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Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88

The situation on Elizabeth’s accession

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 booklet B

Overview

The ranks of rural society, the Privy Council, Parliament and Justices of the Peace, doubts about Elizabeth's legitimacy and sex, the marriage question, her strengths, Crown debt, religious division and the French threat.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How was rural society ranked below the monarch in 1558?

Key term

What was the Privy Council and who decided who sat on it?

Key term

What could Parliament do under Elizabeth, and what could it not?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How was rural society ranked below the monarch in 1558?

    Model answer

    Nobility at the top, then gentry, then yeomen and tenant farmers, and at the bottom landless labourers and the homeless.

  2. 2

    What was the Privy Council and who decided who sat on it?

    Model answer

    It was the small group of senior advisers who ran government day to day, and Elizabeth chose and dismissed its members herself.

  3. 3

    What could Parliament do under Elizabeth, and what could it not?

    Model answer

    It could pass laws and grant taxes, but it met only when the Queen summoned it and debated only what she permitted.

  4. 4

    What work did Justices of the Peace do in the counties?

    Model answer

    They were unpaid local gentry who kept order, tried lesser offences and made sure royal orders were carried out.

  5. 5

    Why did some people question Elizabeth’s right to rule?

    Model answer

    Her father’s marriage to Anne Boleyn had never been recognised by the Catholic Church, so Catholics regarded her as illegitimate.

  6. 6

    Why did the new Queen’s sex worry many of her subjects?

    Model answer

    Many believed a woman could not lead an army or govern alone, and the previous reign had done little to change their minds.

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AThe huge loss of life left England short of workers.
BForeign craftsmen and labourers were wanted.
CCompetition for work also bred resentment.

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