Foreign affairs

Question 1

Why did E’s status as a single woman create considerable issues?

Answer 1

It meant that the succession ,should she die prematurely, was at the forefront of her ministers’ thinking

Question 2

Why were many (ministers?) keen for E to marry and how did she feel?

Answer 2

To prevent the possibility of a Catholic inheriting the throne
The queen felt strongly that the issues of marriage and succession lay within the royal prerogative and were not areas for discussion in Parliament or round the Council table - unwillingness of E’s councillors to acknowledge this viewpoint would cause repeated tension during her reign

Question 3

In the early years of E’s reign who did the suitors for E’s hand include?

Answer 3

Robert Dudley - future Earl of Leicester (probably E’s preferred choice) but this horrified Cecil whose own influence would have been seriously eroded, it would also have created other political risks (a consequence of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Leicester’s first wife - Amy)
Philip of Spain - offered his hand in a polite gesture to E but probably lacked serious intent, partly due to his profound Catholicism
The archdukes Ferdinand and Charles - sons of the emperor Ferdinand but both were Catholic
Prince Erik of Sweden, a Protestant suitor, to whom E gave little encouragement

Question 4

What was the death of Amy Dudley?

Answer 4

She was found at the bottom of the stairs dead, with a broken neck - it was immediately assumed by many that she had been murdered on the orders of her husband which would leave him conveniently free to marry E - it did the opposite making a royal marriage for Dudley practically impossible even though the coroner’s jury rules that the death was accidental

Question 5

When did the HoC raise the issue of marriage?

Answer 5

First in January 1559 - but E deflected the pressure gracefully

Question 6

Why was the situation very different when Parliament met again in 1563?

Answer 6

Elizabeth had been stricken with smallpox in October 1562 and for a time it seemed she might die therefore creating a succession crisis - councillors were aware of the disasters that might occur should the queen die e.g. civil war, foreign invasion, religious strife and therefore the panic among her councillors shouldn’t be underestimated

Question 7

What was there no consensus on and why?

Answer 7

Who the successor might be - not surprising considering the significant problems with each of the potential successors- the disgraced Lady Jane Grey and ardent Catholic Mary QoS
The queen characteristically refused to commit herself while she and the nation had survived she was perhaps lucky her procrastination didn’t lead to disaster

Question 8

What did Parliament do again in 1566 and what was the result?

Answer 8

Pressed E to marry - some MPs were prompted by members of the Privy Council including Cecil and Leicester but their motives differed - E was furious banishing Leicester and the Earl of Pembroke from the Presence Chamber, publicly rebuking other members of the council and summoning both houses of Parliament for a telling off, thus reasserting her view that marriage and succession were matters of the royal prerogative
Presence Chamber - when the reigning monarch was a queen, male courtiers could not normally enter the Privy Chamber so the Presence Chamber was the place where private contact could be made with the monarch so temporary banishment from it for Leicester and Pembroke was a significant punishment

Question 9

What happened in 1579 when E was declared capable of still bearing a child and what was the outcome?

Answer 9

A possible marriage to Francois, Duke of Anjou, brother of King Henry III of France was suggested by Burghley and Sussex - some of her councillors and members of the public were horrified this would lead to an infant child- under French influence - as successor - but nothing came of this suggestion to the crisis passed

Question 10

Why did E probably take the political decision not to marry?

Answer 10

By coming to the conclusion that the disadvantages of marriage outweighed the advantages, despite the potential risks of having no direct heir of her own

Question 11

What did the execution of her cousin Mary QoS mean for the succession?

Answer 11

That Mary’s son, James VI of Scotland, had the best hereditary claim , even though the Stuarts had been excluded from the succession in henry VIII’s will.
James was also Protestant and by 1600 already ha two sons

Question 12

Since E’s councillors had a personal interest in ensuring that they remained in royal favour what happened once Elizabeth’s successor was in place?

Answer 12

They began wooing James, even before E’s death in 1603
Essex in particular, was in regular contact with James VI and after Essex’s death in 1601, Sir Robert Cecil kept contact with James and eventually ensured his untroubled succession, for which he received due reward

Question 13

To the very end what did E refuse do but what happened anyway?

