Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England

this video is sponsored by Squarespace hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you are very welcome this is reading the past and I'm Dr Cat today I would like for us to take a look at a collection of events that took place between 1569 and 1572 it's my hope that together we can examine these events discuss them in the chat and comments and perhaps begin to draw our own conclusions with regard to their effect or otherwise on Elizabethan policy as the era moved on perhaps you're going to conclude that one of these moments was all that it took for change to occur or maybe you're going to determine that a combination was a necessary factor or indeed perhaps you're going to think that something else entirely is going on I have made mentioned of a few of these events in previous videos in some cases they have been the focus of full videos and I will be leaving them linked but in this particular video we are going to be placing these events within their timeline and wider context which I do hope that you will find useful before we take a look at today's topic I want to say an absolutely massive thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring another video on this channel I have found building and managing my website through Squarespace really simple and user friendly whether I'm laying out how the pag are going to look look editing them building my mailing list hosting my merch store or checking the analytics info for all of the things that I've just mentioned the whole process has been really straightforward as I've also said before I love the fact that I can use Squarespace through my desktop or laptop but also through an app on my phone I can analyze traffic and edit the website itself there as well so I can manage the whole thing from anywhere however while Squarespace could not possibly have made things any simpler or more straightforward I am no expert in web design and thus I've got no doubt that my own creativity in what I can do and Achieve through building my website is only going to get me so far and that's why I think it's really great that Squarespace gives users an option to get matched with and then hire someone who does have all of that expertise for example I think I'm going to find it really helpful if I can get some guidance and assistance when it comes to building my first course that I want to host on the website to build your own website go to squarespace.com for a free trial and then when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com reading the past to save 10% off of your first purchase of a website or a domain thanks again to Squarespace for sponsoring this video but now it's time for us to take a look at the rebellions plots and threats that affected Queen Elizabeth the and her England in the Years between 1569 and [Music] 1572 Elizabeth exceeded to the throne following the death of her half sister Queen Mary the 1st on the 17th of November 1558 and as Elizabeth's biographer Patrick Collinson has pointed out quote the most serious business confronting the new regime was the settlement of religion which began in Earnest when Elizabeth's first Parliament opened on the 25th of January from it emerged a new Act of Supremacy in its enacted form describing the queen as Supreme Governor rather than Supreme head of the church Church of England which met the objections of some Protestants as well as of Catholics since only Christ was head of his church and an act of uniformity imposing a book of common prayer which was essentially the second Edwardian book of 1552 with a few significant alterations again designed to reconcile confessional differences for those dispersed throughout the religious spectrum they found they received some of what they wanted but not all for those who found themselves at either end of it be that Roman Catholic faithful or most fervent Puritan as this group would come to be known they would find themselves to be the most disappointed only time would tell if this disappointment would generate protest or even rebellion in around 1589 or 1590 Sir Francis W Singham wrote to M ktoy he was the Secretary of France and in his letter he included the following Passage quote her majesty not liking to make Windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts except the abundance of them did overflow into overt and express Acts or affirmations tempered her law so as it restrain if only manifest disobedience in impugning and impeaching advisedly and maliciously Her Majesty's supreme power and maintaining and extoling a foreign jurisdiction certainly at the start of her Reign it does seem that outward confirmation was all that was going to be required it was expected that everyone should attend their Parish church on Sundays and holy days this was according to the act of uniformity of 1559 those who failed to attend or indeed refused to attend and these individuals were known as recusant were liable to be find a shilling for each occasion they missed a shilling was 12 pence in old money at the time this was the equivalent of approximately one day of wages for a skilled Tradesman this sum would undoubtedly have been an inconvenience for many of Elizabeth's people but for her Gentry and especially for her nobility the individuals who I would argue had more chance of attending non-conforming church services and thus whom Elizabeth and her government would have perhaps been more focused on this amount would have been mere pocket change so in effect wealthy individuals who could not by conscience bring themselves to Worship in the required way could at the start of the Reign at least with fairly little issue manage to buy their way out of doing so this situation would however be significantly altered in 1581 with the ACT to retain the Queen's Majesty subjects in their due obedience according to this act each month of absence from a