The Spanish Armada

by Hutchinson, Robert

  Fighting off Portland and the Isle of Wight on 2 August 1588. Detail showing the Spanish galleasses attacking Frobisher’s squadron, seemingly becalmed off Portland Bill.

  Howard sends eight fireships in an attack on the anchored Armada off Calais, 7 August 1588 (Aert Anthonisz, 1590). In the left foreground, a Spanish squadron flagship is engaged with an English ship, which has a galleass astern of her. In reality, the English fleet did not follow up the fireship attack, as shown by this painting.

  The Battle of Gravelines, 8 August 1588.

  An English chart by Augustin Ryther, 1588, showing the course home taken by the Spanish Armada.

  Map of Northern Ireland, 1589, with the positions of four Armada wrecks marked with the word ‘Spanish’. One is unidentified.

  Left-hand panel of a triptych in St Faith’s Church, Gaywood, Norfolk, showing Elizabeth’s arrival at Tilbury and inscribed: ‘Blessed be the great God of my salvation’.

  ‘Armada Portrait’ of Elizabeth I, showing behind her the attack of her fireships on the Armada and the Spanish ships being wrecked by the ‘Protestant Wind’.

  Licence to William Browne, gunner in the barque Hazard of Faversham, Kent, allowing him to beg in all churches for one year, signed by Lord High Admiral Howard.

  The Somerset House conference on 19 August 1604 that produced the Treaty of London, ending the nineteen-year Anglo-Spanish war.

  INDEX

  Acuña, Jusepe de, ref 1

  Acuña, Don Pedro de, ref 1, ref 2

  Adam, Robert, ref 1

  Advice (English pinnace), ref 1

  Aid (English ship), ref 1

  Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of: in Spanish Netherlands, ref 1; Mary Queen of Scots appeals to, ref 1; agents in London, ref 1

  Alençon, François, Duke of, ref 1

  Allen, Cardinal William, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6; Admonition to the Nobility and People of England and Ireland Concerning the Present Wars, ref 1, ref 2

  Alvarez, Captain Vicente, ref 1

  America: proposed Catholic settlement in, ref 1

  Amésquita, Carlos de, ref 1

  Andrada, Manuel de (‘David’), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Angel (English ship), ref 1

  Anne of Austria, Queen of Philip II, ref 1

  Anne Boleyn, Queen of Henry VIII, ref 1, ref 2

  António, Dom, Prior of Crato, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Antwerp: siege and burning (1585), ref 1

  Anunciada (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Appletree, William, ref 1

  Aquereis, Captain Antonio de Taso, ref 1, ref 2

  Aramburu, Marcos de, ref 1

  Aranda, Martin de, ref 1, ref 2

  Ark Royal (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Armada: fleet prepared in Spain and Portugal, ref 1, ref 2; illicitly supplied by English merchants, ref 1; conjectured landing places, ref 1, ref 2; warning signals and beacons in England prepared and used, ref 1, ref 2; ships damaged by storms before sailing, ref 1, ref 2; ship numbers, strength and equipment, ref 1; rations and diet, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; religious and moral injunctions, ref 1, ref 2; operational orders, ref 1; departure delayed by bad weather, ref 1; slow progress to England, ref 1; dysentery, ref 1; desertions, ref 1; musters at Corunna, ref 1, ref 2; crescent formation (lunula), ref 1, ref 2; leaves Corunna, ref 1; first encountered by English, ref 1; proceeds up Channel, ref 1; anchors off Dodman Point, Cornwall, ref 1; engaged by English, ref 1, ref 2; accidental ship losses, ref 1; warships divided into two flotillas, ref 1; and action off Portland, ref 1; casualties and ship losses, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; anchors off Calais, ref 1; attacked by fireships at Calais, ref 1; in battle of Gravelines, ref 1, ref 2; re-forms crescent formation and heads north-north-east, ref 1; Englishmen serve in, ref 1; demoralisation and surrender talks, ref 1; clears Flanders banks and reaches North Sea, ref 1; army and navy captains arraigned and punished for cowardice, ref 1; heads north on homeward voyage, ref 1; English fleet leaves for home, ref 1; rumoured victories over English, ref 1; rounds north of Scotland, ref 1, ref 2; return voyage, ref 1; ships wrecked on west coast of Ireland, ref 1; estimated numbers of wrecks and dead in Ireland and Scotland, ref 1; defeat and disaster reported to Spain, ref 1; deaths from disease and starvation, ref 1, ref 2; post-mortems on failure, ref 1; slow rate of firing guns and low firepower, ref 1; mocked in Germany, ref 1; English victory medals, ref 1; English thanksgiving services and celebrations over, ref 1, ref 2; English victory satires and propaganda on, ref 1; ships repaired and reinforced, ref 1; effect of storms on, ref 1; prisoners’ fate, ref 1

