Elizabethan Foreign Policy and State

against the monstrous regiment of women

-> Elizabeth doesn't like Scottish protestants

Catholic Mary of guise was regent of Scotland on behalf of her daughter

French are now v big in Scotland -> in important positions

Jane Dawson "A French bridge head in France had been replaced by a French bridgehead in Britain" (ie Calais?)

to suppress Scottish protestantism

Welcomed by English

French prepare army to suppress revolt => could threaten England from North

Elizabeth agrees to send army into Scotland

Cecil eventually convinces E that a Scottish intervention must be undertaken
DAWSON convincingly argued that Cecil had a COHERENT LONG TERM STRATEGY
Cecil had threatened t resign if didnt intervene

Major action at Lieth -> siege fails

With death of MAry of Guise death + France descending into civil war
-> protestant Scotland v likely
Lords of Congregation victory

French troops sign a treaty
-> English + Scot prots basically won
-> destroys auld alliance

Bruce Wernham "England's posterm gate was no closed"

Had been acting as regent for Mary q of s

Threat to Elizabeth
=> Mary was next in line with arguably a better claim (great great grandfather Henry VII)
+Catholic

H. Williams "drunk and arrogant"

David Rizzio was rumoured to be the husband, rather than Darnley (had been having affair -> useless)

By Bothwell most probably
Darnley had already killed her previous lover

Probably Mary approved

Then proceded to live with him without marrying

Then there is a rebellion and she is imprisonned (Elizabeth protests)
Then she escapes and flees to England

From the Civil war

Kept under house arrest

She is the centre of:
-the rising of the northern earls
-Babington conspiracy
-Ridolfi plot
-Throtmorton plot

Have to send troops to bring Scotland back to heel

Bruce Wernham said would have been bad if did

Prepare at Berwick

E not as worried anymore

in Scotland

Had been next in line to throne

Elizabeth had signed but said not to send off
then tried to get it cancelled
Cecil had already ensured that the execution was enacted
-> E was furious, council didnt meet for ages + wouldn't see Cecil for ages

E didn't want to undermine her own position by executing monarchs
-> blame on council?

refused
-> first MAJOR foreign policy deciison

knew Mary's marriage had been unpopular
-dragged into French war
-Wyatt's rebellion
-Phillip v unhappy with marriage treaty
-xenophobia

Phillip had already told pope to not excommunicate her (despite French pressure)
-> had limited Catholic opposition to settlement

-wanted to maintain route between Spain + Netherlands

Means increased English privateering

Why Phillip doesnt want war
=> also E doesnt want war bc of money etc.

50k Spanish troops close to England

Wernham says is a turning point

(Alva acc says to Phillip we should leave Elizabeth alone)

5 ships under John Hawkins fight a Spanish escort fleet
Lose 3/5 of ships -> now hate Spain -> much ^ privateering

In the NEW WORLD (conflict between Spain + England)
Present Day Mexico (New Spain)

were going to Antwerp
Force into ports in south of England
E takes tehir money
Phillip cannot pay his 50k troops in the Netherlands

English ships in the Netherlands siezed in response

de Silva replaced with hardline de Spes

Parker says de Spes was "fiery and inexperienced"

says Collinson "England was in a state of semi-war with Spain from the 1570s"
=> by privateers
from this time

Phillip will be soon be freed up from invading Turks

Sacks city of Nombre de Dios

E had to for Treaty of Bristol

Dutch protestant privateers
-> they go off to Netherlands to cause a revolt
Soon found their own state in the north

E supplies them money for mercenaries etc.
French support them too (but less significant bc of civil wars)

Worsening relations

Not doing v well

Patching up Anglo-Spanish differences

But problems come back soon after this

Croft says it was a "major success" for diplomacy
=> should not be underemphasised

Unpaid Sanish troops sack Antwerp
"Spanish fury"

Less preoccupied -> focus on England?

by Drake
Privateering along the way (piss of Spanish)
makes 4700% proft

E had invested in it, so happy. And gave him an knighthood when he returned

Much more effective than Alva, v methodical
=> E might need to get involved, threatening

