Why was England in conflict with Spain?

• Phillip’s desire to be King of England:

  > Phillip was previously married to Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary I. When Mary died without leaving a child, the throne passed to Elizabeth, and Philip’s chance was lost.
• Phillip’s desire to be King of England:

  > He attempted to regain his title of King of England by proposing a marriage alliance to Elizabeth in 1559. Elizabeth rejected him.
• Religious difference:

  > Phillip was strongly Catholic and hated Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement that had made England Protestant.
• Religious difference:

  > Phillip’s devout Catholic nature drove him to involve Spain in plots to restore Catholicism to England.
• Religious difference:

  > Elizabeth responded to these plots by persecuting English Catholics even more in the 1580s.
• Rivalry at sea:

  > English sailors such as Hawkins and Drake would steal treasure from Spanish ships arriving back from the ‘New World’.
• Rivalry at sea:

  > When Drake returned from his circumnavigation in 1577, he returned with £400,000 worth of treasure stolen from the Spanish which, understandably, angered Phillip.
• Conflict in the Netherlands:

  1. Phillip’s enforced Catholicism in Spain as well as in Spanish territories such as the Netherlands.
• Conflict in the Netherlands:

  2. This led to civil war breaking out in the Netherlands in 1566. While this was a Spanish matter, Elizabeth saw the opportunity to support a Protestant cause.
• Conflict in the Netherlands:

  3. In 1585 the Treaty of Nonsuch was signed; England agreed to send 7,000 troops. England and Spain were now at war.