Early Elizabethan England, 1569-1587: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Revolt of the Northern Earls - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

16 original exam-style questions - 4 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

Download PDF Jump to mark scheme (page 5)Early Elizabethan England, 1569-1587: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Revolt of the Northern Earls revision guide

This topic is chapter 1 of GCSE History: Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88 Practice Book.

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3.1 Early Elizabethan England, 1569-1587: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Revolt of the Northern Earls

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 60 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 15 and 16. You are advised to spend about 65 minutes on this pack.

Give the year in which Mary, Queen of Scots fled to England after her defeat at the Battle of Langside.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give the year in which Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

(Total for Question 2 is 1 mark)

Name the plot of 1586, uncovered by Elizabeth's spy network, that directly implicated Mary in a plan to assassinate Elizabeth and led to Mary's trial and execution.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

State what a 'recusant' was in Elizabethan England, and give one penalty a recusant could face.

(Total for Question 4 is 2 marks)

Give two consequences of the discovery of the Ridolfi Plot (1571) for the Duke of Norfolk and for Mary, Queen of Scots.

(Total for Question 5 is 2 marks)

Describe two features of the security measures used to guard Mary, Queen of Scots in England after 1568.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

Explain why the Revolt of the Northern Earls took place in 1569.

(Total for Question 7 is 12 marks)

'Religion was the main cause of the Revolt of the Northern Earls in 1569.' How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.

(Total for Question 8 is 16 marks)

Name the Scottish nobleman Mary, Queen of Scots was accused of conspiring with in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, in 1567.

(Total for Question 9 is 1 mark)

State one reason why Mary, Queen of Scots was seen as a serious threat to Elizabeth I after 1568.

(Total for Question 10 is 2 marks)

Name the two earls who led the Revolt of the Northern Earls in 1569.

(Total for Question 11 is 2 marks)

Give the year of the Revolt of the Northern Earls.

(Total for Question 12 is 1 mark)

Name the cathedral where the rebel earls had a Catholic Mass celebrated in November 1569, as a symbol of their rejection of the Elizabethan religious settlement.

(Total for Question 13 is 1 mark)

Name the English nobleman the rebels hoped Mary, Queen of Scots would marry, a plan some historians link to the causes of the revolt.

(Total for Question 14 is 1 mark)

State the approximate number of rebels executed on Elizabeth I's orders after the Revolt of the Northern Earls was crushed.

(Total for Question 15 is 2 marks)

Name the plot of 1571, involving an Italian banker, that aimed to have Mary marry the Duke of Norfolk and take the English throne with Spanish military support.

(Total for Question 16 is 1 mark)

Mark scheme · 3.1 Early Elizabethan England, 1569-1587: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Revolt of the Northern Earls

Question 1

B1 1568
Answer: 1568

Question 2

B1 1587
Answer: 1587

Question 3

B1 the Babington Plot
Answer: The Babington Plot

Question 4

B1 a person, usually a Catholic, who refused to attend Protestant Church of England services
B1 a penalty, e.g. a fine (increased to £20 a month under an Act of 1581), or imprisonment for persistent refusal
Answer: A recusant refused to attend Protestant church services; penalties included fines (up to £20 a month from 1581) or imprisonment.

Question 5

B1 the Duke of Norfolk was executed in 1572
B1 Mary, Queen of Scots was placed under stricter supervision and viewed with even greater suspicion by Elizabeth's government
Answer: Norfolk was executed (1572); Mary faced stricter confinement and greater government suspicion.

Question 6

B1 feature 1 identified, e.g. Mary was moved between different noble households and castles over the years (such as Tutbury and Sheffield)
B1 supporting detail for feature 1, e.g. moving her regularly made it harder for any single rescue or escape plot to be prepared in advance
B1 feature 2 identified, e.g. her household and visitors were closely watched, and her correspondence was monitored
B1 supporting detail for feature 2, e.g. this monitoring, run in part by Francis Walsingham's intelligence network, was what eventually uncovered the Babington Plot in 1586
Answer: Any two features, e.g. Mary was moved between guarded households, and her correspondence and visitors were closely monitored.

