Challenges at home and from abroad

Monarchs could raise money from: rents and income from crown land, taxes from the trade, special additional taxes agreed by parliament, profits of justice (fines) and loans (some loans were forced and never repaid)

-They didn't have much money as England has fought costly wars before her ascent to the throne 

- Crown lands had been sold off to raise money to fight wars

-When she took throne she was in £300,000 debt when the crown annual income was £286,667

-To be strong she had to be wealthy as defending throne and England was expensive

-Taxes were unpopular and parliament would have to agree- she didn't want to involve parliament    as they could make demands in return

-France was wealthier and had a larger population than England

-They were England's traditional enemy and allied with England's other enemy Scotland (called the Auld Alliance)

-Mary Queen of Scots declared herself heir to the throne when Mary I died. she was Elizabeth's second cousin and was Catholic. Catholics who had not accepted Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn wanted Mary Queen of Scots to be England's legitimate monarch.

-Scotland was an independent country and enemy of England. Their shared border was hard to defend so there were constant raids and fighting.in 1558, Mary's mother, Mary of Guise was ruling Scotland for her daughter and had French troops stationed there

-England had held Calais since 1347 which was a useful military base in France an important trading post. In the 1550s, England sided with Spain in the war against French as Mary I was married to the Spanish king. the conflict ended with the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis and England has to return Calais.

-English felt humiliated by loss so regaining Calais was an important aim of Elizabeth's foreign policy so she could fix Mary I's mistake.

-Elizabeth was also concerned that France and Spain were no longer at war. Although they were great rivals they were both Roman Catholic countries. England was Protestant and did not accept pope as their leader. this meant there was a possibility Catholic Spain and France could unite against England and its Protestant Queen.