Belmont

Mill Hill Preparatory School

Year 8 History Revision Summer 2017

The Exam Paper Will Consist of

One paper with three separate Evidence essays based on time period and
then ten generic knowledge essays.
The Evidence essay is worth 20 marks
The Knowledge essay is worth 30 marks
Total = 50 marks

Pupils should:
 Should know which essays they have prepared and where they can be found
in the paper.
 Decide whether to start with the Evidence or Knowledge essay.
 Be aware to spend at the most 25 minutes on the Evidence questions and 35
minutes on the Knowledge essay.
 The evidence essay will be on either the Black Death or Richard III .

Equipment you will need for the exam:

Plenty of blue pens and/or ink.
Highlighter pens to use with the sources.
(No notes or reference books allowed)

Topics you should know:

For the Evidence essay you will need to revise the Black Death and Richard III.
To prepare for the Essay section you will need to study in depth at least one from each of
the three question topic areas listed below.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 Question topic Year 7 Year 8
For question 1 and 2 on War The Battles of 1066 The Spanish Armada, 1588
and Rebellion
For question 3 and 4 on William I Mary I
Government and Parliament King John Thomas Wolsey
For questions 5 and 6 on Henry II and Becket Henry VIII
Religion Mary I
Thomas Cranmer

References:
 Present textbook for the Making of the UK topic: Henry VIII, The Spanish Armada
1588, Mary I and Elizabeth I and the Thomas’.
 Make sure you have borrowed a Year 7 textbook for revising Medieval Realms.
Topics include: The Battle of Hastings, William I, King John and Henry II and
Becket. You should make sure you collect this from your History teacher.
 Notes in exercise books, this year and last year and from your red revision book.
 Extra revision notes available to down load at the end of this document or from
your History teacher.

Key Words: Common Entrance

Key word Definition

The leader of an Army e.g. William of Normandy
Military commander during the battle of Hastings.

The leader of the Navy e.g. Lord Howard in charge

Naval commander of the English navy during the Spanish Armada.

A series of military battles that might take place

Campaign during a war e.g. The Crusades.

A fight between two armies to gain something from

Battle the enemy e.g. the Battle of Stamford Bridge over
who would rule England.

A person with an important role within Parliament

Minister or politician or who works in close connection with the monarch
e.g. Thomas Wolsey.

A King or Queen e.g. Mary I

Monarch
Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017
 A person with an important role within the church
Religious figure or who made a significant impact e.g. Thomas
Beckett or Martin Luther.

An attempt to get rid of the ruling monarch e.g.

Rebellion Wyatt’s rebellion or the Peasant’s Revolt.

A war where the sides fighting are from the same

Civil war country e.g. The War of the Roses.

A country outside of England and Wales – this could

Foreign enemy/power include Scotland during the Medieval and Tudor
period.

A group of powerful people who met to discuss the

Parliament running of the country, to pass laws and to raise
taxes. Did not exist in England until the 13th century.

What can I do to make sure I succeed in History?

 Look back through your notes in your exercise books and

cross reference these against your revision notes.

 Read the chapters in your text book that relate to the topics
you are revising.

 Create timelines to help you learn important dates and

events.

 Create mind maps to identify the causes and consequences

of an event/decision.

 Practise using the correct historical terminology and new

vocabulary by making flashcards – The word/term can do on
one side and the definition/explanation on the other.

 Look at past Common Entrance Papers available from your

History teacher.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

  Look at the feedback you got on previous essays to identify
your strengths and weaknesses.

Knowledge Essay Questions– 30 marks

1. Choose a battle or campaign you have studied and explain why one side won.

2. Explain the importance of the role of a leader in a war fought by England/Britain.

3. Explain a key event in the development of the power of Parliament.

4. Choose a monarch or chief minister you have studied who could be considered
unsuccessful, and explain why this was.

5. Choose an important religious figure in England/Britain and explain how successful

he or she was.

6. Explain the consequences of one monarch’s religious changes for England/Britain.

Useful revision websites

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zk26n39
 This site has excellent resources for King John, Henry II and Becket, Henry
VIII and Elizabeth I.
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/tudors_stuarts/
 Good for Henry VIII and the Reformation, Elizabeth I, the Armada and the
Black Death.

