Why did Catholic opposition grow after 1580?

The Catholic Church tried to rebuild the Catholic faith in England – Catholic missionaries and Priests were trained in Europe and sent to England in secret to keep the Catholic faith alive.

Elizabeth was excommunicated (expelled from the Church) by the Pope in 1570. The Pope said that the people did not have to remain loyal to Elizabeth.

The presence of Mary Queen of Scots (Elizabeth's cousin) gave Elizabeth a problem as she became the focus of Catholic hopes of an England returned to the Catholic faith.

As a result, more Catholics (the rich ones who could afford the fines) started to disobey the rules and refused to attend Church

Elizabeth’s response to Catholic opposition—Recusants

Act of Persuasions 1581: raised the recusancy fines by 1 0, 000% this meant that only very rich Catholic could afford to pay them.

Act against Priests 1585: People who offered help, shelter or aid to Catholic Priests could face the death penalty.

Margert Clitherow’s execution 1586: First female Catholic martyr. She was tortured and killed for sheltering Priests.

Recusancy Act 1587: 2/3rds of the land owned by a recusant was taken away. Even wealthy Catholics were now forced into debt.

Act Restraining Recusants 1593: Catholics were forced to stay within 5 miles of their homes and banned from large gatherings.

Why did the Catholic threat fade after 1588?

Wrong place: Catholic priests focused their effort around the south east and London, but Catholic support was strongest in the North-West.

Wrong people: Catholic priests focused on the wealthy and gentry. Most people in Elizabethan England were from the lower class/poor.

Too few: Not enough priests were sent to England – Walsingham's spy net-work was effective

Too divided: Seminary and Jesuit Priests argued over tactics. The Pope appointed an Archpriest to organise but they argued about him as well.

Case Study: The execution of Edmund Campion 1580

Edmund Campion was the first Jesuit Priest to arrive in 1580. He was discovered hid-ing in a priest hole.

Campion claimed to be loyal to Elizabeth and just disagreed with her about religion.

He was tortured, hung drawn and quartered as a traitor.

Consequences of Campion’s execution

Catholic opposition increased – even more priests came to England.

Catholics published propaganda showing images exposing the cruel treatment of Catho-lics by Elizabeth's government.

The Bloody Question was introduced in 1585.

The execution of Priests increased significantly in 1588 when England was threatened by Spanish Invasion.

Catholic Opposition and Elizabeth’s Anti-Catholic Laws 1580-1603

The Impact of Jesuit and Seminary Priests

By 1580, there were around 100 Catholic priests from Europe.

Catholic Priests stayed at the country houses of the wealthy. In fear of the houses being searched, there were hiding spaces behind walls or under floorboards called ‘Priest holes’.

The most famous designer of ‘priest holes’ was Nicholas Owen. It is claimed that he saved hundreds of priests from arrest and death.

The priests were successful in influencing many wealthy people to stay Catholic.

Elizabeth responded by ordering JP’s to search

Throckmorton plot 1583

In 1583, the Pope, Philip II of Spain and a French Catholic army de-vised a plan with Francis Throckmorton, to place Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne.

Walsingham's spies uncovered the plot, Throckmorton was arrested and executed, but Mary was spared because they could not prove her involvement.

Elizabeth's government introduced the ‘Bond of Association’ – this meant that anyone who plotted or gained from a plot to kill Elizabeth could be executed.

The Babington Plot 1586

In 1586, Anthony Babington communicated with Mary Queen of Scots, using coded messages, about a plot to kill Elizabeth.

However, they were both unaware that the messages were being de-coded by Walsingham's spies. This was enough evidence to prove Mary’s guilt.

Mary was put on trial, found guilty of treason and executed on Febru-ary 8th 1587.

Elizabeth had signed the death warrant, but did not want it made offi-cial. She was furious when her privy council had gone ahead with exe-cution without her permission.

Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots 1587

Mary was put on trial. She skilfully fought her own case, arguing that:

God made her Queen and no court could try her.

No original message existed (may have been forged)

Babington and others had confessed her involvement under torture (unreliable evidence)

Despite her best effort, Mary was found guilty and sentences to death by execution

Catholic threats from abroad: Mary Queen of Scots

Causes of the war with Spain

1. Elizabeth I had refused to marry Philip II of Spain at the start of her reign.

2. Throughout the 1570s, English sailors such as Drake and Hawkins acted like pirates,

attacking Spanish ports and ships in the New World.

