English political intrigue during the Dutch Revolt

Initial discussion on the necessity of English involvement within the then-ongoing Dutch Revolt was elevated through fear on the part of the Queen's Privy Council to the possibility of the Netherlands to be used by Spain as a staging ground for an invasion into England as a means to depose Elizabeth and reinstate the Catholic Church.

Questions were raised among the advisors to the degree of the Spanish King's religious resolve to Catholicism, and as a result, the potential alignment to the wishes of Pope Pius V after Elizabeth's excommunication and the subsequent loss of her legitimacy in the Regnans in Excelsis in 1570.

[1] The papal bull, which split Catholics that were within England between devotion to their country and monarch, and to their church within their own community,[2] created uncertainty also to Elizabeth's government in how to predict Phillip's progress.

According to historian Wallace T. MacCaffrey: What frightened and baffled even the most cool-headed English councillors in assessing the probable course of Spanish policy was the unpredictable ideological component in Phillip’s views.

Would he be content with the restoration of his power and the re-establishment of his faith in his Burgundian provinces, or would the compulsions of religious ideology drive him beyond these traditional aims to the grander tasks of exterminating heresy in general, and, in particular, in the British Isles?

[10] They succeeded to have the Council of State bar the acceptance of English men in late 1577, yet held onto a promise made by Elizabeth of £100,000 to be spent in the conflict.

[16] At the same time, in the spring of 1578, a series of Protestant insurrections arose in the southern, Spanish-controlled Netherlands, which led to them having “seized churches for their use, expelled the religious orders, smashed altars and images, and demanded the right to public observance and promulgation of their faith.”[17] From these insurrections, the fear of a Spanish advantage from the Dutch disunity as a result of the mass protests caused Elizabeth to promptly reconsider her stance on the Duke, allowing “clandestine agents” to establish a direct line, as well as giving freedom to the States to deal with the Duke.

[18] During her reign, the Queen would evolve her strategies surrounding English involvement in the Low Countries at a gradual pace, growing in the amount and type of assistance she was willing to give as time progressed.

[13] In beginning her moves towards intervention, the Queen desired on taking an indirect approach to the situation in the Netherlands, seeking to preemptively establish a formal alliance built among Protestant member princes of the Holy Roman Empire to develop a solidified pan-Protestant solidarity for when it seemed appropriate to act.

It anticipated war, and looked to act preemptively against Philip II and his ‘crusade of Catholic re-conquest.’[22] Elizabeth rejected the offer, and instead made a counter-proposal, as a means to draw the Netherlands into unity with the other Protestant states of continental Europe.

According to John Bruce of the Camden Society, the advice of the Privy Council was to: send over a considerable body of auxiliary forces, and to place them under the command of some eminent person, who should not merely direct the military operations, but should also assist the States-General with his counsel, and put them in the way of correcting many errors of government into which they have fallen.

[28]Elizabeth had initially disagreed with this advice, fearing primarily of the precedent that could be set in assisting rebellions against a sovereign ruler, especially against Phillip II in consideration to the danger she was in with the Catholic world.

[29] Direct correspondences between Robert Dudley and the Court began on December 1585, in a letter from Francis Walsingham addressed to Dudley, reporting on the Queen's direct instructions for the campaign: stabilize the government, to not engage in battles without “great advantage” assured, to maintain discipline and punishing those who do not honor that call for discipline, to make leaders responsible that forces under their command are at full capacity, to pay soldiers “by the head” with payment disbursed to the captains first, punish leaders who abuse their posts, employ “some well chosen persones” that organize collecting contributions to the war effort, to respect the authority of Dutch nobles as well as especially the children of the late William (of Orange), to clarify that England will not take dominion over the Netherlands at the end of this expedition, and to be available to advise Dutch nobility whenever needed.