Elizabeth’s Relationship With Her Parliaments

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Elizabeth’s Relationship With Her Parliaments

Over the years, there has been much debate amongst historians

Orthodox, Revisionist and Post – Revisionist, as to whether the

relationship between Elizabeth and her parliaments was one of

“conflict and contest,” or of “cooperation and consent”. Most of the

different schools of thought agree on the facts, but disagree in their

interpretations of the relationship. In general, taking into account

all of the parliaments that took place throughout Elizabeth’s reign,

the contemporary historians believe that Elizabeth’s relationship with

her parliaments was one of “cooperation and consent.” The orthodox

historians believe that Elizabeth’s relationship with her parliaments

was one of “conflict and contest” and that it came from the puritan

choir in the House of Commons. The revisionist historians believe that

there was a relationship of “cooperation and consent”. Finally, the

Post-Revisionist historians believe that the relationship between

Elizabeth and her parliaments was one of “cooperation and consent” in

some cases, and “conflict and consent” in others. In cases where they

believed that there was conflict, they believe that it came from the

Privy Council. In order to answer the question, the different schools

of thought need to be taken into account, along with the events that

back these views up, and the relationships at the individual

parliaments need to be assessed, e.g. Religion, succession, free

speech, and the monopolies parliaments.

Firstly, take religion, which was discussed at the session in 1559. It

can be argued that at this individual...

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succession, monopolies and freedom of speech. However if the view of

“cooperation and consent is taken”, this can be applied to the

parliaments that concerned money and taxation, and in some cases to

the religious settlement, because the Queen and council got their

desired settlement. However it is better to argue that the individual

parliaments had an individual relationship with the Queen due to the

differing outcomes, amount of opposition and the outcomes of each

parliament. This is also a good argument because of the amount of

conflict, contest, cooperation and consent that occurred differed in

each parliament.

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[1] Graves. Elizabethen parliaments 1559 - 1601

[2] Elton. Parliament

[3] Graves. Elizabethen parliaments 1559 - 1601

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