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Government, Rebellion and Society in Wales and England c.1485-1603

Elizabeth, the privy council and Parliament

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Two leading figures on Elizabeth's council besides Cecil, parliament's principal function in Elizabeth's reign and royal prerogative.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Name two leading figures on Elizabeth's council besides Cecil.

Key term

Why did Parliament press Elizabeth on the succession?

Key term

How did Elizabeth respond to Parliament raising the succession?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How large was Elizabeth's Privy Council, and why did she keep it so?

    Model answer

    She reduced it to around nineteen and later to about eleven, so that it was manageable and less faction-ridden than her sister's.

  2. 2

    Name two leading figures on Elizabeth's council besides Cecil.

    Model answer

    Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham, with Robert Cecil later succeeding his father.

  3. 3

    What was the principal source of tension between Elizabeth and her council in the 1560s?

    Model answer

    Her refusal to marry or to name a successor, which her councillors regarded as leaving the realm dangerously exposed.

  4. 4

    Why did Parliament press Elizabeth on the succession?

    Model answer

    Without an heir a disputed succession threatened civil war and the return of Catholicism, particularly while Mary, Queen of Scots lived.

  5. 5

    How did Elizabeth respond to Parliament raising the succession?

    Model answer

    She forbade discussion of it as a matter of her prerogative, dissolved or prorogued Parliament when pressed, and imprisoned the most persistent members.

  6. 6

    How many times did Elizabeth summon Parliament, and how often did it sit?

    Model answer

    Ten Parliaments, meeting in thirteen sessions across forty-four years and sitting for only about three years in total.

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1642, at .
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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
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Wilhelm II succeeded in 1888 and dismissed Bismarck in 1890.
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