Every card in Early modern Britain 1509–1745, Year 11: the Catholic threat and the Puritans (Elizabethan England option)
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- In which year did the Catholic earls of Northumberland and Westmorland lead a rebellion in the north of England? (year)
1569
HintThe year after Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived in England.
WhyThe rebels heard Mass in Durham Cathedral and aimed to free Mary and restore the Catholic religion. They found little support further south and fled as the queen's army approached. Hundreds were executed afterwards.
- What did the Pope's bull of 1570 declare about Elizabeth?
That she was excommunicated and her subjects need not obey her
HintThe document is known as 'Regnans in Excelsis'.
WhyFrom then on English Catholics could be seen as possible traitors, whatever they did. Parliament answered in 1571 by making it treason to say that Elizabeth ought not to be queen.
- Which plot of 1571 planned for a Spanish army to invade and for Mary, Queen of Scots, to marry the Duke of Norfolk?
The Ridolfi Plot
HintNamed after the Italian banker who carried the messages.
WhyThe plot was discovered and Norfolk was executed in 1572. Later plots followed the same pattern: Throckmorton in 1583 and Babington in 1586 both aimed to replace Elizabeth with Mary, with foreign help.
- Which Jesuit priest came secretly to England in 1580 and was executed for treason in 1581?
Edmund Campion
HintHe travelled in disguise, preaching and saying Mass in Catholic houses.
WhyPriests trained in colleges abroad came to keep the Catholic faith alive in England. They said their mission was only religious. The government treated them as agents of a foreign enemy, and from 1585 any such priest found in England could be executed.
- A person, usually a Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England
Recusant
HintFrom the Latin for 'to refuse'.
WhyAt first the fine was twelve pence, one shilling, for each week missed. In 1581 it was raised to £20 a month, far more than most people earned in a year. The aim was to make loyalty to the old religion too costly to keep up.
- What did Puritans want to remove from the Church of England?
Everything that seemed Catholic, such as priests' vestments and ornaments
HintThey wanted the Church 'purified'.
WhyThey wanted plain services centred on preaching and the Bible. The more extreme, known as Presbyterians, wanted to abolish bishops as well. Elizabeth saw her settlement of 1559 as final and would not change it.
- Meetings of clergy to study the Bible and practise preaching, favoured by Puritans and banned on Elizabeth's orders
Prophesyings
HintDespite the name, they had nothing to do with foretelling the future.
WhyThe queen feared they would spread Puritan ideas beyond her control. To her, deciding how the Church was run was the monarch's business, not the clergy's.
- Which Archbishop of Canterbury was suspended from his duties in 1577 for refusing to ban prophesyings?
Edmund Grindal
HintHe wrote the queen a long letter explaining why he could not obey.
WhyHe remained out of favour until his death in 1583. It showed that even the head of the Church could not defy the queen on religion.
- Which Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed in 1583, drew up articles that nonconforming ministers had to accept?
John Whitgift
HintHe shared the queen's dislike of Puritan demands.
WhyHe enforced the queen's policy of a single form of worship for everyone, and he was given stronger powers for the church court that dealt with those who would not conform.
- How was the Puritan John Stubbs punished in 1579 for a pamphlet attacking the queen's proposed French marriage?
His right hand was cut off
HintThe penalty was aimed at the part of him that wrote.
WhyHe objected to the queen marrying a Catholic. It showed that Elizabeth would not allow her subjects, Puritan or otherwise, to comment on matters she regarded as hers alone.
1★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0060
2★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0061
3★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0062
4★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0063
5★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0064
6★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0065
7★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0066
8★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0067
9★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0068
10★ GCSE-HIST-EMO-0069
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.