Answer 13

Name a successor and there is no conclusive proof that she accepted James succession on her deathbed - nevertheless her authority was ebbed away and the arrangements for succession were already in place
Never before had a change of dynasty been effected so smoothly and much of the credit for that must be given to Robert Cecil

Question 14

What were relations between E and Mary QoS inextricably linked with?

Answer 14

The issue of religion and the succession

Question 15

What had Mary QoS been subject to, why and what was the outcome?

Answer 15

The wrath of both the Protestant lords and the English for her marriage to the Earl of Darnley - the marriage was a disaster with Mary being implicated in her husband’s murder and a subsequent third marriage to the Lord of Darnley’s presumed murderer, the Earl of Bothwell, set off a brief civil war which saw Mary flee to England in 1567

Question 16

From the time when Mary fled south to her execution in 1587 what did she pose and why?

Answer 16

A continuous problem for E since some English Catholics saw her as the rightful monarch and she became the focus of plots to overthrow E

Question 17

Why did the problem of Mary QoS grow worse after E’s excommunication in 1570?

Answer 17

In the eyes of the Catholic Church this absolved E’s Catholic subjects from the need to obey their ruler which scared E and her council resulting in the tightening of the treason law
After the excommunication, Protestants were deemed loyalists and Catholics, traitors

Question 18

When and what was the Ridolfi plot?

Answer 18

1571 - involved a conspiracy for Mary to marry the Duke of Norfolk and to overthrow Elizabeth - allowed Burghley (Cecil) to ensure the execution of Norfolk for treason

Question 19

When and what was the Throckmorton plot?

Answer 19

1583 - foreign landing in Sussex followed by overthrow of Elizabeth and her replacement by Mary - foiled by the efficiency of Sir Francis Walsingham’s espionage network - led to the creation of the bond association, worsened Anglo-Spanish relations and tightened conditions of Mary’s captivity

Question 20

When and what was the Parry plot?

Answer 20

1585 - a plot to assassinate the queen - led to the acceleration of Parliamentary proceedings on a bill to ensure the queen’s safety

Question 21

When and what was the Babington plot?

Answer 21

1586 - Mary complicit in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth but exposed by Walsingham’s codebreaker, Thomas Phelippes - enabled Burghley to secure Mary’s execution

Question 22

What was Elizabeth reluctant to press for following the Babington plot but what was eventually decided?

Answer 22

The execution of another anointed monarch - decided Mary should face trial at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire where she was moved the days after Babington’s execution

Question 23

What happened at Mary’s trial and why?

Answer 23

Privy Councillors and nobles assisted by judges were ordered to try her but several of those commissioned pleased illness - some feared regicide - others were more concerned that to condemn to death the mother of their possible future monarch may not be a good career move
Mary was clearly guilty but at E’s command no sentence was pronounced

Question 24

What happened between the trial and Mary’s eventual execution?

Answer 24

There were four moths of delays in which E shrank away from ordering her cousins execution - Burghley, who had long held the view that E’s personal safety and the security of the Protestant state required Mary’s execution, used his tactic of parliamentary pressure to influence E
Parliament petitioned E but she refused to sign the death warrant until 1st Feb 1587 and then gave contradictory orders about it’s dispatch
Mary died with great dignity and in the eyes of many English Catholics she had died a martyr for the Catholic faith

Question 25

Was Elizabeth upset about Mary’s death?

Answer 25

It is sometimes thought she was tricked into singing the death warrant and was furious
There are reports of E in hysterics on the day of Mary’s death

Question 26

Where did E’s reluctance to seek Mary’s execution stem from?

Answer 26

Her developed notions of rulership - monarchs, even ones like Mary who had lost her throne, were divinely ordained and to seek a fellow monarchs death could be viewed as a challenge to divine law so E feared the execution of Mary could undermine her own security as a monarch

Question 27

What were Anglo-Spanish relations like in the 1560’s?

Answer 27

Usually cordial but deteriorated towards the end of the decade

Question 28

For what three reasons did Anglo-Spanish relations deteriorate at the end of the 1560’s?

