To What Extent Was England Dominated By Spanish Interests During The Reign Of Mary?

The traditional view of Mary's reign gives too much unprecedented weight to the influence of Philip II over the playing out of her reign. By no means can England be said to have been dominated by the serving of Spanish interests as Spanish interests in England only went so far as securing an alliance against France. To which Mary willingly obliged. Too much emphasis has been placed on the rumours and cynicisms of the anti-Spanish section of society for it was not in the Spanish interest to "colonise" England, as it was feared would happen. The serving of the single Spanish ambition of securing an alliance is not mutually exclusive to the independence of England. However Mary's restoration of Catholicism was unintentionally affected by the affiliation with Spain. It can be said categorically that the serving of Spanish interests came second to Mary's ambition to re-catholicise England. Overall English policy was dominated by Catholicism rather the Spanish interests.

If Wyatt's rebellion can proved to be a totally anti-Spanish affair then the progression onto the Marriage Treaty would be an obvious example of Mary's Spanish ambitions being of higher priority on agenda. This, however, can not be persuasively proven as the essential force behind the Wyatt rebellion. It was rooted in the restoration of Protestantism. To validate this point the intentions of the rebellion must be considered before the actual achievements. Wyatt himself was a Catholic with conviction who had actually helped Mary succeed to the throne but it is a fact that his name being attributed to the rebellion has thrown confusion rather than light on the essential intentions. The majority of the leaders in Wyatt's rebellion, whether they were successful or not, were protestants such as Suffolk and Throckmorton. The failure to raise a convincing rebellion in the South-West under the leadership of those who put down the Catholic rebellion under Edward in 1549 was not a failure born out of apathy but rather disorganisation. Elizabeth herself, as the unwilling figurehead of the rebellion, in her later reign cleared up the confusion of her participation in the rebellion. In her account she attributes the cause to religion rather than to anti-Spanish sentiment. At the time of Wyatt's rebellion and immediately afterwards Gardiner intensified the pressure against heretics, a move that can be credibly said to have been a direct result of the Protestant undertones of the rebellion. However one may suggest that it was an Anti-Spanish affair because it was the only thing that changed between 1553 and 1554. It may have been the opinion of some at the time that England was going to become one of the many colonies Spain had acquired through tactical marriages and this point of view can be supported by rumours in Exeter in 1553 that the Spanish were planning to come and "ravage wives and daughters". However these were just rumours. The leaders of the rebellion were opposed to the marriage with Philip because of the long term implications for the resurgence of Protestantism. It must be argued, therefore, that the rebellion was not driven by an unprecedented xenophobia but rather a repulsion of any marriage at all. The integral problem they had with marriage was that a Catholic Queen would issue a Catholic heir. Overall it can be seen that Spain was the enemy of the Wyatt rebellion only by proxy and its affiliation with Mary's agenda for the restoration of Catholicism.

There is no doubt that the principle conditions of the Marriage Treaty, drawn up in 1553, exemplify an England that exercised a degree of independence. The controversy comes down to whether this was a degree of independence ultimately "allowed" by Spain or whether the Marriage Treaty's favourable British conditions were forced upon them. The Marriage Treaty addressed the fears of Spanish cynicals with clauses detailing the extent of Philip's power, for example the condition that he must have Englishmen in his household and he had no right to be included in the appointment of ministers to the English offices. The Treaty was not subtle in its "dress down" of Philip's powers. It was drawn up by Gardiner who was personally repulsed by the Marriage and it could conceivably be argued that the tough conditions he drew up were an attempt to deter Spain's advances. However this view is blind to the fact that the Marriage Treaty and Spanish interests are not mutually exclusive. The main, if not the only, attraction for Spain to an English marriage was an alliance against France. At this time in 1553, the war between Spain and France had come to a stalemate and the accumulation of allies was integral to tip the balance once again. So Spain's compliance with the unfavourable terms of the treaty were in actual fact a subtle yet calculated move in the right direction. After Wyatt's rebellion Charles V knew that a civil war torn England would be of less use as a pawn against France. Nevertheless this view is contradicted by one term of the Treaty. It was a condition of the treaty that England would not be forced into war against France. Although this was arguably broken in 1556, it can not be said that Spain supposed this would happen and in this sense the Marriage Treaty can be said to have been an example of the exercise of independent English power. Overall, although not an example of domination by any means, the Marriage Treaty shows how Spain was only interested in the long term aspects of the marriage - an agenda that may have become more obvious had Mary not died so shortly after.

