ElizabethSettlement and More

Steven van der MeulenHampden Portrait, 1563

Issues

• Succession

• Religious Settlement

• Economy – Debt

• Foreign relations

– Spain, Holy Roman Empire

– France

– Scotland

The TudorsHenry VII

Henry VIII

Edward VI

Mary I

Elizabeth I

Margaret

James V

MaryQueen of Scots

Mary

Frances Brandon Grey

Jane

Catherine

Mary

'It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass’ James V

A representative balance sheet, 1558Gregory Isham, cloth merchant

Assets (£12,486)Liabilities (£8,796)

Foreign Debt

Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church

• Sought outward submission and obedience rather than inward conviction.

• Heresy was loyalty to the pope and not the Queen

• Concern about diplomatic relations with Catholic and Protestant states

Supremacy: Effects to 1570

• Bishops imprisoned in 1559 released from Tower during plague

• Bishop Bonner of London (d. 1569) refuses oath twice on technicalities and is imprisoned for life in Marshalsea

• Bishop Watson of Lincoln (d. 1584) was kept in the custody of other bishops or in prison as a result of continuing activities

Supremacy: Effects to 1570

• Bishop Cuthbert Scott, Chester (d. 1565), escapes in 1563 to the Continent

• Archbishop Nicholas Heath, York, retires

1566 Vestments Controversy

• Surplice (a white wide-sleeved gown worn to officiate in church services)

• Square cap (worn outdoors by ministers)

Other controversial practices

Opposed by Puritans

• Kneeling to receive communion

• Making the sign of the cross in baptism

• Bowing at the name of "Jesus"

• Using the wedding-ring in marriage services

• Church bells

Vestments Controversy

• Establishment including Archbishop Parker pushed by Elizabeth to continue use of traditional vestments: surplice and hat

• Nonconformists refuse with open defiance (Crowley)

• War of pamphlets

• Punishment of removal from office for many clergy who had gone into exile during Mary’s reign

Catholic Continuation

• Altars, holy water, images, rosary, signs of the cross remained in many churches for over a decade.

• Some clergy made Prayer Book Services like masses

• Catholics were, at first, advised to attend Anglican services as a demonstration of loyalty

Recusants

• Prosecution and persecution after 1570

• Included tradesmen and their wives

Vestments

• Arguments from need for authority

• Arguments for effect on population

• Connection of vestments with Catholic beliefs and practices

• Protestant use of vestments could play a key role in the conversion of English Catholics

Vestments Controversy

Sumptuary Laws

Restrictions on

• Cloth of gold

• Velvet depending on color

• Imports

• Silk

• Amount of cloth

• Cost

Sumptuary Laws

Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, Master of the Armoury, 1568Single ruff

Double ruff

African Trade

1555 John Lok, son of London mercer

– Returned from Guinea with more than 400 pounds of gold, Guinea pepper, 250 elephants’ tusks and an elephant’s skull

– Brought back five Africans to be taught English and returned as translators

1557 William Towerson of Plymouth brought back gold and Africans to be exhibited

John Hawkins

• Plymouth merchant family

• Canaries connection, trading textiles for sugar

– Used this to get warehouses and pilots for African voyages

Triangle Slave Trade

1562-3

• Obtained ~300 slaves in Sierra Leone

• Traded in Spanish West Indies for hide, ginger, sugar and pearls

• Sold these in England

Royal Support

1564

• Some Privy Councilors support

• Jesus of Lubeck obtained from Queen Elizabeth

• Went along African coast and up some rivers

• Obtained slaves by capture, trade with African slave owners and piracy of Portuguese ships

Recognition

• Knighthood

• Support for 3rd voyage which runs into Spanish opposition

• Participation of Hawkins’ protégé, Francis Drake

Elizabethan ChristmasGood husband and huswife, now chiefly be glad,Things handsome to have, as they ought to be had.They both do provide, against Christmas do come,To welcome their neighbors, good cheer to have some.Good bread and good drink, a good fire in the hall,Brawn, pudding, and souse, and good mustard withal.Beef, mutton, and pork, and good pies of the best,Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well drest,Cheese, apples and nuts, and good carols to hear,As then in the country is counted good cheer.What cost to good husband, is any of this?Good household provision only it is:

Thomas Tusser, 500 Points of Husbandry, 1573

Elizabethan Christmas

• Twelfth Cake

• Christmas mince pies, plum pottage and brawn

• Masques in higher circles

• King and Queen of the Bean

• Wassailing - toast to the fruit trees

• ‘Lambswool’

• Decking of churches with holly and ivy