Elizabeth I's foreign policy |
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 | When Elizabeth acceded in 1558, England was at war with its traditional enemy - France. The loss of Calais galled Elizabeth as deeply as it had Mary, but England had no resources to continue the war. Elizabeth conceded its loss in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (April 1559). |
| The long enmity between France and the Hapsburgs offered England a fragile security. The European powers might talk of restoring Catholicism in England, but neither would tolerate the dominance of the other. |
France
| The immediate threat from France was significantly diminished by
the
Protestant rebellion in Scotland, that replaced a pro-French
regency, with pro-English clients.
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| Regency and minority allowed religious dissent and noble
ambition to cause disorder in France for the next forty years. |
| Francis outlived his father by only a few months
and was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles.
Charles IX was only ten years old when he succeeded. His mother, Catherine de Medici, dominated the child, but she could not control French politics as completely. Her political rivals - the Bourbon/Condé, and Montmorency/Coligny magnates - were also the leaders of France's Protestant minority (called Huguenots). Religious conflict erupted into intermittent warfare in France between 1562 and 1598. |
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| France's internal divisions made England secure from French
invasion, but their religious dimension risked dragging England into
the quagmire. Many English Protestants thought that they should
intervene to help the Huguenots. In 1562, Elizabeth did send help the Huguenots, only to see the English troops stranded when the French factions concluded the Treaty of Amboise (March 1563). | ||
| Pressure to support the Huguenots grew during the following
years, - especially after the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew (August
1572), but there were counteracting pressures. England's growing
enmity with Spain and the Hapsburgs, and Elizabeth's deposition by
the Pope placed England in need of a Continental ally.
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| During the 1570s and early 1580s, the possibility was mooted of
an alliance with France based on the marriage of Elizabeth I to
Francis, Duke of Anjou (fourth son of
Henry II). The flirtation with Anjou reached its peak in 1578-79, when there seemed a real possibility that Elizabeth might finally plunge into wedlock. However, the French match was intensely unpopular amongst the English political nation, whose anti-French and anti-Catholic sentiments it outraged. | ||
| English policy towards France was again shifted by the death of
Francis, Duke of Anjou in 1584. His death made a Protestant - Henry
of Navarre - heir presumptive to the throne of France. This prospect
propelled many Catholics in France into alliance with Spain - now
England's greatest enemy.
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| The French Religious wars were finally concluded by the Edict of
Nantes (April 1598), and Spanish forces withdrew after the Treaty of
Vervins (May 1598). Seventy years would pass before France again
constituted a serious threat to England.
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