Elizabethan Society in the Age of Exploration, 1558-1588

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  • Created by: ash8642
  • Created on: 22-04-18 10:12
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  • Elizabethan Society in the Age of Exploration
    • Education
      • Early education given at home
      • Children went to Sunday School from age 6
      • Boys taught simple work skills
      • Girls helped with household activities
      • Nobel households would have a private tutor
      • Petty Schools provided a basic education
        • Often run by the local priest
        • Taught reading, writing, and maths
        • Mainly boys, with a few girls
      • Increase in the number of Grammar Schools
        • 100 new schools set up
        • Mostly boys - upper and middle classes
        • Some scholarships for bright boys in poor backgrounds
        • Started around age 7
        • Studies focused on Latin and classic literature
      • Number of university students increased
      • Uni courses conducted almost entirely in Latin
    • Sports, Pastimes, and the Theatre
      • Elizabeth's courtiers often hunted
      • The Queen liked to do hawking
      • Courtiers were expected to be skilled at fencing
      • Tennis and bowls became popular among the rich
      • The working-class had little time for leisure
        • Worked 6 days a week
        • Church on a Sunday
      • Football was popular
        • Often played between villages
        • Very few rules
        • Often ended violently
      • Working-class like gambling on blood sports
        • Cockfighting
        • Bull/bear-baiting
      • Theatre became increasingly popular
        • No permanent theatres - travelling companies
        • First theatres build in 1570s
        • Appealed to rich and poor
        • Elizabeth often had plays performed in her court
    • Poverty
      • Population and prices
        • Population growth of 35%
        • Towns and cities quickly grew
        • People needed food but didn't grow it in cities
        • Bad harvests = price rises
        • Production was slower than population increase
        • Grain prices rose quickest
        • More people wanted work = cheaper labour
        • Wages were cut
      • Agriculture
        • Value and rent
          • Higher demand for land = higher rent
          • Entry fee went up
          • Evicted if unable to pay
        • Enclosure
          • Large fields replaced with smaller field + owner
          • Improved farming techniques
          • Made arable farming easier
          • Labourers suffered
          • Common land taken + divided
        • Sheep Farming
          • Wool + woolen cloth = 81.6% of export
          • Price of wool increased with demand
          • Sheep farming =  profitable
          • Large-scale business
          • Took land used for crops / common land
          • Not a lot of labour = unemployed
          • Crops grown for animals
      • Three categories of poor
        • Helpless - unable to support themselves
        • Deserving - wanted to work but couldn't find jobs
        • Undeserving - beggars, criminals, those who refused to work, vagabonds
      • 1563 Statute of Artificers
        • Ensure poor relief was collected
        • Imprisioned if refused to pay poor rates
        • Officials failing to organise poor relief fined £20
      • 1572 Vagabonds Act
        • Deter vagrancy
        • Vagrants to be whipped + hold drilled in ear
        • 2nd arrest = imprisioned, 3rd arrest = death penalty
        • Established poor rate
        • Register of poor
      • 1576 Poor Relief
        • Distinguish able-bodied from impotent
        • Provide able-bodied with raw materials
        • Refued to work when given job = house of correction
    • Exploration and Discovery
      • English didn't take an interest until 1560s
      • Navigate with a sea astrolabe
        • Navigate with position of stars and sun
      • 1570s, log and line
        • Estimate speed more accurately
      • Improvements in map-making
        • More detailed and reliable
      • 1550s, became difficult to trade through Antwerp
      • Merchants began looking for new routes to Europe, or further afield
      • Queen encouraged long-distance trade and privateering
      • Establishing colonies encouraged
      • Wealth of Americas attracted English sailors
      • Merchants keen to develop trade with Asia
        • Looked for route that avoided Venetian middlemen
      • East India Company set up in 1600 to trade with Asia
      • 1577-1580, Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe
      • Drake was sent to explore South America's coast
      • He raided Spanish colonies and treasure ships
      • Drake was knighted on his return
    • Raleigh and Virginia
      • England had claimed territory in North America
        • Attempts at colonisation failed
      • Elizabeth gave Raleigh permission to explore and colonise
      • Raleigh brought back two natives after fact-finding mission in Roanoke
        • Manteo and Wanchese
      • 5 ships and 108 settlers set sail for Virginia a year later
      • Grenville hadn't returned with suppiles for colony, who were running low
      • Most planters returned with Drake to England
      • Third expedition (1587) found Roanoke deserted
        • Thought that planters had been killed by natives
        • 100 more planters settle and attempt colonisation
      • Supply ships in 1590 find Roanoke deserted again
        • Planters never found
      • Why colonisation failed
        • Delayed supply ships
        • Not enough supplies taken
        • Difficult to grow food in Roanoke
        • Initial exploration was inadequate
        • Project was poorly organised
        • Raleigh only had limited funds

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