JONATHAN SCOTT -- Ph.D. – Professor at University of Pittsburg
Dear Mr Kolkey,
It is entirely true that throughout seventeenth century English history the self interest of individuals, factions and other groups played an important role in politics including decisions to go to war. But it is difficult to generalise over the whole century about specific causes. In the case of 1624-9 public pressure for entry into the European war was intense from at least 1621, though only when Prince Charles and Buckingham decided to exploit it in 1623-4 did that result occur (formal control of war and peace rested entirely with the king)....
yours sincerely,
Jonathan Scott
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ALASTAIR BELLANY -- Ph.D. – Professor at Rutgers University
Dear Dr. Kolkey,
To an extent, your hypothesis works quite well for the 1620s, though I'd probably want to modify it to take into account the role of popular anti-catholic and anti-Spanish sentiment in the unfolding of events.
Undoubtedly, Buckingham and Prince Charles returned from their quixotic Madrid trip late in 1623 with a burning sense of personal betrayal that turned them from supporters of James I's alliance with Spain into advocates of war. It is also possible to see Buckingham's behaviour in 1624 as significantly driven by personal ambition. He was (and remained) hungry for personal military glory (his position as a court favourite, elevated to great power without the benefits of good family and aristocratic prowess, made him particularly keen to acquire forms of external validation); and he may also have used war with Spain as a means to tighten his ties to Charles while distancing himself from the aging King James--thus smoothing the path to retaining favour across what he must have sensed was the fairly imminent transition between kings. That said, Buckingham and Charles were able to work against James's wishes ultimately because there was a huge public appetite for military action against Spain. Most of that appetite was driven by religious passion, the fear that Protestantism was under threat across Europe, and that the Spanish aimed at a universal monarchy in which papal religious power and Spanish military power would control Europe and the Americas. It is unlikely that Buckingham and Charles saw the world in these terms, though Buckingham was not averse to playing the role of protestant hero. However, both men also believed that the king and the nation had some kind of obligation to do something to help Charles's sister Elizabeth who, with her husband the Elector Palatine, had been driven from Bohemia and then ousted from the Palatinate by Habsburg armies. For Charles, personal and dynastic honour were, I think, genuinely felt motivations. Others saw economic and other material benefits in war with Spain--some writers and MPs aspired to an English Empire in the Americas, for instance. So there were multiple motivations at work in the outbreak of war with Spain....
Best wishes,
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