After the death of his
wife, Mary Tudor, King Philip
II of Spain asked Elizabeth to
be his bride. Philip was upset when Elizabeth refused. He also became
angry when Elizabeth did nothing to stop English sea captains from
robbing his ships bringing gold back from his newly acquired territories
in South America.
Elizabeth and Philip were
also in conflict over religion. Elizabeth disagreed with the way Philip
persecuted Protestants who lived
under his control. Philip objected to the way Elizabeth had forced
English Catholics to attend Protestant
church services.
When Philip
II began persecuting Protestants living in the Netherlands, Elizabeth
sent English soldiers to help protect them. In February 1587 Elizabeth
agreed to the execution of Mary Stuart.
Philip had hoped that Mary would eventually become the Catholic queen
of England. Philip now decided to conquer England and bring an end
to Elizabeth and her Protestant government.
The Duke
of Medina Sidonia was placed in charge of preparing the invasion
of England. After the death of Alvaro de Bazan, the Marques de Santa
Cruz in 1588, the Duke of Medina Sidonia was given complete command
of the operation.
The invasion took a lot
of preparation and it was not until July 1588 that the 131 ships left
Spain. The large Spanish galleons were filled with 17,000 well-armed
soldiers and 180 Catholic priests. The plan was to sail to Dunkirk
in France where the Armada would pick up another 16,000 Spanish soldiers
that were under the command of Alessandro
Farnese, the Duke of Parma.
On hearing the news that
the ships had left Spain, Charles Howard
of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, held a council-of-war. Lord Howard
decided to divide the English fleet into squadrons. Francis
Drake, John Hawkins and Martin
Frobisher were chosen as the three other senior commanders of
the fleet.
Howard went in his flagship,
the Ark Royal (800 tons and a
crew of 250). Frobisher was given command of the largest ship in the
fleet, the Triumpth (1,110 tons
and a crew of 500 men) whereas Drake was the captain of the Revenge
(500 tons and a crew of 250) and Hawkins was aboard the Victory
(800 tons and a crew of 250).
Lord Howard decided that
the Spanish Armada should be attacked at both ends of the crescent.
The Ark Royal attacked the right
wing and the Revenge and the Triumph
attacked Juan Martinez, de Recalde, commander of the Biscayan squadron
on the left. Recalde on board the San Juan
de Portugal decided to come out and fight the English ships.
He was followed by Gran Grin and
the two ships soon got into trouble and had to be rescued by the Duke
of Medina Sidonia on board the San Martin.
At the end of the first
day's fighting, only one ship was sunk, the San
Salvador. During the fighting a tremendous explosion tore
out the Spanish ship's stern castle and killed 200 members of the
crew. It was later discovered that a gunner's carelessness resulted
in a spark reaching the gunpowder in the rear hold.
The following morning Francis
Drake and the crew of Revenge
captured the crippled Rosario.
This included Admiral Pedro de Vales and all his crew. Drake also
found 55,000 gold ducats on board.
That afternoon Medina Sidonia
announced that if any Spanish ship broke formation the captain would
be hanged immediately. He also told his captains that they must maintain
a tight formation in order to prevent further attacks from the English
ships. This decision meant that they could now only move towards Dunkirk
at the speed of the slowest ship.
Constantly harassed by
the English ships the slow moving Spanish Armada eventually reached
Calais without further loss. The English fleet now dropped anchor
half a mile away. Soon afterwards they were joined by Lord Henry Seymour
and his squadron of ships that had been controlling the seas off Dunkirk.
This increased the English fleet by a third and was now similar in
size to that of the Spanish fleet.
The Duke
of Medina Sidonia now sent a message to the Duke
of Parma in Dunkirk: "I am anchored here two leagues from
Calais with the enemy's fleet on my flank. They can cannonade me whenever
they like, and I shall be unable to do them much harm in return."
He asked Parma to send fifty ships to help him break out of Calais.
Parma was unable to help as he had less than twenty ships and most
of those were not yet ready to sail.
That night Medina Sidonia
sent out a warning to his captains that he expected a fire-ship attack.
