Why Catholic France was not a dependable Spanish ally

Franco-Spanish rivalry shows that confessional labels did not dictate alliances mechanically. France could regard Protestant Dutch resistance as strategically useful because it weakened the Habsburgs without requiring France to fight Spain openly. Henry of Navarre's later conversion as Henry IV, associated with the phrase "Paris is worth a mass," illustrates the political pragmatism surrounding the wars of religion. Spain could hope that France would avoid directly disrupting the Armada, but it could not count on active French support. The Enterprise of England therefore belonged to the balance-of-power politics running through the Eighty Years' War.