Elizabeth AQA GCSE History

1553 - Edward VI died. At this point it was unlikely that Elizabeth would ever become king

1554 - Mary 1 became queen, and implicated extreme catholicism in the country. She lost Callais to france.

1556 - Flu outbreak killed 20,000 people

1558 - Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25 after her half sister, Mary 1’s death

1558 - MaryQS married King Francis II of France

1559 - Religious settlement - this was a kind of compromise between the catholic and protestant sides of English religion, and included two laws:

Act of uniformity - This made protestantism England’s official religion, and there was a new prayer book outlining rules for worship. It also kept some Catholic traditions to keep both sides happy. Recusants were fined for not attending the church on holy days. Also created the book of common prayer.

Act of supremacy - This put Elizabeth as the supreme governor of the church, as opposed to Henry VIII’s title, which had been the supreme head of the church. This kept catholics happy, as it didn’t assume absolute power, and allowed them to continue a certain devotion to the pope. However, denying Elizabeth’s position in the church was classed as treason. All clergy members had to swear loyalty to Elizabeth.

1558 to 1602 - Parliament called only 13 times. It was called only when Elizabrth wanted to ask for money

1560 - Francis II of France died, leaving MQS a widow

1560 - King Felipe II of spain proposed to Elizabeth, but she said no because of his desire to convert the protestant nation to catholicism and his tight relations with the pope

1564 - John Hawkins captured many west Africans, in what would become the european slave trade

1565 - MQS married her cousin, Lord Darnley

1566 - Felipe III of spain sent soldiers to the Netherlands to stop a protestant uprising which was being funded by Elizabeth

1567 - Lord Darnley died under suspicious circumstances. She married the Earl of Bothwell weeks later.

1568 - Spanish plunder was claimed in Portsmouth by the british. The spanish responded by arresting british merchants in the netherlands, and refusing british ships entry to Antwerp

1569 - Northern rebellion - Led by Northumberland and Westmorland (the Northern, Catholic Earls). Norfolk wanted to get with Elizabeth’s cousin, MQS, but she said no so he threw a nationwide temper tantrum. They had an illegal catholic mass in Durham. They had 4600 men. Elizabeth responded with 10000 men, led by the earl of Sussex and quickly squashed the rebellion. Northumberland was executed, Norfolk imprisoned, and protestant control was tightened in the north, led by Henry Hastings.

1570 - Pope Pius V issued a papal bull - this made Elizabeth more vulnerable to attacks from Catholic sympathisers and gave Catholics permission to openly denounce and disobey her.

1571 - Walter Strickland challenged Elizabeth, wanting to reform the prayer book to make it more puritan, and he wanted to ban the wearing of vestments by the clergy. In response, Elizabeth closed parliament.

1571 - Ridolfi plot - Led by Italian banker Ridolfi who was also involved in the Northern rebellion. He was a papal agent. Also involved were Pope pius V, King Felipe II of Spain, the Spanish ambassador to England, and Norfolk. They wanted to kill Elizabeth and replace her with MQS, who was to marry Norfolk. MQS’s letters were intercepted and Norrfolk was executed, while relations with Spain and the Vatican were further damaged.

1572 - Poor law allowed officials to raise money from the public to help the poor. This was the first step towards taxation for the aid of those unable to support themselves.

1576 - Act for setting the poor to work made local authorities responsible for poverty in their area of governance

1576 - Peter Wentworth, a puritan MP spoke up about freedom of speech infringements due to Elizabeth’s treatment of parliament. He was sent to the tower of london

1575 to 83 - Puritan Clergy started organising prophesyings, with a looser approach to prayer. They also discussed pamphlets and dislike of the queen. Elizabeth ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal to disband them, but he refused, so she suspended him and told him to resign, she also fired over 200 Puritan clergy members. Grindal was later reinstated.

1577 to 1580 - Drake’s circumnavigation of the Globe - This made him the first Englishman to perform such a feat. Along the way he attacked many Spanish ports in the Americas and brought back a lot of treasure; a large chunk of which was given to Elizabeth. He had 5 ships, and 164 men. He set out from Plymouth, before travelling the north coast of Africa to Cape Verde. From here he crossed the pacific ocean to Brazil, and travelled down the coast of South America. He wintered in Puerto San Julian, where Magellan, the first man to circumnavigate the globe, had wintered, 58 years before. He then moved on, and passed through the Magellan straight to the Pacific ocean, where he was met with hurricanes and stormy seas. These reduced his ships to just his, the Golden hinde. He landed on Mocha island in an attempt to barter for supplies, but was attacked by the native people, who mistook him for the hated spanish. He had then arrived at the undefended spanish pacific coast. He attacked Valparaiso, taking gold and wine; then Arica, taking Silver; before finally going to El Callalo. He then chased the ship la concepción further up the coast, capturing many valuable items, and raided the Mexican town of huatulco. He sailed up the east coast of America, hoping to find a northwest passage, and safe return back to England, but was unsuccessful. Instead he set up a colony in now california, called Nova Albion. After that they knew they could only return home across the pacific, as the Spanish would now be on high alert. They landed at Palau, and went onto the Philippines, trading for spices. It was here that they became stuck on a reef, beyond sight of land. They threw over some cargo, and prayed. After 20 hours thay were lifted off of the reef. They returned home in 1580.

