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Topic 20- Foreign Affairs: - Coggle Diagram
Topic 20- Foreign Affairs:
A. Issues of succession
Marriage Issues:
E1 as a single woman created many issues, and meant the succession was always at the forefront of ministers thinking
most were keen she needed to marry to avoid another catholic monarch, but the queen was insistent the succession lay within the royal prerogative so were not areas for parliament to debate
the candidates for succession:
Robert Dudley (probably E1 preferred choice)- he was appointed master of the horse on her succession and rapidly rose in her court. The thought of this marriage horrified William Cecil as the marriage carried political risks as she would be raising a family considerably, other ministers would erode in influence, and Dudley's first wife Amy Dudley died under mysterious circumstances
Philip II of Spain- offered a polite gesture to E1 but probably lacked seriousness because of his proud catholocism
Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles in the HRE, however both were catholics
Eric of Sweden who was a protestant, however E1 did not share his feelings and rejected him
Francois, Duke of Anjou: E1's most persistent suitor and the one she considered most carefully. He was heir to French throne so was advantageous politically, although the people of England would be displeased by a frenchman as king.
some of E1's advisers such as Walsingham were convinced religious riots on the scale of St Bartholomew's Dat massacre (1572) in France should she make such a match
unlike many suitors Francois courted her in person, and the two became close- she called him her frog and many believe E1 knew he was her last suitor as there was already a 22 year age gap between the two
Marriage, Succession and Parliament
HoC first raised the issue of marriage in Jan 1559, but E1 deflected the situation gracefully. The next time was in 1563, E1 had smallpox in 1562 so there was nearly a succession crisis as she was close to death
there was no consensus as to who the successor should be, the two most prevalent were Lady Catherine Grey and Mary QoS- E1 refused to commit, and was lucky her procrastination did not lead to disaster
Issues was raised again in 1566 by MPs, probably at the insistence of the privy council, such as Cecil and Leicester, which E1 reacted furiously to leading to Leicester and Pembroke being banished from the Presence Chamber- reasserted her view that marriage and succession was a royal prerogative
1579- E1 declared still capable of bearing a child which sparked a potential marriage to Duke of Anjou (brother of king of france, and heir)- members of the public were horrified by this as it could lead to an infant child (under French influence) as sucessor
little came of it, so the crisis died down
The Final Succession:
E1 took a political decision not to marry, the potential risks outweighed the advantages
execution of Mary QoS meant her son Jame VI of scotland had the best claim to the throne through hereditary line, even though Stuarts were excluded from succession in HVIII will- James was protestant and already had two sons so was more advantageous
councillors had a vested interest to remain in favour once E1's successor was in place. Essex was in regular contact with James, and when he was executed Robert Cecil kept in contact with James and ensured his untroubled succession for which he was rewarded
E1 refused to name a successor to the very end and no conclusive evidence she accepted James on her deathbed
her authority was eroded at this point and arrangements for succession were already in place- never before has a change of dynasty been enacted to smoothly, and much of the credit for that must be given to R.Cecil
B. Mary, Queen of Scots
relations between E1 and Mary were inextricably linked with religion
Marys marriage to the Earl of Darby was a disaster and Mary was implicated in the murder of her husband.
a third marriage to her husbands murdered, the Earl of Bothwell set off a brief civil war, which forced Mary to flee south of the border in 1567
from 1567 to her execution in 1587 she was a constant problem since many English catholics saw her as the rightful monarch so she became the focus of plots to overthrow E1
this problem became worsened when E1 was excommunicated in 1570, which resulted in the tightening of the Treason Laws
Mary QoS and Catholic plots against Elizabeth:
1571: Ridolfi Plot: conspiracy for Mary to marry Norfolk and overthrow E1, allowed Burghley to ensure execution of Norfolk for treason
1583: Throckmorton Plot: foreign landing in Sussex followed by overthrow of E1 and her replacement by Mary- was foiled by the efficiency of Walsingham's espionage network
led to the creation of the bond association
worsened anglo-spanish relations
Tightened conditions of Marys captivity
1585: Parry plot: assassinate the queen- led to the acceleration of parliamentary proceedings on a bill to ensure the queens safety
1586: Babington plot: Mary complicit in a plot to assassinate E1 but exposed by Walsinghams codebreaker, Thomas Phelippes
enabled Burghley to ensure Marys execution
Marys trial and execution:
E1 dithered and reluctant to press for the execution of another anointed monarch but she did decide Mary should face trial at Fotheringhay Castle where she was moved to after the Babington plot
privy councillors and nobles assisted by judges were ordered to try her but several of those commissioned pleaded illness- many were frightened of regicide, others thought killing the mother of the future king was not a sensible career move
Mary was plainly guilty, but at E1's command no sentence was pronounced- four months of delays followed during which E1 shrank from ordering the execution
Burghley knew that Mary had to be executed for the crowns safety so used his tactic of parliamentary pressure to influence E1- parliament duly petitioned E1 but she refused to sign it until 1st Feb 1587
she then gave contradictory instructions about its despatch- Mary met her end with great dignity and composure and in the eyes of many English catholics she had died a martyr
