To What Extent Does The Foreign Policy

To What Extent Does The Foreign Policy Of James I Deserve A Better Press Than It Has Usually Receive Essay, Research Paper ??????????????????????? James? foreign policy was criticised by many but it was best for the country at the time especially with the limited financial resources he had. Some aspects of the policy were not for the best and were created under the pressures of other people in his court e.g. Buckingham. He had two main aims, to keep England at peace and to prevent the emergence of a widespread religious conflict in Europe. He managed to stick to these aims but he did lay the foundations for war and after his death war did break out in Europe. Historians called the foreign policy unpopular and unrealistic as well as inept and ineffectual. ????????? Foreign

policy is closely linked with religion, crown and parliamentary privileges and finance so to say the Foreign policy was an absolute failure or success is very difficult because of all the other issues involved. It did receive bad press that was not deserved and therefore gained a bad name that has stuck over the years. ????????? His main aim was to secure peace in England because finances would not allow war and because he preferred not to declare war as he was peace loving. He managed to maintain this aim throughout his reign. He did this by maintaining contact with both the Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe, making himself a friend of both sides. His methods for doing this were doubted by many though. He arranged a make alliance with the Spanish who were disliked because

of the threats made to Elizabeth during her reign. The major alliance was set up through a Spanish marriage; James planned to marry his son Charles to the Spanish princess. This created a major alliance with the Protestant powers also, this was popular, but there was a question of how much the Spaniards could be influenced if at all. ????????? In 1604 peace was made with Spain to try and reduce the amount of financial pressure on the country. It was unpopular with Parliament and the English people but it was realistic due to the financial and military exhaustion in England. This is another example of James keeping the peace in Europe during his reign and preventing religious conflict spreading in Europe. ????????? This drift towards Spain was reasonable under the circumstancesbut

it was under much doubt at the time and still is now by many historians. James attempted to marry his son to a Spanish princess to use her dowry to help relieve the financial crisis in England and to try and help prevent the outbreak of war in Europe therefore to keep the peace. This received a mixed reaction from parliament; some thought that he was trying to make an alliance with Spain in preparation for war and others thought that the Spanish were a threat still after the death threats they made towards Elizabeth during her reign. The next thing that James did to drift towards Spain was embrace Gondomar the English ambassador for Spain.? He was negotiating the Spanish marriage, which became highly unpopular and eventually unrealistic because it meant relaxing the recrusancy

laws in England to do with the Catholics because the Spanish princess would be Catholic and she had to be allowed to live in England. ????????? James reached a turning point at the beginning of the thirty years war when he didn?t intervene in the Bohemian crisis. This was unpopular but practical at the time due to the financial situation and was also diplomatic because it distanced James and kept him neutral in the disagreement. The Bohemians didn?t want their new King Ferdinand on the throne and so they offered it to the Elector Palatinate ? James? son-in-law. One of the main aims of James? policy was to prevent religious conflict from breaking out in Europe but this became a problem when he was expected to come to help his family when they needed it. James distanced himself