Spain repeatedly invaded the United Provinces who repeatedly asked the Protestant queen of England, Elizabeth, for assistance and three developments forced her hand…
ii) James tried to ally England with Spain, but he failed and the two countries went to war.…
The Spanish Armada took place in 1588 where King Philip II of Spain had planned this conquest with the hope of overthrowing Queen Elizabeth I of England. He had many reasons as to invade England in the first place. England had the establishment of Protestantism whereas Spain was Roman Catholic, and Philip was in disagreement with that. He also wanted to stop the Dutch interferences in the Spanish Netherlands because they were seizing Spain’s treasure and were funding the people in the Netherlands. It wasn’t until 1585 that he began making a fleet of 130 ships, under the commander of Duke of Medina Sidona. His first mission was to claim the English throne for Mary and make England Roman Catholic. However, that did not happen because they had a major setback: the commander wasn’t suitable and he begged Philip to be resigned along with England’s men, who destroyed Spain’s ships.…
Mary’s ascension to the throne of England was marked with extraordinary political and religious circumstance: the return of Catholicism in England marshalled by Mary was a decision met with gratefulness and one that pleased many of those citizens supressed under the Tudor dynasty’s progressive and eventually full protestant stance. However, Mary’s gender meant that she couldn’t enjoy the same levels of independence and power as those wielded by her brother and father. Mary’s announcement that she intended to marry Philip II of Spain in 1554 divided her privy council into two distinct groups; one opposing her marriage, favouring the possible courter, Edward Courtenay (Earl of Devon), and the other, who supported the Spanish Monarch. The reasons for these split alliances were deeply ingrained in foreign policy, with those supporting Philip’s prospects seeking the advantages of a strong Anglo-Spanish alliance, and those against it fearing the consequences of a future hereditary Spanish claim to the English throne and a possible need to aid Spain in future conflict.…
Elizabeth had inherited the throne of England in 1558 from a Catholic queen Mary who had attempted to re-convert England back to Catholicism and to allow the country to take part in the Catholic reformation of Europe. The accession of Elizabeth was met with anxiety and tension as to discover what she was to do in response to religion and how the Catholic powers of Europe as well as the Catholics within England at the time would treat any changes. The immediate rise to power was met with little hostility as Elizabeth had made very cautious changes to start with as she thought it wise not to provoke hostility from abroad considering the position of England at the time as a small, weak protestant nation. The start of Elizabeth’s reign was fairly peaceful however tensions rose and a Catholic threat seemed more imminent as her reign drew to the end.…
His decision to make Duke of Medina Sidonia in charge of the fleet was very questionable especially since he had never been to sea before. Philip II had ideas about how the English would attack from distance and he warned Santa Cruz and then the Duke of Medina Sidonia that the English would use this strategy (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Instead of devising a strategy that would help the Armada avoid these pitfalls, he chose a strategy that made the fleet a sitting target to precisely the kind of tactics he worried about (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Philip II also did not meet with his senior commanders to hear their opinions on the plans that were about to doom the Armada. (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Philip II had made every decision on his own and ultimately the defeat of the armada was his fault.…
On the one hand, the threat from Mary Queen of Scots was the biggest threat to Elizabeth I. This is because Mary had a legitimate claim to the throne as she was Henry VIII’s sister’s great granddaughter; therefore she was second in line to the throne. Mary Queen of Scots also had a lot of Catholic support, a lot of the European Union wanted England to be Catholic, and so they would have wanted Mary to be on the English throne and not Elizabeth. All of the Catholics in England would want Mary to be Queen, so she was a large threat to Elizabeth because people in England and in the European Union would want Mary Queen of Scots to be Queen and not Elizabeth I. The Spanish Armada was also a large threat to Elizabeth during her reign. This threat was posed by The King of Spain, King Philip II. Philip and the Spanish were attacking England, because they wanted Mary on the throne. The Spanish Armada was a large threat to Elizabeth in 1588, because the Spanish could easily have attacked England; they had a lot more men and boats than the English. The Spanish Armada also posed as a large threat, because it was a new type of threat that no King or Queen had experienced before; the threat was also posed from another country, this makes it a lot more serious than it would have been if it had have been posed from an Englishman. There was also a third threat, The Northern rebellion in 1569. The…
Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Because Elizabeth didn’t have the right to be Queen her half-sister Mary became Queen instead. When Mary died, Elizabeth took the crown in 1558. While Queen Elizabeth was ruling King Phillip asked for her hand in marriage so he would be the King of England and Ireland again after marrying Queen Mary before she died. But Queen Elizabeth rejected his offer for different personal reasons. Personal reasons such as she was known for her virginity, she was already "married" to her people (England), she did not want a man to control her and their religions and primary languages were different. Even though the rejection of his proposal was quite harsh, tension between them increased when she defeated the Spanish Armada. The Spanish Armada was fleet of solders led by Philip II to attack England in 1588. When Queen Elizabeth beat the Spanish Armada, she became very popular to her people.…
