During the first years connections between England and the Protestant lands of the Holy Roman Empire were both deep-rooted and given to circumstance. The nascent Elizabethan regime looked to solidify itself by recovering from the polarities of the previous reigns and re-engaging the rest of the Protestant world. In scholars' efforts to uncover sources of later Puritanism and parliamentary debates, many have appreciated the experiences of the Marian exiles and other activist or aggressive Protestants in Swiss lands. Comparatively little attention, however, has been allocated to conservative Protestant impulses in England relative to the relationship with Germany. Some of these previous experiences could be positive, such as the diplomatic activity between Henry VIII and the League of Schmalkalden, while others were negative, like suffering Catholic persecution under Queen Mary and the Interim. By reopening a dialogue based on confessional solidarity and mutual anti-Catholicism after Elizabeth's accession, Protestants in England and the Empire had good reason for an optimistic but cautious outlook. This chapter sets the Elizabethan Settlement of Religion in this context and shows how the formulation and implementation of domestic policy was analogous to Elizabeth's early foreign policy towards greater Germania.

The Settlement has had many interpreters. Some have skewed its events and personalities to explain or justify later developments, while others have considered it in near isolation from the international scene.