person's Parish Church would now incur a fine of £20 and this was the equivalent of approximately 400 Days of wages for a skilled Tradesman this act also expanded the definition of treason it would now include anyone who encouraged Elizabeth's subjects to disobey her or to move away from the state religion and its church as time and the rain went on the Elizabethan government became increasingly concerned with locating Roman Catholic priests who had arrived in England and were ministering in secret to the English people Elizabeth and all her ministers were concerned that this practice might in fact be a way to convert and radicalize the people against Elizabeth and her policies it was feared that in addition to delivering the Roman Catholic mass these priests may also be teaching treason the government showed themselves will willing to prosecute these priests and their protectors and benefactors to the fullest extent of the law they were also in certain instances more than willing to deploy torture in the hopes of disrupting as much of this Priestly Network as they possibly could so why then this seeming about face in matters of religious policy while the Elizabeth of the 1550s and 1560s may have stated that she did not wish to make Windows into men's hearts by the 1580s it would appear that she wanted to do all that and more which for me begs the question what had changed well let us rewind to the late 1560s following her deposition from the Throne of Scotland Elizabeth's cousin the Roman Catholic Mary Queen of Scots had managed to escape from her Scottish captors and she had made her way into England she had arrived on the 16th of May 1568 most people in England and indeed abroad viewed Mary as Elizabeth's air presumptive however and more dangerously there were also many that viewed Mary as being the true Queen of England and that meant that Elizabeth was wrongfully in that role currently and should thus be removed in choosing to flee to England it seems that Mary had hoped that Elizabeth would support her to reclaim her throne in Scotland in this and indeed in many things she would be disappointed because soon Mary would realize that she had simply exchanged one prison for another before long a plot was being hatched that sought to marry Mary Queen of Scots to Thomas Howard the fourth Duke of Norfolk on this occasion this marriage proposal was taking place without Elizabeth's knowledge or her permission and I did use that word on this occasion because as as a potential spouse for Mary Queen of Scots Thomas Howard along with some other candidates had actually been suggested at the end of 1564 and it was suggested as a marriage by Elizabeth herself but at that time in 1564 Mary had only been back in Scotland for around 3 years and she was still safely ensconced upon her throne there what we're talking about are the events and plots of 1569 and by 15 69 the situation was wildly different the Norfolk Mary marriage plot of 1569 was supported and promoted by a number of English noblemen including a number of Northern Roman Catholics Chief amongst this group was Charles Neville sixth Earl of West Morland he was married to norfolk's Sister Jane the plot was also being furthered by Thomas Percy seventh Earl of North umberland when this this plot was discovered the Duke of Norfolk was forced to explain himself to a very unhappy Queen Elizabeth before long he would lay out the whole plan and he would name names I would imagine that Queen Elizabeth was probably equal parts concerned and Furious when she considered the conduct of her Northern Earls and perhaps this is why she called upon Thomas Radcliffe third Earl of Sussex who was the Lord president of the Council of the north to issue a summons to both west mland and North umland that they should come to London to attend her court and there affirm their allegiance to her instead of obeying this summons and coming to London these ears gathered their forces and marched on Durham on the 14th of November 1569 when there they entered Durham Cathedral and they destroyed the English Bible pulled down the Protestant communion table and illegally restored and celebrated the Roman Catholic mass by the start of December the rebel force was in total disarray some were already on the retreat While others were still attempting to secure their position in order to successfully liberate Mary Queen of Scots those that remained surrounded Barnard Castle then took harleypool presumably with the intention of maintaining a communication Network and receiving assistance from those on the continent the remaining Rebels then began to move through Yorkshire to the location that they believed that Mary Queen of Scots was being held prisoner however unbeknownst to them the government had preempted them and had moved Mary to Coventry it may also have been that these Rebels had misjudged their Queen's popularity because their Uprising failed to gain further popular support the rebels had been denounced as traitors at Windsor on the 26th of November 1569 and when they learned of the large Force many thousands in number that were marching to deal with them their threat melted away West Morland and North umberland fled into Scotland West Morland would flee to the Spanish Netherlands in 1570 while Northumberland would be handed back to the English in 1572 and would be executed as an attainted traitor only the rank and file Rebels are 1569 were left behind to face the retribution of their Queen over 400 people would be executed although some reports present a far higher number as many as 800 people in some cases they were hanged in their own Villages as a warning to others there would however be a similar connected attempt to ferment rebellion in order to destabilize Elizabeth's Rule and her Church of England this rebellion was led by Leonard daker however his Uprising would be swiftly suppressed on the 20th of February 1570 nevertheless the international