Spanish match
The climax of the ensuing decade of high-level negotiation to secure a marriage between the leading Protestant and Catholic royal families of Europe occurred in 1623 in Madrid, with the embassy of the Prince Charles and James's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.
Success in reducing the religious factor in international relations then deteriorated for James, in parallel with the failure of the Spanish match, with the onset of the Thirty Years' War.
[6] In 1618 he was still concerned with detailed moves to improve his relationship with Spain, such as the translation of the anti-Calvinist Bishop Lancelot Andrewes,[7] and the execution of the buccaneering Sir Walter Raleigh.
[8] On the domestic front, the prospect of a Spanish dowry from a marriage between his heir Charles, Prince of Wales from 1616, and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, was a potential source of income for James, who sought ways to rule without depending on the Commons for subsidies.
Sentiment was voiced vociferously in the Commons when James called his first parliament for seven years in 1621 to raise funds for a military expedition in support of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, his son-in-law.
[13] James reluctantly summoned parliament as the only means to raise the funds necessary to assist his daughter Elizabeth and Frederick, who had been ousted from Prague by Emperor Ferdinand in 1620.
[15] In November 1621, led by Sir Edward Coke, the Commons framed a petition asking not only for a war with Spain but for Prince Charles to marry a Protestant, and for enforcement of the anti-Catholic laws.
[15] James flatly told them not to interfere in matters of royal prerogative or they would risk punishment;[16] to which provocation they reacted by issuing a statement protesting their rights, including freedom of speech.
[22] When Robert Mason wrote in 1622 to his friend Thomas Hobbes about public opinion on the match, criticising James's policy and noting Gondomar's skill in gaining support for it by holding out the prospect of the Palatinate being returned to Frederick V, he hedged his comments with pleas for secrecy.
[25] Denied the military option, James ignored public opinion and returned to the Spanish match as his only hope of restoring the possessions of Elizabeth and Frederick.
With the accession of Philip IV of Spain the Spanish proponent of the marriage, Gondomar, lost influence to Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares.
[26] When negotiations began to drag, Prince Charles, now 22, and Buckingham decided to seize the initiative and travel to Castile incognito, to win the Infanta directly.
[27] Travelling under the names Thomas and John Smith, they arrived at the residence of the English ambassador in Madrid, the "House of the Seven Chimneys" on the Plaza de Rey, on 7 March 1623 (OS).
In fact it was considered that there was a need for confidential dealings with Spanish counterparts, and a subcommittee of the council was set up for that reason; which later became a vehicle for discussion of foreign policy more generally, and persisted into the next reign.
For once, the outpouring of anti-Catholic sentiment in the Commons was echoed in court, where control of policy had shifted from James to Charles and Buckingham,[43] who pressured the King to declare war and engineered the impeachment and imprisonment of the Lord Treasurer, Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, when he opposed the idea on grounds of cost.
[44] Lord Bristol, though entirely blameless, was made the scapegoat for the failure of the match: he was recalled in disgrace, ordered to remain on his estates and later imprisoned for a time in the Tower of London.