"Golden Bullets Strategy"
-bribe towns to give up

collinson said if Parma secured Netherladns "it was hard to see what could save England"

Wernham emphasises events such as this (in Europe) rather than the new world
"it arose over the Netherlands, not the West Indies"

During second circumnavigation of world

Has lots of gold bullion on board
=> some goes back to Elizabeth

Portugese king disappears in Africa 1578 so the Portugese invite Phillip to take over
also has entirety of Portugese empire
-Brazil
-Africa
-Goa
DOUBLED the size of his navy -> much bigger than English
are united until 1640
Spain 300 tonnes v England 42 tonnes
with the port in Lisbon, good way to invade English
=> Spain stronger

"most menacing of all developments" says Collinson
Made "the 'enterprise of England' no longer a pipe dream but a realisable project"

To "prey upon Spanish shipping, coasts and islands"

But when they attacked Galicier Phillip said "their doing more impressive than the damage they did"
=> embargos => ^trade dependnece on Netherlands

Brother Henry III unwilling to make troubles in low countries

"Spain was now better placed to make troubles in France than France was in the Low Countries"-Collinson

"this was also the first major ideological war in English history, since the combats, in the perception and rhetoric of the time, represented the forces of light and darkness, Christ adn Antichrist"-Collinson

Collinson says it is "an added provocation, alienating the English merchants who had been in favour of maintaining normal trade relations with the Iberian peninsula"

=> financial was important
"in her assessment of what might and should be attempted, numbers counted for more than ideology"-Collinson

By a catholic

His son Moriss is a minor
=> Dutch rebels on their own, weaker

"the only credible Dutch leader"-Collinson

Croft says the turn to war happened after this

Other cities had already falen the previous year

Pauline Croft says this greatly pissed of Phillip

in London

English entry into Dutch revolt decided

Waslsingham + Leicester v. Burghley (didn't want to)
But by 1585 even Burghley changed his mind bc of "insatiable mallace" of Phillip => too powerful, need to thwart in Europe (not on English shore)

Treaty with E + Catholic Provinces:
-will protct them
-will dispatch soldiers to U Provinces
=> Earl of Leicester with troops with 6k foot
-E will give 136k crowns/year to them

=> from this point England is at war in Netherlands

But Collinson says even after this point she tried to limit her commitment for the sake of finances
"she had no imperial ambitions, in fact some would say no ambitions at all beyond going on being queen, and in making limited war she was STILL SEEKING PEACE"

Croft says treaty was "tantamount to a declaration of war"

But E still v much wants to seek peace
"we do rquire that tyou rather bend your cause to make a defensive rather than offensive war, and that yous eek by all the means you may to avoid the hazard of a battle"-Elizabeth letter to Dudley

Many who went with Leicester to Netherlands were puritans (his puritan friends were officers) + he patronised puritans
=>religious war?

Support against Elizabeth
-> clearly religious motivations for war

Delayed the armada by a year
=> destroyed the water casks intended for it

with 130 ships

Collinson said it was the privateering that but Phillip in favour of armada (direct contradiction of Collinson)
Croft seems to agree

Acc an auxillary force carrying supplies
=> only a small no. of fighting ships at front
3/4 of the fleet returned to Spain
English were v lucky on the day, favourable conditions to pounce on Spanish with fire ships (not true that the Spanish commander was incompetent and seasick)
=>storm had hit the ships

E tried new things:
- small no. of v powerful warships
-v big guns on them
=> Different tac tics to Spanish, destroy ships with canons rather than board
- v fast, small rig

Lord Howard of Effingham head of command, Drake the second (Drake had watch guards all along the channel)
See In Our Time for more details

Armada received v little support from English Catholics (despite regnans)
There were acc MULTIPLE armadas

Was threatening?
Sudo says it was too ambitious
Croft says it was doomed after they failed to pick up troops at Calais
but Guy emphasises how threatening it was

following defeat at the Battle of Gravelines

up to 24 of the ships wrecked on the rocky coast line
Survivors put to death
~5k Spanish died

Drake and Sir John Norris lead a fleet to the Iberian peninsula
=> response to 88 armada

English withdrew with heavy losses
=> strengthened Phillips position, failed to capitalise on Phillip's failure the year before

English and Dutch troops under ESSEX and a large Dutch fleet under the Earl of Nottingham
raid Cadiz
-> sack the city, burn, capture etc.

