European Politics and the Stuart Succession in England, 1593–1603

Abstract

Here the politics of the British Isles is viewed in the context of the resolution of the French royal succession crisis—after Henry IV’s conversion to Rome. The gradual collapse of the Holy League had a knock-on effect in England and Scotland; arguments for excluding James VI as Elizabeth’s successor were now harder to make. But, as the regime in England turned legitimist, this provoked a range of critiques of indefeasible hereditary right. Prominent among them were the works of Catholic ideologues. The chapter concludes by looking at the peace treaty agreed between France and Spain in 1598, a peace which made necessary a toleration of the Huguenot minority (which some thought might be a precedent for tolerance of Catholic separatists in England); and also at the way that British succession issues were played out in a military setting in Ireland as the reign of Elizabeth drew to a close.