Elizabethan Settlement of 1559

A few weeks ago, my second year A-level History class covered the early years of the reign of Elizabeth. Since September we delved into the Mid Tudor period, including the reigns of Edward VI, the short few days of Lady Jane Grey, and of Queen Mary I, as well as discussed the Mid Tudor Crisis debate. Now it is Elizabeth all the way until the end of the content in 1603, which should conclude in March 2026 (but of course, as all history teachers know, reaching the end of content with time to revise is always something of an impossible task!).

One of the key areas of focus of Elizabeth’s early years is her religious settlement in 1559, in which she was able to provide a solution to the religious turmoil in England over the past couple of decades. Her father, Henry VIII, had broken with Rome and created a new religious position within the Church of England, but the issue was far from resolved. In Edward’s reign – from 1547 to 1553 – the Church became more radical with Protestant reforms, whilst in Mary’s reign – from 1553 to 1558 – the clock was pushed back to the 1520s with an attempt to reverse all of the reforms of her brother and her father.

So, in 1558, Elizabeth was presented with a massive problem: what to do. The mind-map below provides an overview of the key areas of this problem, including Elizabeth’s own religious beliefs and the pressures upon her, as well as a breakdown of the Elizabethan Settlement, as well as a brief overview of the historiographical debate.

As with everything in teaching, I wish I had more time to sit down and create other mind-maps and make them more appealing with different colours (along with all the marking, the creation of lessons, activities, and creating other revision resources!). But it is a start, of sorts. Ultimately, if it makes any slight positive impact on a student – and myself – then it has been worth it.