Edexcel GCSE History- Elizabethan Society in the age of Exploration

Education for the lower class

• lower class children were taught whatever they would need for work by their families at home

• they recieved no formal education

Education for Middle Class Boys

• Middle class boys attended private schools set up for “bright“ boys known as grammar schools

• fees were varied based on household income

• There was a focus on Latin and Classical writers of philosophy such as Plato

• Grammar schools had wings for merchants and craftsmen, where there was a greater focus on practical subjects

Education for Middle Class Girls

• Middle class girls attended dame schools

• education was focused on home making

• women were not expected to pick up trades or jobs

Education for Upper Class Boys

• Upper Class Boys learned a variety of subjects such as:

  • Greek, Latin, History, Philosophy, Government and Theology

• They were also taught sports such as

  • Wrestling, Horse Riding, Archery, Fnecing, Swimming

• after being educated at home for a while boys were sent to another noble household to finish education

Education for Upper Class Girls

• Upper Class Girls learned skills expected of upper class women, such as

  • Music, Dance, Needlework, and Archery

• Girls were tutored at home but separately from their brothers

• They were also sent to other households to finish their eductarion

Universities

• There were only two universities in England, Oxford, and Cambridge

• The two universities were the only type of higher education

Sport played by the Nobility and Gentry

• The middle and upper class played a range of sports including

  • Hunting (M+F)

  • Hawking (M+F)

  • Fishing (M+F)

  • Fencing (M)

  • Real Tennis (M)

Sport played by the Working Class

• football was a game for lower class men

• however the ruled differed extremeley from modern football,

  • the game was extremely violent,

  • there ws no standard pitch or team size

  • there was no rule against picking up the ball

Spectator sports

• Baiting

  • baiting was when a large animal like a bair was chained up with and had dogs released against it

  • was popular with all classes in elizabethan society

  • Special baiting arenas were built across london due to it’s popularity

• Cock-Fighting

  • Cockerels armed with metal spurs are sent to attack eachother

  • Baiting and cock-fighting were not approved of by all, mainly being opposed by puritans due to the events being on sundays

Literature

• Lots of new literature was written in elizabethan england

  • historical accounts, and accounts of voyages and discovery were very popular

  • The most popular forms of literature were poetry and plays

Theatre

• Initially the main type of plays were religious plays depicting the life and works of saints

• however after elizabeth had them banned out of fear of religious violence, Secular plays began to increase in popularity

• The increased popularity of plays led to purpose built theatres being constructed and many were built in London

• Plays were perforned by theatre companies funded by Nobles

Music

• Many people played instruments in the elizabethan era

• there were

  • spinets and harpsichords(similar to pianos)

  • Bagpipes and fidels (which were especially popular with the lower classes)

• Listening to performances was alsohugely popular, upper classes would hire musicians to play at home while the lower classes would go to festivals

Vagabonds

• Vagabonds were unemployed people who roamed the countryside begging or stealing

• They were seen as a problem because they were outside the social hierachy

Increased Poverty and Vagabondage

• poverty began to increase due to the increased prices of food but lower wages

• addirionally the cloth trade in england collapsed during the war with spain

Changing attitudes to the poor

• The Government decided to take action agaiust poverty and so introduced the oor rate

• The poor rate was a tax funded relief which was decided by local justices of peace

• ‘The deserving poor’ were people who were unable to work due to ilness or age

• ‘The undeserving poor‘ were people who just didnt work. they were imprisoned and sometimes whipped

Reasons for Exploration

• engage in new world trade

• beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade

  • triangular trade made merchants like john hawkins very rich

• Galleons

  • new galleons were more stable and moure manouvreable

• New navigation equipment

  • quadrats and astrolabes made navigation easier

Drake’s Circumnavigation

• Drakes voyage initally strted as a plan to raid spanish new world colonies but it led to him accidentally circumnavigate the globe

Significance of Drake’s Circumnavigation

• Morale Victory which gave english sailors a good reputation

• Brought lots of treasure back

• reports of great riches in the new world encouraged more voyages

• angered Phillip II

Reasons for attempt to colonise virginia

• The descriptions of the new world brought back by expeditions led people to believe there were great riches to be found

• therer were clear economic benefits

  • the natives would barter for cheap english goods

  • a colony could provide employment for many

Preparations for the Virginia Project

• Two native americans had been brought back from an earlier expedition and taught english

• Identified financial benefits such as employment and, revenue for the government.

• Recieved a ship and £400 worth of gunpower from Elizabeth I

Problems with the Expedition

• Raleigh was only able to find 107 male colonists and there were very few farmers

• The appointed expedition commander, Richard greenville did not get along with Ralph Lane, who was to be the Governor of Virginia

• Raleigh sent five ships but had all of the perishables placed onto one ship - The Tiger

• The colonists left too late to arrive before planting season

Significance of the Colonisation attempt

• Undermining Spain

  • Many hoped virginia could act as a forward base for attacking spanish colonies

• The roots of the British Empire

  • The roots of the british empire to come were developed in the Virginia colonisation attempts

1585 Roanoke Expedition

• On the voyage there the Tiger was damaged and many of the seeds were ruined

• The colonists arrived too late

• The leaders sent were often in conflict

• no women to do housekeepign jobs

• The colonists faced resistance

Preparations for the second Virginia expedition

• There were more people from lower classes who would work hard

• More women

• Overall more colonists

Roanoke - 1587

• The two leaders were well fit for the expedition

  • one was a native american and the other was someone from the virginia expedition

• Problems emerged with the indians after one of the leaders’ advisor was found dead

• A retaliatory attack was led however it was on the colonists allies by mistake

• White left to england in 1587 to update raleigh on the situation however when he returned the colony was abandoned and “croatoan“ was found carved on a post