 Hello and welcome to our video summarising all you need to know about Queen Elizabeth I and the Elizabethan era. My name is Barbara and in this video we'll examine the Elizabethan government in detail. Bear in mind that this is the second of a five-part revision series where we examine Queen Elizabeth's reign including the structure of her government, her favourites at court, the threats that she faced when she was a monarch both within England and externally, the important role of explorers as well as key acts and laws that were passed during her tenure. So let's get started. Now the Queen was the head of the government so of course Queen Elizabeth herself became the reigning monarch. She was advised by her privy council which included her key ministers and laws made at the national level were enforced by local government. Local government enforced national laws and firstly the role of the local government was to supervise the running of each county and enforce the law there and secondly most local government positions were unpaid. Members of the nobility and gentry often volunteered for them because being part of the local government was a symbol of status and power. Thirdly an important local government position was justice of the peace. They were in charge of administering national policies like poor laws and taxation in their counties and enforcing law and order. They also looked after local issues like maintaining sewers and roads. Fourthly most counties had a Lord Lieutenant appointed by the Queen and Lord Lieutenants were in charge of the justices of the peace and they had an important military role for example. They maintained defences and managed the training of militia so this is ordinary people called to fight alongside the army in an emergency. Fifthly towards the end of the 16th century the number of justices of the peace and Lord Lieutenants increased. Now let's look at the Elizabethan government in detail so the Privy Council was really central in the government. It had two main roles firstly it gave advice to the Queen and secondly it managed administration of government. Now the council was made up of around 20 men all chosen by Queen Elizabeth I and members of the Privy Council were the Queen's closest and most trusted advisors hence being a member of this council made you a very powerful person indeed. Some key ministers served on the council for several years and although the Queen didn't have to follow advice of the Privy Council she often did and councillors were also expected to carry out her instructions even when doing so went against their advice. Now a really important person to remember is William Cecil and he was Queen Elizabeth's closest advisor so when she became Queen in 1558 she made William Cecil her principal secretary and he became her closest advisor leading the Privy Council and making sure the government ran smoothly and in 1571 Elizabeth gave Cecil the title of Lord Burley. The next year she made him Lord High Treasurer giving him greater control over royal finances and Cecil continued to serve Elizabeth until his death in 1598. Elizabeth's other key ministers included Nicholas Bacon who was Lord Chancellor from 1559 to 1579 and Francis Wolzingham who became principal secretary in 1573. Unlike today in the 16th century the monarch held more power than Parliament which is only a really secondary part of government. Its sessions were temporary and occasional and its powers were often quite limited. There were two chambers of Parliament who had the House of Lords which still exists today which was unelected and this is the same for today and it was made up of members of the nobility and senior churchmen. The second chamber was the House of Commons which is still there today in England and they were elected but only by men who owned property over a certain value were allowed to vote so in other words only men of the aristocracy voted for those who entered the House of Commons. Elections weren't free, the Crown controlled who got elected in some areas and in others powerful local figures controlled who was chosen. Now Parliament's main functions were advice taxation and legislation. So firstly when it came to advice Parliament was an important point of contact between central government and the leading figures in local government throughout the country. It enabled the Queen and her councillors to gauge the mood of the country and levels of support for the policies. Now the area was taxation so when the Queen needed extra revenue or in other words extra income she had to ask the Parliament's permission to raise taxes. Now the area is legislation in other words passing laws so the Queen needed Parliament's approval to pass new laws. However she could bypass this function by issuing royal proclamations instead. Parliament's powers however were still very limited. So firstly Queen Elizabeth had the power to summon and dismiss Parliament. She disliked working with Parliament and tried to use it as little as possible. She only called 13 sessions of Parliament during of 44 years in power. Secondly Parliament was not free to decide what topics are debated. It had to have permission from the Queen such as discussed matters of the state for example religion, succession and foreign policy. Thirdly and as a result most parliamentary business focused on local matters and social or economic issues which it could discuss without royal permission. There were many disagreements in Parliament which could prove a challenge for the Queen however through the Preview Council and Public Propaganda Queen Elizabeth managed to reign this in and maintain control. The Preview Council helped Queen Elizabeth manage Parliament so firstly it managed the relations between Queen Elizabeth and Parliament really effectively. In particular Cecil was highly skilled in convincing members of Parliament to support the Queen's policies. And secondly some members of the Preview Council sat in Parliament and they acted as royal spokesmen and helped to steer debates in favour of policies. Thirdly the Speaker who kept order in the House of Commons was chosen by the Queen and closely monitored by members of the Preview Council. This helped the Queen's councillors to control Parliament and convince MPs to support royal policy. Unfortunately Queen Elizabeth herself was a very strong public speaker. She made a number of powerful speeches in Parliament and this helped to persuade members of Parliament to obey her wishes. There were some disagreements however Queen Elizabeth stayed firmly in control. She was a very powerful monarch and her influence was very broad on the Elizabethan government indeed. During her reign Parliament didn't always agree with her policies. So throughout her reign members of Parliament were concerned about who would rule England after Queen Elizabeth's death. They