Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1977

Keywords

Great Britain, History, Elizabeth I, British foreign relations (1558-1603)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

History

First Advisor

Donald R. Kelley

Second Advisor

Charles E. Freedeman

Third Advisor

Robin S. Oggins

Abstract

This dissertation examines the ideological attitudes of Elizabeth’s servants on issues of foreign policy and to examine the relationship between stated ideological goals and foreign policy. The conclusion drawn from this examination is that the men who served Elizabeth shared a basic set of Protestant attitudes that fundamentally determined how they saw other actors in the political universe of the late 1550s and 1560s, and that for the most part their policy recommendations follow from these attitudes. In varying degrees Elizabeth’s diplomatic servants believed that her political survival depended on the survival of a variety of Protestant groups in other parts of Europe and that the successful attack by Catholics against any of these groups would have been detrimental to her long term interests. While some older dynastic habits of thought persisted as the decade wore on, Englishmen were increasingly aware of the new religious/political realities of mid century.

From the beginning of the reign Protestants looked to Elizabeth for support. While she was hesitant to become the Protestant savior of Europe, her diplomatic servants often saw the necessity of intervening in the foreign Protestant cause. In the first decade she actively intervened in four instances on behalf of foreign Protestant rebels, and on two other occasions accepted rebels into her kingdom as exiles. Just as important was the fact that she stood with the Protestant cause on issues like the reconvening of the Council of Trent. The major exception to this strongly Protestant behavior was her willingness to support Mary Queen of Scots’ regality after the murder of Darnley, but here too she eventually came around to support the Protestant nobilities’ position.

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