situation would pile on a further threat because 5 days after the suppression of D's Rising so on the 25th of February 1570 Pope p i published the regnans in exelis which Ashley Müller explains quote declared Queen Elizabeth of England excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church and deprived her of her sovereignty in England and Ireland in addition to excommunicating Elizabeth the bull released the Queen's subjects from any loyalty they owed to her and ordered them not to obey her laws or Commandments if her subjects continued in their obedience they too would face excommunication it has been suggested that Pope P I was showing his approval for the rebellion of the northern Earls and for their plan to liberate Mary Queen of Scots in short it appears and has been argued that the regand inex gelis was intended to supply spiritual sanction for the uprising or uprisings of the preceding weeks quite why this Pope didn't pull back as the northern uprising fell apart is unclear perhaps he was misinformed or maybe he hoped that his bull might be the thing that would fuel or indeed reignite Rebellion it didn't it did however serve to make the lives of Roman Catholics in England more complicated and dangerous though to return to Müller quote the bull placed English Catholics in a dangerous and frustrating position caught between the demands of their church and their government those who chose chose to resist the queen faced imprisonment Financial penalties or prosecution for treason those who continued to obey the queen risked endangering their souls for excommunication conferred Eternal damnation upon its recipients when waringham wrote that letter to misso that we discussed a bit earlier he stated that in the aftermath of the northern uprising and excommunication quote because the ill humors of the realm were by that Rebellion partly purged and that she feared at that time no foreign Invasion and much less the attempt of any within the realm not backed by some potent Sucker from without she contented herself to make a law against that special case of bringing in or publishing of any Bulls or the like instruments where on he was added a Prohibition upon pay not of treason but an inferior degree of punishment ment against the bringing in of Agnes Day hallowed beads and such other merchandise of Rome as are well known not to be any essential part of the Rish religion but only to be used in practice as love tokens to enchant the people's affections from their allegiance to their natural Sovereign in all other points Her Majesty continued in her former lenity I do find War singham's account his presentation of the situation to be interesting and that's because many historians have connected the increasing distrust in Roman Catholics and indeed the worsening sanctions that were imposed upon the religiously non-conforming in England in the later Decades of Elizabeth's Reign to this series of events to the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots in England the northern El rebellion and then the excommunication but is it possible that in this letter waringham was n simply deliberately downplaying the concerns could it be that at the time and not long after the moments themselves were viewed as being of fleeting interest and of little concern to the Elizabethan State indeed W Singham connects the later change in policy to quote when about the 20th year of her Reign which by my calculations would be 1578 she meaning Elizabeth had discovered in the king of Spain an intention to invade her dominions and that the seminaries began to Blossom and to send forth daily priests and professed men to corrupt her people and draw them into treason and certainly the First full Jesuit Mission into England would be approved by the pope to begin in 1580 which does in many ways track with what waringham is saying it seems to me that waringham is is suggesting that the excommunication of 1570 is something that came at the end of a period of just slight threat that the majority of the 1570s were in fact an era of assured stability for this English Queen her church and her State and perhaps today we should be prepared to consider to recognize that this may well have been how these events were viewed at the time however if we are going to accept this I do think it requires us to ignore completely the fact that in 1571 so the year after the excommunication that conspiracy orchestrated by the Florentine Merchant Roberto D ruli came to light prior to 1571 roli had been connected to the northern El Rebellion he had helped to disseminate the Regan's INX gelis document and he'd also been acting as a goet moving funds from the pope towards those who were prepared to rebel against Elizabeth in relation to these offenses roli was pulled in by the authorities he was brought before waringham to be questioned and his rooms were searched but on this occasion nothing was found and so things went no further for him at this time and maybe this is an indication that there wasn't in fact a heightened sense of concern at this point and so that war singham's claims in that letter may have some Merit Beyond later wishful thinking maybe nevertheless rodolfi does appear to have become emboldened because he sets about forging further connections to serve later Rebellion arguably this is a continuation or perhaps a renewal of the northern Rebellion into rolph's scheme to remove Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots Rolie drew the following individual Mary's agent John Leslie Bishop of Ross Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk yes him again Pope pus I Philip II of Spain and the Duke of Alva not to mention the collected forces he was in command of in the low countries Rolie intended that these forces would if his plan came to fruition be able to invade England and so support the deposition of Queen Elizabeth I and also the founding of the new Royal