OCR GCSE History B: British depth study — The Elizabethans, 1580–1603

What is included

What this course covers

• Section 1 — Elizabeth and government — The power of the queen

  • 1.1 – Elizabeth and her court: patronage, the Privy Council and the Earl of Essex’s rebellion
  • 1.2 – Elizabeth and her parliaments including opposition from Puritans
  • 1.3 – Elizabeth and her people including local government and propaganda

• Section 2 — Catholics — The nature and extent of a Catholic threat

  • 2.1 – The enforcement of Elizabeth’s religious settlement after 1580
  • 2.2 – Catholic links abroad, plots against Elizabeth, and the Elizabethan spy network
  • 2.3 – Mary Queen of Scots, the Armada and war with Spain

• Section 3 — Daily lives — The nature and dynamics of Elizabethan society

  • 3.1 – The contrasting lives of rich, middling and poor Elizabethans
  • 3.2 – Family life: husbands and wives, parents and children, wider kinship
  • 3.3 – Poverty: its causes, Elizabethan explanations and responses

• Section 4 — Popular culture — “Merry England”?

  • 4.1 – Theatres and their opponents
  • 4.2 – The Puritan attack on popular pastimes
  • 4.3 – The persecution of witches

• Section 5 — The wider world — The nature and significance of England’s connections with the wider world

  • 5.1 – Imperial ambition: the motives and achievements of Elizabethan adventurers
  • 5.2 – Roanoke: England’s attempt at an American colony
  • 5.3 – Trade with the east, including first contacts with India

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