What did clothing show about a person in Elizabethan England?

It advertised rank and wealth, with ruffs, farthingales, padded doublets and costly fabrics marking out the elite.

Who were the gentry, and why did they rise?

Landowners below the nobility who grew rich from farming, trade, office-holding and former monastery land, and who built fine houses and filled Parliament.

Did the new prosperity reach everyone?

No, the gentry, merchants and yeomen gained, while labourers met rising prices, bad harvests and deepening poverty.

AQA GCSE History 8145

America, 1840–1895: Expansion and ConsolidationPeriod study

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America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and InequalityPeriod study

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Topic overview The end of the Second World War The Iron Curtain and the evolution of East-West rivalry The significance of events in Asia for superpower relations Military rivalries: the arms race and the space race The ‘Thaw’The building of the Berlin Wall Tensions over Cuba Czechoslovakia and the Prague Spring Easing of tension

Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975Wider world depth

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Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918Wider world depth

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Topic overview The armistice The Versailles Settlement Impact of the treaty and wider settlement The League of Nations Diplomacy outside the League The collapse of the League The development of tension Escalation of tension The outbreak of war

Elizabethan England, c1568–1603British depth

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Elizabethan England, c1568–1603

A ‘Golden Age’

3 things to know
Paper 2 section B

Overview

Why the reign is called a Golden Age, the great rebuilding, fashion and the sumptuary laws, the rise of the gentry and who missed out on the prosperity, and the Elizabethan theatre, from Burbage's playhouse, Shakespeare and Marlowe to the groundlings and the Puritan and civic objections.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Why is Elizabeth's reign often called a Golden Age?

Key term

What was the great rebuilding of this period?

Key term

What were sumptuary laws?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Why is Elizabeth's reign often called a Golden Age?
Model answer
Because England had peace at home, growing wealth for landowners and merchants, and a flowering of drama, music and grand building.
2
What was the great rebuilding of this period?
Model answer
A wave of house improvement in which chimneys, glazed windows, upper floors and more private rooms spread among the wealthier classes.
3
What did clothing show about a person in Elizabethan England?
Model answer
It advertised rank and wealth, with ruffs, farthingales, padded doublets and costly fabrics marking out the elite.
4
What were sumptuary laws?
Model answer
Laws limiting which fabrics, furs and colours each rank could wear, so that dress matched a person's place in society.
5
Who were the gentry, and why did they rise?
Model answer
Landowners below the nobility who grew rich from farming, trade, office-holding and former monastery land, and who built fine houses and filled Parliament.
6
Did the new prosperity reach everyone?
Model answer
No, the gentry, merchants and yeomen gained, while labourers met rising prices, bad harvests and deepening poverty.

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America, 1840–1895: Expansion and Consolidation

America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and Inequality

Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972

Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975

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11 1918.

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ABlight destroyed the potato crop the poor lived on.

BThe Great Famine drove around a million people to emigrate.

CBritain was the nearest and cheapest place to go.

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James Burbage opened The Theatre at Shoreditch in 1576.

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