Elizabethan Foreign Policy & The European Wars of Religion

Early Foreign PolicyHouses of Valois &

HabsburgEngland’s Position

The Outbreak of Confessional Conflict

Wars in France & The Netherlands

The Protestant Cause

The Escalation of English Involvement

Anti-Catholicism; Philip IIWar in the New World

The Polarization of Religio-PoliticsNonsuchOpen War with Spain

The Enterprise of EnglandAfter the Armada

Armada Portrait, by George Gower, c. 1588Woburn Abbey

Early Foreign PolicyHouses of Valois & Habsburg

War for Dominion in Italy, 1550sPeace of Cateau-Cambrésis, 1559

Spanish Power in Italy

France Retains Lands North, East

England’s PositionSecond-Rank Power to France/SpainEmbarrassed by Loss of CalaisElizabethan Settlement

Strong Protestant StanceCatholic Hegemony on MainlandReformation in Scotland, ‘59/60

Anglo-Scots Alliance vs. France

Knox’s Famously Ill-Timed Treatise

The Outbreak of Confessional ConflictWars in France

Factions & RegencyGuise, Bourbon/Montmorency

1562: Massacre of VassyEnglish Aid in ‘62/3

The Netherlands1566: Beeldenstorm

Nationalism or Protestantism?Alba’s Arrival, 10k TroopsWilliam of Orange to Saxony1568: Orange, German, French

The Eighty Years War

The Protestant CauseConfessional SolidarityDomestic Stability; International Involvement

Beeldenstorm in een Kerk, Dirck van Delen, 1630

The Escalation of English InvolvementAnti-Catholicism; Anti-Protestantism

At Core of Elizabethan IdentityPapal Deposition of ER, ‘70St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, ’72Anglo-German CooperationEnglish Volunteers (Religious Motives)

Philip II’s Vision of EmpireA Child of Charles V, HREKing-Consort of EnglandInterest in Naval Powers; Portugal, 1580

The New WorldSpanish Treasure, BullionEnglish Privateers, Sir Francis Drake1577-80, Circumnavigation, Loot1585 Raids on Spanish Ports, in N.W.

La Saint-Barthélemy, by François Dubois, c. 1572-84; Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

The Polarization of Religio-PoliticsThe Treaty of Nonsuch, 1585

Assassination of William of Orange, ‘84Treaty of Joinville, ‘84 (Guise-Spain)Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Governor General, Military ManSustained English Involvement

Open War with SpainNetherlands a Spanish TerritoryJustify Rebellion or Aid Brethren?

Pan-European WarsPortugal, Italy, L.C.: Philip II France, Scotland: Guise & MaryHRE: Emperor & BavariaEngland: Domestic & Internt’l Plots

William of Orange, 1555, by Antonis Mor; Staatliche Museen, Kassel

The “Enterprise of England”: Grand Armada

Lengthy PreparationHeight of Spanish Naval PowerMassive Influx of BullionFrom Early 1586; Late July 1588Drake’s Raids of Iberian Coast, 1587

“The Worst Kept Secret in Europe”About 122 Ships; 30k MenDuke of Medina SidoniaTo Meet with Parma’s 30k MenCrescent of Massive Vessels

The English Fleet and VictoryAdmiral Howard, V-Ad. DrakeFaster, Lighter ShipsFire Ships, A Providential Wind4 Ships Sunk; Dozens Ran Aground

From the History Department of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

The Armada Medal

“Flavit Jehovah et dissipati svnt”“God Blew and they were scattered”

“Allidor non Laedor”“I am Attacked, [but] I am not wounded”

After the Armada

Security of Dutch ProtestantsConsolidation & Stability

Chaos in FranceGuise Brothers, Dec. ‘88Henri III, July ‘89Henri IV Defending Huguenots

Anglo-German AidConversion to

Cath., ‘93

Returning Spanish ArmadasWar of Attrition (£)Triple Alliance vs. Spain

Irish Rebellion, 1593-1603English Settlements; Spanish AidContinued Catholic Threat

Broadside depicting the assassination of Henri III, King of France, by the monk, Jacques Clément, August 2, 1589. In the papers of Christian, Elector of Saxony, HStA Dresden, GR, Loc. 9304/7, fol. 336r.