Foreign Policy Flashcards
What were Elizabeth’s main aims in foreign policy?
National security
Financial stability
Limit Catholic threat
Avoid war
What was Elizabeth’s early foreign policy with Scotland
1559 - Protestant Lords of the Congregation requested Elizabeth’s help against French troops (9,500 sent to stop the Protestant reformation)
Elizabeth was reluctant, but Cecil put pressure on her
1560 - Treaty of Berwick agreed that 8,000 English troops would be sent to Scotland
However, English soldiers defeated at Leith, leading to the Treaty of Edinburgh
MQS sent back to Scotland in 1560
Details of the Treaty of Edinburgh
July 1560
All English and French troops removed from Scotland
MQS recognised Liz as Queen of England (e.g. she would stop wearing English royal livery at the French court) - however, this treaty was never ratified by MQS
Freedom of worship to be permitted in Scotland (this intervention was masterminded by Cecil)
What was Elizabeth’s early foreign policy with France?
April 1559 - Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis
1562 - French Wars of Religion begin between the Huguenots and the Catholics. Elizabeth reluctantly agreed to help the Huguenots.
1562 Treaty of Richmond
1563 - Huguenots believed Liz’s intervention was selfish… Catholics and Huguenots united to expel English troops from Le Havre
April - Treaty of Troyes
Details of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis
April 1559
Peace with France - France would keep Calais for 8 years (until 1567) and if they did not return it, they would pay England 500,000 crowns in compensation
Details of the Treaty of Richmond
September 1562
Loan of 140,000 crowns to the Huguenot leader and 3,000 troops sent to garrison Le Havre. They planned to swap Le Havre for Calais
Details of the Treaty of Troyes
April 1564
Ended all English involvement in the Wars of Religion. England gave up all right to Calais for a payment of 120,000 crowns
Later relations with Scotland
1568 - MQS is in England, Moray is in charge (relations are good because Moray didn’t want MQS back)
1570 - Moray assassinated, leading to a power struggle between the Protestant King’s Lords and RC Queen’s Lords
1572 - Liz agreed to send troops to help King’s Lords - successful
1579 - Esme Stuart arrives in Scotland and influences the young king
1583 - Scotland involved in Guise plot with a plan to invade England with 20,000 men but this doesn’t materialised as the Protestant Lords overthrow Esme Stuart
1586 - Treaty of Berwick - JVI agreed not to support MQS as long as his claim to the Eng throne is secured
Relations with France in the early 1570s
Negotiations with France opened up in 1569
Mutual fear of Spain leads to 1572 Treaty of Blois, a defensive alliance against Spain which specified that Liz would marry Francis, Duke of Alencon
Relations with France in the mid-1570s
1572 St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, in which 11,000 French Protestants are killed (provoking 2nd war of religion)
Leicester wants to invade France but Eliz and Cecil are cautious
1574 - Treaty of Blois renewed with new French King Henry III (Eliz will still marry Francis, who is now Duke of Anjou)
Later foreign policy with France
Eliz funds Anjou’s army in the Netherlands.
In the 1580 Treaty of Plessis Les Tours the Dutch offer Anjou sovereignty, so Liz needs to control him
1581 Act of Abjuration - Philip deposed in the Neths
By 1583, Anjou gets sick of restrictions placed in him so tries to overthrow the government. Dutch kick him out.
1584 - Treaty of Joinville between France and Spain against European Protestants - ICC!!
1589 - Eliz intervenes in war of succession in favour of the Protestant Henry of Navarre, who becomes King in 1598 (albeit at the expense of his Protestant faith - ‘Paris is worth a mass’)
Explain the Revolt of the Northern Earls
Took place in Durham and North Yorkshire.
Nobles involved: Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland and the Duke of Norfolk
Around 4,600 rebels involved - took Durham
Dispersed when faced with Elizabeth’s 7,000 soldiers
800 executed
‘RoNE was serious’
Based on religion, a popular cause
Rebels were able to take Barnard Castle, the city of Durham and Hartlepool (a potential port for Sp forces to land)
Court conspiracy involving those very close to the Queen, like Norfolk and Leicester
Had the support of the Pope (but papal bull arrived too late to rouse support of English Catholics)
Prompted the swift move of MQS from the North to Tutbury in the midlands
‘RoNE was not serious’
No real support for putting MQS on the throne
Almost a bloodless rebellion (5 killed at Barnard Castle and a small skirmish at Naworth)
Spanish army never came (Alva too busy dealing with Dutch revolt)
Loyal nobles in the North held key towns for Liz (e.g. Berwick held by Sir John Forster, Pontefract held by Lord Scrope)
What was the Ridolfi plot?
Conspiracy in 1571 to marry Mary to the Duke of Norfolk
Cecil masterminded campaign to gather intelligence against Norfolk and was able to secure his execution
Spanish ambassador, de Spes, expelled from England
Mary kept in prison, not executed/ Northumberland executed in 1572, Westmorland had to flee
What was the Throckmorton Plot?
An English Catholic called Francis Throckmorton acted as an intermediary between Mary and the Spanish ambassador Mendoza.
Plans for a foreign landing in Sussex to replace Liz with Mary
Sir Francis Walsingham’s espionage network helped foil the plan
Led to the creation of the Bond of Association
What was the Babington plot?
