Foreign Policy

Question 1

What were Elizabeth’s main aims in foreign policy?

Answer 1

National security

Financial stability

Limit Catholic threat

Avoid war

Question 1

What was Elizabeth’s early foreign policy with Scotland

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Details of the Treaty of Edinburgh

Answer 2

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)

Question 3

What was Elizabeth’s early foreign policy with France?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Details of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Details of the Treaty of Richmond

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Details of the Treaty of Troyes

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Later relations with Scotland

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Relations with France in the early 1570s

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Relations with France in the mid-1570s

Answer 9

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)

Question 10

Later foreign policy with France

Answer 10

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’)

Question 11

Explain the Revolt of the Northern Earls

Answer 11

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

Question 12

‘RoNE was serious’

Answer 12

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

Question 13

‘RoNE was not serious’

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

What was the Ridolfi plot?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What was the Throckmorton Plot?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What was the Babington plot?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Spanish relations in the 1560s

Answer 17

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

Question 18

How big was Alba’s army?

Answer 18

10,000 men in 1567

100,000 men by 1572

Question 19

What was the massacre of San Juan de Ulloa

Answer 19

John Hawkins’ triangular trade disrupted Spain’s trading monopoly in the Caribbean. His fleet was destroyed in Mexico by Spanish merchants

Question 20

What was the Bullion affair?

Answer 20

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’

Question 21

Spanish relations in the 1570s

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Spanish relations in the early 1580s

Answer 22

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)

Question 23

Leicester’s campaign in the Netherlands

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Course of Anglo-Spanish war

Answer 24

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

Question 25

How big was the Spanish Armada?

Answer 25

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)

Question 26

Why did PII launch the Armada?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Why did the Armada fail?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

How did tensions remain with Spain after the Armada?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Cost of Elizabethan wars

Answer 29

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