Elizabethan England, c1568-1603 | AQA GCSE History (8145)
Elizabethan England, c1568-1603
- 118 questions
- 9 subtopics
- Paper 2
- Paper 2
Elizabethan England, c1568–1603 is examined in Paper 2, Shaping the nation.
It covers Elizabeth I and her court, the difficulties of a female ruler, A ‘Golden Age’, poverty and the treatment of the poor, English sailors: Hawkins, Drake, Raleigh and circumnavigation, religious matters: Catholic plots and the threat to the settlement, Mary Queen of Scots, conflict with Spain and the historic environment of Elizabethan England.
Sample questions from Elizabethan England, c1568-1603
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Elizabeth I and her court
Give two qualities of character that helped Elizabeth I govern successfully.
Show the answer
She was highly intelligent and a gifted public performer, and she was cautious, often delaying a decision until it suited her. -
The difficulties of a female ruler
Why did monopolies cause anger in 1601?
Show the answer
They gave courtiers the sole right to sell everyday goods, forcing prices up, and Members attacked them as an abuse of royal favour. -
A ‘Golden Age’
Who were the gentry, and why did they rise?
Show the answer
Landowners below the nobility who grew rich from farming, trade, office-holding and former monastery land, and who built fine houses and filled Parliament. -
Poverty and the treatment of the poor
How had the closure of the monasteries earlier in the century affected the poor?
Show the answer
It swept away the food, shelter and alms the monasteries had given, leaving many places with no organised relief at all. -
English sailors: Hawkins, Drake, Raleigh and circumnavigation
How did Hawkins change English warships?
Show the answer
He developed the race-built galleon, lower and faster than older ships, carrying heavier long-range guns instead of towering fighting castles. -
Religious matters: Catholic plots and the threat to the settlement
What did Pope Pius V do in 1570?
Show the answer
He excommunicated Elizabeth, declaring her a heretic and releasing her subjects from their obedience to her. -
Mary Queen of Scots
What did Elizabeth do with Mary instead?
Show the answer
She held her in comfortable custody in a succession of castles and manor houses for nineteen years, without charge or trial. -
Conflict with Spain
Who commanded the two fleets in 1588?
Show the answer
The Duke of Medina Sidonia led the Armada, while Lord Howard of Effingham commanded the English fleet with Drake as vice-admiral.
The 9 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth I and her court | Elizabeth's background, education and character, the royal court and patronage, the Privy Council, the roles of William Cecil, Francis Walsingham and Robert Dudley, and the royal progresses that showed the queen to her people. | 12 |
| The difficulties of a female ruler | Why a woman ruler was doubted, Parliament's pressure to marry and Peter Wentworth, how Elizabeth controlled Parliament, the monopolies and the Golden Speech, her suitors and why she never married, and Essex's rebellion. | 13 |
| A ‘Golden Age’ | Why the reign is called a Golden Age, the great rebuilding, fashion and the sumptuary laws, the rise of the gentry and who missed out on the prosperity, and the Elizabethan theatre, from Burbage's playhouse, Shakespeare and Marlowe to the groundlings and the Puritan and civic objections. | 12 |
| Poverty and the treatment of the poor | Population growth, enclosure and rack-renting, the harvests of the 1590s and the lost monasteries, the deserving and idle poor, the Vagabonds Act, the Act of 1576, the Poor Law of 1601, and the towns' schemes. | 12 |
| English sailors: Hawkins, Drake, Raleigh and circumnavigation | Hawkins's slave-trading voyages and San Juan de Ulúa, the race-built galleon, Drake's voyage round the world in the Golden Hind, his knighthood and the raid on Cadiz, the new trading companies, and Raleigh's Virginia colony. | 12 |
| Religious matters: Catholic plots and the threat to the settlement | The middle way and the Act of Uniformity, recusants, the Northern Rebellion, the excommunication of 1570, seminary priests and Jesuits, the Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington plots, the laws of 1581 and 1585, and the Puritans. | 19 |
| Mary Queen of Scots | Mary's claim to the English throne, her loss of the Scottish crown and flight to England in 1568, the problem she posed Elizabeth, the Casket Letters, her long custody, Parliament's demands and the Act for the Queen's Safety, the Babington plot, and her execution in 1587 and its effects. | 12 |
| Conflict with Spain | Religion, privateering and the Netherlands as causes, Philip II's plan for the Armada, the commanders, the two kinds of galleon, the crescent formation, the fireships at Calais, Gravelines, the voyage home round Scotland, and Tilbury. | 12 |
| The historic environment of Elizabethan England | A site's location, function and use, its materials and layout, the people who paid for and occupied it, Elizabethan design features and what they say about values and religion, and links to the wider reign. | 14 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE History Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,889 questions with their answers.