Mary 1st Foreign Policy Flashcards
before she came to the throne, what were Mary’s key aims
restore England to papal supremacy, marry Phillip, heir to catholic throne
impact of Pope Paul IV
worried about the English church, who themselves feared an increase of foreign influence
Pope was a religious AND foreign power
While both the Pope and Phillip were fiercely catholic, Pope Paul was very anti-Spanish, Mary had a balancing act
problem with land
many new nobles (made in Henry and Edwards reign) were unwilling to give up previous church lands, even catholic landowners refused, forced the Pope of concede this issue
historiography of Mary and politics
Traditional view- Mary was politically inept, her obsession with both Phillip and catholicism (Pope) caused her to be indecisive and “dither”- female stereotypes
Modern view- Mary used her position as a women to feign indecisiveness in order to get the best deal, had both papal and Hapsburg (Phillip) support.
Hapsburg-Valois war
essentially Spain vs France, at the time of Mary’s reign the fighting was happening in Italy- by marrying Phillip, many English feared England would be drawn into the escalating conflict
What happened in Spain in January 1556
Charles V formally abdicated as Emperor, he split his possessions between Ferdinand (holy roman empire) and Phillip (spain, oversees and the spanish netherlands)
Mary’s dilemma with the war
as Phillips wife, Mary might be expected to commit herself and her country to a war that she could not afford in any sense (still had the debt from her father and brother as well as a country who didn’t support her marriage)
how did Mary solve her dilemma with the war
1554 treaty with Spain
contents of the Spain treat 1554
power to govern England rested in Mary alone
England would not fund or be involved in any of Spain’s wars
Phillip would only be ‘King of England’ in Mary’s lifetime
Phillip would not inherit the throne upon Mary’s death
timeline of Mary’s marriage to Phillip
Jan 1554- marriage treaty drawn up, Wyatt’s rebellion
July 1554- marriage takes place
May 1555- Anti-spanish pope elected
April 1557- Scarborough raid followed by England’s declaration of war against France
June 1558- England looses Calais
Problems with the spanish-english treaty
still many anti-spanish feelings
March 1556, Phillip convinces Mary to commit troops to the war
Scarborough Raid
an unsuccessful raid led by Thomas Stafford (an Englishman with a weak link to the throne) who attempted to inspire a popular rebellion against Spanish influence, this failed and he was captured. But this was significant in pushing England to declare was as Henri II of France provided Stafford his ships
War of earl of Pembroke
led a decisive battle against the French at St Quentin (1557)
How did the war not to well for England
lost Calais in January 1558
England had held it since 1347
impact of the loss of Calais
limited English ability to intervene in mainland europe
English gov scraped up 7,000 men and 140 ships who attacked Brest (rather than Calais) but found it too well defended and took a much smaller port of Le Conquet instead
embarrassing
