Elizabeth, Mary and the politics of religion in the British Isles Gabriel Glickman
Elizabeth I ( )
Catholic uprisings and plots 1569 – rising of the Northern Earls –first Desmond rebellion 1571 – Ridolfi Plot – second Desmond rebellion 1584 – Throckmorton Plot 1586 – Babington Plot
Mary Stuart ( )
William Cecil, Lord Burghley ( )
Pope Pius V ( )
Elizabeth I, ‘Rainbow Portrait’, attributed to Isaac Oliver, 1600
Philip II of Spain ( )
England and European conflict – England intervenes in support of Dutch rebels – Spanish Armada defeated – Henri III assassinated, battle for French throne between house of Guise and house of Navarre English troops sent to France 1591 – English army sent to Brittany, Essex’s force besieges Rouen 1592 – Siege of Rouen abandoned – last English troops leave France as Henri IV recognised as king – Essex captures Cadiz
Pope Clement VIII in support of Tyrone’s rebellion, 1596 Acclaims rebellion as attempt to ‘throw off the yoke of slavery imposed on you by the English, deserters from the Holy Roman Church’. Commands support of Church for ‘our beloved son, Hugh O’Neill... captain general of the Catholic army in Ireland’.
Hopes for Anglo-Scottish convergence Anthony Gilby, Admonition to England and Scotland (1558) :‘Give eare... O Britaine (for of that name both rejoseth), whiles the Lord calleth, exhorteth, an admonisheth, that is the tyme when he will be founde...’ Sir William Herbert (1596) - ‘Elizabeth with stately sceptre guides the British realmes... For the happiness of Ireland... the protection and defence of Scotland... the containment and repulsion of the arrogance, the ambition and cruelty of the Spaniards, the advancement and defence of Christian truth... the destruction and overthrow of the tyranny and deceit of the Antichrist’. Henry Howard, earl of Northampton to James VI, 1602, ‘your majestie … will think that your honor in being reputed a king of England will be greater than to be king of scottes’