Answer 28

1) The trading activities of John Hawkins attempted to break the Spanish trading monopoly in the Caribbean and infuriated Spanish interests so much that in September 1568 his fleet was blockaded in the Mexican Port of San Juan de Ulua and only two of his ships were able to escape
2) The situation in the Netherlands - Philip wanted a tighter form of political organisation in the Netherlands under more direct Spanish control, which would help root out heresy. Elizabeth came under pressure from Protestant councillors to aid the Dutch Protestants who feared danger. She was reluctant to act action having suffered heavily from her French adventure and had qualms about aiding rebels who were fighting sovereign authority
3) The English found opportunities to harass the Spanish e.g. in November 1568, a storm forced several Spanish vessels, carrying 400,000 florins which was intended to pay the army of the Duke of Alba, Philip’s general in the Netherlands, to seek shelter in English ports, Elizabeth impounded the money (led to Alba seizing English ships and money in the Netherlands)

Question 29

What else had served to sour Anglo-Spanish by the 1570’s?

Answer 29

The breakdown of Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch trade, Philip’s encouragement to the Northern Rebellion in 1569 and the Ridolfi plot in 1571, and the excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570

Question 30

In 1572 how did E (possibly inadvertently) contribute significantly to the decline of Anglo-Spanish relations?

Answer 30

By expelling the Sea Beggars from English ports - they were forced to land in the Dutch port of Brielle and their occupation of the port, unchecked by the Spanish garrison there, sparked off a full-scale revolt against the rule of Spain

Question 31

By 1576 what had all the provinces of the Netherlands done and what did they produce ?

Answer 31

Risen against what they saw as atrocities by the Spanish army, collectively they produced the Pacification of Ghent, which called for the expulsion of all foreign troops and the restoration of the provinces’ autonomy, a situation favoured by Elizabeth

Question 32

Who were the Sea Beggars?

Answer 32

Dutch pirates licensed by the rebel leader William of Orange

Question 33

What was the Netherlands?

Answer 33

A loose gripping of 17 provinces that historically owed allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy - Philip I| had inherited the title and therefore had suzerainty (any relationship in which one region or nation controls the foreign policy and international relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary nation to have internal autonomy) over the Netherlands, which he was trying to transform into more direct political control

Question 34

Despite the rising against the Spanish what did the provinces do and what were the French prepared to do?

Answer 34

Provinces quarrelled among themselves and the French were prepared to invade the Netherlands

Question 35

What was Elizabeth’s view on the French preparation to invade the Netherlands?

Answer 35

This is not what she’d hoped for and she even contemplated marriage to the French Duke of Anjou to retain English influence in the Netherlands

Question 36

From an English perspective how did the situation in the Netherland’s get worse?

Answer 36

Divisions amongst the provinces of the Netherlands led to the emergence of two separate entities; the Union of Utrecht (largely northern and Protestant) and the Union of Arras largely southern and Catholic) in 1579

Question 37

What did the Spanish then do involving the Netherlands making matters worse for E?

Answer 37

The Spanish made their peace with the Union of Arras, thereby creating the basis by which the new government general, the Duke of Parma (Governor of the Spanish Netherlands), could begin his conquest of the northern provinces
In 1580 Spanish control also strengthened by the annexation of Portugal

Question 38

In what ways did Elizabeth adopt a more overtly anti-Spanish position after 1580?

Answer 38

By supporting the Portuguese pretender Don Antonio
By knighting Sir Francis Drake on circumnavigating the globe (irritating the Spanish hugely in the process)
By treating the Spanish ambassador contemptuously

Question 39

What was the situation with Portugal and the claim of Don Antonio?

Answer 39

Portugal (often an ally of England) had come under Spanish control in 1580 after the death of childless King Henry - this gave Philip II control of the large Portuguese fleet and use of major ports such as Lisbon
Don Antonio was a member of the Portuguese royal family and a claimant to the Portuguese throne and this claim was from time to time, supported by E who was cynical about Don Antonio but saw him as a possible weapon to use against Spain
His claim was flawed in that he was illegitimate - limiting his usefulness to E

Question 40

After 1580 why did the situation in the Netherlands (already bad) deteriorate further from an English perspective?