This tactic had been successfully used by Francis
Drake in Cadiz in 1587 and the fresh breeze blowing steadily from
the English fleet towards Calais, meant the conditions were ideal
for such an attack. He warned his captains not to panic and not to
head out to the open sea. Medina Sidonia confidently told them that
his patrol boats would be able to protect them from any fire-ship
attack that took place.
Medina Sidonia had rightly
calculated what would happen. Charles Howard
and Francis Drake were already organizing
the fire-ship attack. It was decided to use eight fairly large ships
for the operation. All the masts and rigging were tarred and all the
guns were left on board and were primed to go off of their own accord
when the fire reached them. John Young, one of Drake's men, was put
in charge of the fire-ships.
Soon after midnight the
eight ships were set fire to and sent on their way. The Spaniards
were shocked by the size of the vessels. Nor had they expected the
English to use as many as eight ships. The Spanish patrol ships were
unable to act fast enough to deal with the problem. The Spanish captains
also began to panic when the guns began exploding. They believed that
the English were using hell-burners (ships crammed with gunpowder).
This tactic had been used against the Spanish in 1585 during the siege
of Antwerp when over a thousand men had been killed by exploding ships.
The fire-ships did not
in fact cause any material damage to the Spanish ships at all. They
drifted until they reached the beach where they continued to burn
until the fire reached the water line. Medina
Sidonia, on board the San Martin,
had remained near his original anchorage. However, only a few captains
had followed his orders and the vast majority had broken formation
and sailed into the open sea.
At first light Medina Sidonia
and his six remaining ships left Calais and attempted to catch up
with the 130 ships strung out eastwards towards the Dunkirk sandbanks.
Some Spanish ships had already been reached by the English fleet and
were under heavy attack. San Lorenzo,
a ship carrying 312 oarsmen, 134 sailors and 235 soldiers, was stranded
on the beach and was about to be taken by the English.
With their formation broken,
the Spanish ships were easy targets for the English ships loaded with
guns that could fire very large cannon balls. The Spanish captains
tried to get their ships in close so that their soldiers could board
the English vessels. However, the English ships were quicker than
the Spanish galleons and were able to
keep their distance.
The battle of Gravelines
continued all day. One of the most exciting contests was between Francis
Drake in the Revenge and Duke
of Medina Sidonia in the San Martin.
Drake's ship was hit several times before being replaced by Thomas
Fenner in the Nonpareil and Edmund
Sheffield in the White Bear, who
continued the fight without success.
All over the area of sea
between Gravelines and Dunkirk fights took place between English and
Spanish ships. By late afternoon most ships were out of gunpowder.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia was now forced to head north with what
was left of the Spanish Armada. The English
ships did not follow as Charles Howard
of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, was convinced that most Spanish ships
were so badly damaged they would probably sink before they reached
a safe port.
That evening Francis
Drake wrote to a friend: "God hath given us so good a day
in forcing the enemy so far to leeward, as I hope in God the Duke
of Parma and the Duke of Sidonia shall not shake hands this few days".
John Hawkins was also pleased with his
day's work: "All that day Monday we followed the Spaniards with
a long and great fight, wherein there was great valour showed generally
by our company... Our ships, God be thanked, have received little
hurt."
Hawkins also showed concern
for his men: "The men have long been unpaid and need relief."
Charles Howard was also angry that
his men had not received their wages. He was also disturbed by the
condition of his men. The lack of fresh water caused an outbreak of
disease. As they were still waiting for their wages to be paid they
were even unable to buy fresh food for themselves. Howard wrote bitterly:
"It is a most pitiful sight to see, here at Margate, how the
men, having no place to receive them into here, die in the streets.
I am driven myself, of force, to come a-land, to see them bestowed
in some lodging; and the best I can get is barns and outhouses. It
would grieve any man's heart to see them that have served so valiantly
to die so miserably."
After the Armada rounded
Scotland it headed south for home. However, a strong gale drove many
of the ships onto the Irish rocks. Thousands of Spaniards drowned
and even those who reached land were often killed by English soldiers
and settlers. Of the 25,000 men that had set out in the Armada, less
than 10,000 arrived home safely.
