How was England governed during the reign of Elizabeth I?

This lesson has been created to help students understand how England was governed during Elizabeth I’s reign. It looks at the power of the monarch, Secretary of State, the Privy Council, parliament, the Lord Lieutenants, JPs and the royal favourites. It has been designed to work alongside any main stream text book on this topic and is aimed at GCSE and A Level Students who are studying Elizabethan England.

When you purchase this resource, you will be able to download a 20 slide PowerPoint Presentation that includes aims, objectives, differentiated outcomes, starter, plenary, tasks, activities, consolidation exercises, information slides, historical sources and an appropriate video link.

The main activity aims to get students to review the information and compete the table in slide 10 and describe the role played by each area of the government and how it helped Elizabeth I to govern the country. In the past, I have found this a challenging topic to teach so in order to help students make effective notes and demonstrate their understanding of how the Elizabethan government functioned, I have provided them with a table with key summary of how each section of the government worked and a task to get them them to highlight and describe its role and how it helped Elizabeth to govern the country. This activity is followed up by a thinking skills review activity to help support students answer the question, who had the most influence within the government.

The next set of activities involves getting student to either use their text books or the information I’ve provided in the next few slides to research the backgrounds of key individuals at the royal court and what we can learn about who held power and how people were promoted at court. If you wish you could print off the information slides on William Cecil, Walsingham, Dudley and Sir Christopher Hatton and use them as mark place activity. This exercise serves as a useful case study and consolidation exercise to help students understand the importance of loyalty and royal favour in helping to advance peoples careers.

The aims and objectives for this lesson are:

Theme: Elizabethan England
Know: What was the Royal Court?
Understand: How was the court and government organised?
Evaluate: Who held the decision making power in Elizabeth’s court?

WILF – What Am I Looking For?
Identify & describe: Elizabeth’s Royal Court
Explain: How were both the court and the government organised?
Analyse: Who held the decision making power in Elizabeth’s court?

Anyway, have fun and stay in touch via social media for the latest updates.

Kind Regards

Roy