Editing Elizabeth I (section)

===Netherlands===
[[File:Elzbieta przyjmuj ca ambasadoró.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Elizabeth receiving Dutch ambassadors, 1560s, attributed to [[Levina Teerlinc]]]]

After the occupation and loss of Le Havre in 1562–1563, Elizabeth avoided military expeditions on the continent until 1585, when she sent an English army to aid the Protestant [[Dutch Revolt|Dutch rebels]] against Philip II.<ref name="haigh135">Haigh, 135.</ref> This followed the deaths in 1584 of the Queen's allies [[William the Silent]], Prince of Orange, and the Duke of Anjou, and the surrender of a series of Dutch towns to [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]], Philip's governor of the [[Spanish Netherlands]]. In December 1584, an alliance between Philip II and the French [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] at [[Treaty of Joinville|Joinville]] undermined the ability of Anjou's brother, [[Henry III of France]], to counter [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] domination of the Netherlands. It also extended Spanish influence along the [[English Channel|channel]] coast of France, where the Catholic League was strong, and exposed England to invasion.<ref name=haigh135/> The [[Siege of Antwerp (1584–1585)|siege of Antwerp]] in the summer of 1585 by the Duke of Parma necessitated some reaction on the part of the English and the Dutch. The outcome was the [[Treaty of Nonsuch]] of August 1585, in which Elizabeth promised military support to the Dutch.<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 20–26.</ref> The treaty marked the beginning of the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|Anglo-Spanish War]].

The expedition was led by Elizabeth's former suitor, the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth from the start did not really back this course of action. Her strategy, to support the Dutch on the surface with an English army, while beginning secret peace talks with Spain within days of Leicester's arrival in Holland,<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 43.</ref> had necessarily to be at odds with Leicester's, who had set up [[English protectorate of the Netherlands|a protectorate]] and was expected by the Dutch to fight an active campaign. Elizabeth, on the other hand, wanted him "to avoid at all costs any decisive action with the enemy".<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 72.</ref> He enraged Elizabeth by accepting the post of Governor-General from the [[Dutch States General]]. Elizabeth saw this as a Dutch ploy to force her to accept sovereignty over the Netherlands,<ref>Strong and van Dorsten, 50.</ref> which so far she had always declined. She wrote to Leicester:

{{Blockquote|We could never have imagined (had we not seen it fall out in experience) that a man raised up by ourself and extraordinarily favoured by us, above any other subject of this land, would have in so contemptible a sort broken our commandment in a cause that so greatly touches us in honour&nbsp;... And therefore our express pleasure and commandment is that, all delays and excuses laid apart, you do presently upon the duty of your allegiance obey and fulfill whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. Whereof fail you not, as you will answer the contrary at your utmost peril.<ref>Letter to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 10 February 1586, delivered by [[Thomas Heneage]]. Loades, 94.</ref>}}

Elizabeth's "commandment" was that her emissary read out her letters of disapproval publicly before the Dutch Council of State, Leicester having to stand nearby.<ref>Chamberlin, 263–264</ref> This public humiliation of her "Lieutenant-General" combined with her continued talks for a separate peace with Spain{{Efn|Elizabeth's ambassador in France was actively misleading her as to the true intentions of the Spanish king, who only tried to buy time for his great assault upon England<ref>Parker, 193.</ref>}} irreversibly undermined Leicester's standing among the Dutch. The military campaign was severely hampered by Elizabeth's repeated refusals to send promised funds for her starving soldiers. Her unwillingness to commit herself to the cause, Leicester's own shortcomings as a political and military leader, and the faction-ridden and chaotic situation of Dutch politics led to the failure of the campaign.<ref>Haynes, 15; Strong and van Dorsten, 72–79.</ref> Leicester finally resigned his command in December 1587.<ref>Wilson, 294–295.</ref> The Spanish still controlled the southern provinces of the Netherlands, and the threat of the invasion of England remained.<ref name=haigh138/>

Support for the Dutch nevertheless continued. Leicester's replacement was Sir [[Francis Vere]] who became sergeant major-general of all Elizabeth's troops in the Low Countries by 1589. This was a position he retained during fifteen campaigns with almost unbroken success. Vere enjoyed excellent relations with the Dutch under [[Maurice of Nassau]], and worked in close co-operation with them to help secure the country for the cause of independence. Vere's troops shattered the myth of Spanish invincibility, and he thus secured Elizabeth's respect and admiration.<ref>Knight, Charles Raleigh: ''Historical records of The Buffs, East Kent Regiment (3rd Foot) formerly designated the Holland Regiment and Prince George of Denmark's Regiment''. Vol I. London, Gale & Polden, 1905, [http://ia600408.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/23/items/historicalrecor00kniggoog/historicalrecor00kniggoog_tif.zip&file=historicalrecor00kniggoog_tif/historicalrecor00kniggoog_0072.tif&scale=4&rotate=0 p.&nbsp;36-45]</ref> English support for the Dutch finished after Elizabeth's death, but by that time the Dutch were strong enough to hold their own.<ref>{{cite book|last=Markham, Clement|author-link=Clements Markham|title=The Sir Francis Vere: Elizabeth I's Greatest Soldier and the Eighty Years War|year=2007|publisher=Leonaur LTD|page=278|isbn=978-1782825296}}</ref>