What happened if you didn't obey Elizabeth I rules?

Answer 1

Well it depends on what rule you were breaking as to the punishment that you might receive. The most significant punishments would have come from breaking religious rules. When Elizabeth first became Queen she made an extremely important rule called the Act of Uniformity. This Act was important because it laid down the laws regarding religion in England. Elizabeth was a clever politician and realised that she must make many different sections of society satisfied if she was to remain Queen. Therefore it ruled that England was essentially a Protestant country however some Catholic traditions still remained, this would cause further problems with Puritans later in her reign. So to go back to the question, if you did not attend Church on Sunday then you were likely to be fined, this fine grew throughout her reign till it became equivalent to around £14,000 in today's money.

However the punishments were much more severe if you were a Catholic priest and refused to practise and preach the religion of the land. Throughout here reign many Catholic priests were executed on her orders many by hanging.

Those that plotted against Elizabeth also received very serious punsihments, the most significant being Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth's cousin. Mary was found guilty by Tudor courts to be involved in the Babington Plot to assasinate Elizabeth and make Mary Queen. Although Elizabeth may not have wanted to use such a harsh punishment on her relative she was left with little choice after what had been discovered. Mary, Queen of Scots was executed on the block. Many historians believe that it took up to 3 attempts to chop of Mary's head as the executioner could not aim correctly.

However Elizabeth's punishments did not vary that much from the punishments used by her half sister Mary I (bloody Mary) or her father Henry VIII. These centuries had very different outlook on Crime and punishment than we do now.