Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588

Welcome to our series for the Edexcel specification on Elizabethan England. The series is broken down into 4 areas of four podcasts, each area focussed on one of the 4 key topics to be studied; Accession, Religion, Challenges and Society. Elizabeth is viewed as one of our greatest monarchs. She committed herself to her country, even ruling out marriage in favour of her subjects. But was this really a golden age? How did the country react to Elizabeth? Was she even wanted? This was a period of religious turmoil and would be a thorny issue throughout her reign. There were other issues too - revolts and rebellion at home and threats from abroad, especially the mighty Spanish. It was also a period when the English started to expand their horizons both at home and abroad. And what was life like at home under Elizabeth? There was plenty of change and, as is usual, winners and losers. Our series brings together Oxford historian and Tudor specialist, Dr Glyn Redworth, and Chris Eades, a History teacher at one of England's oldest schools, Harrow, which was established during our period in 1572 by Royal Charter of Elizabeth herself.