Answer 40

As Parma’s reconquest of the north gained momentum, leaving only the provinces of Holland and Zeeland in Protestant hands - the rebel leader (William of Orange) was also assassinated - making matters worse

Question 41

What agreement was made in 1584 and why did this alarm E?

Answer 41

Philip II and the Catholic League in France came to an agreement in the Treaty of Joinville at the end of 1584 - alarmed E as the Guise family led the Catholic League and with the Guises as his allies, Philip no longer had a political motive to prevent him from supporting Mary QoS (Mary of Guise = mother of Mary QoS

Question 42

To counteract the terms of the Treaty of Joinville what did E do?

Answer 42

Made an alliance with the Dutch Protestant rebels in the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585 and sent troops to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester

Question 43

What were the problems with the outcome of the Treaty of Nonsuch and sending of troops to the Netherlands?

Answer 43

The troops, badly and irregularly paid, were so ill disciplined that they alienated the Dutch
The Dutch felt betrayed when two officers, William Stanley and Rowland Yorke, deserted and joined Parma
The English commanders quarrelled among themselves
Leicester quarrelled with the Dutch (The Dutch thought E was trying to do a deal behind their backs with Parma)

Question 44

What happened when Leicester returned to England after disastrous intervention in the Netherlands and what had the fiasco encouraged Philip to think?

Answer 44

He resigned his command in January 1588

Encouraged Philip to think that he could exploit the divisions between the English and the Dutch

Question 45

What was the organisation of the expedition against England like and what had Philip convinced himself?

Answer 45

Highly complex and took over two years to come to fruition

Philip convinced himself that he was doing God’s work and that he was engaged in a Catholic crusade

Question 46

What was the Spanish fleet / Armada like?

Answer 46

Huge- with many of the vessels and their crews having been commandeered from the Portuguese

Question 47

Why was the Armada delayed and when did it eventually set sail?

Answer 47

Delayed as a result of a successful English attack on Spanish ships in the harbour at Cadiz in April 1587
It finally set sail from La Coruna on 22nd July 1588

Question 48

What was the objective when the Armada set sail?

Answer 48

To reach the port of Gravelines, in the Spanish Netherlands, where it was intended that the Spanish army, commanded by the Duke of Parma, would board the ships so that an invasion of England might be launched

Question 49

What happened when the Armada was sighted off the coast of Cornwall on the 29th July?

Answer 49

It was engaged in indecisive battle in the English Channel from 30th July - 6th August

Question 50

What was the Armada forced to do and why - what was the outcome?

Answer 50

The Armada was forced because of unfavourable winds to try to return to Spain by the hazardous route of sailing north towards Scotland and then back south to the west of Ireland - this cost them many more ships, lost in storms

Question 51

Why was the Armada defeated?

Answer 51

Number of explanations - 1) the strategy which required the fleet to land in the Spanish Netherlands so that Parma’s army could be taken on board was flawed, the Armadas leadership (by the Duke of Medina Sidonia) might be questioned, the English were quick to exploit the opportunities offered by the vagaries of the weather e.g. sending fireships to destroy some of the Armada while at anchor; the English also benefited from superior gunnery and manoeuvrability and the ‘Protestant wind’ favoured the English

Question 52

What happened to the war with Spain after the defeat of the Armada?

Answer 52

It dragged on at great expense for a further 16 years and peace was not concluded until the deaths of both Elizabeth and Philip
The war was fought on several fronts: at sea off western Europe, in the Caribbean, on land in France, the Netherlands and Ireland, where it was connected to a revolt against E’s rule

Question 53

What did E seek above all else?

Answer 53

National security

Question 54

For many, both at court and in the armed forces why did they think England was involved in war and who shared this view?

Answer 54

For both national and religious survival against a universal Catholic conspiracy - this view shared up to a point by Lord Burghley, who saw Spain as engaged in a war of conquest
All English policy makers shared an assumption that national and or religious considerations were paramount

Question 55

What were the strategic differences in the views of the English policy makers about the war with Spain?