repeatedly tried to persuade her to marry or name an heir. Remember this is not just because they wanted to have a man controlling as monarch of course this was still very important for them. However if she had no successor what they were most concerned about was a war that might break out after her death over people related to her wider extended family who claimed raw over the monarchy and so they really wanted to avoid this by having a very smooth succession but Elizabeth of course ignored this. There were also some Puritan MPs who challenged the religious settlement and tried to make England more Protestant. Also members of Parliament were worried about the threat from Mary Queen of Scots and the Catholic plots surrounding Queen Elizabeth. They tried to convince Queen Elizabeth to take action against Mary. Occasionally members of Parliament did try to force the Queen to change her mind by threatening to refuse taxation. Elizabeth however never gave in to this kind of parliamentary pressure. Effective management by the Privy Council combined with her powers to dismiss Parliament and select the topics are debated meant she remained firmly in control. Queen Elizabeth also relied on propaganda in other words the use and control of public information to maintain public support so to maintain the support of the English normal people. Public support meant that her position was really stable especially as some people doubted her. So Queen Elizabeth and her councillors used propaganda a lot to ensure that she had positive public image and of course one of her more enduring public images was that of her being the Virgin Queen. Now portraits were commissioned showing Queen Elizabeth as a powerful queen who was pure and chased a virgin and they suggested she was married to her people, the body of England rather than concerned with their welfare rather than concerned about her own welfare and her own personal happiness. There were also lots of plays which emphasised Queen Elizabeth's wealth and power and they were performed at court. Do bear in mind and of course we talk about this when it comes to our English literature videos but this is interesting in this case. Shakespeare was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth in other words he lived the same time as her and so she often commissioned a lot of his plays and he did have lots of plays which did also emphasise her power and the power of the monarch. These plays did really help combat courtier's fears that an unmarried woman was too weak to rule England properly. Now also Queen Elizabeth was careful to make ordinary people feel recognised by the state. She often went on royal progresses where she journeyed across different parts of England and allowed the public to see her and praise her and their public displays of affection helped her seem popular and loved by her subjects. Now when it comes towards the end of her reign so the last 15 years or so of Queen Elizabeth's rule were very different to her early years and there sometimes called her second reign. One of the main differences was the growth of competing groups at court so her court split into rival groups in the 1590s and this is when she was getting older. The make-up of her privy council changed towards the end of her reign and several of her key ministers including Christopher Hatton and Francis Walsingham died around 1590 and William Cecil died in 1598 and he was succeeded by his son Robert Cecil. Now in 1593 Elizabeth made Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex a member of the privy council and his rise led to the growth of two conflicting groups at court one around the Earl of Essex and the other around William and Robert Cecil. These two groups are constantly competing for royal patronage and influence and they disagreed over important matters and especially strategy and war with Spain and Queen Elizabeth's inability to control this conflict really undermined her authority towards the end of her reign. Now the Earl of Essex did launch a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth in 1601. In 1599 Queen Elizabeth sent the Earl of Essex to Ireland as a head of huge army and his task was to crush Tyrone Rebellion which was also known as the Nine Years War which had been going on since 1594. However Essex made some limited attempts to fight the Revables and when these were unsuccessful he made a truce to them. He then abandoned his post and returned to England without the Queen's permission. And as a punishment Queen Elizabeth had him under house arrest for some time. She banished him from court and took away most of his public offices. In November 1600 she also took away the Earl of Essex's role as a sole distributor of sweet wines which was his main source of income. And this loss of political power and income drove him to revolt and so on the 8th of February 1601 he launched a rebellion in London and he aimed to seize the Queen and force her to replace the closest advisors especially Cecil with him and his followers. However his rebellion ultimately failed within just a few hours. He received no support from ordinary Londoners and most of his own supporters quickly abandoned him and he was arrested, tried for treason and executed on the 25th of February 1601. Now this conflict at court however did have a massive effect on undermining Queen Elizabeth's authority. So the lack of popular support for Essex's rebellion showed that he wasn't a serious threat to her role. She was still popular and respected so there was no desire to overthrow her. However the rebellion still suggested that Elizabeth's authority over her court was becoming quite weak and by the 1590s she was no longer using patronage as effectively as she used in the past. And instead of balancing the different interest groups at court she let the Cecils become too powerful and when I refer to the Cecils I mean both Cecil her primary advisor and his son and she also failed to promote many other courtiers who became quite resentful and this therefore led to people rebelling much like the Earl of Essex himself. The conflict at court in the 1590s also made Queen Elizabeth's government less effective so there was constant competition and infighting between groups which made it far more difficult to get decisions and make get things done. So that's all. If you found this video useful please do head over to our website which is www.firstritutors.com and there you will find lots of history material including model answers, exam papers that you can use to enhance your writing skills and get top marks in your exams. Also do make sure you come back to our channel for parts 3, 4 and 5 where we will delve into life in Elizabethan times, troubles that Queen Elizabeth faced at home and abroad and of course the notorious war that she had with Spain. Thank you so much for listening.