Extra revision Notes

These provide factual information on the different topics and should be used
alongside the work in your exercise book and your text book. You should use
them to create timelines, flash cards and mind maps and to help you plan and
brainstorm essay plans.

Just reading them is not enough!

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 For notes on the Battles of 1066 and King John please see your History
teacher.

Evidence Topic 1: The Black Death

What was the Black Death?
A deadly disease known as the plague. This came in three different forms
 Bubonic Plague – The plague bacteria lived in the bloodstream of black rats. When the fleas
on the rats bit the rat the bacteria was transferred o the flea, who in turn transferred this to
humans through a bite. The disease attacked the body’s lymph nodes and cause them to
swell – The swellings were knowns as Buboes.
 Pneumonic plague – Attacked the lungs. Transmitted directly from person to person by
saliva and by coughing or sneezing.
 Septicaemic plague – If the two plagues above got into a person’s blood stream it would
cause blood poisoning. This had a 100% death rate.

Symptoms associated with the plague were vomiting, dark blotches on the body (hence the name
Black Death), fever and headaches, boils under the armpit and in the groin then all over the body,
spitting of blood. Victims often died within five days of the symptoms appearing.

What were the causes of the Black Death?

The Black Death originated in Asia. The black rats travelled on trade ships that sailed from China to
Europe. The first major European city to suffer was Florence, and it reached England in the summer
of 1348 and continued until 1350.

Plagues often die down in the winter months as the flea’s carrying the harmful bacteria die.
However during 1348-1349 it is believed that the bubonic form turned into the pneumonic form of
the plague and so could be spread from person to person.

People at the time had very limited medical and scientific knowledge and so did not know what
caused the plague. Some explanations as to the cause of the plague were:
- The result of a volcanic explosion.
- The positioning of the planets.
- God’s punishment or the devil’s work.
- Bad air
- A disease made by Jewish people to wipe out Christianity.

What attempts were made to stop the spread of the Black Death?

Medieval medical knowledge was very limited and therefore the prevention methods and cures
used by doctors had very little impact on stopping the spread of the plague.

Some methods were:

 Praying and the ringing of Church bells.
 Whipping – Men called flagellants believed that punishing themselves would allow God to
forgive their sins.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

  Herbs – Many healers and doctors sold their own mixtures and potions. Very few of these
had any impact at all.
 Bleeding/Bloodletting – A popular cure at the time.

Those in charge of the towns and cities effected also passed their own laws to try to stop the plague
from spreading:
 Quarantine: Cities and villages refused to let anybody in or out. This had a negative impact
on trade.
 Burning: Victims belongings and clothing were burned.
 Cleaning: Streets were cleaned. Butchers were ordered not to leave intestines and blood in
the market places.
 Death Carts – The dead were collect after sunset and no mourners were allowed.

What were the consequences of the Black Death?

Negative consequences

The population in England in 1348 had been around 3.5 million, by 1370 this amount had been
halved. In some villages 90% of the population died. Children were often the first to die from this
disease.

Positive consequences

As the population was halved this meant that there was a labour shortage. The Peasants that
survived were in great demand as people were still needed to work on the land. Because there
were so few peasants often crops were left to wither and die in the fields and animals were left
untended. Landowners were willing to pay higher wages to encourage peasants to come and work
for them.

To try to control the rising wages of the peasants the Statute of Labourers was brought in in 1351.
This was a set of rules that controlled how much peasants could be paid, arranged for runaway
peasants to be turned to their landlords and confirmed the right of the lords to control their
peasants. However. In 1377 when Richard II became King the peasants began to complain again.
When Richard introduced a new poll tax in 1380 the peasants had has enough and in 1381 the
Peasant’s Revolt began. This brought an end to the feudal system that had existed since the time of
William I.

The plague encouraged doctors and scientists to look for new ways of dealing with disease. It
encourage them to look for more scientific understanding of illnesses and move away from
traditional theories about how the body worked and superstitions.

Evidence Topic 2: Richard III

King Richard III, also known as Richard, Duke of Gloucester is often portrayed in history as an evil
and ruthless man: How true is this interpretation of him?

