19. Mary-foreign policy

Question 1

explain the Spanish Marriage?

Answer 1

• if catholicism was to extend beyond her reign, Mary realised she needed to marry and produce and heir
• without consulting council announced she would marry the best catholic candidate =Phillip of Spain (supported by Paget)
• Married July 1554
• Mary more invested in the Marriage than Phillip, when he became king he only saw her once to encourage her to fight against France

Question 2

explain the foreign impact of Mary’s marriage?

Answer 2

• tensions between Habsburgs and Valois rose Mary tried to arrange a general peace, a peace was created but was short-lived as war broke out in Italy, dragging Spain and France
• Spain requested English aid (majority of Mary’s council were against intervention
• *Warham ‘England were never se little prepared for war’ (poor harvests, low finances)
• lost Calais

Question 3

Explain opposition to the marriage?

Answer 3

• Phillip was a staunch catholic and protestants feared he would add strength to Mary’s determination to reverse the reformation and believed he would use England as a tool to further spanish ambitions
• how France would react to the alignment of Spain and England

Question 4

how was Phillips power limited?

Answer 4

-Phillip was only king by name and had no power associated with the title
-couldn’t bring foreigners into the english government
-if Mary died he had no claim to the throne
=marriage of convenience, limiting the damage that could be done to english interests

Question 5

explain Wyatt’s rebellion?

Answer 5

• *Doran: marriage was ill-judged and resulted in parliamentary protest
• when plans for Mary’s marriage were being made Wyatt (a member of the gentry) was planning a protestant rebellion stirring up anti-spanish feelings in a society primed with Henrician propaganda
• planned to replace her with Elizabeth and Edward Courtenay
• 3 of the 4 rebellions failed to materialise, and the element of surprise was lost as the plan was leaked, wyatt only raise 2,000 supporters

Question 6

explain the response to Wyatt’s rebellion?

Answer 6

• Mary gave a moving speech to londoners, rallying them against the heretics
• London bridge was heavily defended when Wyatt arrived
• he surrendered and arrested along with Elizabeth
• Elizabeth set free, but he and LJG + conspirators were executed

Question 7

explain the strength of the rebellion?

Answer 7

• unlike other rebellions, Wyatt’s was serious as it threatened the capital
• Mary came to realise that as long as LJG was alive, she would be a rally point for protestant rebels
• failure as a year later Mary felt confident enough to embrace foreign influence by restoring the pope as the head of the church

Question 8

explain negatives of the marriage?

Answer 8

ruined Foreign Policy:

• by declaring war on France, she undid the diplomacy of Northumberland
• loss of calais was a blow to national pride, as it represented the last outpost of the medieval English Empire
• humiliating for Mary as it showed how her marriage was more of a convenience for Spain then for England

loss in marys popularity:
-people believed England would be drawn into phillips wars and a pawn within the Habsburg’s empire

Question 9

explain strengths of the marriage?

Answer 9

• the Habsburgs were the most powerful family in Europe

- marked an alliance between England and Spain= reviving the alliance signified by the treaty of Medina del Campo 1489