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Anglo-Spanish Relations
• Deterioration of Anglo-Spanish relations became the key theme of Elizabethan foreign
policy
• It was inevitable because of the situation with Mary, Queen of Scots, the Papal
excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570 and the situation in the Netherlands
• Local nobles in the Netherlands were used to a degree of independence and with Philip’s
overly bureaucratic style of government it could not cope
• Spain = Europe’s foremost Catholic country
• English national security depended on ensuring that no powerful countries controlled the
coastline across the Channel
• When riots broke out in the Netherlands for England Spain should not recover control
• Elizabeth had little sympathy for the plight of the Dutch people as they were rebelling
against a legitimate government
• For England it worked best to aid the rebels without antagonising Philip - but this
provoked argument amongst councillors
• She did nothing to discourage unofficial support for the rebels, such as allowing rebel
ships to stay in English ports or English pirates disrupting supplies transported to Alba
Timeline of deterioration between England and Spain:
- Date: 1559
• Event: Philip II offered to marry Elizabeth
• Significance: designed to show support to Elizabeth
- Date: 1562
• Event: Philip protested to Elizabeth about her support for Huguenot rebels against a
Catholic government in France
• Significance: Elizabeth responded by keeping her troops from joining the Huguenot
army in Northern France
- Date: 1563
• Event: Philip’s government in the Netherlands banned imports of English cloth
• Significance: Officially it was to prevent the spread of plague, but Philip was annoyed
that trade was going in England’s favour as she kept a blind eye to English piracy in
the Channel and the work of English merchants spreading Protestantism in
Netherlands. Both embarked on a trade embargo and trade was normalised in 1564
- Date: 1566-67
• Event: Outbreak of the Revolt of the Netherlands. Spanish Duke of Alba sent to the
Netherlands to crush rioting by Calvinists and to restore firm government
• Significance: Made northern coast of the Channel insecure- Alba’s army might be
turned against them
- Date: 1568
• Event: Spain expelled the English ambassador from Madrid and replaced its own
ambassadors in London with a more hard-line Catholic, De Spes
Anglo-Spanish Relations
• Deterioration of Anglo-Spanish relations became the key theme of Elizabethan foreign
policy
• It was inevitable because of the situation with Mary, Queen of Scots, the Papal
excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570 and the situation in the Netherlands
• Local nobles in the Netherlands were used to a degree of independence and with Philip’s
overly bureaucratic style of government it could not cope
• Spain = Europe’s foremost Catholic country
• English national security depended on ensuring that no powerful countries controlled the
coastline across the Channel
• When riots broke out in the Netherlands for England Spain should not recover control
• Elizabeth had little sympathy for the plight of the Dutch people as they were rebelling
against a legitimate government
• For England it worked best to aid the rebels without antagonising Philip - but this
provoked argument amongst councillors
• She did nothing to discourage unofficial support for the rebels, such as allowing rebel
ships to stay in English ports or English pirates disrupting supplies transported to Alba
Timeline of deterioration between England and Spain:
- Date: 1559
• Event: Philip II offered to marry Elizabeth
• Significance: designed to show support to Elizabeth
- Date: 1562
• Event: Philip protested to Elizabeth about her support for Huguenot rebels against a
Catholic government in France
• Significance: Elizabeth responded by keeping her troops from joining the Huguenot
army in Northern France
- Date: 1563
• Event: Philip’s government in the Netherlands banned imports of English cloth
• Significance: Officially it was to prevent the spread of plague, but Philip was annoyed
that trade was going in England’s favour as she kept a blind eye to English piracy in
the Channel and the work of English merchants spreading Protestantism in
Netherlands. Both embarked on a trade embargo and trade was normalised in 1564
- Date: 1566-67
• Event: Outbreak of the Revolt of the Netherlands. Spanish Duke of Alba sent to the
Netherlands to crush rioting by Calvinists and to restore firm government
• Significance: Made northern coast of the Channel insecure- Alba’s army might be
turned against them
- Date: 1568
• Event: Spain expelled the English ambassador from Madrid and replaced its own
ambassadors in London with a more hard-line Catholic, De Spes