Early Life

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

  Son of Richard, Duke of York who challenged for the crown of England but was killed at the
Battle of Wakefield in 1460.
 Brother of Edward IV, King of England in 1461 and again after he defeated and killed Henry
VI in 1471. Richard was probably involved in the murder of Henry VI whilst he was being
held a prisoner at the Tower of London.
 Appointed as Constable of England and given important responsibilities in Wales in 1469.
 Held many titles during Edward IV’s reign and worked hard to claim large areas of land in
the North of England.
 After the death of Edward IV in 1483 Richard was formally appointed as Protector of the
Realm until his nephew and Edward IV’s son, Edward was old enough to rule as king. (He
was just twelve at the time). Young Edward and his nine year old brother Richard were
moved to the Tower of London in preparation for Edward’s coronation.
 During the summer of 1483 Richard made moves to discredit his nephew’s claim to the
throne by claiming that he was illegitimate and on 6th July he was crowned King of England.

Richard’s kingship

 In October 1483 a loyal supporter of Richard’s, the Duke of Buckingham staged a

rebellion against him. Buckingham gained the support of the southern counties and
much of Wales. Richard’s forces came down from the North and defeated Buckingham
who was executed in 2nd November 1483.
 During his reign Richard rewarded those that were loyal to him. This caused much
resented amongst the southern gentry as Richard tended to favour the north.
 Richard passed many measures to help the poor and make the courts fairer for them.
 Richard’s only child, Edward died in 1484. At the time of his own death in 1485 Richard
had no heir to succeed him.

Some sources, including Shakespeare are very negative about Richard whereas others argue he was
a good king for the short time that he was in power.

The Battle of Bosworth Field

 In the summer of 1485, Henry Tudor, a descendent for the House of Lancaster living
in France, landed in Wales with an army of 5,000 soldiers.
 Richard III and Henry Tudor faced each other at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Richard had the upper hand as his army was three times the size of Henry’s.
However his army could not be relied upon, including the powerful Duke of
Northumberland and the Stanley family.
 The first attack saw victory for Henry but Richard seeing Henry and closet
supporters cut off from the rest of his army charged down Ambion Hill with 1,500
knights on horses. Henry’s flag bearer was killed.
 However, at the point Thomas Stanley sent his troops in on Henry’s side. Despite
Richard sending orders to the Duke of Northumberland, he refused to help Richard.
The story goes that Richard’s horse was killed and then he himself was slain.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 Legend says that his crown was found nearby in a thorn bush and was used to
crown Henry (VII) the new king of England on the battlefield.

There are different interpretations of Richard’s defeat at the Battle of Bosworth.

Some sources, including Shakespeare are very negative about Richard whereas others argue he was
a brilliant and courageous leader in battle.

What happened to the ‘Princes in the Tower’?

A mystery remains surrounding the disappearance of Edward IV’s to sons, Edward and Richard after
they were taken to the Tower of London by their uncle in 1483. Below are some of the facts and
theories about what might have happened.

April 1483 Edward arrives at the Tower and stays in the royal apartments under his uncle Richard’s
care.

June 1483 Edward is joined by his younger brother Richard – They are seen playing together in the
palace gardens. Preparations begin for Edward’s coronation.

June 1483 – It is declared that the two boys are illegitimate.

July 1483 – Their uncle Richard is crowned King. There is no evidence to suggest that the two boys
were seen again after this date.

August 1485 – Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry Tudor (VII) takes over the Tower
of London. There is no mention of the two boys during this time.

1502 - Henry VII announces that he has a confession made by James Tyrell that he was ordered to
murder the two boys on the orders of Richard III in 1483.

1674 A wooden box containing the bones of two children’s skeletons were dug up in the grounds of
the White Tower.

Suspect Arguments for Arguments against

Richard III The boys were declared
Suspicion at the time fell on him. illegitimate in 1483, which
An evil uncle meant Richard was the rightful
plots steal According to some sources, in 1502 James heir.
throne from his
nephews? Tyrell confessed to ordering the murder of the After his coronation Richard
two princes on behalf of Richard. treated the Woodville family
kindly.
There is no mention of the boys after 1483.

Henry VII Issues a list of Richards’s crimes in 1485 yet did There is no historical evidence
not mention the murder of the young princes. of the two boys after 1483.
A ruthless king Were they already dead before
determined to Young Edward was the rightful heir. If he was Henry VII became King?
keep his alive in 1485 he should have been king.
throne?
Elizabeth Woodville was locked up during his

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 reign.

