Heathen History – Elizabeth

Year Twelve.

In the next week or so you will finish studying the content of Unit One – What was the most serious problem that Elizabeth faced at the start of her reign ? You will then of course face the challenge of writing your first proper AS standard essay.

This task is designed to help you to develop two analysis skills that the examiners are looking for when you write – linking and relative importance. There are three stages to the task.

1. Consider the five issues that we have studied.

• Gender.
• Establishing an effective Privy Council.
• The Crown’s finances.
• Foreign Policy.
• What religious settlement should Elizabeth impose ?

Relative importance. Quite simply I want you to pick the one that you think is most important and post a comment here naming it (I will total these up and post the results) and then explaining it.

2. Linking. In the same post try to explain any links that you can see between the issues. Perhaps you might like to reflect if one issue causes another to happen. Is there an underpinning issue.

3. Reflection. When everyone has posted read their comments and reflect on their ideas. What ideas do you want to note down before you write ?

Enjoy…

Mr Kydd.

STOP PRESS – Early exit poll results can be found by clicking here.

Edmund Campion does not feature that fully in our course. He was a Jesuit priest seeking to restore the Catholic faith to England. In unit three we look at a quotation from G R Elton where lists his fate as an agenda item for the Privy Council to discuss. You may know that he meets a pretty unpleasant end – “For his religious beliefs, he was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1581. He was tied to a wicker hurdle that was dragged by horses along the roads near St Paul’s Cathedral, through Holborn, along Oxford Street and to the place of execution. At Tyburn, he and two other priests were hanged and then, while barely still alive, cut down from the gallows…While each man was still just alive, he was cut open, and his genitals and bowels, removed by the public hangman, were burnt before him.”

However, in this article from the Independent, Professor Alford (who you will also come across in unit three – Government) argues that “Queen Elizabeth I’s government was so determined to convict the English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion of treason that it doctored one of the key documents used to prosecute and send him to his execution.”

Why does this matter ?

Well if true it shows that Elizabeth and her Privy Council remained worried by the threat of the Catholics (see the debate in Unit 1). Moreover, just as with the Duke of Norfolk, Mary Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Essex, when Elizabeth saw someone as a threat she was every bit as ruthless as her half sister.

Mr Kydd.

These pages are designed to support LVS A Level students studying for their summer examination. Our examination board is OCR H505, and the paper is Y107 – The Later Tudors. Please find the course Personal Learning check list here. You may also like to look at these excellent timelines from the BBC.

• Elizabeth.
• The Tudors (overview)

We envisage that different students will use different parts of the site in different ways. Most students find the assessment sections above as particularly useful for reference. You should however also look at the additional materials section to enrich and extend your studies. As you study the different units you may like to use the appropriate pages. Below this post will be articles of news about Tudor history. Above all however, we want this to be your site. However you use it is fine, but please take ownership of it. Oh you might also like to see this early film footage of the Elizabethan puritans in action…

Please find here the department’s 5Rs document (Research, Reflect, Review, Read around, and Respond to feedback). It sets out what A Levels students should expect form us, and what we expect from you.

Mr Kydd.

(askydd@yahoo.co.uk)