Anglo-German Relations and the Protestant Cause: Elizabethan Foreign Policy and Pan-Protestantism

The foreign policy priorities of Elizabeth I have tested the analytical powers of historians, in much the same way that they often baffled contemporaries. Steering a fragile state through a fast-changing kaleidoscope of international peril and opportunity was always likely to be difficult for a regime equally aware of potential enemies closer to home. Whether Elizabeth’s eventual survival can be attributed to the sure management of its policy makers, or good fortune in critical moments of military peril, has been hotly debated. Ever since Charles Wilson’s virtuoso, passionate denunciation of Elizabeth’s missteps and hesitations in her dealing with the Dutch Revolt, miscalculation and indecision has lain at the centre of the case against the Queen. What, indeed, was she intending to achieve? Was Elizabethan policy directed, above all, at ensuring a weak and poorly resourced state stayed clear of continental entanglement? Or did the regime show every sign of a willingness to embrace the proffered role as champion of Protestant Europe?