3. Spain ruled the Netherlands and Philip II was angry when Elizabeth sent money to aid

Protestant Dutch rebels there in the 1570s.

4. Philip II was a deeply religious Catholic and in 1580, when Pope Gregory said that it would

not be a sin to kill Elizabeth, Philip started to support plotters who wanted to replace her

with Mary Queen of Scots.

5. Philip II was outraged when Mary Queen of Scots (a Catholic) was executed on Elizabeth’s

(a Protestant) orders.

6. Drake led an expedition to raid the port of Cadiz in 1587 and looted Spanish gold and de-

stroyed many Spanish ships in the process.

The Anglo-Spanish war begins, 1585

In 1584, a Catholic subject of Philip II shot and killed the leader of the Dutch Protestant

rebels, Prince William of Orange. The murder shocked Elizabeth. She knew the same

could happen to her.

In 1585, Elizabeth signed a treaty with the Dutch rebels and sent the Earl of Leicester with

an army of 7,000 men to fight against the Spanish in the Netherlands. England and Spain

were at war.

Despite Leicester's poor leadership, the English troops did stop Spanish advances in the

Netherlands. At the same time, Francis Drake sailed to the West Indies and attacked

Spanish ports there and returned with treasure from Spanish ships.

What happened to the Spanish Armada?

1. Philip put the Duke of Medina Sidonia in charge of the Armada, but he had little experi-

ence of sailing.

2. The Armada of 130 ships sailed up the English Channel chased by English ships. It waited

at Calais for the Duke of Parma's army.

3. Dutch ships blocked the Duke of Parma's army in the Netherlands stopping it from joining

up with the Armada.

4. The English set fire to some old ships and let them drift into the Armada as fire ships. The

Spanish panicked, cut their anchors and sailed north.

5. Near Gravelines, the English ships attacked the Spanish. One Spanish ship sank. 1,000

Spanish men died and only 50 English were killed.

6. The Armada was driven north by the winds and headed back to Spain by sailing north

around Scotland.

7. Powerful storms wrecked about 44 Spanish ships off Scotland and Ireland. About 80 ships

eventually struggled back to Spain.

Defeat and Consequences

In the end, Philip's army failed to land in England. His Armada was defeated by a mixture

of bad planning, bad luck and skilful tactics from the English sailors and their Dutch allies.

The defeat of the 1588 Armada did not end England's war with Spain. It dragged on until

1604, a year after Elizabeth died. Here are some of the main events of those years.

1589- Francis Drake led an 'English Armada' to attack Portugal and stir the Portuguese to revolt

against Spain. It was an expensive failure .

1595- Francis Drake and John Hawkins died at sea while attempting to raid Spanish ships and

ports in the New World.

1596- The Earl of Essex led a successful raid on the Spanish port of Cadiz.

1596 and 1597- Philip II sent Spain's second and third Armadas against England- but both were

wrecked by storms.

1601 -A Spanish army landed in Ireland . The Earl of Tyrone had started a Catholic rebellion

against English rule The Spanish force was defeated.

1604- One year after Elizabeth's death, the war with Spain was ended by the Treaty of London. It

had lasted almost twenty years.

Elizabeth vs Catholic Spain 1580-1603

Summary of Daily Lives of Elizabethan England

Elizabethan society was hierarchical.

At the top there was those who owned the land – Nobil-

ity/Gentry

At the bottom were those who worked on the land – the

vast majority.

Living standards depends on where you were in this

hierarchy.

The rich became richer during Elizabeth’s reign and the

number of poor people increased.

People could move up the hierarchy by developing skills

such as craftsman or traders (known as the ‘middling

sort’), earning money and purchasing land.

The Gentry

Jobs, Power and Wealth: The Gentry owned land – this is what

made them wealthy. They only made up 2% of the total popula-

tion but owned 50% of all the land. The Gentry often had politi-

cal power either as JPs or MPs to enforce the Queen’s rules and

help her govern.

Homes: To display their wealth and power, they built magnifi-

cent country houses – They had lots of large rooms for feasting

and dancing as well as glass windows, tall decorated chimneys,

fireplaces and decorations.