But it was against Elizabeth's express permission => v annoyed

Robert Cecil heard rumours and pranged out

Peace with Spain

Effectively upon E's death

BEFORE Elizabeth's accesion

representatives began to negotiate an end to war:
-Spain
-France
-England
-Scotland

-French promise to restore Calais after 8 years + pay 500k crowns
(basically a forfeit for 500k crowns)

"face saving formula"

Necessary:
-Phillip wanted to end war
-Eliz couldn't lead armies bc she is a woman
-English arm v low quality -> no standing army
-Financial constraints -> must do re coinage
-Calais had been a financial drain

But still v costly
=> England no longer has domination of straits of Dover
=> the trade route between Spain + Netherlands, France + Scotland
LEVER OF POWER against Spain + France forfeited

200 years had intermitently held -> humiliating

Bad that Spain + France no longer fighting (had been since 1549)
=> could focus on her now

at a joust

Francis II succeeds
=> married to Mary Q of S
=> really both are controlled by uncles, the Guises -> they wanted M Q of S on English throne

Spain is war weary, has been at war with France since 1494
- preoccupied with Ottoman threat in Mediterranean
Not enthusiastic to support protestant Elizabeth

Mary Q of Scots returns to Scotland

Mary doesn't intervene => clearly more concerned with controllign her own country, not much of a threat?

Take France out of threat for Elizabeth's reign

Although -> needed to make sure ultra-catholic Guise faction didn't win

Mutual support between England + France if attacked
Between E + Catherine of de' Medici
=> alliance against Spain

But Croft says proved worthless by massacre of St. Bartholemews Day

Thousands of Huguenots killed in Paris
=> spread across France
big shock for protestants

"was the worst of the century's religious massacres"-H. G. Koenigsburger

Part of the general trend of people "who increasingly understood European politics in confessional terms as a universal religious war"-says Collinson

Under Thomas Morgan

Financed by E (Spain doesn't like)

Duke of Anjou had died
=>king of France Henry III died childless
Henry of Navarre is the heir ( a huguenot)

Guise faction creates a Catholic League v. Henry of Navarre
=> secret treaty with Phillip. Receive 50k crowns/month
=>Supported Cardinal Bourbon

Things started to stabilise more in France arouund this time (4 years of stalemate, then hes like ok mass is fine)
But not even really stable until 17th century, he is assassinated

Tries to put Mary on throne
=> catholic northern earls
supported by Spain

Tries to have Elizabeth assassinated
=> in support of Mary q of s

Tries to assassinated Elizabeth
=> in support of Mary q of s

Often privy councillors (^ centralisation)
e.g. Burghley of LL of Essex + Herefordshire,
THOMAS Cecil of Northamptonshire + Yorkshire

Slightly more power to sherrifs

JPs receive orders from privy council, but more work

Assize courts 2x/year

Shows a CLEAR LINK between Mary and the conspirators
(trying to kill Elizabeth)

Robert Dudley

Principal Secretary to Queen

Periodic outbreaks after this

Two of these are the worst of the CENTURY

Agrarian crisis, lots of hardship for the people
However, dealt with a lot better than under Mary's reign

Death rate goes up by 21%
Homicide rate up by 11% (crime)

During the worst of the Agrarian Crisis

Attempted rising against the state, like Ket's rebellion in 1549

Only 4 people turn up
-> swiftly arrested after splitting up
Clearly the state was not under too much threat

Stood until 18th century -> effective

Receives the ultimatum about monopolies
=> John Guy says is v serious
But she didn't acc do anything about it tho... so not that serious?