Question 7

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two general reasons for the revolt, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (4-6): Identifies and begins to explain one or two reasons, supported by some accurate detail.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains two or three reasons for the revolt, each supported by accurate and relevant detail.
Level 4 (10-12): Explains three or more reasons for the revolt in a well-developed, logically structured way, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail, showing how the reasons connect.
Indicative content:
- Religion: the earls and many of their followers in the North had never fully accepted the Protestant religious settlement of 1559, and restoring the Mass at Durham Cathedral in November 1569 showed a genuine desire to reverse Elizabeth's religious changes.
- Loss of regional power: Northumberland and Westmorland resented the growing authority of centrally appointed officials, such as the Earl of Sussex as President of the Council of the North, which reduced the traditional influence of the old northern noble families.
- The succession question: some of the earls hoped Mary, Queen of Scots could be married to the Duke of Norfolk and recognised as Elizabeth's heir, or even placed on the throne, linking the revolt to wider anxiety about who would succeed the unmarried Elizabeth.
- Personal and feudal loyalty: many ordinary participants were tenants of the rebel earls and joined out of traditional loyalty to their lords rather than from strong religious or political conviction of their own.
- These factors were interconnected: restoring Catholicism, or at least reducing central Protestant control, would also have restored the earls' traditional religious and political authority in the North, so the revolt cannot easily be reduced to a single, isolated cause.

Question 8

Level 1 (1-4): Shows limited relevant knowledge of the causes of the Revolt of the Northern Earls, and offers only a simple, unsupported opinion on the statement.
Level 2 (5-8): Shows some relevant knowledge and identifies relevant factors, but the argument is only partly supported and lacks a developed judgement on how far the statement is accurate.
Level 3 (9-12): Shows good relevant knowledge and explains a range of factors, reaching a supported judgement on how far the statement is accurate, with some links made between factors.
Level 4 (13-16): Shows precise, well-selected knowledge and explains a range of factors in a balanced way, reaching a fully supported and sustained judgement on how far the statement is accurate, with clear analytical links between factors and consistently accurate use of specialist historical terminology.
Indicative content:
- Supporting: religious conservatism in the North, opposition to the 1559 religious settlement, and the symbolic restoration of the Mass at Durham Cathedral all point to religion as a genuine and significant cause.
- Against: the earls' loss of regional political power to new, centrally appointed officials such as the Earl of Sussex and the Council of the North gave them a strong political motive independent of religion.
- Against: the succession question and the hope of marrying Mary to the Duke of Norfolk were as much about political ambition and the future of the monarchy as about restoring Catholicism.
- Against: personal loyalty and feudal ties between the earls and their tenants meant some followers joined out of loyalty to their lords rather than religious conviction, as suggested by uneven support across the region.
- Balanced: religion, regional power and the succession question were closely linked, since restoring Catholicism, or at least reducing central Protestant control, would also have restored the earls' traditional authority in the North.
- Judgement: the revolt's failure to spread widely beyond a religiously conservative core suggests that religious conviction alone was not strong enough across the country to sustain rebellion, which might support seeing the earls' political calculation, rather than pure religious zeal, as the deeper cause among the leadership specifically, even though religion clearly mattered to many ordinary participants.

Question 9

B1 the Earl of Bothwell (James Hepburn)
Answer: The Earl of Bothwell

Question 10

B1 she had a strong claim to the English throne, as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII
B1 she was Catholic, so English Catholics who did not accept the Protestant religious settlement might see her as a preferable alternative monarch
Answer: She had a strong claim to the throne and was Catholic, making her a possible rallying point for English Catholics.

Question 11

B1 the Earl of Northumberland (Thomas Percy)
B1 the Earl of Westmorland (Charles Neville)
Answer: The Earl of Northumberland and the Earl of Westmorland.

Question 12

B1 1569
Answer: 1569

Question 13

B1 Durham Cathedral
Answer: Durham Cathedral

Question 14

B1 the Duke of Norfolk (Thomas Howard)
Answer: The Duke of Norfolk

Question 15

B1 several hundred (accept a figure in the range 450-600)
B1 correctly identifies this as intended to deter future rebellion
Answer: Several hundred (commonly cited as around 450-600), intended to deter future rebellion.

Question 16

B1 the Ridolfi Plot
Answer: The Ridolfi Plot

Early Elizabethan England, 1569-1587: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Revolt of the Northern Earls - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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