How large an army did England agree to pay for under the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585)?
About 7,400 soldiers, commanded by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
Give one reason Leicester's campaign in the Netherlands (1585–88) achieved little.
Elizabeth still wanted a deal with Philip II and avoided open war, so she starved Leicester of men and money. He could only harass Parma's forces, not defeat them.
Where in England was Parma's army meant to land in 1588?
In Kent, after being ferried across from the Netherlands, before marching on London.
Why could English ships fire faster than Spanish ships in 1588?
English guns sat on smaller, compact carriages that were easier to haul back and reload, so they fired far more often than the Spanish guns.