Catholic challenge abroad

• Catholic challenge abroad


  Many of Europe's most powerful rulers tended to be Catholic and, encouraged by the pope, represented a real threat to Queen Babeth's monandty, as they could seek to remove her from the throne and replace her with a Catholic monarch
• Extent of Catholic challenge from abroad in 1570


  • Spain
  • France
  • The papacy
• When religious war began in France, in 1562


  Elizabeth backed French Protestants, hoping to take back Calais in return. Yet this policy failed, as French Protestants made peace with the Catholics later that year
• Elizabeth could not afford to upset both France and Spain


  This would increase threats to her throne
• Counter Reformation


  The pope was prepared to end Protestant rule in England. He disapproved of the steps that Elizabeth had taken to suppress Catholicism following the revolt of the Northern Earls
• Excommunication


  Being formally excluded from the Catholic Church and unable to receive its sacraments
• In 1566 the Dutch rebelled against Spanish occupation


  Elizabeth outwardly condemned the Dutch rebels, known as the Sea Beggars, but many made their way to England. Spanish atrocities against Protestants (hundreds were put to death in the Netherlands) put Elizabeth under pressure to shelter rebels, who attacked Spanish ships in the Channel
• Spain was further angered by England's seizure of the Genoese loan in 1560


  The Italian city of Genoa lent gold to the Spanish government. Ships carrying the loan sheltered in English ports, where Elizabeth seized it, arguing it belonged to Italian bankers not Spain
• By 1570, Spanish rule in the Netherlands was secure


  The Privy Council now feared a Spanish invasion, as Spanish troops were in the Spanish Netherlands close to England
• The presence of Mary, Queen of Scots, as an alternative Catholic monarch


  Encouraged the Spanish government to plot against Elizabeth