the actual execution was awful, it took more than one swing of the axe and her head was dropped as she was wearing a wig
C. England's Relations with Spain
Relations in the 1560s:
relations were oginally cordial but deteriorated towards the end of the decade due to:
trading activity of John Hawkins attempted to break Spanish monopoly in caribbean- his fleet was blockaded by the Spanish 1568
Situation in the netherlands
the English found opportunities to harass the Spanish e.g. in 1568 Elizabeth impounded the money from a ship carrying 400,000 florins that was intended to pay the Duke of Alba (the ship was forced to seek shelter in English port due to a severe storm)
The New World (Spain)
by 1550, Spain had conquered Mexico, peru, Chile and the Caribbean-you could only trade in these countries with a license and all good were registered in Seville
there was an attempt at legal expeditions by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, but most was illegal piracy- silver was carried from Mexico and Peru to Spain which was a big temptation for pirates
Hawkins was the main English sailor operating in the area- he was a privateer financed by Cecil. Leicester and E1 (they got 60%)
he mainly dealt in the slave trade and attempted to stop Spanish monopolies in the americas
his increased presence in the area worried Spain and in 1568 they attacked his fleet at San Juan de Ulua- he was left with only 15 men and ended English presence in the area
Hawkins retired allowing room for Francis Drake to take over which was a positive- Hawkins took up a role as an advisor to the naval board stating the need for more manoeuvrable ships
English defences were reorganised with Thomas Gresham coordinating local militias and parliament was asked to fund these
The Netherlands (Spain):
1572- E1 expelled the sea beggars, protestant merchants from English ports, they went to the Netherlands and sparked a full scale rebellion and by 1576 all provinces in the Netherlands had risen against E
rebels published the "Pacification of Ghent" where they called for the expulsion of all foreign troops and Dutch autonomy
led to a civil war between Union of Utrecht (Northern/protestant) and Union of Arras (southern/catholic)- Elizabeth supported the protestants and Philip the catholics
Treaty of Jointville 1584- united Philip and the Catholic League of France (a defeat for E1, the only thing stopping full scale war with Spain, was that they were too busy dealing with france)
this also meant he no longer had a political motive to not support Mary QoS, as he was no longer in conflict with the Guises
Treaty of Nonsuch 1585- E1 offered support to protestant rebels and sent troops under the command of Leicester- it was a disaster and he returned in January 1588
By 1584- William of Orange (protestant leader) was assassinated and despite treaty of Nonsuch the following year Spanish victory in Netherlands was inevitable
Duke of Anjou had died, making Henry of Navarre (a protestan) heir to the French throne- treaty of Joinville meant Philip had promised to support the catholic league to secure control of French throne (took attention of E1 for a while)
Spanish ambassador (Mendoza) was treated contemptuously and expelled from england due to part in throckmorton plot ending diplomatic relations and communication with Spain
After Leicester's failures the relations between the English crown and the dutch improved- 1589 Francis Vere was made commander of English forces an was highly capable and forged a good relationship with the dutch leader, Maurice of Nassau
at this point Spanish troops would regularly mutiny, and they were also overcommitted in France, so many of the territories lost to the Duke of Parma were recovered by the protestants
maintaining an English force was costly win the Netherlands, the dutch did pay a share
By 1594- the Spanish had been expelled from all lands in northern netherlands, the dutch revolt was successful and much credit must go to the English crown
English objectives were achieved; northern netherland became an independent state , the southern Netherlands remained under Spanish sovereignty but achieved a degree of autonomy
no major foreign power was entrenched in the Netherlands as a result
Mainland Spain:
Summer 1587- Francis Drake led a series of attacks on the Spanish coast
main attack was on Spanish forces in the Bay of Cadiz where he was able to attack the port without opposition for three days- much of Spanish fleet and vital supplies were destroyed and Spanish ships returning from Americas were also captured
massive propaganda victory, but was also a practical victory as it delayed the building of the Armada by 1 year allowing time for England to prepare for the inevitable attempt at invasion
Spanish Armada, 1588:
the armada set sail from La Coruna 22 July 1588 after setbacks the previous year with the sieging of Cadiz
it aimed to reach the port of Gravelines in Spanish netherlands- a Spanish army under the command of Parma would be expected to board ships so an invasion could be launched
sighted off the coast of cornwall on 29th July- when the famous fictional propaganda Bowles game was played
engaged in decisive battle in the English Channel from 30th July to 6th august- aramada was forced to try to return to Spain due to unfavourable winds
they sailed a hazardous route north of Scotlands and then back down south to the west of ireland- this cost them many more ships that were lost in the storm
was a massive propaganda detail
Counter-Armada 1589:
English suffered a massive naval disaster of their own that caused embarrassment
Drake led the counter armada with the aim of destroying the rest of Philips fleet that was under repair at Santander
it was a fiasco that led to the deaths of 15,000 englihsmen, and 86 ships were lost
they were forced to stop at Corunna for lack of provisions- it was here that a local woman named Maria Pita led a fierce resistance against the English navy and was seen as the heroine of corunna- she was said to have killed an Englishman herself and inspired her town to victory