Spain: political and religious rivalry

• Religious rivalry

  Under Mary Tudor, Spain and England were allies. As a Protestant country under Elizabeth I, England’s relationship with Spain soured:

  • Philip II, backed by the pope, saw Protestantism as a threat to the authority of the Catholic Church.

  • Many English Protestants saw Spain and Catholicism as a threat.

  • Philip II of Spain became involved in Catholic plots against Elizabeth.
• Spanish policy in the Netherlands

  • The Netherlands had been Spanish since the 1400s, but many Dutch became Protestant.

  • A brutal Spanish campaign under the Duke of Alba aimed to restore Catholicism there.

  • Spanish Catholics executed many Dutch Protestants following the Council of Troubles (the ‘Council of Blood’) in 1568.

  • Spain’s campaign in the Netherlands angered many in Elizabeth’s government, who now saw Spain as hostile – a direct threat to English

  Protestantism and to England itself.
• The English response to the Spanish

  Elizabeth’s government decided to secretly help Dutch Protestants resist the Spanish.

  • It allowed Dutch rebel ships (the Sea Beggars) safe passage in English ports.

  • It provided financial support to others fighting the Spanish, including volunteers led by John Casimir, a foreign mercenary.

  • English privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, were encouraged to attack Spanish shipping and colonies in Latin America.

  Elizabeth even proposed marriage to the French

  heir, the Duke of Alençon, so he might be

  persuaded to fight Spain in the Netherlands.
• The Spanish Fury and the Pacification of Ghent

  By 1576, the Spanish government in the Netherlands found the war there unaffordable. A lack of funds meant Spanish troops went unpaid. This resulted in the Spanish Fury, when Spanish troops looted Antwerp. After the looting, all 17 Dutch provinces (Catholic and Protestant) joined an alliance against the Spanish, drawn up in a document called the Pacification of Ghent. It called for all Spanish troops to be expelled from the Netherlands.
• Restoring Spanish influence

  By late 1584:

  • Spanish control of the Netherlands had been restored under the Duke of Parma.

  • England’s allies, the Duke of Alençon and William of Orange, were dead

  • The Treaty of Joinville (1584) united Catholic France and Spain against the Netherlands and England

  • Dutch Catholics were ready to make peace with Spain, strengthening Philip II’s position there.
• England and Spain close to war

  By 1587, England and Spain were close to war.

  • Philip II blamed English support of the Dutch rebels for making the situation worse.

  • Philip II blamed English privateers for attacks on Spanish shipping.

  • Elizabeth’s government blamed Spain for a series of plots against Elizabeth.