GCSE HISTORY (8145) Paper 2 Shaping the Nation Resource pack for the 2023 historic environment specified site

AQA GCSE HISTORY (8145) Paper 2 Shaping the Nation Resource pack for the 2023 historic environment specified site Sheffield Manor Lodge. Elizabethan England, 1568–1603 The purpose of this pack is to provide you with guidance and resources to support your teaching about the Sheffield Manor Lodge, the 2023 specified site for the historic environment part of Elizabethan England, 1568–1603. It is intended as a guide only and you may wish to use other sources of information about the Sheffield Manor Lodge. The resources are provided to help you develop your students’ knowledge and understanding of the specified site. They will not be tested in the examination, as the question targets AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (explaining second order concepts). General guidance The study of the historic environment will focus on a particular site in its historical context and should examine the relationship between a specific site and the key events, features or developments of the period. As a result, when teaching a specified site for the historic environment element, it is useful to think about ways of linking the site to the specified content in Parts 1, 2 and/or 3 of the specification. There is no requirement to visit the specified site as this element of the course is designed to be classroom based. Students will be expected to answer a question that draws on second order concepts of change, continuity, causation and/or consequence, and to explore them in the context of the specified site and wider events and developments of the period studied. Students should be able to identify key features of the specified site and understand their connection to the wider historical context of the specific historical period. Sites will also illuminate how people lived at the time, how they were governed and their beliefs and values. The following aspects of the site should be considered: • location, function and the structure • people connected with the site e.g. the designer, originator and occupants • the design and how the design reflects the culture, values, fashions of the people at the time • how important events/developments from the depth study are connected to the site. Students will be expected to understand the ways in which key features and other aspects of the site are representative of the period studied. In order to do this, students will also need to be aware of how the key features and other aspects of the site have changed from earlier periods. Students will also be expected to understand how key features and other aspects may have changed or stayed the same during the period. Sheffield Manor Lodge Mary, Queen of Scots, arrives in England On 16 May 1568 Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived on the Cumbrian coast of England after seven eventful years in Scotland. In the previous year she had been implicated in the murder of her second husband, Henry Darnley, and was now married to the Earl of Bothwell, the main suspect for the murder. Her scandalous behaviour had lost her the support of both the Catholic and Protestant Scottish nobles, who went on to defeat her army at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568. Mary fled to England hoping that her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, would help her regain the throne of Scotland. On her arrival in England Mary was first placed under the protection of Elizabeth’s Privy Councillor, Sir Francis Knollys, and escorted to Carlisle Castle. It wasn’t until November 1570, nearly a year and a half after her arrival in England, that Mary was brought to Sheffield under the protection of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. This portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captivity in England is dated 1578 but was painted after her death and during the reign of her son, King James I. It and similar ones are known as the ‘Sheffield Portraits’ because they were inspired by an original portrait of the Queen painted by Nicholas Hilliard while she was at Sheffield Manor Lodge in 1578. Turn over ► Why was Mary, Queen of Scots, a threat to Elizabeth I? Mary was Queen Elizabeth’s cousin which meant that no one had a better claim to the English throne than she did. As a possible and even probable future ruler of England, all Mary had to do was outlive Elizabeth who was almost 10 years older than her cousin. In 1568 Mary was twenty-six years old and an intelligent, charming and headstrong woman. Nicholas White, who visited Mary at Tutbury warned Lord Burghley in February 1569, ‘…that very few should have access to this lady for she has a bewitching elegance, a pretty Scottish accent, and a sharp wit. This might tempt some who seek fame and fortune to join her cause and risk all on her behalf.’ It was suggested that even the Earl of Shrewsbury had become enamoured of her (Resource I) but he was in a difficult position having to guard Mary closely but also, as her host, having to respect her rank and privileges. What was to be done with Mary? Deciding what to do with Mary, Queen of Scots, was a major political problem for Queen Elizabeth. One option was to do what Mary wanted and help her regain the throne of Scotland. However, Elizabeth was unwilling to pay for such an uncertain undertaking or to risk providing her rival with an army. This would also upset the relationship between England and Scotland and there was no guarantee that England would gain any advantage by restoring Mary to the Scottish throne. Another option was to help Mary return to France where she had been Queen until the age of eighteen, but this, too, was problematic. Sending Mary to France or even Spain, which was more powerful militarily than England, might allow Mary to raise a foreign army, retake the Scottish throne and then threaten Elizabeth and England. Elizabeth’s final option was to keep Mary captive in England, but this also had its drawbacks as Mary would become the focal point of Catholic discontent which could lead to plots and further danger for Elizabeth. However, the advantage of knowing where Mary was and what she was doing made this the best and safest plan for Elizabeth. Elizabeth chose to keep Mary captive, and moved her from location to location. From Carlisle Castle, she was moved south, under guard, to Bolton Castle in North Yorkshire. Elizabeth then made George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, responsible for the safety of this unwelcome guest. Mary was moved to his castle at Tutbury in Staffordshire before being moved to Sheffield in November 1570. Mary’s Jailor – who was George Talbot? George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, was a high-ranking nobleman of immense wealth (Resource H & I) who, despite his protests, was considered suitable to host the Scottish Queen and her household. It was thought that Mary would feel more comfortable in his custody because he was a moderate Protestant with some of his family following more Catholic ways of worship. The location of his estates was also seen as an advantage as they were in the centre of the country and remote from the sea (Resource A & H). His properties were suitable for the imprisonment and protection of a Queen as they were fairly close together in the Midlands and South Yorkshire which meant that Mary could be more easily moved around on open roads between the several properties. The other geographical advantage of Talbot’s estates in the north Midlands was that they were far away from London and the court where there was scheming involving Mary. At court the Duke of Norfolk and a group of nobles who were jealous of the power held by Lord Burghley - Elizabeth’s Chief Advisor, hoped to force Elizabeth to allow the Duke to marry Mary. This would secure the English succession by controlling Mary, it would give them power, and lead to the removal of Lord Burghley from office and a change in foreign policy. The Northern Rebellion, 1569 It was well known that in the north of England, the Earls of Northumberland, and Westmorland favoured Catholicism. They wanted to free Mary and use her as a figurehead to force Elizabeth to make religious changes. When Queen Elizabeth learned of the scheming at court as well, her reaction was furious. She suspected the Earls and ordered them to court. They knew the game was up, and they had no alternative but to rebel. On 14 November 1569 the Earls began marching south, aiming to release Mary from Tutbury Castle but their plan failed. On 24 November Mary was moved further south to Coventry out of the reach of the rebels and under a strong guard. In December, faced by a superior army led by the Earl of Sussex, the rebels abandoned their revolt and retreated back northwards. Northumberland was eventually beheaded in 1572 and Westmorland died abroad in poverty with his lands confiscated. Elizabeth searched for anyone who had supported the northern Earls and made sure everyone knew the penalties for treason by hanging over 600 rebels. However, although the Northern Rebellion was over, it clearly showed the danger that Mary posed to Queen Elizabeth. A painting of the outer courtyard at Sheffield Manor Lodge. It shows the Turret House with the main building across the courtyard Mary, Queen of Scots, at Sheffield Manor Lodge. In November 1570 Mary was moved for the first time to Sheffield Castle. For the next fourteen years she spent most of her captivity there or at Sheffield Manor Lodge (Resources A - F). The Lodge was only two miles away from the castle and it was easy to move Mary there safely whilst the castle was being ‘sweetened’ by airing the rooms and emptying the latrines. It was also good for her security to move Mary from time to time and from place to place although using the Lodge did cause some disquiet amongst the Privy Council who doubted that she could be safely guarded there. These fears increased in the weeks after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France in August 1572, where hundreds of Protestants from France, called Huguenots, were assassinated by French Catholics. This created anger against Catholics in England, and as a result Shrewsbury added extra guards so that 70 armed men were guarding Mary. In 1573 Shrewsbury’s son was able to reassure the Privy Council that ‘large numbers of armed men watch her day and night both under her windows, and above and on every side of her room. Unless she can turn herself into a flea or a mouse it is impossible for her to escape.’ Turn over ► Built on high ground for its panoramic views and with inner and outer courtyards, complete with gardens and fountains, the four acres of Sheffield Manor Lodge (Resource B) must have been a vast improvement in comfort for Mary and her court compared to the cold and draughty castle. It had been built as a medieval hunting lodge set in the middle of Sheffield Park, one of the largest deer parks in the country which, with a boundary of nearly eight miles and containing 3000 deer, reflected the wealth of the Shrewsbury family. Early in the sixteenth century, Shrewsbury’s grandfather built a large house on the site but Mary - with her large number of attendants - needed a larger residence in which to house them. As a result, in the 1570s, George Talbot partially demolished the old house to make an even grander residence, and much building work was done to extend and improve Sheffield Manor Lodge before Mary arrived. She would have approached the Lodge down an avenue lined with mature walnut trees and entered an outer courtyard through a gate by the Turret House. The Turret House was a combined gatehouse and hunting tower which was added during the rebuilding in the 1570s. It is unlikely that Mary spent much time in the Turret House because its exterior walls and windows would have been a security risk, although it may have been used for banquets as some of its internal decoration included designs from France and Scotland. A room on the upper floor is known as Mary’s Room and was decorated with marigolds, grapes (of France) and a thistle which were all important symbolic designs for the Scottish Queen (Resource F). Indeed, it has been suggested that Mary may well have been consulted about the design of the interior, although it would not have pleased Elizabeth had she known that Mary’s personal heraldry was included in the ceilings of the Turret House. For most of the time it is likely that the main use of Turret house was to guard the gate and provide lodgings on the ground floor for sentries. The upper floors may also have been where ladies could watch the hunting in the surrounding countryside, as a spiral staircase led up to the roof which had uninterrupted views across the county and into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. After crossing the outer courtyard Mary would have entered the main building through a gatehouse framed by two octagonal red brick towers. In 1582 this part of Manor Lodge was described as having ‘a great gallery, a tower room, a large main bedroom, nursery, porter’s lodge, stables, kitchens and larders, wine cellar, wash houses, brewhouse, bakehouse and many other rooms for servants and workmen as well as a chapel.’ To the left of the entrance was the Long Gallery with its oak panelled walls hung with tapestries and paintings, as well as fine furnishings and Shrewsbury’s collection of armour. The Great Hall would have been close to the kitchens so that food could easily be brought to the banquets that were held there. There was also a tradesman’s entrance through the porter’s lodge at the rear of the site where guest lodgings were to be found. In captivity - Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Shrewsburys Following the Northern Rebellion Elizabeth had to be sure that Mary, Queen of Scots, would be kept under close guard, so she had given that responsibility to George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, the Countess of Shrewsbury (Resource H). Bess was trusted by Queen Elizabeth, who declared in 1575 that she was ‘well pleased’ that Bess should ‘accompany’ and ‘pass the time’ with Mary. It was better, Elizabeth said, for Mary to enjoy the Countess’s company than that of ‘lowborn persons.’ Both women enjoyed and were skilled at embroidery and Mary sent some of her detailed sewing as a gift to Queen Elizabeth. While at Sheffield Manor Lodge, Mary also read, studied religious books and was kept entertained by pet birds in cages and by her lapdogs. For the households of both Mary and the Shrewsburys, life at the Lodge was likely to have been courteous and friendly. However, as a prisoner, the Scottish Queen presented a problem. She had to be kept safe because she was a valuable asset to anyone plotting against Elizabeth, but also had to be treated as a Queen. Mary certainly behaved as a Queen because, although a prisoner, she acted as if she was living at court. She sat under a cloth of state* and took her meals in the formal manner expected by royalty. She ate from silver plates and slept on fine linen sheets. Turkish carpets covered the floors of her two rooms, gold-leafed chandeliers lit them, and her chairs were upholstered in crimson and cloth of gold. Striking the right balance between treating Mary with the respect due to a Queen