Food: The rich ate very well – Had a rich and varied diet which

separated them from the common people. A feast could in-

clude: beef, pork, venison, goose, swan, pheasant and range of

small birds. Drank quality wine imported from France and Italy.

The Middling Sort

Homes: Houses of the Middling sort had between 5 and 10

rooms The parlour was a large bedroom with a feather

mattress and linen sheets. Children and servants slept upstairs.

Chimney, ceiling and Glass windows were common.

Jobs and Power: Tradesmen and craftsmen who owned their

own businesses. Poorer than merchants, but more wealthy

than the labourers.

Yeoman farmers and Husbandman who farmed the land they

owned or rented. Nowhere near as wealthy as the gentry by

more comfortable than the labouring poor.

Food: The middling sort ate well but there was no ceremony

like in the Gentry home. They had some meat (beef, mutton

and pork) reared on their own land. Bread was important part

of their diet. They drank beer and mead as wine was too ex-

pensive.

The Labouring Poor

Homes: Homes were generally small (2 rooms) – no glass win-

dows or chimney. Some labourers had some land but most just

had garden plots. Poor labourers would build houses on waste

land.

Food: Their diet was limited. Bread was the main part of their

diet. Pottage, a thick soup, made up of veg and water, was a

usual meal. Bad harvests in 1594, 1595 and 1596 meant many

labouring poor starved to death.

Jobs and Wealth: They went between farms to look for work.

The Labouring poor generally struggled to make a living be-

cause most did not have regular work. At harvest time it was

busy, but other times it was difficult to afford food and fuel.

Bad harvests in 1594, 1595 and 1596 meant many labouring

poor starved to death.

In the late 16th century the problem of poverty was far worse than it had every been before. A

large growing proportion of the population lived in constant fear of falling into poverty. Many

of these people were working poor.

Vagrant poor:

Moved from place to place to find work

Usually unmarried men and women

Some families

Many died in winter as they had nowhere to stay at night

Settled poor

Made up 30% of urban population

Many did not survive to adulthood

Lots of women and children, as fathers left or died

Lots of the elderly were poor as they could not work

Causes of the Poverty crisis 1580-1603

The population was getting bigger (1580 – 2.4 million, 1600 – 4.1 million)

More land had to be farmed but there was poor farming methods so a lot of food was not

being produced

The food prices rose but peoples wages didn’t

Bad weather meant harvests failed

Wool trade declined (This was England's biggest employer)

The enclosure system meant less workers were need to farm the land. (unemployment)

As a result large areas of England (Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland) suffered famine,.

Death from starvation was common.

How did the Elizabethan government respond to the poverty problems?

The Elizabethan government decided to divide the unemployed poor into 3 separate catego-

ries:

Impotent poor: Physically unable to work through age or illness

Able-bodied poor: Who wanted to work but could not find it

Vagabonds: Who chose to avoid work

Increased punishment:

From 1572 the law stated that Vagabonds above the age of 14 should be whipped and

burned through the ear with a hot iron - the hole was the size of a penny.

Anyone above the age of 18 who became a Vagrant having already been caught before

could be hanged.

The Elizabethan Poor Laws 1601: Provided some help/support for the impotent and unem-

ployed poor as well as punishing vagabonds.

1. Each parish had a Justices of the Peace appointed and churchwardens. They were respon-

sible for the poor of the parish. These men collected a poor rate (tax) from all the house-

holders in the parish, and the money was used to support the poor.

2. Begging was forbidden, and vagrants were whipped and sent back to the parish where

they were born.

3. Impotent poor were looked after in alms-houses and work was provided for the able-

bodied poor. Anybody who refused to work was placed in gaol (prison) or a house of cor-

rection where they were forced to do hard labour.

Historians interpretation of the Elizabethan Poor Laws 1601

Some historians have criticised the Elizabethan Poor Law for its harsh treatment of vagrants. But

others think that it was an important advance in the treatment of the impotent poor and the un-

employed. The Elizabethan Poor Law did not solve the problem of poverty, but it did ensure that

large numbers of people would no longer die if the harvests failed.

The Problems of Poverty: Vagrancy and the Elizabethan Poor Laws 1580-1603