Answer 55

Some took the ‘minimalist’ view which in effect concentrated limited resources in the Netherlands to confront the Duke of Parma
Others such as John Hawkins favoured a more expansive naval campaign, which they argued could be self-financing, while accepting that a land campaign in the Netherlands was also necessary

Question 56

How could those who favoured a more expansive naval campaign support their case?

Answer 56

By arguing that war in the Netherland tended to be expensive and difficult, while England had enjoyed success with small-scale naval attacks in the Caribbean and on mainland Spain in 1585 and 1587

Question 57

From 1595 what did England do?

Answer 57

Made three attacks on mainland Spain and its colonies - including a spectacular but short-lived victory with the capture and occupation of Cadiz and the sinking of for galleons - however there was no strategic follow up
Hawkins and Drake advocated an attack on Panama which they saw as the weakest point in the Spanish empire but the attack failed and both Drake and Hawkins died at sea

Question 58

What did the capture of Cadiz do to Philip and what was the outcome?

Answer 58

Humiliated him and prevented Spanish merchant vessels from sailing to the West Indies which proved a blow to the Spanish
Also provoked Philip into an uncharacteristically incautious response as in 1596 he ordered a fleet to invade England but by the time it set sail it was well into autumn and was defeated by storms but the threat to England remained clear nevertheless

Question 59

Who were the small-scale attacks from 1595 financed by and led by and were they significant?

Answer 59

Financed partly by the crown and partly by private investors - some led by courtiers such as Earl of Cumberland and Sir Walter Raleigh, while others were led by professional seamen like Hawkins, Drake and Martin Frobisher
They achieved mixed levels of financial success, especially with the capture of the Spanish treasure ship the Madre de Dios In 1592 but they achieved little in the way of strategic success - by deflecting resources away from the Netherlands, they perhaps made the achievement of strategic success more difficult

Question 60

What else did Spain try to exploit?

Answer 60

A rebellion in Ireland for their own ends

Question 61

What was done to prevent a possible Spanish attack on Ireland and what was the outcome?

Answer 61

A fleet under the Earl of Essex’s command was despatched to attack the Spanish fleet in harbour in north-west Spain in 1597
Essex’s fleet was driven back to Plymouth by adverse winds and was eventually used to sail to Azores, suggesting the need for valuable goods had once again superseded wider strategic considerations
The Spanish fleet succeeded in setting sail for Ireland and, but for the wind might have landed virtually unopposed there

Question 62

What did further fear of invasion in 1599 prompted almost entirely by false intelligence create?

Answer 62

A huge panic in England and thereafter naval activity was directed almost entirely by the need to prevent Spanish landings in Ireland - ultimately little had been achieved at a very great cost

Question 63

For several years after 1588 where did the main arena for war on land between England and Spain remain and what were relations like?

Answer 63

The Netherlands - after Leicester’s failures, relations between the English crown and the Dutch improved

Question 64

In 1589 who was made commander of the English forces and what did he do?

Answer 64

Sir Francis Vere - proved highly capable and forged a positive relationship with the Dutch leader, Maurice of Nassau

Question 65

What did the positive relationship with the Dutch leader combine with problems faced by the Spanish to ensure?

Answer 65

The Spanish, whose troops mutinied on a regular basis and who were overcommitted in France, ensured that gradually the territories that had been lost to the Duke of Parma were recovered

Question 66

What was the cost of the English maintaining a force in the Netherlands like

Answer 66

High but the Dutch paid a share of the running costs

Question 67

By 1594 what had happened in the Netherlands?

Answer 67

The Spanish had been expelled from all of the lands of the northern Netherlands
The Dutch revolt had proved successful and some of the credit lay with the English crown

Question 68

How had English objectives been triumphantly achieved in the Netherlands?

Answer 68

The northern Netherlands became an independent state, the southern Netherlands, while remaining under Spanish power, also achieved a degree of autonomy and therefore no major foreign power was entrenched in the Netherlands

Question 69

Was Elizabeth’s foreign policy successful?

Answer 69

Despite its expense, proved broadly successful
E and her councillors changed the emphasis on FP away from dynastic considerations and desire for glory to a more hard-headed approach in what might have constituted a national interest
Conflict with Spain was long running and expensive but the English ultimately fared better from the conflict, enhancing E’s reputation