During Elizabeth I term *getting married while of a certain rank without permission* was treason. (See Arabella Stuart, whose birth would have been of considerable threat to Elizabeth had she been male instead. Her parents elopement got her maternal grandmother thrown in the Tower for a spell)
Had to double check Wikipedia to make sure; she eventually died in the Tower herself. Wonder if grandma left her any messages lol
Arabella really got fucked over terribly by James I and her own lineage. She never asked for any of that and I've honestly felt bad for her.
Sorry, it was the Countess of Lennox who went to the Tower for a bit (Arabella's paternal grandmother) Bess of Hardwick was ordered to Elizabeth's court for an inquiry but wisely stayed at her estate and ignored the summons until things calmed down. She had quite enough on her hands with her
Estranged husband Shrewsbury who was a serious sonafabitch and was attacking her renters, seizing monies and starting especially nasty rumors about Mary of Scots who was stuck with Bess at her estate often)
They reformed it to reduce it only to the top handful in the line of succession, but they still technically require the monarch's permission. Like, Elizabeth II had to give the sign-off for Charles to marry Camilla, and I think the same for William and Kate.
But there was also the whole category of petty treason, which was basically anybody acting against their social superior, a peasant killing their lord or something like that. High treason was against the monarch and that's the sense of the word that survives.
Being childless and already targeted by multiple plots to put someone with a plausible claim in her place, Elizabeth was SERIOUS about not allowing marriage without her say in the matter. Even idle discussion about succession at court or elsewhere was a great way to get questioned or worse
It's also notable that diaries are glaringly absent in this period and personal correspondence was often burned as a basic precaution. You really didn't want Walsingham reading your candid thoughts on paper.
I recall reading an excerpt from a surviving letter of a father to his son who was a junior officer under Essex in the 1599 campaign in Ireland. He advised his son to say nothing of his opinions to anybody and keep his ears open above all else "Essex hath friends. He hath enemies also"