Alessandro Farnese, the
son of Duke Ottavio Farnese and Margaret of Parma, was born in 1545.
He fought with distinction at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
In 1577 the Duke of Parma
fought under John of Austria in the Low Countries to fight against
those in rebellion against Spain. He was rewarded by being appointed
governor of the Netherlands and eventually secured the southern part
of the country for Spain.
In July 1588 the Duke
of Medina Sidonia and 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 the Duke of Parma.
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 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.
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 Duke
of 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. 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 deal with any attack.
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 ships. 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. The Duke of 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 Duke
of 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 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 already
stranded on the beach and was about to be taken by the English.
The battle of Gravelines
continued all day. One of the most exciting contests was between Francis
Drake in the Revenge and 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.
During this time the Duke
of Parma remained in Dunkirk with 16,000 Spanish soldiers that were
never picked up by the Spanish Armada.
The Duke of Parma was sent
to France in 1590 to command the Spanish Army against Henry IV. His
forces successfully relieved the siege of Paris (1590) and Rouen (1592)
where he was badly wounded.
Alessandro Farnese, the
Duke of Parma, retired to Arras where he died in 1592.
Spanish
Armada Activities
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