July 1586 - Anthony Babington sent a letter to Mary outlining the assassination of Elizabeth.
Exposed by Walsingham’s codebreaker, Thomas Phelippes
Sept 1586 - conspirators executed
Feb 15587 - MQS executed
Spanish relations in the 1560s
1563 - Granvelle (one of PII’s ministers) sparked a trade war between Spain and England. This was alarming as 3/4 of English trade went through Antwerp (called off in 1564)
1566 - Iconoclastic Fury (Protestants in Netherlands attacked Catholics)
This led to the Duke of Alba arriving with a huge Spanish army to crush Dutch rebellion in 1567
1568 - San Juan de Ulloa, Bullion affair
1569 - PII encouraged RoNE
How big was Alba’s army?
10,000 men in 1567
100,000 men by 1572
What was the massacre of San Juan de Ulloa
John Hawkins’ triangular trade disrupted Spain’s trading monopoly in the Caribbean. His fleet was destroyed in Mexico by Spanish merchants
What was the Bullion affair?
A payment of 400,000 florins to the Duke of Alba’s army was apprehended by Elizabeth - de Spes called this ‘an act of war’
Spanish relations in the 1570s
1570 - Liz excommunicated
1571 - Ridolfi plot (encouraged by PII)
1572 - expulsion of the ‘Sea Beggars’ from English ports, which sparked a major rebellion in Holland, Treaty of Blois, rebels in the Netherlands seize the Port of Brill
1576 - Pacification of Ghent - all Dutch provinces form an alliance to expel Spanish mercenaries
1579 - split into Protestant Union of Utrecht and Catholic Union of Arras, Duke of Parma begins to regain lands lost in the Netherlands for Spain
Spanish relations in the early 1580s
1580 - Philip II inherited Portuguese crown, Eliz supported rival claimant Don Antonio
1581 - Eliz funded Dutch rebels in resisting Parma
1584 - William of Orange assassinated
1584 - Spanish ambassador Mendoza expelled after implication in Throckmorton Plot
1584 - Treaty of Joinville - ICC
1585 - Treaty of Nonsuch with Dutch rebels, agreeing to send 7,000 troops to help rebels resist Parma (unofficial start of Anglo-Spanish war)
Leicester’s campaign in the Netherlands
1585 - Treaty of Nonsuch
Dutch rebels offer Liz sovereignty of Neths, she says no. They offer Leicester sovereignty (as ‘Governor General of the Netherlands’), he says yes. (Liz furious - recalls him to England)
Returns in 1587
Small successes (e.g. took forts near Zutphen and a town called Deventer). However, Sir William Stanley defected to the Sp side and handed them back
Not enough men/manpower to actually beat the Spanish (e.g. stopped D of Parma taking Ostend Port, but could not stop his advances fully)
Dutch rebels lost faith in Dudley and he was recalled by the end of 1587
Course of Anglo-Spanish war
April 1587 - successful English attack on Spanish ships in Cadiz
July 1588 - Sp Armada set sail
29th July - Armada spotted off coast of Cornwall, commencing Battle of Gravelines. English victory
How big was the Spanish Armada?
130 ships, 8,0000 sailors and 19,000 soldiers
Furthermore, they intended to meet with Parma’s 20-30,000-strong army (did not happen)
Why did PII launch the Armada?
Political reasons - in the Treaty of Nonsuch, Elizabeth signed a deal with the Dutch rebels which put England into conflict with Spain
Religious reasons - T of Joinville (joint endeavour to attack Protestantism in Europe), PII was personally determined to tackle heresy, the Pope said the RC Church would forgive the sins of all those fighting with the Armada
Provocation - Drake’s actions in the New World (e.g. attacks on Sp colonies and claiming New Albion in Liz’s name), Cadiz attacks
Opportunity - Leicester’s disastrous campaign in the Netherlands suggested that England was weak, PII had a strong position in the Netherlands due to the actions of Parma, Sp’s takeover of Portugal gave them greater resources, a strong strategic position and confidence
Why did the Armada fail?
English successes - the Eng used fireships to break the Armada’s crescent formation, the English ships were lighter and faster, strategic decision to fire below the waterline to efficiently sink Armada ships
Spanish failures - the Spanish Admiral Medina Sidonia had never commanded the navy before, the crescent formation made it hard to manoeuvre, Sp guns poorly designed
Spanish bad luck - element of surprise lost be English beacons warning of their arrival, Sp fleet ran into storms on route, Sp not used to tricky waters of Eng channel
How did tensions remain with Spain after the Armada?
1589 - Drake led 15,000 men and 130 to counterattack in Portugal (failed)
1590 - Duke of Parma invaded France
1591 - Sir Richard Grenville surrounded and attacked by Spanish fleet
By 1594, Spanish expelled from all areas of the northern Netherlands
1596 - Raid of Spain with 80,000 men, led by Lord Howard of Effingham, Walter Raleigh and Essex - captured Cadiz, destroyed over 50 ships (but no strategic follow-up)
1596 - second Armada battered by storms (PII bankrupted)
1598 - Death of Philip
Cost of Elizabethan wars
War in the Netherlands 1585-98 cost around £2 million
Armada campaign cost £161,000
Campaign in France 1589-93 cost £580,000
Campaign to crush Tyrone’s rebellion in Ireland cost £1 million
