England Notes

  • Background:

    • English Reformation incomplete for Protestants

      • Edward VI (1547-1553)

        • Book of Common Prayer → Thomas Cranmer

          • religious text solely for the Anglican Church

          • addition to the Bible to help interpret it

        • too young to have children = no male heir

        • dies young

    • Mary I: Blood Mary (1553-1558)

      • daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

      • marries Philip II of Spain

        • she flees England and goes to live in Spain

        • Philip II marries her because his heirs will rule England

          • Philip is repulsed by Mary

          • Mary is in love with Philip

      • devout Catholic

        • dedicated to make England Catholic again

          • persecutes Protestants

            • one of the first she prosecutes is Thomas Cranmer

            • many Protestants leave England and seek sanctuary

            • go to Calvinist cities

            • called Marian exiles

      • Mary begins showing signs of pregnancy

        • actually had stomach cancer

        • hysterical pregnancy

  • Elizabeth I:

    • daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

    • 1558-1603

    • “The Virgin Queen”

      • never marries

      • shrewd manipulation at court and in international diplomacy

      • Philip II wants to marry her

        • not for love

    • Elizabeth’s Domestic Policy

      • continued fighting between Protestants and Catholics

        • exiles come back to England

      • Elizabethan Compromise → 39 articles (1563)

        • Protestant theology

          • keeps some elements of Lutheranism

        • Catholic Hierarchy

          • keeps Priest, Bishop, Archbishop, etc.

        • moderate Protestants and Catholics happy

        • radicals are unhappy

          • Protestants

            • Puritans (Calvinists)

          • Radical Catholics

            • hope that because Elizabeth is not married she will marry a Catholic

            • rally to Mary Queen of Scots

              • clear line of succession to throne

              • Catholic

            • Babington plot

              • conspiracy theory to kill Elizabeth so Mary Queen of Scots will rule

              • treason → death

  • Foreign Policy:

    • Elizabeth defended Protestants after St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (domestic pressure)

      • going against Catholics

    • supported Dutch rebels in 1580s

      • essentially helping people who are against Spain

    = avoids confrontation with Philip with the possibility of marriage

    • sponsored privateer ships

    • expansion of English control in Ireland

    • conflict with Spain

      • resisted marriage to Philip II

      • tension over religion and politics

      • execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1587)

      • defeat of Spanish Armada (1588)

        • Elizabeth puts Francis Drake in charge of English Navy

          • he takes old merchant ships and fills them with gunpowder and explosives

          • “fireships” = floating bombs

            • causes Spanish ships to scatter and English Navy was able to take down each ship one by one

        • beginning of Spanish decline

        • from 1588-1945, England was the dominant naval power