The Reign of Elizabeth I Each volume in the 'Problems in Focus' series is designed to make available to students important new work on key historical problems and periods that they encounter in their courses. Each volume is devoted to a central topic or theme, and the most important aspects of this are dealt with by specially commissioned essays from scholars in the relevant field. The editorial Introduction reviews the problem or period as a whole, and each essay provides an assessment of the particular aspect, pointing out the areas of development and controversy, and indicating where conclusions can be drawn or where further work is necessary. An annotated bibliography serves as a guide for further reading. PROBLEMS IN FOCUS SERIES TITLES IN PRINT Church and Society in England: Henry VIII to James I edited by Felicity Heal and Rosemary O'Day The Reign ofJ ames VI and I edited by Alan G. R. Smith The Origins of the English Civil War edited by Conrad Russell The Interregnum: The Questfor Settlement 1646-1660 edited by G. E. Aylmer The Restored Monarchy 1660-1688 edited by J. R. Jones Britain after the Glorious Revolution 1689-1714 edited by Geoffrey Holmes Popular Movements, c. 1830-1850 edited by J. T. Ward Europe's Balance of Power 1815-1848 edited by Alan Sked The Edwardian Age: Conflict and Stability 1900-1914 edited by Alan O'Day The Mid-Tudor Polity c. 1540-1560 edited by Jennifer Loach and Robert Tittler Slavery and British Society 1776-1846 edited by James Walvin Reactions to the English Civil War 1642-1649 edited by John Morrill Britain in the Age of Walpole edited by Jeremy Black The Reign of Elizabeth I edited by Christopher Haigh British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century edited by C. C. Eldridge FURTHER TITLES ARE IN PREPARATION The Reign of Elizabeth I EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER HAIGH M MACMILLAN Introduction, Conclusion, editorial matter and Chapter 8 © Christopher Haigh 1984; Chapter I © Norman L. Jones © 1984; Chapter 2 © Simon Adams 1984; Chapter 3 © G. R. Elton 1984; Chapter 4 ©J. D. Alsop 1984; Chapter 5 © Penry Williams 1984; Chapter 6 © G. D. Ramsay 1984; Chapter 7 © Patrick Collinson 1984; Chapter 9 © Paul Slack 1984 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1984 Published by Higher and Further Education Division MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters Ltd Frome, Somerset British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The Reign of Elizabeth I. - (Problems in focus) I. Great Britain - History - Elizabeth, 1558-1603 I. Haigh, Christopher II. Series 942.05' 5 DA355 ISBN 978-0-333-33963-3 ISBN 978-1-349-17704-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17704-2 Contents Preface VB Introduction 1 CHRISTOPHER HAIGH 1 Elizabeth's First Year: The Conception and Birth of the Elizabethan Political World 27 NORMAN L. JONES 2 Eliza Enthroned? The Court and its Politics 55 SIMON ADAMS 3 Parliament 79 G. R. ELTON 4 Government, Finance and the Community of the Exchequer 101 J. D. ALSOP 5 The Crown and the Counties 125 . PENRY WILLIAMS 6 The Foreign Policy of Elizabeth I 147 G. D. RAMSAY 7 The Elizabethan Church and the New Religion 169 PATRICK COLLINSON 8 The Church of England, the Catholics and the People 195 CHRISTOPHER HAIGH 9 Poverty and Social Regulation in Elizabethan England 221 PAUL SLACK VI CONTENTS Conclusion 243 CHRISTOPHER HAIGH List rif Abbreviations 247 Bibliography 249 Notes and Riferences 263 Notes on Contributors 289 Index 291 Preface ONE of the traditional functions ofa preface is to explain what is and excuse what is not in a book, in the hope ofd efusing some of the ire of critics. This collection of essays was planned as a coherent whole: whether it became one is for the reader to judge. The volume aims to survey the composition and workings of the Elizabethan political system, and to examine how its institutions responded to the issues which most worried politicians and churchmen. Given these intentions, the most obvious gaps are the regulation of economic activity and the promotion of naval and colonial enterprise. The real reasons for the omissions are the necessary constraints ofthe 'Problems in Focus' series; the public justifications are the appearance of a splendid study of the Elizabethan economy (David Palliser's The Age of Elizabeth), and my conviction that, as Drake and Ralegh have long had more attention than they deserved, a little neglect would be salutary. A second, and essential, role of a preface to a collective volume is to thank all those who made the editor's task easier (while remaining silent about any who made it more difficult!). The