Was James Tyrell’s confession during Henry's

reign real?

Did he help spread the rumours of the boys

murder to blacken Richard's name?
Henry Stafford, Had access to the Tower of London.
Duke of
Buckingham Part of a plot to overthrow Richard in October
1483 – if the boys were already dead
A traitor to Buckingham would be in the perfect position
Richard III and a to become making himself or help Henry Tudor
schemer with onto the throne.
big ambitions?
Did he help spread the rumours of the boys
murder to blacken Richard's name?

Knowledge Essay Topics

Mary I and religious change

A. Mary Tudor became Queen of England in difficult circumstances.

1. Her half-brother Edward VI, along with the Duke of Northumberland and Archbishop
Cranmer, had attempted to replace her with Lady Jane Grey.
2. After acting decisively to defeat this plot, Mary still faced the problem of dealing with a
kingdom that had been pushed towards Protestantism for the last six years.

B. What were Mary I’s major aims?

1. Mary was determined to restore England to the Roman Catholic faith.
2. She wanted to marry and produce a clear heir to the throne in order to prevent her half-
sister Elizabeth or any other possible Protestant from taking the throne.
3. She wanted to create closer ties with her mother’s home country of Spain.

C. How much did Mary I change the Church?

1. Against the advice of even the Pope, she pressed for quick changes.
2. She used Parliament to change the laws.
a. 1553 all the religious laws passed in Edward’s reign repealed.
b. 1554 Heresy laws revived.
c. 1555 the Pope was recognised as the head of the Church.
3. All the old practices were revived, including Mass in Latin, statues replaced, old
ceremonies and processions revived.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 4. What did not happen was the restoration of the monasteries, which would be too costly
and unpopular with the new owners.
5. Some people suffered
a. Married priests had to leave their wives.
b. Archbishop Cranmer and other Protestant bishops sacked.
c. Nearly 300 Protestants were burnt using the Heresy laws, including Cranmer.

D. What else did Mary I do?

1. She decided to marry Philip of Spain.
a. She eventually persuaded her councillors to agree by not allowing Philip any real
power in England
b. But Wyatt’s rebellion showed that many Englishmen were not happy with the
marriage, even though the rebellion was crushed.
2. The marriage was not a success.
a. Mary failed to produce a child.
b. England was dragged into a war against France that cost it Calais.

E. Was Mary I a success?

a. She turned England back to the ‘true faith’.
b. Her marriage had been a failure.
c. She had not produced a child.
d. Next in line to the throne was her protestant half-sister Elizabeth.

The Life of Thomas Becket

1. His early years.

a. He was born in London in 1120 (21 December).
b. His father was a Norman merchant named Gilbert Becket.
c. Thomas’s mother was Matilda and she made sure that he
learned to read and write. (Went to St. Paul’s Grammar School
and to a monastery for education.)
d. Under the influence of a French noble Becket went to Paris to
study.

2. Becket as a young man.

a. When his mother died Becket stopped his education and ended
up working for a merchant banker.
b. When he was 24 his father arranged for him to go into the
household of the Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, as
a clerk.
c. Thomas proved to be ambitious and ‘pushy’ and was called
‘Baille-hache’ (The hatchet man) and seems to have made
a number of enemies.
d. It was during this time that Becket decided that he would
dedicate his life to the Church, even though he loved fine
clothing and living.
e. Archbishop Theobald sent Becket to study law and had
Thomas study to take holy orders.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

3. In 1154 Thomas Becket is introduced to Henry II.
a. He soon became the King’s friend and advisor.
b. Becket made the post of Royal Chancellor into a powerful position.
c. He became wealthy from the present and income, including gifts of land and goods from
Henry II.
d. Becket supported the King even against the Church, forcing it to pay a tax for war against
France in 1159 (the Great Scutage).
e. He also lead soldiers in battle for the king.

4. In 1161 Becket was made Archbishop of Canterbury.

a. The previous Archbishop, Theobald, had wanted Becket to
Archbishop because he believed he would support the Church.
b. Henry II wanted Becket as Archbishop because he believed
Becket would continue to support him.
c. Becket himself advised the King not to make him Archbishop,
but was over-ruled.