Philip
II spent the next ten years supporting a series of plots to overthrow
Elizabeth. All these schemes ended in failure and when Philip died
in 1598, Elizabeth was still queen of England.
English chart showing the
route of the Spanish Armada (c. 1590)
Spanish
Armada Activities
(A1)
Letter from Philip
II to Count Feria, the Spanish ambassador
in England (12 February, 1559)
Tell her (Elizabeth) from me that... I must warn her to consider
deeply the evils which may result in England from a change in religion...
if this change is made all idea of my marriage with her must be broken
off.
(A2)
Letter from Count Feria to Philip
II (19 March, 1559)
Queen Elizabeth... said that so much money was taken out
of the country for the Pope every year that she must put an end to
it... she kept repeating to me that she was a heretic and consequently
could not marry your Majesty.
(A3)
Pope
Gregory XIII, letter to his ambassador
in Spain (1580)
Since that guilty woman (Elizabeth) ... is the cause of so
much injury to the Catholic faith... there is no doubt that whosoever
sends her out of the world... not only does not sin but gains merit...
And so, if those English gentlemen decide actually to undertake so
glorious a work, your Lordship can assure them that they do not commit
any sin.
(A4)
Petruccio
Ubaldino came from Italy but was living in London during 1588.
The change of religion threatened by the Spaniards will not
so much encourage their rebellion as anger them. It being easier to
find flocks of white crows than one Englishman (whatever his religion)
who loves a foreigner, either as a master or companion.
(A5)
L.
Ortiz Munoz, The Glorious Spanish Empire (1940)
The greatest armada the world had seen was prepared... The
Invincible Armada of the Imperial Spanish Fleet was for the first
time conquered. But not by the men, nor by the squadrons, it put out
to fight. It was vanquished by the elements, against which valour
and human daring are impotent, because it is God who rules the seas.
Only against the hurricane and the gales did we lose, because the
Lord wished it, the naval supremacy of the world.
(A6)
James Oliphant, A History of England (1920)
Though the English ships were smaller and fewer than those
opposed to them, they were better built and better manned... their
skillful use of artillery gave them a great advantage.
(A7)
King Philip
II, letter to Duke of Medina Sidonia
(May 1588)
You should see that your squadrons do not break battle formation
and that their commanders, moved to greed, do not give pursuit to
the enemy and take prizes.
(A8)
Juan Bentivollo was an Italian who observed the Spanish Armada on
the way to England in 1588.
You could
hardly see the sea. The Spanish fleet was stretched out in the form
of a half moon with an immense distance between its extremities. The
masts and rigging, the towering sterns and prows which in height and
number were so great that they dominated the whole naval concourse,
caused horror mixed with wonder and gave rise to doubt whether that
campaign was at sea or on land and whether one or the other element
was the more splendid. It came on with a steady and deliberate movement,
yet when it drew near in full sail it seemed almost that the waves
groaned under its weight and the winds were made to obey it.
(A9)
In Lisbon, the Duke
of Medina Sidonia gave instructions
to the Spanish captains (8 May, 1588)
It is of great importance that the Armada should be kept
well together... Great care must be exercised to keep the squadron
of hulks always in the middle of the fleet... No ship belonging to
the Armada shall separate from it without my permission... Any disobedience
of this order shall be punished by death.
(A10)
After he arrived in Corunna from Lisbon, the Duke
of Medina Sidonia sent
a letter to King Philip
II of Spain (24 June 1588)
Many of our largest ships are still missing... on the ships
that are here there are many sick... these numbers will increase because
of the bad provisions (food and drink). These are not only very bad,
as I have constantly reported, but they are so scanty that they are
unlikely to last two months... Your Majesty, believe me when I assure
you that we are very weak... how do you think we can attack so great
a country as England with such a force as ours is now?
(A11)
In June 1588 a ship from Cornwall called the Mousehole was
on the way to France to collect a cargo of salt. On 27th July the
captain of the Mousehole saw the Spanish Armada. He decided
to return to England to report what he had seen.