1579 - Elizabeth began to support dutch protestant rebels in the netherlands, worsening relations with spain. This was lead by the Duke of Anjou

1581 - Act to retain the queen’s subjects in their due obedience - The fine for not attending church increased drastically, and anyone found to have converted someone else to Catholicism was guilty of treason.

1583 - John Stubbs wrote a pamphlet criticising marriage negotiations with the Duke of anjou. He was found guilty of stirring up trouble and they made his hand a stub.

1583 - Throckmorton Plot - This was Spain’s second attempt to seize England as they wanted to kill Elizabeth and replace her with MQS. The plan was that the English catholics would rebel, followed by military backup from france. It was led by Throckmorton and funded by Pope Pius V and Felipe II of spain. It was revealed by Walsingham, who then partnered with Cecil to form the bond of association, which was committed to hunting down and executing those who wanted to kill the queen and was signed by the nobles and the court. Throckmorton was also executed.

1585 - Treaty of Nonsuch - This was Elizabeth’s promise to provide Dutch protestants with military support. This was important, because Elizabeth relied on the Dutch for the wool trade.

1585 - Dudley led 7,000 troops after William of Orange’s death , and became Governor - General of the Netherlands, implying that the English ruled the Netherlands. This angered spain

1586 - Babington Plot - Led by rich Catholic Babington, who sent coded messages to MQS, with the intention of killing Elizabeth to put MQS on the throne. It was discovered by Walsingham and led to the execution of both Babington and MQS.

1587 - Dudley lost the war in the Netherlands

1587 - MQS execution - Because of the undeniable evidence presented through the discovery of the Babington plot, MQS was proven to be directly involved in a plot to assassinate and replace Elizabeth. From this point, the privy council pressured Elizabeth to execute MQS. The positives of this were that she could no longer be involved in any more plots and could not be a catholic figurehead. On the other hand, her death would transform her into a marty, making her an even more powerful figure and catholic uproar. In the end, when Elizabeth did sign MQS’s death warrant, she claimed it had been a trick, and denied responsibility.

1587 - Drake and Devereux raided Cadiz. This harmed the building of the Spanish armada, weakening them for the coming battle.

1588 - Spanish armada: May to July: They left spain in may, but due to bad weather they did not reach the british channel until July.6th August: The Spanish were anchored on the coast of The Netherlands for many days, waiting for the duke of Parma. Here they could not anchor safely, so Francis Drake commanded an attack and sent 8 fireships into the spanish fleet.8th August: Battle of Gravelines - Firing from 100m away, they damaged many Spanish ships, so the Duke of Medina Sodonia decided to turn around and go home. This corresponded with a storm, which wrecked many of them.

1590 - By this point, most accepted the church of England

1593 - Devereux became a privy Councillor - This lead to a court divide between the Cecils (William Cecil - the older; and Robert Cecil - The younger)

1594-1598 - Bad harvest caused widespread poverty and famine

1596 - Devereux successfully raided Cadiz - This was an incredible feat and was later attempted again with astonishing failure. Because of Devereux’s success, he felt that he was entitled to good treatment and idolisation in the court.

1599 - Devereux visited Ireland - He was sent there to squash the Irish rebellion led by the earl of Tyrone as the Lord Lieutenant. Instead, he made peace with the earl, and on his return to England lost all authority in court to Ceclil

1599 - Globe theatre built

1600 - East India company formed. They had a monopoly of trading for Asia

1600 - Devereux returned from Ireland - For his failure in Ireland, he was banned from court, and had his monopoly in sweet wines removed. He lost his temper in court, and was hit by the queen. He had to be restrained by his fellow courtiers and placed under house arrest.

1601 - Essex rebellion - Devereux had a small group (a few hundred supporters) which he used to rebel against Elizabeth. He attempted to rally the people of London against her, but failed. He took four privy councillors hostage, before finally being arrested and executed.

1601 - Poor law round 2 - Taxes were implemented on the rich to pay for those living in poverty. The poor were divided into 2 categories: The deserving poor - were too sick, old, or disabled to work, they were provided with alms. The Idle poor - they were able to work, but instead became beggars, and were sent to the house of correction.

1603 - Elizabeth I died, bringing the Elizabethan era to a close

1642 - Globe theatre shut down due to puritan unrest