5. Thomas Becket became a firm supporter of the Roman Catholic

Church.
a. He soon began to clash with the King and resigned from being
Royal Chancellor.
b. The real problems began when Henry II demanded that
criminous clerks were to be turned over to the King’s justice.
c. Henry II claimed that this demand was part of the Ancient
Royal Customs and eventually managed to get Becket to agree.

6. But then Henry II pushed this too far.

a. The King met with his council as his hunting lodge at Clarendon and produced the
Constitutions of Clarendon.
b. When Becket saw these, which included such restrictions as preventing churchmen from
leaving England without the King’s permission and that no servant of the King could be
excommunicate with the King’s permission, he refused to accept them.
c. When the King had Becket accused of misconduct in order to try and force him to agree
Becket fled into exile in France.

7. Becket remained in exile until 1170.

a. Pope Alexander III supported Becket but could not afford to
offend Henry II and did nothing to resolve the quarrel.
b. Henry seize all of Becket’s lands and refused to let Becket return to England.
c. Then in 1170 Henry II made a major mistake.
1) He wanted his eldest son Henry to be make king of England
but only the Archbishop of Canterbury could crown him.
2) Against the instructions of the Pope Henry II has the
Archbishop of York carry out the coronation.
3) Henry II soon realised he had gone too far and met Becket
to resolve their quarrel.

8. Thomas Becket was allowed to return to England in 1170.

a. The problem was that the real causes of the argument between
King and Archbishop had not been settled.
b. When Becket arrived back at Canterbury he excommunicated

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 those bishops who supported the illegal coronation.
c. Roger of York, the Archbishop who had carried out the
coronation knew he was in trouble.
1) He convinced the young Henry to believe that Becket meant to undo
his coronation, leading to Henry refusing to see Becket.
2) He then travelled to Henry II’s court in France and told the King how
Becket had been terrorising the kingdom by threatening violence and
excommunication.
3) Henry believed these lies and called out in anger, ‘What idle
treacherous knaves have I nourished in my court that they allow me to
be shamefully mocked by a low-born clerk?’
4) Four ignorant barons, Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de Moreville, William de
Tracy and Richard le Bret, decided to carry out the King’s will.

9. On December 29 1170 Thomas Becket was murdered.

a. The four barons along with the de Brock family, who had been
Excommunicated for plundering Becket’s lands before returning them to him, rode into
Canterbury.
b. They tried to take Becket from his palace under arrest and when
he refused they stormed off to put on their armour to force him.
c. Becket’s monks and clerks locked them out and spirited the
Archbishop into Canterbury Cathedral before the barons could break in.
d. The barons followed them into the Cathedral, which Becket had
refused to allow to be locked, where after angry words and a struggle they struck Becket
a number of blows. The top of his head was cut off, killing the Archbishop.

10. In death Becket won what he had fought for in life.

a. Henry II was blamed for Becket’s death and had to give up on
the Constitutions of Clarendon and criminous clerks.
b. Faced with rebellions and attacks from France and Scotland,
Henry II walked through Canterbury, was whipped by churchmen and prayed an entire
night at Becket’s tomb as a penance in 1174.
c. Becket himself was soon proclaimed a martyr and a saint.
His tomb at Canterbury became a site of pilgrimage.

Henry VIII and the Reformation

1.The King’s ‘Great Matter’
 Why did Henry VIII want a divorce?
1. Catherine of Aragon was too old to have any more children.
2. Only one of Henry and Catherine’s children had survived, Mary, and
Henry believed only a male could rule effectively.
3. Henry believed that God was punishing him for marrying his
sister-in-law, as Catherine had been married to his brother Arthur first.
4. Henry loved and wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.

 Why did Cardinal Wolsey fail to achieve a divorce?

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 1. Catherine of Aragon refused to accept a divorce.
2. Her nephew, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, had captured
Rome and controlled the pope.
3. Clement VII, the pope, did not want to over rule an earlier pope’s
decision that allowed Henry and Catherine to marry.
4. Attempts in 1529 by Wolsely and Cardinal Compeggio to convince
Catherine to accept the divorce failed.
5. This leads to Wolsely being sacked.

 How did Henry VIII achieve his divorce?

