ABSTRACT
A new aggressive policy from Rome and a new ardent Protestantism in England raised problems both religious and constitutional at home, while far away from the turmoil, but playing their part in it, English seamen began the great expansion overseas. From the arrival of Mary Stuart in 1568 to the outbreak of war in 1585, England passed through a phase in which international complications played a greater part than ever before. The government's victory had in part been eased by Alva's refusal to accept the rebels' offer of Hartlepool as a port of entry, but more important still had been the support given to Elizabeth by Murray, the Scottish regent. The Vestiarian Controversy ended in the technical defeat of the puritan opposition, but the real losers were the bishops and with them discipline in the Church. In Europe the power politics of Spain, France, and England had played round the Channel coast and the Netherlands.
