Mary Dicken Nicholas Fellows This is an OCR endorsed resource 1485–1603 ENGLAND A LEVEL OCR Elizabethan England Mid Tudor Crises 1547–1558 Tudor Mid England 1485–1547 OCR A LEVEL HISTORY ENGLAND 1485–1603 Dicken ● Fellows Contents Introduction vi British Period Study: England, 1485–1547 Gateway to England, 1485–1547 5 Chapter 1 The government of Henry VII and threats to his rule 6 Why was there so much unrest in the early years of Henry’s rule? 7 How serious a threat was the Yorkist challenge to Henry’s rule? 12 How effective was Henry VII in reducing the power of the nobility? 15 How successfully did Henry VII strengthen central and local government? 18 How successfully did Henry VII restore royal finances? 22 Historical debate: Was Henry VII ever secure? 25 Study Skills: Understanding the wording of the question and planning an answer for AS and A Level 28 Chapter 2 Henry VII’s foreign policy 30 How secure was England in late fifteenth century Europe? 31 What were the aims of Henry VII’s foreign policy? 34 How successful was Henry VII’s policy towards France? 36 Why was Henry VII able to avoid conflict with Scotland? 38 How far did Henry pursue a consistent foreign policy with Spain and Burgundy? 40 How important a factor was trade in Henry VII’s foreign policy? 43 How successful was Henry VII’s foreign policy? 45 Historical debate: How successful was Henry VII’s foreign policy? 47 Study Skills: Writing an introduction and avoiding irrelevance 48 Chapter 3 Henry VIII and Wolsey 51 What was the impact of Henry’s personality on the government of England in the period to 1529? 52 Why was Wolsey able to rise to power and how powerful was he? 55 How successful was Henry VIII’s foreign policy in the period to 1529? 57 How successful was Wolsey’s domestic policy? 61 How far was the Church in need of reform in the 1520s? 65 Why did Henry VIII want a divorce from Catherine of Aragon? 66 Why did attempts to obtain a divorce fail and how far was this the main reason for Wolsey’s fall? 68 Historical debate: The Church: Rotten or vigorous? 70 Study Skills: Avoiding descriptive answers, writing analytically, the crucial opening sentence of each paragraph 73 Chapter 4 The reign of Henry VIII after 1529 75 What were the reasons for, and how radical were, the religious changes between 1529 and 1547? 76 Why were the monasteries dissolved? 83 How serious was the opposition to religious change? 85 How Protestant was England by the death of Henry VIII? 88 Why did Cromwell fall from power? 90 iii 9781471836695_FM.indd 3 07/04/15 7:31 PM Contents Was Henry manipulated by faction in the 1540s? 91 How effectively did Henry rule England in the 1540s? 93 How successful was Henry’s foreign policy in the 1540s? 94 Historical debate: Was Henry in control? A weak or strong monarch? 96 Study Skills: Writing a conclusion and overall essay writing for AS and A Level 98 Enquiry topic: Mid-Tudor crises, 1547–58 Gateway to the Mid-Tudor crisis and Elizabeth, 1547–1603 100 Chapter 5 The stability of the monarchy, 1547–58 101 How serious were the problems caused by the minority of Edward VI? 102 Was Somerset’s attempted coup in 1549 a serious threat to stability? 104 How seriously did the attempt to alter the succession in 1553 threaten dynastic security? 107 How serious a threat to the power of the monarchy was a female ruler? 111 Did the marriage of Mary to Philip of Spain cause a crisis? 112 How stable was the monarchy in the period from 1547 to 1558? 116 Study Skills: Understanding sources and how they relate to a particular issue 118 Chapter 6 Religious change, 1547–58 122 To what extent did England become Protestant under Somerset? 124 How radical were the religious changes under Northumberland? 126 To what extent was England a Protestant country by the death of Edward VI in 1553? 128 What were Mary’s religious aims? 130 How popular were Mary’s religious policies? 131 To what extent was England a Catholic nation by Mary’s death in 1558? 137 Study Skills: Evaluating a series of sources 140 Chapter 7 Rebellion and unrest, 1547–58 142 How serious were the social and economic problems in the mid-Tudor period? 144 In what ways did the social and economic problems contribute to unrest? 146 Why was there so much unrest in 1549? 147 Why did the rebellions of 1549 fail and did they ever threaten the government? 153 Why did Mary face challenges to her rule in the first two years of her reign? 156 To what extent did the challenges to Mary threaten the stability of the monarchy? 159 Why was the monarchy able to survive the mid-Tudor crises? 160 Study Skills: Using a set of sources with confidence 162 British Period Study: Elizabethan England Chapter 8 Elizabeth I and religion 164 What were the pressures on Elizabeth in making her Religious Settlement? 166 Why did some Protestants disagree with the Settlement? 171 Who were the Puritans and how did they try to alter the Settlement? 172 What help did Elizabeth have from her Archbishops of Canterbury in enforcing her Settlement? 177 What part was played by Mary, Queen of Scots, in Roman Catholic resistance? 179 Historical debate: What did the seminary priests and the Jesuits achieve? 184 Study Skills: Understanding the wording of the question and planning an answer 188 iv 9781471836695_FM.indd 4 07/04/15 7:31 PM Contents Chapter 9 The nature of the Elizabethan monarchy: Government and parliament 190 How important was the Privy Council in the government of England? 191 How influential was William Cecil? 196 How successfully did Elizabeth manage faction? 198 How successfully did Elizabeth exploit her gender? 200 How successfully did Elizabeth manage parliament? 202 Why did Elizabeth never marry or name a successor? 207 What was the impact of marriage and the succession on domestic and foreign affairs? 211 Historical debate: Why did Elizabeth choose not to marry? 212 Study Skills: Writing an introduction and avoiding irrelevance 214 Chapter 10 Elizabeth’s management of financial, economic and social affairs 216 What were the strengths and weaknesses of the financial and economic situation in 1558? 217 How effectively did Elizabeth exploit her sources of income? 219 How serious a problem was inflation for Elizabeth and her government? 223 How successfully was overseas trade developed? 225 How serious a problem was the issue of monopolies? 229 How effectively did the Elizabethan government handle the problems of poverty and vagrancy? 230 Historical debate: Dealing with the poor: Principles or paranoia? 235 Study Skills: Avoiding descriptive answers, writing analytically, the crucial opening sentence of each paragraph 237 Chapter 11 Elizabethan later years, 1588–1603 239 How successfully did Elizabeth defend the royal prerogative after 1588? 240 To what extent did relations with parliament decline after 1588? 242 How significant was the impact on England of the war with Spain? 244 How serious were the social and economic problems of the 1590s? 250 How much unrest was there in the 1590s? 251 How serious a threat to Elizabeth was the Essex Rebellion? 253 To what extent did Elizabeth’s popularity decline in the 1590s? 256 Historical debate: How was Elizabeth’s image shaped? 258 Study Skills: Writing a conclusion and overall essay writing 260 Revise, Review, Reflect 262 Glossary 268 Index 270 v 9781471836695_FM.indd 5 07/04/15 7:31 PM.