Mary I: Foreign Policy, Marriage & the Succession (AQA A Level History: Component 1: Breadth study): Revision Note

Summary

• Mary married Philip of Spain in July 1554

  • The marriage was designed to secure a Catholic succession by producing a Catholic heir

  • Philip was given the title of King but his powers were strictly limited by the marriage treaty

• The Wyatt Rebellion (February 1554) was triggered primarily by opposition to the Spanish marriage

  • It was the most serious domestic rebellion of the reign

  • Mary's personal courage was central to its defeat

• Mary declared war on France in June 1557 to support Philip's campaign against the French

  • England lost Calais in January 1558, its last territory in France, held for over 200 years

• Mary's two false pregnancies (1554 and 1557) meant no Catholic heir was produced

• Mary accepted Elizabeth as her successor shortly before her death

  • Much of what she had worked for was undone within a year

Mary's Marriage to Philip II of Spain: Causes & Consequences

• The Spanish marriage was the central political decision of Mary’s reign

  • Many of the major events of the reign (the rebellion, the war with France, the loss of Calais) stemmed from it

Why did Mary want to marry Philip?

• The succession problem:

  • Mary was 37 at her accession

    • Without a Catholic heir, Protestant Elizabeth would succeed

• The Habsburg connection:

  • Mary's mother was Catherine of Aragon

  • Mary was close to the Spanish royal family and had been considered a potential wife for Charles V himself

• Personal feeling:

  • Mary appears to have developed genuine affection for Philip; he did not reciprocate

• Religious logic:

  • A Spanish alliance would strengthen the Catholic cause in England and across Europe

Opposition to marriage

Domestic opposition in England

• Opposition came from across the political spectrum, not just from Protestants

• These concerns translated into widespread unease and unpopularity at home, particularly among the political nation

  • Philip was a staunch Catholic

    • Protestants feared he would strengthen Mary's religious policy

  • Philip was heir to Spain and its vast empire

    • Many feared England would become a tool of Spanish ambitions

  • Xenophobic concerns

    • There was growing fear that Spanish advisers would dominate government and that England would be drawn into Habsburg wars

  • Parliament sent a delegation to dissuade Mary from the match

    • She ignored it

  • Gardiner proposed Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, as an English alternative

    • Which would have avoided foreign influence and reassured the political nation

    • Mary refused, as the match offered no strong international alliance and was politically less advantageous

International reaction

• France was alarmed that England and Spain might encircle them

  • This increased the likelihood of England being drawn into European conflict

The marriage treaty, January 1554

• The treaty was carefully negotiated to limit Philip's power and protect English interests

The marriage in practice

• The marriage took place at Winchester Cathedral in July 1554

• Philip was received coldly by the English public

  • He found England politically and socially unwelcoming and spent as little time there as possible

• In 1554, Parliament rejected a bill that would have extended treason laws to include Philip, which would have made opposition to him equivalent to treason against the Crown

• In 1555, Parliament prevented Philip's coronation as King of England

• Philip became King of Spain in January 1556

  • From that point, England became more closely aligned with Spanish interests

• Mary had two apparently false pregnancies, in 1554 and 1557

  • Both were deeply damaging to her credibility and authority, raising expectations that were then disappointed and weakening confidence in the regime

The Wyatt Rebellion, 1554: Causes, Events & Significance

• Wyatt's rebellion was the most serious domestic challenge of Mary's reign

  • It came within weeks of the announcement of the Spanish marriage

Relations with Spain & France: The Loss of Calais, 1558

• England's entry into the Habsburg-Valois War was the direct consequence of the Spanish marriage

  • It ended in the worst foreign policy disaster of the Tudor period

The Habsburg-Valois conflict

• The dominant European conflict of the mid-16th century was between Habsburg Spain and Valois France

  • Henry VIII had been drawn into this conflict repeatedly at great expense

  • Northumberland had made peace with France in 1550 (Treaty of Boulogne), ending English involvement

• Mary's marriage to Philip immediately re-entangled England with the Habsburg side

The road to war

• Philip made no secret of wanting English military and financial support against France

• Mary's own Council was divided

  • Many pointed out that the marriage treaty specified England was not obliged to fight in Philip's wars

• Philip visited England briefly in 1557 to persuade Mary to declare war

• Mary declared war on France in June 1557, sending English troops across the channel

• English and Spanish forces together won the Battle of Saint-Quentin in August 1557

  • But Spain was financially exhausted and could not follow up the victory

The loss of Calais, January 1558

• Calais had been in English hands since 1347, over 200 years

• It was England's last territory in France and held enormous symbolic importance

• French forces under the Duke of Guise launched a surprise attack in January 1558

  • The English garrison was outnumbered

  • Mary could not send adequate reinforcements in time

  • Calais fell within days

Why did the loss of Calais matter?