  Arundel, Philip Howard, Earl of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Asculi, Luis de Leiva, Prince of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Ashley, Anthony, ref 1, ref 2

  Ashley, Catherine (‘Kat’), ref 1

  Atjeh (Sumatra), sultanate of, ref 1

  Avila, Don Cristobal de, ref 1

  Aylmer, John, Bishop of London, ref 1

  Azores: English plan to capture, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; see also Flores

  Azzaro, Padre Marian, ref 1

  Babington, Anthony, ref 1

  Bailly, Charles, ref 1

  Barca de Amberg (Spanish ship), ref 1, ref 2

  Barca de Danzig (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Barker, William, ref 1

  Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, ref 1

  Barque Bond (English ship), ref 1

  Barque Talbot (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Barry, Richard, ref 1

  Bazán, Don Pedro Alonso de, ref 1

  Bazana (Spanish ship), ref 1, ref 2

  Bear (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Bear Yonge (English ship), ref 1

  Beauvais, General François de, ref 1

  Beeston, Sir George, ref 1

  Beltrán del Salton, ref 1

  Benito de Maiora, Francisco de, ref 1

  Bennet, Fr William, ref 1

  Bentivollo (Italian eyewitness), ref 1

  Bergen-op-Zoom, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Berryman, Jobn, ref 1

  Bertendona, Admiral Martin de, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Bijlaer, Gerard van, ref 1

  Bingham, Sir Richard, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Blanco, Pedro, ref 1

  Blavet, France, ref 1

  Blount, Bessie, ref 1

  Bobadilla, Don Francisco de, ref 1

  Boleyn, George, ref 1

  Boleyn, Mary, ref 1

  Bonaventura (English ship), ref 1

  Bonavolia (English galley), ref 1

  Boncampagni, Giacomo, ref 1

  Borne, Charles, ref 1

  Borough, Vice-Admiral William, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Boteler, Sir Philip, ref 1

  Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of, ref 1

  Boulogne: resists Catholic occupation, ref 1

  Bourbourg: peace talks, ref 1

  Bowes, Sir George, ref 1

  Bramham Moor, battle of (1569), ref 1

  Bray, William, ref 1

  Briant, Alexander, SJ, ref 1

  Brigandine (English ship), ref 1

  Browne, William, ref 1, ref 2

  Bull, Simon (executioner), ref 1

  Burghley, William Cecil, Baron: as Elizabeth’s secretary of state, ref 1; and threat of Mary Queen of Scots, ref 1; and northern rebellion (1569), ref 1, ref 2; and Norfolk’s plotting against Elizabeth, ref 1; anti-Catholic measures, ref 1; and rumours of Armada preparations, ref 1; told of Spanish plan to capture Elizabeth alive, ref 1; fears Catholic rising, ref 1; Howard reports good condition of ships to, ref 1; and navy’s victualling shortage, ref 1; on Allen’s Admonition, ref 1; and Walsingham’s apprehensions over Armada, ref 1; on financial difficulties, ref 1, ref 2; Fitzwilliam reports to on Spanish dead in Ireland, ref 1; on unpaid seamen, ref 1; orders propaganda tracts, ref 1; borrows money, ref 1; agrees to expedition against Spain and Portugal, ref 1; Norris requests reinforcements for expedition against Spain, re
f 1; final illness and death, ref 1

  Burley, Richard, ref 1

  Cadiz: Drake attacks, ref 1

  Calais: Armada anchors off, ref 1; fireships attack Armada at, ref 1; English pillaging, ref 1

  Calderón, Pedro de: on Armada’s sea battles, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; on blowing up of San Salvador, ref 1; on Frobisher’s escape, ref 1; on fireships at Calais, ref 1; on sailing north round Scotland, ref 1; on shortage of supplies, ref 1; on punishment of officers, ref 1; advises Medina Sidonia to avoid Ireland, ref 1

  Cantanei family, ref 1

  Capello, Isardo, ref 1

  Capitana (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Carey, Sir George, ref 1, ref 2

  Carleill, Christopher, ref 1

  Carrafa, Cardinal Antonio, ref 1

  Casa de Paz Grande (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Castañeda, Ensign, ref 1

  Castelnau, Michel, ref 1

  Castiglione, Battista, ref 1

  Castillo Negro (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Catherine de Medici, Queen of Henri II of France, ref 1