1. Thomas Cromwell helped the King put pressure on the Church through
Parliament.
a. The Church was heavily fined.
b. Special Church courts were removed.
c. Money sent to the pope was threatened to be stopped (called
Annates).
2. In 1533 a crisis broke forcing the King’s hand.
a. Anne Boleyn was pregnant!
b. Thomas Cranmer, Henry’s new Archbishop of Canterbury,
secretly marries Henry to Anne.
c. Meanwhile Parliament has passed a new law, the Act in Restraint
of Appeals, which means no law case can be taken out of England.
d. This allows Archbishop Cranmer to hold a church court and grant
Henry his divorce from Catherine. Catherine is by law unable to
take her case to the pope.
3. To make sure of his position Henry and Cromwell have Parliament pass
an Act of Supremacy in 1534 which makes the King head of the Church of
England.

2. The Dissolution of the Monasteries 1535-1540

 Why did Henry want to close the monasteries?
1. There was a fear that monks might try to resist Henry’s religious changes
(The Charterhouse monks did and were executed).
2. Many felt that monasteries were outdated and corrupt.
3. Monasteries were very wealthy and Henry needed money for his wars.
 How did Henry close the monasteries?
1. He appointed Thomas Cromwell as Vicar General and told him to inspect
the monasteries.
a. Cromwell sent out handpicked inspectors told to find fault with the
monasteries and convents
b The methods used to find information were not very fair, including
using local gossip and not even visiting the monastery itself.
c. Any report that was favourable was sent back to be redone.
2. The reports were given to Parliament as evidence of corruption and evil in
the monasteries.
a. An Act of Dissolution was passed in 1536 that closed all the smaller
monasteries.
b. In 1539 another act closed the remaining larger monasteries.

 What were the results?

1. Henry VIII seized the lands and wealth of the monasteries as head of the

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 Church of England.
a. His income doubled during these years.
b. He sold or gave away much of the lands, creating a new class of
landowners who would not want to see monasteries restored.
2. In the north of England, where monasteries were seen as important by the
local people, a revolt called the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in 1536,
but was crushed by Henry’s followers.
3. Thousands of monks were left to find a new living.
a. Pensions were given and some became ordinary priests.
b. Worse off were nuns who received no pension and were sent home.
c. Workers and servants from the monasteries sometimes found work,
but in the north there was often no work at all.

3. Was Henry VIII a Catholic of a Protestant?

 Was he Protestant?
a. Henry broke away from the Pope in 1534 with the Act of Supremacy.
b. He closed the monasteries by 1540.
c. He had an English translation of the Bible published in 1539.
d. He allowed his son Edward to be educated by known Protestants.

 Was he Roman Catholic?

a. Henry did not allow any real changes in churches. Services were
still in Latin and there were stained glass windows and paintings on
the walls.
b. He drove William Tyndale, who had made an earlier English translation
of the Bible, out of England.
c. He had Thomas Cromwell executed for treason.
d. He had Parliament pass the Act of Six Articles which disallowed
Protestant church practices.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries 1535-1540

1. Causes, why did Henry VIII close the monasteries?
 Henry has spent most of his father’s money and needs more. The monasteries were
very wealthy.
 Henry feared that the monks would resist his changes to the Church.
 There were charges that the monasteries had become very corrupt.

2. How did Henry carry the dissolution out?

 Henry turned to Thomas Cromwell to carry out this task. Cromwell becomes Vicar
General.
 The plan is to convince Parliament to carry out the dissolution.
 Inspectors were sent out to report on all the religious houses (800).
1. The men who were chosen were prejudiced against the monks and nuns.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 2. They were instructed to ‘find the dirt’, not to be balanced in their reports.
3. Inspectors did not always even visit the monastery they reported on but
depended upon local gossip.
4. Any positive reports had to be rewritten to be negative.
 These reports were presented to Parliament and used as evidence to pass the first
act in 1536 dissolving the smaller monasteries.
 In 1539 a second act was passed closing the larger monasteries.

