Gloriana: The Life and Times of Elizabeth 1, 1533 - 1603 - Weekly Units

0. Orientation week

Forum Discussion Topic: From Sarah Bernhardt, through Glenda Jackson to Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth I has fascinated film makers and TV producers and she has been portrayed by some of the greatest actresses of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Discuss with your fellow students why you think this might be so.

1. Elizabeth - From Princess to Queen 1533 - 1558

The social structure of Elizabeth England
Anne Boleyn - a mother who changed history
Elizabeth - from Princess, to bastard, to Princess
Elizabeth's education and religion
The Thomas Seymour affair
By the skin of her teeth
Elizabeth's accession to the throne
All the Queen's men I - Elizabeth's first Privy Council
Elizabeth's coronation

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

2. The Alteration of Religion

Elizabeth's personal religion and 'The Device for the Alteration of Religion.'
Elizabeth's first Parliament and the Alteration
The Book of Common Prayer, 1559
Puritans and T.U.L.I.P.
The Royal Injunctions of 1559
The fate of the Marian Clergy
Matthew Parker, Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
John Foxe and The Book of Martyrs
The Puritan and Presbyterian challenge
John Jewel and Richard Hooker - defending the Settlement

Forum Discussion: 'The 1559 religious settlement survived against all the odds.' Do you agree with this statement?

3. A Woman in a Man's World

The marriage game
The Queen's Two Bodies
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
All the Queen's Men II - Suitors and Admirers
Seats of Learning
Elvetham - a Triumph Fit for a Queen
The image of the Queen

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

4. Surrounded by Enemies?

England and Europe in 1559
The Northern Rebellion 1569
One Excommunication and a Massacre
The Dutch Revolt
A tragic life? Mary, Queen of Scots
'Come Rack, Come Rope!' Plots, Papists and Priests

Forum Discussion: Endless Prevarication - why was Elizabeth so reluctant to execute Mary, Queen of Scots?

5. Spain, the Armada and the Succession

All the Queen's Men III - the Sea Dogs!
The Enterprise of England
Eliza Triumphant? The final phase of Elizabeth's reign
The Essex Affair
The Death and Legacy of Elizabeth

Forum Discussion: Perceptions of Elizabeth. Has this course challenged or confirmed your view of Elizabeth?

May 2024

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