  Catholic League, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Catholics: flourish under Mary Tudor, ref 1; and Mary Queen of Scots, ref 1; distribution and practice in England, ref 1, ref 2; in northern rebellion (1569), ref 1; Pius V commands to disobey Elizabeth, ref 1; Elizabeth’s reluctance to persecute, ref 1; opposition to Elizabeth, ref 1; exiles in Netherlands, ref 1; legislation against, ref 1; proposed exile to America, ref 1; conflict with Huguenots in France, ref 1; potential rising in England, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4; recusants, ref 1, ref 2; volunteer to fight against Spaniards, ref 1, ref 2; anti-Spanish feelings, ref 1

  Cecil, Sir Robert (later 1st Earl of Salisbury), ref 1

  Cecil, Sir William see Burghley. Baron

  Centurion (English ship), ref 1, ref 2

  Cesis, Count Nicolo, ref 1

  Chapuys, Eustace, ref 1

  Charles IX, King of France, ref 1, ref 2

  ‘Chatham Chest’, ref 1

  Ciervo Volante (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Clancy, Boetius, ref 1

  Clément, Jacques, ref 1

  Clenock, Maurice, ref 1

  Clere, Sir Edward, ref 1

  climate see weather

  Cobham, William Brooke, 10th Baron, ref 1

  Cocke, Sir Henry, ref 1

  Concepción de Juan de Cano (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Concepción de Zubelzu, La (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Constable, Sir Robert, ref 1

  Contarini, Alvise, ref 1

  Contarini, Tomaso, ref 1, ref 2

  Copley, Fr Anthony, ref 1

  Copy of a Letter to Don Bernardin Mendoza, The (tract), ref 1

  Cordell, Thomas, ref 1

  Cordell, Sir William, ref 1

  Córdoba, Don Felipe de, ref 1, ref 2

  Cornwall: militia quit service after passage of Armada, 134; Spanish attacks on, ref 1

  Corunna, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Coutras, battle of (1587), ref 1

  Cox, Peter, ref 1

  Coxe, Captain William, ref 1, ref 2

  Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, ref 1

  Cripps, Captain, ref 1

  Croft, Elizabeth, ref 1

  Crosse, Captain Robert, ref 1

  Cuéllar, Captain Francisco de, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Dacre, Magdalene, ref 1

  Darnley, Henry Stuart, Earl of, ref 1

  ‘David’ see Andrada, Manuel de

  David Chico (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Dawtrey, Captain Nicholas, ref 1

  Delight (English pinnace), ref 1, ref 2

  Deloney, Thomas, ref 1, ref 2

  Dence, Thomas, ref 1, ref 2

  Denny, Sir Edward, ref 1

  Denny, Lady Margaret, ref 1

  Devereux, Walter, ref 1

  Diana (Portuguese galley), ref 1

  Disdain (English barque), ref 1

  Doncella (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Dormer, Jane, ref 1

  Dover, ref 1, ref 2

  Drake, Sir Francis: hatred of Spain, ref 1; raids against Spanish, ref 1, ref 2; leads naval expedition against Spain, ref 1, ref 2; attacks Cadiz, ref 1, ref 2; despatch to Walsingham, ref 1; appointed vice-admiral to Howard of Effingham, ref 1; impatience to strike at Armada, ref 1; Howard joins at Plymouth, ref 1; reports on unsuccessful reconnaissance in Channel, ref 1; supposed game of bowls, ref 1; assaults on Armada ships, ref 1, ref 2; as lead ship tailing Armada, ref 1; letter to Seymour on first day’s action, ref 1; captures Rosario, ref 1; attacks El Gran Grifón, ref 1; blocks Spanish access to Isle of Wight, ref 1; offers fireships at Calais, ref 1; attacks Armada at Gravelines, ref 1; in pursuit of Armada, ref 1; Sixtus praises, ref 1; as threat to Spain after Armada defeat, ref 1; with Norris on expedition against Spain and Portugal, ref 1, ref 2; commandeers Dutch flyboats for expedition, ref 1; and Essex’s escapade, ref 1; lured by plunder, ref 1; lands at Corunna, ref 1; falls from Queen’s favour, ref 1; establishes ‘Chatham Chest’ for seamen’s relief, ref 1; death in West Indies, ref 1; character and manner, ref 1

  Dreadnought (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Dudley, Arthur, ref 1