3. What were the results of the dissolution?

 In 1536 the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out as a rebellion against the changes in the
Church, sparked by the dissolution of the smaller monasteries.
1. This was the most serious rebellion during Henry VIII’s reign.
2. It started in Lincolnshire and spread to Yorkshire
3. One of the key leaders was Robert Aske
4. The demands of the ‘pilgrims’ included:
a. Cranmer and Cromwell removed
b. Monasteries reopened
c. Princess Mary restored as the King’s heir
5. The Duke of Norfolk promised these things in the name of the King, but the King
had no intention of keeping these promises.
6. The rebels were eventually rounded up and nearly 200 hanged and Aske was
executed.
 The King’s income doubled for a number of years.
 Much of the monasteries’ lands were sold or given away, producing a new class of
land owning gentry hostile to any Catholic attempt to re-establish the monasteries
 Monks were given pensions, but nuns were sent home with only a cloak.
 Many servants, particularly in the north, ended up jobless.

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Thomas Cranmer
A. Background

1. Trained as a priest and scholar.

2. Came to the notice of Henry VIII because of his support for Henry’s divorce.
3. On his travels in Europe to gain support Cranmer secretly marries.

B. Role under Henry VIII (1533-1547)

1. Made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533

a. Secretly married Henry to Anne Boleyn.
b. Officially granted divorce by Henry from Catherine of Aragon even
though he knew this was against the Pope’s will.
c. Cranmer happily married Henry officially to Anne Boleyn and agreed
to the Act of Supremacy of 1534.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 2. Cranmer and Cromwell tried to push Henry towards being a protestant.
a. Tried to arrange marriage with protestant Anne of Cleves.
b. Convinces Henry to publish an English Bible.
3. Cromwell is executed eventually for pushing too hard, Cranmer barely escapes.

C. Cranmer and Edward VI (1557-1553)

1. King Edward VI was happy to allow the Church of England to become more
protestant.
a. Archbishop Cranmer played a major role in this.
b. He wrote the new Common Book of Prayer.
c. He oversaw the stripping out of the churches to make them plain and
simple.
d. He agreed to allow priests to marry and to be called ministers.
e. A second Book of Common Prayer was even more protestant,
stopping using terms like mass.
2. Archbishop Cranmer did not want Roman Catholicism to return.
a. He agreed with the Duke of Northumberland about keeping Mary off
the throne.
b. He actively supported the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the
throne as the new Queen.

D. Cranmer and Mary I (1553-1556)

1. Mary Tudor on the throne was a disaster for Thomas Cranmer.

a. As a fanatic Roman Catholic she fully intended to reverse all the
changes he had backed.
b. She personally hated him for his role in the divorce of Henry VIII and
her mother Catherine of Aragon.
2. Mary had Cranmer arrested.
a. He was taken to Oxford placed in a cold and damp prison.
b. Cranmer was made to watch the burning as heretics of Latimer and
Ridley.
c. He was paraded through Oxford and was publicly stripped of his
gowns and position as Archbishop of Canterbury.
3. Cranmer was a frightened and sick 65 year old man.
a. He wrote a letter from his cell recanting his belief in Protestantism.
b. This was a propaganda triumph for Mary and her Roman Catholic
cause.
c. But Mary was not going to allow Cranmer mercy.
4. On 21 March 1556 Cranmer was to burn as a heretic.
a. On the day he was taken to St. Mary’s Church, Oxford, to publicly state
his recantation.
b. But Cranmer regained his courage and belief and condemned
Catholicism and the Pope.
c. He was dragged to the stake where he thrust his right hand into the
fire first as it had written the recanting letter.
d. His brave death turned his execution into a propaganda disaster for
Mary.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 The Spanish Armada 1588
1. 29th July 1588 the Armada was spotted just before it reached the coast of Southwest
England.

a. Part of the English fleet stationed at Plymouth under Drake sails out to do battle.
b. The Spanish then moved into a crescent formation that proved very difficult for the
English to attack.

2. The first battles caused little damage as the English could not come close
enough to really hurt the Spanish but the Spanish could not get close enough to board the
English. The Spanish lost two ships, the Rosario and the San Salvador. One was damaged in a
collision, the other had an explosion on board. Both were captured by the English

3. The key battle was on 4 August when the Spanish attempted to sail behind the Isle of Wight
into harbour.
a. The English jumped to the conclusion that this was the invasion landing.
b. In fact the Spanish needed a safe harbour to wait until Parma was ready with
his army to join them in the Channel.
c. The English attacked and managed to force the Armada fleet to turn away from
the Isle of Wight and continued sailing on to the east.
d. This meant the Armada had probably failed as there was no safe place left to
anchor and communicate with the Duke of Parma.

