Government+and+Politics

== SECTION B - Government and Politics 1558 - 1640

In this section we look at three main aspects: 1. Characteristics of personal monarchy under the three different monarchs. 2. Styles of government - how Elizabeth, James and Charles actually ran the country while they were in charge. 3. The issues each of these monarchs faced in terms of religion, finance, peace and war and challenges to their leadership.

TERM 2 - Week 8
**CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH**
 * In this section we look closely at the challenges faced by the Church in EME.
 * Specifically we look at the development of protestantism, most notably from Germany under Martin Luther and the spread into England when Henry VIII decides to break from Rome (the subject of our film study)

The important thing to note here is that there was already a lot of animosity towards the Catholic church. Henry VIII didn't generate this he only made it more public.

Elizabeth was forced into making a compromise on religion for practical reasons, combined with her own religious beliefs, having been raised as a Protestant.
 * After Henry's death, EME suffers through two very volatile reigns, that of his son, Edward VI - a Protestant (and a child - so country run by his Protectors) and his daughter Mary I - a devout Catholic.
 * Under both Edward and Mary radical changes were made to the nature of religion - not so much the episcopacy of the Church, but the meaning of the 'true faith' changed considerably - and anybody considered to be a heretic, was dealt with harshly.
 * This brings us to the reign of Elizabeth.
 * The Elizabethan Settlement is THE major decision of this topic. It is the defining decision of the 16th C and apart from the decision to execute Charles I in 1649 has no rival in terms of importance.

I made a Prezi file for you in class. Try this link to see if you can access it. I couldn't attach it here.

http://prezi.com/qbxc69y9ytle/church-in-eme/

Also - here is an essay / explanation fo the Reformation that is a good source of information when you are looking at reasons for Elizabeth's decision re: Settlement.
 * [[file:Y13-Religion_Intro.pdf]]

TERM 2 - WEEK 9
To get a good understanding of how each monarch worked you need to understand the system of government in EME. Here are the notes we went over in class for this section. http://prezi.com/xmntu3gziwgp/edit/

The first major event of this part of the topic is the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">This was the first test of Elizabeth as Queen -she had to try and settle the issue of religion after the trying times of her half-brother Edward VI and half-sister Mary I. Elizabeth had very strong views about religion - but those strong views were not at one extreme or the other of the religious division. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">She was more concerned about religion being a stabilising influence for her kingdom.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A great way to get a good overview of the Reformation and then Elizabeth's role is through Simon Schama's History of Britain - which is a brilliant series. it costs a fortune BUT - here is a link to a YouTube playlist which is worth looking at. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">[|YouTube - History of Britain]

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">ESSAY
<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">﻿As you work through the essay task you might find some of this helpful. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">NOTE: It is not the same question as you have been given so not too much of it is going to directly help you, BUT it does give you a framework for how people answer decision essays and the amount of detail that is needed to fully answer these questions. GOOD LUCK !!

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 24px;">ELIZABETH and PARLIAMENT =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Elizabeth had a very positive relationship with Parliament during her reign. The biggest issues that came up were to do with her succession and her plans for marriage. These issues were what Elizabeth called her 'royal prerogative'.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">See the attached notes for Elizabeth's relationship with her Parliaments.

Also - here are the notes we looked at in class on Elizabeth and the way she used finance.

JAMES VI of Scotland and JAMES I of England The reign of Elizabeth I has now ended and as she had no children her throne passes tot he next in line, James VI of Scotland - son of Mary Queen of Scots. It could be argued that this was mary's posthumous revenge as she actually got hat she wanted which was her son to gain the throne of England ! Ironic that Elizabeth had mary killed because she was a threat to her throne but named Mary's son as her successor.

James was already 37 years old and an experienced King in Scotland when he came to throne of England. but England was very different to Scotland and he took some time getting to grips with his new kingdom. Many historians ahve argued that James was a bit feeble and didn't know much about government, but it is reasonably clear that most of this opinion is based around the negative writings of Sir Anthony Weldon, a former courtier of James in England who was kicked out of court for slagging off the Scots ! NOT WISE !

Here are the notes we have looked at for James.

Factions and Favourites model essay - this is something for you to use to try and pick bits out of and plan your own essay. This one is 1900 words which is way too long. If you can pick this essay to bits and re-arrange it to make it better (and shorter) you will be well prepared for planning and writing your own essays !
 * 1) How would you shorten it?
 * 2) Does the argument make sense?
 * 3) Has the question been answered properly?
 * 4) Have all three sections of the essay - Context, Change/continuity, effect on people been covered?



Here is a link to some good videos to look at about James and the issues he faced - mainly the Gunpowder plot. media type="youtube" key="DjeYS1h5Zyc" height="315" width="420" media type="youtube" key="f4f1T7aBfn4" height="315" width="420"

[|James video 1]

The last part of this section of the topic looks at the issue of Multiple Kingdoms. Under Elizabeth, although she technically was in charge of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, they were all considered quite separate. under james this began to change as he looked to combine the crowns of Scotland and England into one. It is noteworthy that not one of the three monarchs actually visited Ireland during their reign. Elizabeth never made it to Scotland and James and Charles only went there once after being crowned King. Scotland was to become a major issue under Charles which led to the Bishops' wars and the calling of the Short PMT in April 1640.

here are the notes we have used for this section.