contributors to this book do not form a party (still less a faction): they share no common ideology, and are deliberately representative of a wide range of approaches and generations. I was lucky to recruit a team of authors willing to play in the positions I earmarked for them, and luckier still that my team-mates turned up for the match. I am grateful to them, and especially to Jim Alsop, who joined as a late substitute and still managed to score before the final whistle. The team manage ment (Sarah Mahaffy, Vanessa Peerless and Valery Rose) proved encouraging and helpful, and their patience was exceeded only by that of the editor's wife and daughters. C.A.H. Introduction CHRISTOPHER HAIGH The all-glorious, all-virtuous, incomparable, invict and matchless pattern of princes, the glory, honour and mirror of womankind, the admiration of our age, ELIZABETH, Queen of England, was by the father's side truly royal, being daughter to Henry VIII, grandchild to Henry VII, and great grandchild to Edward IV. THE first full account of the life and times of Elizabeth I began with this fulsome praise of its heroine, and ended with little more restraint: 'No oblivion shall ever bury the glory of her name, for her happy and renowned memory still liveth and shall for ever live in the minds of men to all posterity, as of one who (to use no other than her successor's expression) in wisdom and felicity of government surpassed (without envy be it spoken) all the princes since the days of Augustus.' William Camden and his translators, in the 1620s,1 had no doubt of the greatness of Elizabeth's contemporary and future reputations, and their confidence has been justified. Despite occasional sniping, especially from Clarendon, Lingard and Froude, Elizabeth's stock among historians has remained high, and never more so than in the past century. J. R. Green, in 1874, sketched what became the standard picture of Elizabeth, as a cool and skilful politician who, by cautious and moderate policies, restored national unity and pride and channelled the 'sudden burst of national vigour' which set England on the path to supremacy. The interaction between the ability of the Queen and the enthusiasm of her people became a dominating theme in later accounts. In Creighton's biography (1896) 'Elizabeth's imperishable claim to greatness lies in her instinctive sympathy with her people', and in Pollard's History of England from the Accession rif Edward VI to the Death ofE lizabeth (1910) the Queen is 2 THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I an expression of the will of the people who, by restraining religious conflict and extending public order, paves the way for liberty at home and empire overseas.2 Elizabeth was a great queen, and she presided over a great age of national achieve ment. Interest in Elizabeth and admiration for her seem boundless. More than seventy new biographies have been published since 1890, and between 1927 and 1957 they appeared at an average rate of one each year. Some biographers and students of the period have been critical (recently, Carolly Erickson and Charles Wilson), but by a large majority the verdict remains favourable - even laudatory. The most widely read of the professional historians have been among the most praising, and have endorsed the interpretation formulated by the generation from Green to Pollard. A. L. Rowse dedicated The England of Elizabeth (1950) 'to the glorious memory of Elizabeth Queen of England', and quoted Creighton in ascribing her greatness to 'her instinctive perception of what England wanted'; under her leadership, the deeds of the nation 'made the age the most remarkable in our history'. Sir John Neale's portrait of 'this amazing Queen', drawn in his best-selling 1934 biography and filled out in books and essays in the 1950s, was so flattering that a schoolgirl asked him if it was really true that he had fallen in love with his subject. One reviewer complained that in Neale's presentation 'Elizabeth comes too close to a new apotheosis', but the Neale account has become standard and few substantial challenges have been mounted.3 By 1960, indeed, the essential political history of Elizabeth's reign seemed fixed, crushed into shape by the weight (physical and authoritative) of five detailed and dull tomes from Conyers Read and four livelier, but apparently incontrovertible, vol umes by Neale. This introductory essay will examine some of the reasons for this adulation of Elizabeth and her era, and indicate how the complimentary certainties of the 1950s and after have been dissolving more recently. The selling of Elizabeth began as soon as she ascended the