"From her arrival in 1568, Mary Stuart posed a major threat to the security of Elizabeth and her government". How far do you agree with this judgement?
"From her arrival in 1568, Mary Stuart posed a major threat to the security of Elizabeth and her government". How far do you agree with this judgement? Mary's Threat Politically Religiously Internationally Self Inflicted Mary's arrival in England triggered the discontent among some Catholic sympathisers to become prevalent, as Mary provided a clear leader to focus their religious dissatisfactions with the moderately Protestant settlement imposed by Elizabeth. This is why religious motivations behind some of the laity were the most dangerous threat from Mary. Political advantages from individuals supporting Mary are contributory factors to threaten Elizabeth, without the laity's religious motivations however they cannot amount to a crucial significance. International implications from Mary's presence were potentially huge but were never anything more than potential. All these factors revolving around Mary that threatened Elizabeth were compounded by the way Elizabeth mismanaged situations. Mary can be seen as the reaction pathway in the threat towards Elizabeth, she does not do much herself to endanger Elizabeth, however she provided the discontented with the motivation to threaten Elizabeth because she was the next Catholic heir. Those who felt discontented about Elizabeth's moderate Protestant settlement now had a clear leader to focus their ambitions of a Catholic
Why did witch hunting become so intensive in late sixteenth century England?
Tessa Eaton Why did witch hunting become so intensive in late sixteenth century England? During the late sixteenth century much was blamed on magic, and those accused of it. In a biblically aware society thy believed evil had to be rooted out. "Do not allow a sorceress to live"1 Bad weather, the death of live-stock, a bad harvest or spoiled butter were many problems blamed on witches, and "cunning folk" or "wise women" were called upon to counter act such curses. There were two types of magic in these times: high magic (black magic) and low magic (white magic). Low magic was generally accepted, as it was used by the cunning folk; while high magic was a capital offence. Why then did the numbers of accused witches increase? Lotherington suggests that witch-hunts were due to the fear of women. He says witches tended to be women past childbearing2, so were of no benefit for their community, and around eighty-percent of those accused of witchcraft were women3. Paul Thomas4 agrees with Lotherington that it was mainly women who were persecuted; large numbers of women were hanged after being accused of maleficium (doing of harm to people or property) by their neighbours. Thomas says that the witch-craze was a "broyle against old women"5. Contemporary evidence supports this, for example George Gifford6, a Protestant priest from Essex, who wrote two books on witchcraft, in