The Shadow War: Elizabeth I vs The Catholics (Part 4)

Dominic Sandbrook: The events that we're going to be describing today will confirm that an irrevocable split has opened up between the northern provinces and the southern provinces of what had been the United Low Countries ruled by the Hapsburg kings. This is a split that gives us two modern-day countries... The northern provinces will succeed in holding the Spanish at bay. And in due course this will become what is known as the Dutch Republic, a great Protestant powerhouse in the 17th century... The south meanwhile is going to end up reconciled to Spanish rule... it will become Belgium.

Tom Holland / Dominic Sandbrook: The French basically have been removed as a factor in his calculations because people who listen to our previous episode may remember there are these three Henrys doing this delicate minuet around each other. But by 1585, all three men are starting to go to war with each other. So you've got the Huguenots under Henry of Navarre, you've got the Catholic League under Henry of Guise, and you've got the royalists who are loyal to the king Henry III. And all these three factions are turning on each other. And the resulting war is going to rage for four years and it will come to be known inevitably as the War of the Three Henrys. And for as long as it's raging, France effectively is paralyzed. And for as long as France is paralyzed, Philip of Spain has a free hand. He doesn't need to worry about what the French will do.

Tom Holland / Dominic Sandbrook: The most dynamic and significant leader of the Dutch rebels has been eliminated, William of Orange, William the Silent, and he had been assassinated the previous summer on the 10th of July 1584. And in part, I think this is due to the loss of William's leadership, but it is also due to the brilliance of the captain they were facing on the battlefield. Remember, we said the Spanish in the Low Countries are led by the greatest general of the age. And this is a guy called Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma. Palmer was able and resourceful, rich and cultivated, subtle and shrewd. He excelled in both diplomacy and war. And the measure of his achievement is that back in 1578 when he'd first been appointed, the Spanish cause in the Low Countries had seemed on the verge of complete collapse. But by 1584 when William the Silent is assassinated, he has pulled things back dramatically from the brink. He's essentially brought the southern reaches of the Low Countries back under Spanish control. Most of the south which had been in a state of rebellion has submitted to Palmer's armies. Many of their key cities have surrendered and others among them Brussels and Gent are under siege and are clearly on the verge of surrender.

Tom Holland: However, she and her government do appreciate that they can't really just leave the rebels to the fate. It is existential for England as well as for the Dutch and in particular the impending fall of Antworp is a nightmare for English strategists. First of all, it risks the collapse of the entire Dutch revolt. And if the Dutch revolt collapses, then as we've said, that means that Palmer and his terrifying army will be free to cross the sea. Yeah. And land in England. More broadly, it's a nightmare for the entire cause of Protestantism in Europe. And for Leicester, for Walssingham, for Sydney, definitely this is probably the major consideration.

Tom Holland: Three days later after the fall of Antwerp on the 20th of August, a treaty is signed between Elizabeth I and the Dutch rebels at a palace built by Henry VIII at a place called Nonsuch in Surrey. And this is the first ever treaty signed by what will become the Dutch Republic with a foreign power. And by its terms, Elizabeth agrees to send an expeditionary force to the Low Countries to support Holland and the other rebel provinces. And this is to consist of 6,350 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. And amazingly, Elizabeth says, I will subsidize the cost of this. And she chooses as the commander of this expeditionary force her old favorite, the Earl of Leicester. And because she doesn't entirely trust the Dutch, she obliges them to hand over three key ports to English garrisons to serve the English as what are described as cautionary towns.

Tom Holland: And so 3 days later after the fall of Antwerp on the 20th of August a treaty is signed um between Elizabeth I and the Dutch rebels um at a palace built by Henry VIII at a place called Nonsuch in Surrey. And this is the first ever treaty signed by what will become the Dutch Republic with a foreign power. And by its terms, Elizabeth agrees to send an expeditionary force to the Low Countries to support Holland and the other rebel provinces. And this is to consist of 6,350 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. And amazingly, Elizabeth says, 'I will subsidize the cost of this.' I mean, must have caused her agony to do that.

Tom Holland: So hooray for Sir Phillip Sydney. And I think he owes this appointment to various factors. Favoritism obviously he's the nephew of Leicester who is um who's been appointed to the command of this expedition. He's put in a lot of hard work preparing the the treaty of non-such. Um basically he'd spent all summer at the palace kind of oiling the wheels and the Dutch envoys had absolutely loved him. So they had saluted his wisdom, kindness and his other gifts. So it's all looking good for Sydney. But then in classic Elizabeth the First style, she starts to wobble. First of all, she hesitates over whether she actually wants Leicester as governor general. Does she really want him going to to the Low Countries? And then to Sydney's absolute fury, she tells him, 'I don't want you going to Flushing after all.' She's changed her mind.

Tom Holland: And this isn't a long expedition. He's back in Plymouth by the 22nd of July 1586. And actually, and it's not quite as lucrative as Drake had been hoping. He doesn't manage to capture any treasure ships, but strategically it is hugely significant because as he done before, he's able to highlight the pretty precarious nature of Spain's American empire. And the result of this in Europe is to undermine Philillip's credit with his bankers. And so the Pope and the Dukes of Florence and Seavoi all refuse him a loan when the news of Drake's expedition reaches them.

Tom Holland / Dominic Sandbrook: On the 22nd of September, there's a big battle. There are lots of kind of heroic cavalry charges. The English acquit themselves very well. However, they are unable to stop the Spanish from entering Zutphen. And Sydney is hit above his left knee by a musk ball. And as Lester wrote in appalled tones later, it was a very dangerous wound, the bone being broke in pieces. On the afternoon of the 17th of October 1586, Sir Philip Sydney died at the tender age of 31. In his dying hours, Sir Philip Sydney mourned that all things in my former life have been vain, vain, vain. But this is not how his uncle, the Earl of Leicester, sees it. And Lester may have been irascible, incompetent, arrogant. But one thing he does know is how to create a martyr. And so Lester ensures that Sydney's funeral cortege is very slow, very somber, very stately. And it processes from Arnhem to the sea and then to London. In London, his coffin is carried to St. Paul's Cathedral by 14 men. He's accompanied by the Lord Mayor, by 300 Londoners in full armor, and by a page riding Sydney's horse trailing a broken lance. And in death, Sydney becomes what he had yearned to be all his life, a hero to every English Protestant and indeed to every Protestant in Christendom.

Dominic Sandbrook: The third time again he'd ridden through the enemy lines, but then when he's turning to ride back to the English positions, he gets hit above his left knee by a musk ball. And as Lester wrote in appalled tones later, it was a very dangerous wound, the bone being broke in pieces... Gangrene sets in and to quote, 'So Philip presently gave this severe doom upon himself that it was inward mortification and a welcome messenger of death.' And sure enough, on the afternoon of the 17th of October 1586, Sir Philip Sydney died at the tender age of 31.

Tom Holland: Lester may have been irascible, incompetent, arrogant. But one thing he does know is how to create a martyr. And so Lester ensures that Sydney's funeral cortege is very slow, very somber, very stately... In London, his coffin is carried to St. Paul's Cathedral by 14 men. He's accompanied by the Lord Mayor, by 300 Londoners in full armor, and by a page riding Sydney's horse trailing a broken lance... And so in death, Sydney becomes what he had yearned to be all his life, a hero to every English Protestant and indeed to every Protestant in Christendom. And for Elizabeth and her PR team, her propaganda team, this must be a tremendous coup because it happens at precisely the point when it looks as though the storm clouds of war are moving over the English Channel.