Being bound for France to collect salt, I encountered great
ships between Scilly and Ushant... they were Spaniards... three of
them gave chase... but I managed to escape... They were all great
ships, and as I might judge... from 200 tons to 800 tons. Their sails
were all crossed over with a red cross.
(A12)
A sailor aboard the Spanish ship San Lorenzo later reported
what happened on the night of 7th August 1588 at Calais Harbour.
The eight ships, filled with artificial fire, advanced in
line... they went drifting... with the most terrible flames that may
be
imagined... the ships of the Armada cut their cables at once, leaving
their anchors, spreading their sails, and running out to sea.
(A13)
Geronimo de Torre was a Catholic priest aboard the Paloma Blanca.
In his log he described the Battle of Gravelines
(8 August 1588)
The San Mateo was a thing of pity to see, riddled with shot
like a sieve... If they had not managed to get the water out of her,
she must have gone to the bottom with all hands. All her sails and
rigging were torn... of her sailors many perished, and of her soldiers
few were left.
(A14)
Bemado de Gongoro was a priest aboard the Rosario. He later
described what happened at the Battle of Gravelines.
The enemy did not dare
to come alongside because he knew the advantage we had. The Duke offered
him battle many times and he never wanted it, but only to fire on
us, like a man who had better artillery with longer range.
(A15)
Antonio de Vanegas, was a sailor aboard the Spanish ship San
Martin.
The enemy... did well because
of the extreme nimbleness and the great smoke that came from their
artillery.
(A16)
Pedro Coco Calderon was aboard the San
Salvador. He later reported what happened on 11th August 1588.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia
ordered.. the captain of the Santa Barbara, to be hanged; and condemned
to the galleys
other ship captains... this was because on the day of the battle they
allowed themselves to drift out of the fight.
(A17)
Report sent by Bemadino Mendoza, Spanish
ambassador in France to King Philip
II (20
August 1588)
The English lost seven
ships, and amongst them three of the largest the Queen possessed...
Drake was wounded
in the legs by a cannon ball... As the London people were so alarmed,
Don Pedro de Valdez and the rest of those who were captured... had
been taken in carts to London, so that the people might see that some
prisoners had been captured; the rumour being spread that the Armada
had been defeated.
(A18)
Report sent by Bemadino Mendoza, Spanish ambassador in France to King
Philip
II (23 September 1588)
The Queen of England...
has been much injured by your Majesty's Armada... She has lost 4,000
men and over 12 ships, two of them the finest she possessed, and she
is now sorry she went to war.
(A19)
John
Hawkins, letter sent to Francis
Walsingham after the battle of Gravelines
(July, 1588)
All that
day Monday we followed the Spaniards with a long and great fight,
wherein there was great valour showed generally by our company ...
In this fight there was some hurt done among the Spaniards... Our
ships, God be thanked, have received little hurt. . . Now their fleet
is here, and very forcible, it must be waited upon with all our force,
which is little enough. There should be an infinite quantity of powder
and shot provided... The men have long been unpaid and need relief.
(A20)
In September a report reached King Philip
II of Spain from Calais in France.
The spy I sent to England
has returned... the Spanish Armada is beyond Newcastle in Scotland...
The ships are in very bad condition... It is reported that horses
had to be thrown overboard because of a lack of water.
(A21)
Nicholas Gorgas was the captain of the English ship Susan Pamell.
In 1597 he wrote about why the English defeated the Armada.
Our swiftness in out sailing
them, our nimbleness.... carrying more artillery than the Spanish
ships.. discharging
our cannons... double for their single-having far better gunners.
(A22)
Thomas Fenner was captain of the English
ship Nonpariel. After the Battle of Dunkirk he wrote a report
on what he thought would happen to the Spanish ships that had fled
towards Scotland (23 September, 1588)
Their masts and sails are
much spoiled... I believe they will pass about Scotland and Ireland
to take themselves home... when the season of the year is considered,
and the long distance they have to travel... it will be to their great
ruin... In my opinion... many of them will never see Spain again.
(A23)
Juan de Nova was on board the Trinidad
Valancera. On 14 September, 1588 the Trinidad Valancera
ran aground on the Irish coast at Donegal.
