ABSTRACT
The execution of Mary and the defeat of the Armada contributed to a change of climate in England. That change has been understood to be so severe that historians have distinguished two distinctly different parts of Elizabeth's reign, the second one beginning about 1585/88. 1 The Netherlands received support from England but since the 1580s a new generation of councillors in England were much more critical about Presbyterians. 2 Archbishop Whitgift campaigned against nonconformity. An English Protestant like Philip Sidney who expressed himself too openly about these issues was warned by a Continental friend and reprimanded about his views. 3 Subsequently, the tone of debate changed. More than that, English commentary on that resistance addressing a continental audience became markedly different from comments addressing England, even when written by the same author in the same period.