• Symbolic significance

  • Calais was the last remnant of England's medieval empire in France

• Strategic significance

  • It had served as a base for English military operations on the continent for generations

• Political significance

  • It was a direct consequence of entering Philip's war

  • The English public drew this conclusion clearly

• Personal significance

  • For Mary, it confirmed that the marriage had made England a tool of Spain, not a genuine partner

Problems of Succession under Mary I

• The failure to produce a Catholic heir was the defining failure of Mary's reign

  • Everything she achieved was undone within a year of her death

Why was producing an heir so difficult?

• Age:

  • Mary was 37 at accession

    • This was old by Tudor standards for beginning a reign and attempting pregnancy

• Philip's absences:

  • He spent most of his time outside England, limiting any possibility of conception

• Poor health:

  • Mary suffered recurring illness throughout her reign

• Two false pregnancies:

  • In 1554 and 1557

  • Both were probably phantom pregnancies caused by serious illnesses (possibly uterine or ovarian cancer)

  • The 1554 pregnancy raised hopes across Catholic Europe

    • When it came to nothing, Mary's credibility was severely damaged

Elizabeth as successor

• Under Henry VIII's will and the 1544 Succession Act, Elizabeth was next in line to the throne after Mary

• To many contemporaries, Mary’s failure to produce an heir could also be interpreted as divine judgement on her policies, further weakening her religious authority

• Mary deeply resented Elizabeth

  • She associated her with the breakdown of her parents' marriage (Elizabeth's mother was Anne Boleyn) and with Protestantism

• Mary had Elizabeth imprisoned after Wyatt's Rebellion but could not prove her involvement

• Pressure from Philip and from the Council forced Mary to accept that Elizabeth must succeed

• Philip actively lobbied for Elizabeth's release from the Tower in 1554

  • His reasons were strategic

    • He needed England to remain within the Habsburg sphere of influence after Mary's death

• Mary named Elizabeth as her successor six days before her death on 6 November 1558

Philip and the succession

• Philip's attitude to the succession was calculating rather than hostile

  • He needed England to remain an ally after Mary's death

  • He feared that England might pass to the French-backed Mary Queen of Scots if Elizabeth was excluded

  • He later proposed marriage to Elizabeth himself after Mary's death

    • A sign of how strategically important England remained to Spain

Why did the failure of the succession matter?

• Mary's entire religious and political project depended on a Catholic heir

  • Without one, Protestant Elizabeth would succeed and reverse everything

  • This is exactly what happened

    • Within a year of Mary's death, the Elizabethan Settlement had restored Protestant worship

• The Spanish marriage, specifically designed to solve the succession problem, failed in its primary purpose

How Successfully Did Mary I Handle Foreign Policy and the Succession?

• Use the evidence below to build your own argument

• Consider aims, outcomes and the constraints Mary faced

Evidence that Mary handled foreign policy and succession poorly

• The Spanish marriage alienated popular opinion almost immediately

  • Wyatt's Rebellion followed within months

• The marriage treaty was effectively overridden

  • England was drawn into Philip's war against France despite the treaty’s intention to protect England from being drawn into Habsburg wars

• Calais was lost

  • England's last French territory, held for over 200 years (since 1347), was lost as a direct consequence of joining Philip's war

• No heir was produced

  • The fundamental purpose of the marriage was not achieved

• Elizabeth succeeded

  • Mary failed to secure a Catholic succession, and Protestant Elizabeth succeeded

• Philip used England as a tool against France rather than as a genuine partner

  • The marriage served Spanish interests more than English ones

Evidence that Mary faced impossible constraints

• Any Tudor monarch needed to marry and produce an heir

  • For Mary, the pressure was even greater: without an heir, Protestant Elizabeth would succeed

• The marriage treaty was a genuine attempt to protect English sovereignty

  • Its failure reflects Philip's power, not Mary's lack of effort

• Wyatt's Rebellion was defeated

  • Mary's personal courage at the Guildhall was decisive

  • The rebellion collapsed within a week

• Calais was increasingly difficult and expensive to defend in the long term

• The Elizabethan Settlement reversed Mary's work so quickly partly because Mary died young

  • Had she lived longer, the religious restoration may have taken deeper root

• Mary faced a unique combination of challenges, including female rule, religious reversal and dependence on a foreign husband