01.04 - The 'First Battle of the Atlantic'

For generations, Habsburg Spain had been a stalwart ally of England, their royal families connected by marriage and kinship, to counter-balance the Auld Alliance of France and Scotland. This had been the state of things for decades, and upon Elizabeth's accession there was no reason to think that this would change. Calais had just fallen to the French, and English armies had been rampaging through Scotland just years before, and a French regent ruled in place of her young child.

And yet, by the time of Elizabeth's death, Scotland was a close ally whose king would soon inherit the crown of England and Ireland, and Spanish Armadas had narrowly missed invading English shores. What caused this dramatic reversal?

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In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Doran, S. (2000). Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558-1603

- Croft, P. (2005). ‘“The State of the World is Marvellously Changed”: England, Spain and Europe 1558-1604’. Doran S. & Richardson G. (eds) Tudor England and its Neighbours

Find a full bibliography on the website.

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