How far were foreign issues of major significance to James I's reign from 1612 onwards?
How far were foreign issues of major significance to James I’s reign from 1612 onwards?
“James hated war”, says Farmer. He always pursued a peaceful foreign policy and envisaged himself as a negotiator between hostile European powers. He demonstrated his even-handedness by marrying his daughter to a protestant German prince – Frederick of the Palatinate – and pursuing a Spanish Catholic marriage for his son, Henry. After Henry died in 1612 he tried to marry his next son Charles to the Spanish princess, however this marriage was not to be.
In 1618, the Thirty Years War broke out in Europe. The Catholic southern German states fought against the Protestant northern German states and each side had help from outside powers – the Catholics from Spain and the Protestants from Sweden and France. As Protector of the Protestant faith, it was James’ duty to fight for the Protestants, but this would have brought him into direct conflict with the Spanish and almost certainly would have destroyed any chance of Charles’ marriage to Isabella, the Spanish princess. James managed to stay out of the war until 1624 after Charles had travelled to Spain to meet Isabella and been fobbed off by the Spanish Court, which Charles took as a personal insult.
Foreign issues were of great importance to the reign of James after 1618 but less so before then. Before 1618, the only foreign policy that was significant was the proposed marriage of Charles to Isabella. After the outbreak of the Thirty Years War however all that changed. James was torn between rival sides but still clung to his hopes of bridging the gap between them. England’s entry to the war had great repercussions. James had to find a way to pay for the war, resulting in the calling of Parliament in 1621. The calling of Parliament resulted in fresh criticism of James’ corrupt court. Wilkinson believes that “James had no intention of intervening militarily” in 1621 but wanted to build up his armed forces to use them as a diplomatic weapon to bring about an alliance with Spain. By the end of James’ reign, power had passed into the hands of his son, Charles. Charles made matters worse by aligning himself with the hated Buckingham. Buckingham proposed that Charles marry the French princess, Henrietta Maria, as there was no longer any chance of a Spanish marriage since England was at war with the Spanish. This initiated the unpopularity that was to stick to Charles throughout his reign.