Why did Phillip launch the Armada?- Phillip launched the Armada for many reasons. When Elizabeth became queen, Phillip asked her hand in marriage, but she refused. This angered him, as he hoped to keep power over England, and also keep it catholic. This was also an embarrassment as Spain was one of he most powerful countries in Europe. England was also helping protestants in the Netherlands, (which Spain ruled) to revolt against the catholic Spanish. As well as helping the Portrageas gain their independence from Spain. Phillip also had the support of the Pope who encouraged him to invade England. Elizabeth had been excommunicated from the church so the pope thought she ought to be removed. During the 1560's English ships began to loot Spanish fleets returning from America with gold. Phillip blamed Elizabeth for backing such raids and taking her share of the profits. In 1587 Elizabeth executed Mary queen of Scots which also angered Phillip as he saw Mary as the rightful queen of England.…
When Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, there were violent clashes throughout Europe between Protestant and Catholic leaders and their followers. Though Elizabeth honored many of the Protestant edicts of her late father, King Henry VIII, she made significant concessions to Catholic sympathizers, which kept them from attempting rebellion. But when compromise was not possible, she was an exacting and determined leader who did not shy away from conflict. With the naval defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, England was firmly established as a leading military and commercial power in the Western world. Elizabeth supported and later knighted Sir Francis Drake, the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She also funded Sir Walter Raleigh's…
During the late 1500s, there were two great powers fighting for superiority. Both King Phillip II of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I of England were contending for the greatest empire in the world. At that, both of these rulers were drastically different in how they carried out policies. One of the biggest policies during the time was religion. During this time, the church was splitting with the protestant sect. of Christianity taking Europe by storm. Henry VIII formed the Church of England in an attempt to marry again, making the country protestant. This would cause a great sir in England as previously it was a catholic country and even a bigger stir when his daughter Mary tried to convert the country back to Catholicism. By the time Elizabeth took reign, she would make the country protestant but, very lenient towards Catholics. Phillip was drastically different when religion was concerned. His nickname was “The Most Catholic King” referring to his dedication to Catholicism. It would prove to be a great part in the reason why he would send his armada in 1588. Foreign policy was another difference between the two countries. England had a policy of not interfering with foreign affairs unless it was against their interests. This policy includes aiding the Spanish Netherlands in a failed attempt to stop the Spanish and also financially aiding pirates to raid Spanish ships. Spain was mostly about preserving Catholicism in Europe. Some examples are a failed attempt to help the Guise family route out the Protestants in France during the French civil war and even more notoriously was the disastrous 1588 Armada, losing two-thirds of his navy. This would definitely mark the end of the Spanish being the greatest empire in Europe. By the end of both King Phillip II of Spain and Elizabeth II of England, Europe would be greatly changed. Spain would no longer be the greatest super power of Europe and England would start its rise to power.…
Background A cause of the gunpowder plot was the religious tension in England during the early 17th century which stemmed from earlier generations. It started with the English Reformation in the 16th Century when King Henry VIII wished to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and under the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope, it was not allowed. So, Henry set out to set up his own church, the Church of England. Parliament which passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534 that named him “Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England” which gave him the power to “have authority to reform and redress all errors, heresies and abuses in the same” .…
All substantial threats to Elizabeth’s position as Queen were symptoms of the tension between Catholicism and Protestantism. The threats posed by Mary Queen of Scots, as well as those of the Spanish Armada of 1588 and the war with Spain (which dominated the last twenty years of Elizabeth’s reign), were consequences of a Catholic desire to gain supremacy in England. However, the extent to which the Catholic threat was centred on Mary Queen of Scots is debateable. Whilst she was undoubtedly a figurehead for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth’s rule and was the monarchical figure around whom several treasonous plots were designed, there is much evidence for the view that Mary became a focal point for a Catholic threat that would have existed even if she had been absent. The extent to which the structure given to the Catholic cause by Mary’s presence strengthened the Catholic threat is also debateable. There were others who could have become the rallying point for Catholic opposition (as Philip II of Spain did after Mary’s death), although none had as good a claim to the throne as Mary. A great threat was presented by Catholic opposition to Elizabeth’s rule, but Mary’s influence over this, and therefore the threat that she posed as an individual, may be called into question.…
To what extent was England dominated by Spain and the serving of Spanish interests during the reign of Mary…
Undoubtedly religion was a huge problem Elizabeth faced in 1558 as English society had been divided by frequent changes from the Roman Catholic Church to being Protestant following each succession leading to Elizabeth’s succession in 1558. Furthermore, puritans posed a huge threat to Elizabeth because in their eyes a monarch was to be a man – as a woman in Elizabethan society was seen to be inferior and not capable of running the country and therefore posed the threat of causing a rebellion to oppose Elizabeth’s succession of her sister Mary. In addition to this, puritans also did not like to have a head of church, as they believed they were the people of the church and nobody was needed to run the church but the puritans. However, Elizabeth announced herself to be the supreme governor of the church of England meaning this would agitated the puritans and they may have started a rebellion to dethrone Elizabeth to remove her from her status in the church. Also because of the extremism of the puritans there hatred for Catholics would have created a greater division in Elizabethan society meaning it would be harder for Elizabeth to establish her authority on the country.…