International Protestantism unties 'The Catholique Knotte': Anglo-German relations under Elizabeth I

After the accession of Elizabeth on November 17, 1558, the English State and Church began a process of stabilizing the realm and healing the wounds inflicted during the tumultuous confessional swings of the preceding reigns of Edward VI and Mary. In domestic religious and political affairs, the Queen and her counselors established a firmly anti-Catholic nation, but one that, utilizing deliberate ambiguity in theological particulars, could accommodate a wide variety of Protestant interpretations. This ambiguity and accommodation applied equally to the potential allies and relationships maintained by the Queen in her foreign policy. While many within England identified and collaborated with Reformed communities in France, the Netherlands, and Swiss lands, English contacts and affiliation with German Protestantism were similarly strong. For both religious and political reasons, the English and their Queen engaged the Protestants of the Holy Roman Empire as religious brethren in the interests of bolstering the cause of religion across Europe in opposition to resurgent, post-Tridentine Catholicism and its political manifestations.;This study documents and analyzes these relations from the 1550s to the 1590s. Investigating the domestic formulation and foreign implementation of Elizabeth's German policy, the work utilizes a wide array of sources in manuscript and print, including but not limited to diplomatic and state papers, royal correspondence, published theological treatises, and political news reports. Over several decades, the Queen's policy adapted to circumstances in the Empire such as differences of religious and political perspectives among the Princes, but it also adjusted to generational shifts from one period to the next. This flexibility in implementation reflected the earnest ideological commitment of Elizabethan foreign policy to the international Protestant Cause in general, and in particular to the notion that German Protestantism was an integral part of the wider community opposed to Rome.