4. The Fire Ships and the battle of Gravelines.

a. The Spanish anchored off Calais and finally contacted Parma, who said he needed a week
to be ready.
b. 6-7 August 1588 the English launched 8 fireships at the anchored Spanish fleet, forcing
them to cut their anchors and flee northwards.
c. The scattered Spanish fleet was then battered during the battle on the 7 August off the
coast at Gravelines.
d. Still, only maybe one or two Spanish ships were actually lost, but most had been badly
damaged and the Armada was forced to sail north further away from Parma and his army.

5. The end of the Spanish Armada.

a. The English fleet turned back after the Spanish reached Scotland but the Armada kept
sailing north.

b. The Duke of Medina Sidonia decided to order his fleet to sail back to Spain by circling the
British Isles.

c. About 1/3 the Spanish fleet did not return to harbour, either sunk at sea or

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

 smashed on the shores of Scotland and Ireland. Many of the shipwrecked survivors were
massacred by the native Irish or the English garrison soldiers.

d. 90 ships did return but their crews were in bad shape and many of the ships had to be
scrapped. Medina Sidonia was so ill that he had to be carried home in a litter.

6. Consequences of the Armada

a. The Spanish did try to send other fleets, all failed.
b. The English failed to capture any Spanish treasure after the Armada or to
really give the Spanish any problems.
c. Elizabeth I became more popular in England, it helped to cement her story
as a great Queen.
d. The costs of the war against Spain, that lasted until after Elizabeth’s death
helped to cripple the finances of the English Crown.

Reasons for the failure of the Armada

1. Poor planning.
a. There was no way worked out for Medina Sedonia to contact Parma to be ready with
his army.
b. Parma’s army would be helpless trying to cross the Channel without the Armada
protecting it.
2. Problems with supplies
a. The food supplies for the Armada were rotting even before it reached England.
b. This is because of Drake’s raid the year before when so many barrels were burnt.
3. The inability of the Spanish to get close enough to the English to board them.
4. The weather that had helped them with a good wind to reach Calais, then drove them north
beyond where Parma was.
5. The English fireships had scattered the Armada at Calais allowing the English fleet to use
their cannons to cause great damage at the Battle of Gravelines.

How did Elizabeth manage to survive and thrive as queen?

1. The problem of Marriage.

 Queens were expected to marry and have children (heirs).
 But a husband would take most of the power.
 A foreign prince or king might drag England into war.
 Danger of rebellion and religious strife.
 If Elizabeth married an English noble might lead to rebellion.
 Elizabeth’s solution was not to marry, but to use the possibility of marriage as a political tool.

2. The problem of Religion.

 Elizabeth is protestant and had to face hostile Catholics and radical protestants.
 Elizabeth tried to find a middle or moderate way, such as changing the church back to
protestant but not persecuting Catholics if they ‘kept their heads down’.
 She was quite willing to deal harshly with those extremists on both sides who pushed too far.

Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017

3. The problem of Mary Queen of Scots.
 Elizabeth I did not have an heir, leaving Mary Stuart as next in line to the throne.
 Mary was a Roman Catholic and thus a figurehead for English Roman Catholics.
 Mary is in England because she fled a revolt against her in Scotland, where she was Queen.
 Elizabeth’s solution was to confine Mary, but she refused to execute her for many years.
 Finally in 1587 Mary was beheaded for being involved in a plot to overthrow Elizabeth.

4. The problem of the Spanish Armada

 Philip II was annoyed with Elizabeth because:
1. The English helped the protestant Dutch against his forces in the Netherlands.
2. English sailors, ‘seadogs’, were attacking Spanish ships and colonies in the New
World. (Francis Drake)
3. England was a Protestant country when Philip II wanted everybody to become
Catholic again.

 Why did the Armada fail?

1. The most powerful fleet ever seen in the Channel still failed to achieve its purpose.
2. The purpose of the Armada was to escort a Spanish army
from Flanders to England.
3. But it was never sorted out how the fleet was meant to
communicate with the army.
4. The English fleet was actually larger than the Spanish and
even had bigger ships.
5. The Spanish fleet lost because of bad planning and English
attacks, making Elizabeth appear the saviour of the nation

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Year 8 History Revision Guide Summer 2017