Charles I Foreign Policy, 1625-1629

Created by: Clodagh
Created on: 07-05-13 12:11

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Charles I Foreign Policy, 1625-1629
- Aims
  - Find a sufficient bride
  - Return the Palatinate back to Frederick
  - War with Spain
- Anglo-Spanish War, 1625-1630
  - Anti-Hapsburg Alliance
    - The Treaty of Southampton was signed in September 1625 between England and the United Provinces
      - Only Denmark joined the League. Charles would pay them £30,000 a month for the army
        Christian IV of Denmark managed to invade North Germany but was defeated
  - Cadiz Expedition, 1625
    - The expedition was not very well prepared. They needed fitting out and feeding as some provisions went rotten and they were already short of money
    - Parliament had requested a naval war with Spain
      - They also wanted the war to be self-financing through the capture of Spanish prizes
    - On the attack of the port, troops found a wine store and became too drunk to fight
      - Shortages of beer and water then led to sickness
        Buckingham, Lord Admiral, was blamed for the failure of the expedition
  - Von Mansfeld's Expedition, 1625
    - Charles and Buckingham attempted to set up an anti-Spanish 'front' to force the Hapsburg's to restore the Palatinate back to Frederick. They used 6,000 troops
    - Von Mansfeld was an experienced German mercenary and set off as leader
    - Troops were poorly equipped and many died from disease
      - They were also unable to carry on the expedition through French land
- French Match and Alliance, Dec. 1624
  - Treaty, November
    - Henrietta Maria and her children would be able to practice their religion freely
      - Her children would be educated as Catholics up to the age of 13
    - A chapel in London would be opened, served by 28 priests and a bishop
    - Catholics were to be granted toleration
    - A £240,000 dowry would be handed over by the French
  - Buckingham wanted to encircle the Hapsburgs
    - It would require co-operation from France and would provide a sufficient wife for Charles
    - He was trying to make religious concessions that were unacceptable in Spain
  - Charles and Henrietta Maria married in June 1626
  - Cardinal Richelieu would not make war until it suited him
- Collapse of Anglo-French Relations
  - In September 1625 English ships went on loan to France to defeat a Huguenot force off La Rochelle
    - Huguenots were fellow Protestants and it was the moral duty of Charles to defend them
  - Charles was anxious for parliamentary subsidies and to keep Roman Catholic suspicions with France on a low
    - He did not carry out the part of the marriage treaty that dealt with giving Catholics toleration in England
  - Charles expelled most of Henrietta Maria's Catholic servants
    - Their marriage turned cold
  - In February 1626 France signed a treaty with Spain at Monzon
    - This was just as Buckingham was hoping France would join the war effort
      - Buckingham made contact with the French aristocracy who also wanted to remove the cardinal
        An English fleet would be sent
- Anglo-French War, 1627-1629
  - Expeditions to La Rochelle to support Huguenots
    - First Expedition, June 1627
      - Buckingham spent £10,000 of his own money on the expedition. The capture of French prizes and the forced loan also financed it
      - Buckingham would lead the expedition
        He was not experienced in military affairs and as he did not receive adequate backing from England, supplies failed to arrive
      - The plan was to capture the island of Rhe which guarded the approach to La Rochelle
        This would encourage a general uprising by the Huguenots
      - Hopefully this would lead to Richelieu's downfall or change of policy
      - This achieved nothing, causing another expedition to take place in November
    - Second and Third Expeditions, April & October 1628
      - An expedition to relieve La Rochelle as it was under seige by Louis' troops
      - Led by Buckingham's brother-in-law, the Earl of Denbigh
      - The second expedition was even more of a failure
      - La Rochelle fell to the French King's forces on the third expedition
- The Death of Buckingham, August 1628
  - Charles never forgot the scenes of rejoicing in the House of Commons
    - He lost heart for any further adventured in Europe to support Protestant causes or his brother-in-law
- The End of the Wars with Spain and France
  - Peace with France was made with France in the treaty of Suza in April 1629
    - This was a tactic agreement to bury the past
  - The Treaty of Madrid was signed in November 1630 with Spain
    - Philip IV gave a written promise that he would agree to the restoration of the Palatinate as part of a general settlement
- The Effects of the Wars of the 1620's
  - It put a lot of strain on the counties
    - Charles had to raise forced loans and the Deputy Lieutenants had to collect troops who were fed and housed by the counties until they were transported to the ports
      - This was also at the counties' expense
- Foreign Affairs during the Personal Rule, 1629-1640
  - Relations with Spain
    - Throughout the 1630's Charles favored Spain more, seeing them as potential friends
    - The Spanish were keen to break the Anglo-Dutch alliance as in 1628 the Spanish were seized
    - Spanish ships captured by the Dutch were moored in English ports, but the Spanish were given back their ships by England
      - Privateer ships were allowed to be left in England and could attack Dutch ships
        Co-operation between the countries occurred in late 1630
  - The Palatinate
    - In 1631 the opportunity arose to gain the Palatinate back
      - Sweden won a major battle in north Germany. This was the Protestants first major victory in the Thirty Years War
        They wanted £200,000 to help get the Palatinate back, but Charles allowed silver to be taken back to Spain for funding
    - The Palatinate was not restored until the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648

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Charles I Foreign Policy, 1625-1629

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