England and Europe 14851603
SECOND EDITION
SUSAN DORAN
First published 1986 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-28991-8 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doran, Susan.
England and Europe, 14851603 / Susan Doran. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm. -- (Seminar studies in history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-28991-2 (pbk.)
1. Great Britain--Foreign relations--14851603. 2. Great Britain--Foreign relations--Europe. 3. Europe--Foreign relations--Great Britain. 4. England--Civilization--16th Century. I. Title. II. Series.
DA325.D67 1996
327.4104--dc20 | 96-28643 |
CIP |
Such is the pace of historical enquiry in the modern world that there is an ever-widening gap between the specialist article or monograph, incorporating the results of current research, and general surveys, which inevitably become out of date. Seminar Studies in History are designed to bridge this gap. The books are written by experts in their field who are not only familiar with the latest research but have often contributed to it. They are frequently revised, in order to take account of new information and interpretations. They provide a selection of documents to illustrate major themes and provoke discussion, and also a guide to further reading. Their aim is to clarify complex issues without over-simplifying them, and to stimulate readers into deepening their knowledge and understanding of major themes and topics.
ROGER LOCKYER
I would like to acknowledge my great debt to the late Professor Joel Hurstfield whose encouragement was crucial to my development as a historian. Thanks are also due to many of my past students for asking the right questions and to my husband for doing the practical tasks which writers usually seem to leave to their wives: typing, proof-reading and editing.
Finally, I want to thank Roger Lockyer for suggesting the book in the first place and for carefully reading and correcting the first draft.
Readers should note that numbers in square brackets [] refers readers to the corresponding item in the Documents section which follows the main text. Word which are defined in the Glossary are asterisked on their first occurrence in the book.
I would like to thank Joanna Coates for reading through and commenting on the typescript.
For most of the Tudor period Spain and France dominated the European arena, and the rivalry between them was a central feature of international politics. Both states by the 1490s had emerged as strong and powerful after a long period of internal disunity, weak government and partial occupation by foreign powers. In 1479 the Crowns of Aragon and Castile were united in the persons of Ferdinand and Isabella. They reconquered Granada in the south from the Moors in 1492, the same year that Columbus, under their patronage, began the voyage which was to bring Spain an overseas empire. The Spanish monarchs strengthened their position vis--vis the Spanish nobles, the church and the towns, while creating a centralized authority in their kingdoms, especially Castile. In France a succession of able rulers from Charles VII onwards reasserted royal power and regained lands once conquered or alienated from the Crown. All the territories held by England, save Calais, had been restored to Charles VII by 1453. Picardy, the Somme towns and the ancestral duchy of Burgundy were returned to Louis XI after a series of clashes with his arch-enemy Charles, Duke of Burgundy. The duchy of Brittany was annexed by Charles VIII in 1492. The French kings eroded the privileges of nobles, pays and parlement, while gaining the effective right of taxing at will.
The focal point of rivalry between these two powers from 1494 to 1559 was Italy. The conflict had small beginnings: the rival dynastic claims of Anjou (Charles VIII) and Aragon to the insignificant and impoverished kingdom of Naples. There were also minor disputes over Cerdagne, Roussillon, Perpignan and Navarre on the Franco-Spanish border. French ambitions in Italy were extended to Milan in 1499 after the accession of Louis XII who had a personal claim to that duchy. The ensuing Italian Wars (14941515) ended with the Spanish conquest of Naples and the French capture and then loss of Milan.
A new dimension to Franco-Spanish rivalry arose around the person of Charles V. As duke of Burgundy (1506), king of Spain (1516), ruler of Austrian Habsburg lands (1516) and Holy Roman Emperor (1519), he impinged on the interests and security of France. First, he ruled over lands which were nominally French fiefs (Artois and Flanders) and which had been coveted by the French kings since the reign of Louis XI. Then, he inherited the disputes over Naples and the territories along the Pyrenees. Furthermore, Milan was an Imperial fief* and more importantly the vital bridge from Charless territories in the Netherlands, Germany and Franche-Comt to Naples. Finally, France was virtually encircled by Habsburg lands; her borders were vulnerable to Spanish troops (Artois and Flanders were but 290 kilometres from Paris) while any move to expand eastwards would be blocked by a strong hostile power. Dynastic and strategic considerations thus combined to create an intense Habsburg-Valois rivalry to be fought out in a series of wars from 1515 to 1559.
Exhaustion of resources, not the cessation of differences, brought about the end of the wars in the 1559 Treaty of Cteau-Cambrsis. Consequently, Franco-Spanish hostility continued, but as a latent feature of the second half of the sixteenth century. It was latent, not open, because of the French civil wars (156298). The collapse of the French monarchys power in the face of doctrinal strife and aristocratic rebellion prevented France from renewing the wars or even from exploiting effectively Spains own weaknesses; for Spain too had major problems. The Netherlands were in rebellion in 1566 and again from 1572. At times, the French tried to aid the rebels for their own ends Coligny in 1571 and Alenon from 1576 till his death in 1584 but their help was mainly ineffectual. It was Philip II of Spain who broke the uneasy peace when he ordered Parma, commander of the Flanders army, to invade France in 1590 to prevent the Huguenot,* Henry of Navarre, from becoming king. Fear of further and greater French aid to the Dutch rebels, as well as religious considerations, prompted his actions. The war which followed marked the recovery of France, as hatred of Spain overrode domestic doctrinal differences. The Treaty of Vervins (1598) ended the war but again this was only temporary. Franco-Spanish rivalry was to dominate the seventeenth century as it had the sixteenth.