We were about two days
landing our men... We had nothing to eat but our horses... The English
told us that if the Spanish did not surrender at once, 3,000 of the
Queen's troops would cut their throats... in view of this and that
his men were dying of hunger... the colonel decided to surrender...
The next morning, at daybreak, the enemy came to separate the officers
who were among the soldiers, and put them inside a square... The remaining
soldiers were then made to go into an open field, and men armed with
guns on one side and a body of cavalry on the other, killed over 300
of them with lance and bullet.
(A24)
Juan de Saavedra was a Spanish army officer on board the ship Zuniga.
In his diary he recorded what happened when he reached Liscannor Bay
on the west coast of Ireland (23 September 1588).
We were in dire need of
food... nearly 80 of our soldiers and galley slaves had died of hunger
and thirst, the inhabitants
refusing to allow us to obtain water; nor would they sell us food.
To survive, we took up arms and obtained supplies by force.
(A25)
Francisco de Cuellar was captain of the San Pedro. His ship
sunk in Donegal Bay in September, 1588. When he arrived back in Spain
in October 1589 he wrote about his experiences.
There sprang up so great
a storm... we were driven ashore upon rocks... Many were drowning
inside the ships, others
were throwing themselves into the water, vanishing from sight; others
were clinging to rafts and barrels.... when one of our people reached
the beach, two hundred savages fell upon him and stripped him of what
he had... they maltreated and wounded without pity, all of which was
clearly visible from the battered ships - within an hour all three
ships were broken in pieces... more than one thousand were drowned.
(A26)
On 1 October 1588, Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Cannaught in Ireland
sent a report to the English government.
After the Spanish fleet
had rounded Scotland, and were heading homewards, bad weather caused
many ships to be wrecked... About 6,000 or 7,000 men have been cast
away on these coasts... some 1,000 escaped to land... which since
were all put to the sword.
(A27)
Petruccio Ubaldino was born in Italy but was living in England in
1588. After the defeat of the Armada he interviewed several English
sailors who had taken part in the fighting. In 1589 he published his
account of how the Spanish Armada was defeated.
After meeting the English
fleet... and seeing that, with the type of ships they had which were
a good deal smaller than the Spanish, they were able to get very near
to the much larger ships and fight against them to their own advantage,
the Spaniards confessed... they had lost much of their hope in the
victory of their fleet... The English ships... not crowded out with
useless soldiers, but with decks clear for the use of artillery...
could harm the enemy, at any moment which suited them best.
(A28)
After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Walter
Raleigh described the tactics used
by Lord Howard of
Effingham, the English Lord Admiral.
The Spaniards had an army
aboard their ships and Howard had none; they had more ships than he
had, and of larger size... had he entangled himself with those great
and powerful vessels, he would have greatly endangered England.
(A29)
Juan de Recalde was Vice-Admiral of the Spanish Armada. After he arrived
in Santander he sent King Philip
II a report where he criticised the
people who had served in the Spanish Armada.
I heard great complaints
about the command of ships in the Spanish Armada being given to young
fellows just because they were nobles. Very few of them knew what
to do, and their officers were no better.
(A30)
Duke
of Medina Sidonia,
letter to King Philip
II of Spain after the battle of Gravelines
(July, 1588)
This Armada was so completely crippled and scattered that
my first duty to
your Majesty seemed to save it, even at the risk which we are running
in undertaking this voyage, which is so long and in such high latitudes.
Ammunition and the best of our vessels were lacking, and experience
had shown how little we could depend upon the ships that remained,
the Queen's fleet being so superior to ours in this sort of fighting,
in consequence of the strength of their artillery and the fast sailing
of their ships.
(A31)
Walter
Raleigh, The History of the World
(c. 1610)
He that will happily perform
a fight at sea must believe that there is more belonging to a good
man of war upon the waters than great daring, and must know there
is a great deal of difference between fighting loose and grappling.
To clap ships together without consideration belongs rather to a madman
than to a ship of war; for by such an ignorant bravery was Peter Strozzi
lost at the Azores when he fought against the Marquis of Santa Cruz.