regime under Mary Queen of Scots Who Would by that point be Queen of England after March 1571 roli was on the continent and he was seeking political fiscal and or military support for his plans he would however prove to be Indiscreet seemingly he was just a little too proud of his amazing scheme because while ruli was in Florence he told the Grand Duke Cosimo deichi exactly what he was up to and Kimo swiftly warned Elizabeth to corroborate matters a servant of Mary Queen of Scots and John Leslie Bishop of Ross was caught with Bann books and also with coded letters that implicated the Duke of Norfolk in a plot against Elizabeth Servants of Norfolk were also intercepted on this occasion they were transporting funds to Mary Scottish supporters un surprisingly arrests followed included in the number of arrests was the dukee of Norfolk he would subsequently be convicted of treason and then executed in 1572 Roberto D rolph's plan was scuppered his business with and in England was over he died in Florence at the age of 80 on the 18th of February 1612 before we wrap up today there is one more event from from around this period orbe it an event that does not take place on English soil but overseas that nevertheless I do think we should include in our thinking and conversation with regards to the topic of what might have motivated the Elizabethan policy shifts that I believe are evident in the latter Decades of her Reign during the night of the 23rd to the 24th of August 1572 the eve of the Feast of St Bartholomew in Paris a massacre began the principal targets of this violence were the Protestant hugos it was a Slaughter and in the weeks that followed the violence spread out from Paris to engulf more and more of the country Francis wolsingham was engaged in an embassy to France at this time his residence was in Paris he was not in the heart of the violence but he was certain near enough during the massacre W singham's home became a refuge for other English people and possibly we think for some hugos who were attempting to flee the violence Francis was not alone in Paris his pregnant wife and little daughter were there with him too this family and the people they had taken in those they were offering Refuge to would spend the next days fearing for their safety for their very lives waringham leaves us no extant account of his true feelings with regard to this experience we have no record to allow us to see the traces of his trauma but surely it must be unlikely that there was none that there was no effect to him witnessing the murders of countless men women and children on the basis of their faith of him having his own spouse and child at his side while he was watching this unfold is it possible credible even that this experience could have had had no influence on the advice that he would give his Queen Elizabeth in the future with regard to her foreign and domestic policies well what do you think do you think one some or indeed all of these events we have discussed from 1569 to 1572 in some way caused Elizabeth to set aside her once professed pursuit of a middle way in matters of Faith was she forced by them unwillingly to start to make Windows into men's hearts or do you perhaps think that these events had no real effect was the change caused by something else or maybe you think that any policy change if a policy change actually occurred was simply the result of a rain settling in and being allowed to last as always I'm looking forward to reading your conversations in the comments section underneath this video I'd also love it if you could pop an emoji or a social glyph in the comments too because that will boost the engagement and the more engagement a video gets the more YouTube shares it out which in turn does help to grow our community I think I'm going to be fairly open in terms of emojis or social gphs we've talked about a few things plots religion queenship which of these things stood out to you most in this video maybe you want to pick an emoji that signals which one of these events you think most influenced Elizabeth let me know by putting an emoji down and I'll see if I can work out what you mean you can also find me Elsewhere on social media I will leave links to all the other places you can find me on the internet in my description box please do follow me over on some of all of those so that we can continue this conversation and start some others I do hope that you enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did please share with your friends and if you like my channel let some Pals know about it too you can let me know you like this video in particular by hitting the thumbs up please do subscribe to the channel and if you think you're subscribed now is a great time to check make sure you've not been unsubscribed against your will and while you are there checking subscribing perhaps resubscribing please do hit the Bell icon that sits beside the Subscribe button and then select all in the drop down that will appear so that YouTube will they claim tell you both what I've next uploaded but also when I am next planning to go live to talk about the history news which I know you are not going to want to miss we do now of course have a fail safe please do head over to my website www. Catrina march.com which I will be leaving linked you will see this page in the contacts you will see a box where you can add your email please do so because that way you will be added on to my mailing list and then I can let you know what I'm up to via email as well I hope you're going to have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to you all in my next video take care of yourselves bye-bye for [Music] now

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 24,114

Keywords: Tudor, Jacobean, Elizabethan, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: bVW9xkV3CN4

Length: 28min 17sec (1697 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2023