Gloriana! The Life and Times of Elizabeth I, 1533 - 1603 - Weekly Units

Week 0 - Introduction to online learning, the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and the course.

Forum Discussion Topic: Good Queen Bess. Since her death in 1603 Elizabeth's reputation has been consistently positive. She has been portrayed as the embodiment of Protestantism, Englishness and victory and her image has been invoked whenever England felt threatened by foreign powers. Discuss with your fellow students why Elizabeth's reputation has always been so positive.

Week 1 - From Princess to Queen

1.1: The social structure of Tudor England
1.2: Anne Boleyn - a mother who changed history
1.3: Elizabeth - from Princess to bastard to Princess!
1.4: Elizabeth's education and religion
1.5: The Thomas Seymour incident
1.6: By the skin of her teeth! Elizabeth and Mary
1.7: Elizabeth's accession to the throne
1.8: The structure of Elizabeth's government

Forum Discussion Topic: Elizabeth's accession to the throne 1558. Discuss with your fellow students some of the problems confronting Elizabeth at her accession to the throne in 1558, both at home and abroad.

Week 2 - The Alteration of Religion

2.1: The 1559 Parliament and the religious question
2.2: The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
2.3: The 1559 Book of Common Prayer
2.3: England's Constantine! Elizabeth, John Foxe and the Book of Martyrs 1562
2.4: The Homilies 1570
2.5: Policing the Church - Royal Injunctions and Visitations
2.6: Matthew Parker and Elizabeth's bishops
2.7: Tarry not for the magistrate! The Presbyterian challenge
Elizabethan English - Prayer Book, Bible and Literature - something on Shakespeare, links to Globe performances etc..

Forum Discussion Topic: The Settlement of Religion. 'The 1559 religious settlement survived against all the odds.' Do you agree or disagree? Discuss your views on this statement with your fellow students.

Week 3 - A Woman in a Man's World

3.1: All the Queen's men - Councillors (Burghley, Walsingham, Effingham etc) Suitors and Favourites (Leicester, Essex, Alencon etc) Privateers (Drake, Raleigh, Frobisher etc)
3.2: To marry or not to marry, that is the question! Why did Elizabeth never married?
3.3: The Accession Day tilts - the meaning and significance of chivalry in Elizabethan England
3.4: The portable Queen. The importance of going on progress for Elizabeth. Interactive maps of, for example, the Queen's visit to Kenilworth Castle in 1575 and to Elvetham in 1591
3.5: Elizabethan architecture - virtual tours of prodigy houses - Hardwick, Burghley, Longleat etc.
3.6: The Royal image. How it was constructed, its symbolism and significance. Interactive map to highlight symbolism and meaning etc.

Forum Discussion Topic: Gloriana! Why was control of the royal image, and the elaborate symbolism employed, so important to Elizabeth's concept of herself as Queen?

Week 4. Surrounded by Enemies?

4.1: Protector of Protestants? - Elizabeth and Protestantism in France and the Netherlands
4.2: The northern Kingdom - Scotland 1559 - 1568
4.3: The English in Ireland
4.4: The northern rebellion of 1569 and its consequences
4.5: Mary Queen of Scots - her significance in England after 1568. Was she a focus for plots against Elizabeth?
4.6: The Jesuit missions - why were Roman Catholics seen as traitors? How many RCs were executed under Elizabeth?

Forum Discussion Topic: Endless prevarication! Why was Elizabeth so reluctant to execute Mary, Queen of Scots? Discuss your thoughts on this with your fellow students.

Week 5. Spain, the Armada and the Succession

5.1: English privateers and English sea power, were they defending England or provoking Spain? (Interactive map of Drake's circumnavigation of the world 1577 - 80.)
5.2: The Spanish Armada and its significance. (Interactive map showing the route of the Armada and the English campaign against it.)
5.3: The regime triumphant! The last decade of Elizabeth
5.4: The Earl of Essex's revolt in 1601
5.5: What next? Elizabeth and the Stuart succession
5.6: The legacy of Elizabeth

Forum Discussion Topic: Elizabeth on stage, film and TV. From Sarah Bernhardt, through Glenda Jackson to Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth I has been portrayed on the stage in films and on TV more than any other English/British monarch, except, perhaps, Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. In our last discussion, consider with your fellow students why this might be so.

Week 6. Evaluation

February 2024

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