Challenges abroad

• When she became queen in 1558, Elizabeth faced a number of challenges from France, Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Spain and its influence in the Netherlands
• Challenges abroad facing Elizabeth in 1558


  • France
  • Scotland
  • Spain
• Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis


  England had lost Calais to France
• England losing Calais


  There was pressure on Elizabeth to regain it
• Regaining Calais would be expensive and dangerous for England
• Mary, Queen of Scots


  Elizabeth's cousin, was heir to the French throne
• Mary, Queen of Scots, had a strong claim to the English throne and English Catholics might rally to her if the French invaded
• The Auld Alliance


  France's alliance with Scotland threatened England
• Mary of Guise (Mary, Queen of Scots' mother) kept French soldiers in Scotland, who could attack England
• The marriage of Francis (heir to the French throne) to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1558 further strengthened the relationship between France and Scotland
• France had ended its war with Spain, so its resources were no longer stretched, making war with England more likely
• There was a possibility that France and Spain, both Catholic countries, would unite against Protestant England
• Spain also had troops in the Netherlands, not far from England
• War was an expensive business and the Crown was in debt, so England could not afford a war with France, Scotland or Spain
• How Elizabeth dealt with the challenges from abroad

  • She sought to avoid war with France by signing the Peace of Troyes (1564), which recognised the French claim to Calais
  • She dealt with the threat posed by Scotland by placing Mary, Queen of Scots, who fled Scotland in 1560, in custody in England
  • By imprisoning Mary and making peace with France, Elizabeth had only one significant threat by 1569: Spain