Spain did not consciously dominate the playing out of Mary's Catholic restoration; however England's affiliation with Spain brought unintended obstacles in the attempts to return to Rome. Mary's attempts at a Catholic restoration failed because of administrate delays along with her short reign and the far larger effort it takes to restore Catholicism than to destroy it. The plans formulated were in themselves quite strong and could have stood the test of time. The "political ineptitude" of Mary and Pole has often been overstated, 1555 and the return of Pole to England Mary can be seen to have been quite adept at the management of ministers and execution of policy. When Pole returned from the continent in 1555 Mary called a series of meeting to familiarise her leading ministers to her plans for ecclesiastical action. That winter a legatine synod was called by Pole to pass on the reforms such as the restoration of Roman authority and the re-establishment of Catholic preaching. Mary was aware of how easily England could regress back to the Catholicism of the 1520s but instead there is substantial proof that, far from being a mistake, Mary deliberately ignored the orthodoxy of the Spanish Counter-Reformation in order to further her own Catholic Reform Movement. However these detailed decrees did not take root in England and for this Spain is partially to blame. The Spanish King inadvertently affected the process of change through his rivalry with the new Pope Paul IV. Paul IV excommunicated Phillip II and subsequently deprived Pole of his legatine powers. Without his legatine powers, perhaps Mary's most integral tool became useless, and this slowed down the execution of Mary's agenda. The traditional view of the Marian restoration is one of clumsy implementation and inevitable failure however this case does not stand up to scrutiny in the light of Spanish involvement. Overall, the Catholic restoration failed because of Mary's untimely death. However her short reign was exacerbated by delays in administration which unintentionally were caused by the Spanish rivalry with the Pope in Rome.

The restoration of Catholicism was met with sporadic but not exiguous amounts of support; it was Mary herself that the English people rejected in the name of the "anti-clericalism and anti-papal nationalism" they had fostered under Henry and Edward. It was the burnings which Mary and Pole conceived to be the salvation of Protestant souls that inflamed this nationalism in the English people and ultimately helped the Protestant cause. Philip II and his father Charles V did not advise it, but after all the Marriage Treaty left them helpless to intervene. The burning some 300 Protestants furthered the Protestant cause as it pushed the section of society, who had been willing to change from Catholicism to Protestantism time and time again, firmly into the Protestant camp. Mary was her own worst enemy and the most damaging, dominating entity during her reign with regards to the fulfilment of English interests.

It is the view held by traditional historians that, in terms of foreign policy (which was not a prioritised enterprise under Mary), Spain dominated England. It is supposed that Spain had agreed to the unfavourable Marriage Treaty, had kept out of English affairs and hadn't assumed any undue influence over England because of there long term goal of securing England as an ally against France. England hardly had the financial means to wage war and also had arguably a lack of incentive and therefore it has been assumed they were "forced" by Spain into the battle against France in 1556. Yet Spanish domination has been thoroughly exaggerated in interpretation because of the result of the battle. Although St Quentin was won quite spectacularly, it has been the loss of Calais that has been dwelled upon by historians and therefore has been concluded to have been an avoidable failure. However there is more persuasive evidence for a more moderate view. England may have avoided the war with France if Henri II had not given support to English pretender to the throne Thomas Stafford. It was this ill-advised move that gave impetus to the cause for Mary's council. Overall, without the alliance with Spain England would have had no sane reason to wage a full blown invasion, however without the stimulus provide by Thomas Stafford it is also the case that England may not have had enough reason to go to war. The Spanish did not dominate, or indeed demand anything of England but they did provide the reasonable means to battle with France and without the Spanish interest in France there would have been no war. Overall, this aspect of Mary's reign is the most identifiable as directly influenced by Spain.

The Spanish marriage had implications which did have effect on England's religious policy but these were unintentional and unpredictable. It can be seen in the protestant intentions of Wyatt's rebellion that Mary did not see herself as Spanish before English but rather Catholic before Protestant. The Marriage Treaty's unfavourable conditions for Spain show how England exercised a great deal of independence from Spain. Mary's conscious evasion of the Counter Reformation shows that England had no intentions of becoming a colony. Overall it can be said that at most the Spanish Marriage gave way to a few unintentional effects but ultimately England kept separated from Spain.