Foreign Policy and Spain

In 1558, Spain was England's ally. By 1585, it was England's enemy. This lesson traces how relations with Philip II's Spain deteriorated over 27 years — through religion, trade, piracy, the Netherlands Revolt, and dynastic politics — to the point where, in 1585, England entered an open war that would lead to the Armada.

Paper 2 Section B commonly asks: why did Anglo-Spanish relations break down? The answer is not one event but a cumulative pattern — each crisis removing another reason for Spanish restraint.

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The starting point, 1558

Spain had been England's ally for a generation. Key reasons:

• Dynastic. Philip II had been married to Mary I. When Elizabeth became queen, he briefly proposed marriage to her.
• Religious. Both were Catholic — Elizabeth nominally, until the 1559 settlement.
• Strategic. Both feared France. France had Scotland through Mary Queen of Scots' Guise connections; Spain held the Netherlands; England sat between them.
• Commercial. England exported wool to Antwerp (in the Spanish Netherlands) — a major trade flow.

For Spain to become an enemy, these four pillars each had to fall.

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1558–68: cooling

The religious settlement

The 1559 settlement confirmed England as a Protestant country. Philip II regarded this as a personal disappointment but not yet a casus belli — he still hoped to use influence at court rather than force.

Commercial friction

English merchants resented Spanish restrictions on trade with the New World. Hawkins' early slave-trading voyages to the Caribbean in the 1560s traded in defiance of Spanish monopoly.

San Juan de Ulúa, 1568

Sir John Hawkins' third slaving voyage was attacked by Spanish warships at San Juan de Ulúa in September 1568. Six English ships were lost. Only Hawkins' and Drake's vessels returned. From this point, Drake regarded Spain as a personal enemy — a grudge that shaped a decade of privateering.

The Genoese loan, 1568

In November 1568 English ships sheltering from storms in Plymouth were found to be carrying Spanish silver — a loan from Genoese bankers destined to pay Alba's army in the Netherlands. Elizabeth seized the money. The Duke of Alba retaliated by seizing English assets in the Netherlands. Trade broke down for several years.

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The Netherlands Revolt

The Netherlands was the fault line between Elizabeth and Philip II. Understanding it is essential.

Background

The Netherlands (modern Belgium + Netherlands + parts of northern France) was inherited by Philip II from his father Charles V. It was economically critical for Spain — Antwerp was the main port — and contained a large Protestant minority.

The revolt

• 1566: Iconoclastic riots ("Beeldenstorm"); Calvinists destroyed Catholic religious imagery in churches.
• 1567: Philip sent the Duke of Alba with 10,000 troops; the "Council of Troubles" executed around 1,000 Dutch nobles and burghers.
• 1572: The Sea Beggars — Dutch Protestant privateers — seized the port of Brill, sparking a wider revolt.
• 1579: The Union of Utrecht formed a Protestant northern alliance; the southern provinces remained under Spanish rule.

flowchart TD
    A[1566: Iconoclastic riots] --> B[1567: Alba's army and Council of Troubles]
    B --> C[1572: Sea Beggars seize Brill]
    C --> D[1576: Spanish Fury at Antwerp]
    D --> E[1579: Union of Utrecht]
    E --> F[1584: William of Orange assassinated]
    F --> G[1585: Treaty of Nonsuch; England enters war]

    style A fill:#3498db,color:#fff
    style G fill:#c0392b,color:#fff

Elizabeth's dilemma

Elizabeth did not want the Netherlands to become independent, but she did not want Spain to crush the Protestant provinces either. A strong Spain in the Netherlands was a direct threat to England. She therefore pursued:

• Informal support for Dutch rebels (money, tolerating volunteers).
• Diplomatic pressure on Philip II to restore traditional liberties.
• Delay — always hoping a settled compromise would avoid full war.

The policy worked until 1584.

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Privateers: Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh

English privateers attacked Spanish shipping — especially the silver-bearing galleons from the New World — throughout the 1570s–80s. This was not a war in any formal sense. It was, technically, piracy. In practice, the Crown licensed it, profited from it, and denied responsibility when caught.

Sir Francis Drake

• 1572–73: Raided Nombre de Dios in Panama, captured Spanish silver overland.
• 1577–80: Circumnavigated the world; returned with around £400,000 of Spanish treasure. Elizabeth knighted him on the deck of the Golden Hind at Deptford.
• 1585–86: Raided Spanish Caribbean ports including Santo Domingo and Cartagena.

Sir John Hawkins

• Pioneer slave-trader in the 1560s.
• Treasurer of the Navy from 1578; modernised English warship design — leaner, faster, more heavily gunned vessels that would matter in 1588.

Sir Walter Raleigh