In like sort had the Lord Charles Howard, Admiral of England, been
lost in the year 1588 if he had not been better advised than a great
many malignant fools were who found
fault with his behaviour.
(A32)
L. Ortiz Munoz, The Glorious Spanish Empire (1940)
The greatest armada the world had seen was prepared. It was
called invincible. One fine day in June 1588, it unfurled its sails
before the wind in Lisbon harbour. There were ten squadrons with a
total of a hundred and thirty sail, galleons, ships of the line, galleys,
hookers, caravels, tenders and cutters. In command of the fleet was
the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a loyal man of proud lineage and great
wealth, but in no wise versed in naval science.
Aboard the fleet sailed
seven army regiments numbering nineteen thousand men, and a further
eight thousand sailors and two thousand oarsmen. It was the posthumous
achievement of the genius of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, almost a floating
city, with all its services marvellously arrayed.
The ships built in Antwerp
by Farnese were to join this armada; and a part of the seasoned Regiments
of Flanders, numbering twenty-six thousand men, were to join this
army.
The ten squadrons of the
Empire advanced upon the Atlantic with crushing impetus. But soon
there befell that adversity which was to herald worse evils. A storm
lashed the galleys in the latitude of Finisterre, and the Armada had
to regroup in Corunna. Then again they sailed in imposing majesty
and perfect formation to give battle to the British fleet. In England
the news produced a thrill of horror. Greater still was the panic
when at dawn on the 30th of July, in the Port of Plymouth, the sun
showed on the horizon the splendid advance of those enormous galleons
with their high prows, tall poops, billowing sails and waving standards.
They moved on steadily. They formed a crescent and their line stretched
for seven miles. The English squadron, smaller in number and size,
but lighter and more agile, was anchored in the port. The Spanish
admiral deliberated as to what was best to do. The most capable captains
were hotly of the opinion that not a
moment should be lost in taking advantage of the magnificent opportunity.
This was the time to attack the enemy fleet and annihilate it. But
the Duke turned down the idea. The King had ordered that the squadron
should not give battle until the ships of Farnese joined it,
The opportunity and the
initiative having been lost - even the favouring wind - the English
fleet, seeing ours pass by, harried it cunningly, making use of its
agility. Our ships suffered slight losses in this first skirmish.
But at last the Armada made fast at Calais, where it awaited Farnese.
This was the beginning of calamity. The English hatched a plot. During
the night they sent in some ships which had been set on fire. The
alarm was raised. Men began to think they were like the terror-ships
laden with gunpowder which had been encountered at Antwerp. The Duke,
hasty and inexperienced, dashed out to the open sea to fight his adversary.
A terrible wind from the
south-east was stirring the waves. The rain began in a flood. Lightning
and thunderbolts lighted the thick darkness. The hurricane beat upon
the galleons and played havoc with them, delighting in scattering
them and sending them crashing into one another, or against the coastal
reefs, sweeping over
them and sinking them. When dawn came, the fleet was broken and dispersed.
Heroism did not suffice against the attack of the English ships. The
storm came on again and the damage was made greater still. The Duke
ordered a retreat, to save what remained of the vessels. But the way
back was by North Scotland and Ireland, and the squalls there delivered
the final blow and wrought further havoc upon the fleet.
The Invincible Armada
of the Imperial Spanish Fleet was for the first time conquered. But
not by the men, nor by the squadrons, it put out to fight. It was
vanquished by the elements, against which valour and human daring
are impotent, because it is God who rules the seas. Only against the
hurricane and the gales did we lose, because the Lord wished it, the
naval supremacy of the world.
(A33)
Charles
Howard, letter to William
Cecil
(20th August, 1588)
It is a most pitiful sight
to see, here at Margate, how the men, having no place to receive them
into here, die in the streets. I am driven myself, of force, to come
a-land, to see them bestowed in some lodging; and the best I can get
is barns and outhouses. It would grieve any man's heart to see them
that have served so valiantly to die so miserably.
(A34)
Philip
II talking to the survivors of the
Armada (1588)
I sent you to fight with men, and not with the weather.
(A35)
Inscription on the Armada medal issued by Elizabeth
I in 1588
God blew with His wind, and they were scattered.
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