  Dunkirk, ref 1

  Duquesa Santa Ana (Spanish ship), ref 1, ref 2

  Dutch, the see Netherlands

  Edward VI, King, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Elizabeth I, Queen: accession, ref 1, ref 2; life, upbringing and career, ref 1; confined to Tower, ref 1; released and moved to Woodstock, xxii; Protestantism, ref 1; appearance and manner, ref 1; coronation, ref 1; declines Philip’s marriage offer, ref 1; and Mary Queen of Scots’ flight to England, ref 1; and northern rebellion (1569), ref 1, ref 2; excommunicated by Pius V and Sixtus, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4; issues treason acts, ref 1; moderation towards Catholic subjects, ref 1; Catholic hostility to, ref 1; assassination attempts on, ref 1, ref 2; succession question, ref 1, ref 2; signs Mary Queen of Scots’ death warrant, ref 1; supports Netherlands Protestants against Spain, ref 1; supposed illegitimate son by Leicester, ref 1; agrees to modified pre-emptive action against Spain, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; on Drake’s success on expedition against Spain, ref 1; rejects proposal for Drake to attack Spanish treasure ships, ref 1; lacks standing army, ref 1; writes to James VI of Scotland on death of Mary Queen of Scots, ref 1; and coastal defences, ref 1, ref 2; orders City of London to provide men and weapons, ref 1; Dutch States seek financial assistance from, ref 1; secret peace negotiations with Spain, ref 1; Cardinal Allen attacks, ref 1; Sixtus praises and admires, ref 1, ref 2; personal protection, ref 1; financial difficulties and parsimony, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3; visits Tilbury and delivers speech, ref 1, ref 2; orders demobilisation and disbands army, ref 1, ref 2; replies to James VI’s offer of assistance, ref 1; praised by Henri III and Mocenigo, ref 1; mourns death of Leicester, ref 1; ‘Armada Portrait’, ref 1; income and supplements, ref 1; supports expedition against Spain and Portugal, ref 1; and Earl of Essex’s unauthorised departure for expedition against Spain, ref 1; anger at disobedience of Norris/ Drake expedition, ref 1; on fate of Earl of Arundel, ref 1; decline, death and burial, ref 1

  Elizabeth Bonaventure (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Elizabeth Jonas (English ship), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Elizabeth of Lowestoft (English ship), ref 1

  Elizabeth, Princess (later Queen of Bohemia), ref 1

  Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain, ref 1

  England: war with Spain, ref 1; Protestantism under Elizabeth, ref 1; Catholic recusants in, ref 1, ref 2; foreign Catholic invasion plans, ref 1; Philip plans invasion of, ref 1, ref 2; and rumours of Armada preparations, ref 1; prepares to counter Armada, ref 1; coastal and river defences, ref 1, ref 2; manpower and military forces, ref 1; clergy’s reluctant contribition to defences, ref 1; arms and equipment for land forces, ref 1; Armada warning signals and beacons, ref 1; Spanish spies and intelligence on, ref 1; Parma prepares proclamation for, ref 1; rumours o
f threatened Spanish atrocities, ref 1; apprehensions at invasion threat, ref 1, ref 2; thanksgiving services and celebrations for victory, ref 1, ref 2; financial difficulties, ref 1; expedition against Spain and Portugal (1589), ref 1, ref 2; Catholic priests smuggled into, ref 1; Treaty of London with Spain (1604), ref 1

  Englefield, Sir Francis, ref 1, ref 1

  Enríquez, Colonel Don Diego, ref 1

  Escalante, Fr Bernardino de, ref 1

  Esquivel, Ensign, ref 1

  Essex, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of: behaviour, ref 1, ref 2; executed, ref 1

  Estrada, Pedro, ref 1

  Fair Isle, ref 1

  Falcon Blanco Mediano (Spanish ship), ref 1

  Falmouth: Spanish fleet sails for (1597), ref 1

  Fawkes, Guy, ref 1

  Felton, John, ref 1

  Fénelon, Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe, ref 1

  Fenner, Captain Thomas, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Fenner, William, ref 1

  Fenton, Edmund, ref 1

  Fenton, Geoffrey, ref 1

  Fenton, George, ref 1, ref 2

  Feria, Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 5th Count de, ref 1

  Figliazzi, Giovanni, ref 1

  Fisher, Captain John, ref 1

  Fisher, Cardinal John, Bishop of Rochester, ref 1

  Fitzgerald, James Fitzmaurice of Desmond, ref 1, ref 2

  Fitzmaurice, Maurice, ref 1

  Fitzwilliam, Sir William, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Flanders, banks of, ref 1, ref 2

  Fleming, Captain Thomas, ref 1, ref 2

  Flick, Robert, ref 1

  Flores, Azores, ref 1

  Florida: proposed Catholic homeland in, ref 1

  Foljambe, Lady Constance, ref 1

  Foljambe, Godfrey, ref 1

  Foresight (English ship), ref 1

  Forth, Firth of, ref 1

  Fox, John, ref 1