Anglo-Spanish War 1588-1604 (Spanish Armada)

The Destruction of the Invincible Armada (1892) by Spanish artist Jose Gartner

Background to the Spanish-English War

Before Britain and Spain went to war, Britain and Spain had been allied for many years. In the mid to late 15th century, France under Louis XI was the greatest power in Europe. England had certain possessions in what is now Northern France and Spain was under constant threat. For this reason, King Henry VII of England had a long period of peace, including a series of marriages, in order to maintain his alliance with King Ferdinand II of Spain. The “French Wars of Religion” were the main reason for the breakdown of the alliance between Philip II and Elizabeth I. This led to war between the two countries.

In the mid-16th century, Habsburg Spain under King Philip II was a global empire and one of the most dominant political and military powers in Europe. Spain's territories and possessions stretched from Europe to the Americas and the Philippines. These possessions were further expanded with the annexation of Portugal in 1580, thus creating the Iberian Union. In this way, Philip II ruled from the Escorial Palace, a kingdom on which the sun never set.

England, on the other hand, was a minor power during these periods. Although Henry VII went to war against France three times during his alliance with Spain, England was not able to dominate much outside its own seas. King Henry VIII started the English Reformation when he wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Over time, especially during the reign of Henry's son Edward VI, England was becoming more and more influenced by the Protestant reforms taking place in Europe and was becoming more compliant with the reforms. When Edward VI died before he could have children, his sister Mary ascended the throne in 1553. Three years later, Mary married Philip II and became queen of Spain. With Mary as queen, the Roman-Catholic influence in the church began to gain strength again.

Philip II persuaded Mary to go to war against France and landed English forces in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, known as the “Low Countries”. Although Spain provided unsuccessful support, England won the Battle of St. Quentin. Although this was a victory, England neglected the defense of France and Calais fell to the French at the Siege of Calais. Thus, England lost its last territory in France. England suffered not only from the cost of the war but also from the loss of the alum and cloth trade in the port of Calais. As a result of the war, France and England were weakened, while Spain strengthened its hold on the Low Countries. Before Mary's death, Philip and Elizabeth tried to forge an alliance, but it did not materialize because of the question of faith and unequal relations between the two sides.

Mary's death in 1558 led to the accession of her half-sister Elizabeth. Unlike Mary, Elizabeth sided with the reformers and quickly began to implement Edward's reforms. Since Philip was no longer co-ruler, Elizabeth was considered heretical and illegitimate. According to the Catholic Church, Henry had never divorced Catherine. This made Elizabeth illegitimate. Although Philip supported Elizabeth's Catholic cousin and heir apparent, Mary Queen of Scots, against Elizabeth, his plans were thwarted when Elizabeth had Mary imprisoned in 1567. Mary was forced to renounce the crown of Scotland in favor of her son James VI.

In 1587 Elizabeth had Mary executed for her constant conspiracy on her behalf. She also retaliated against Philip by supporting the Dutch rebellion against Spain and financed pirates raiding Spanish ships in the Atlantic. Politically, he attempted to negotiate a permanent commercial alliance with Morocco.

Philip, in retaliation, planned an expedition against England to overthrow Elizabeth and, if unsuccessful, at least to obtain freedom of worship for Catholics and compensation for the war in the Low Countries. With this plan, English financial support in America and the Low Countries would decrease and Spain's trade volume would increase. Philip was also supported by Pope Sixtus V, who saw the expedition as a crusade and promised subsidies if the “Armada” landed. Another support was expected from the wealthy Catholics living in England.

In April 1587, a sudden raid on Cadiz, led by the pirate Francis Drake, captured or destroyed around 30 ships and considerable supplies. This set back preparations on the Spanish side by a year.While there is evidence that Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's chief of security and spymaster, in a letter to her ambassador in Constantinople, William Harborne, intended to initiate maneuvers of the Ottoman Empire's navy to harass the Spanish, there is no evidence that this plan succeeded.While there is evidence that Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's chief of security and spymaster, in a letter to her ambassador in Constantinople, William Harborne, intended to initiate maneuvers of the Ottoman Empire's navy to harass the Spanish, there is no evidence that this plan succeeded.

In 1583, Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, who consulted Philip, emphasized that there were conditions that had to be met in order to succeed. In addition to the safe possession and defense of the Dutch provinces, the main condition was to prevent the French from intervening by creating a peace or a conspiracy between the Catholic League and the Huguenots.In the end, however, Philip devised a new plan, combining Alexander's plan with that of Santa Cruz.He initially envisioned an attack on Scotland starting with a diversionary raid, while the main Armada would capture the Isle of Wight or Southampton to create a safe anchorage in the Solent. Alexander would then cross the English Channel with an army from the Low Countries.

The highly experienced Marquis of Santa Cruz was appointed commander of the Armada's naval forces, while Alexander Fernese was to command the invasion forces. The sudden death of Santa Cruz in 1588 led to his replacement by a high courtier, the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Although a competent soldier, Medina Sidonia had no naval experience.He wrote a letter to Philip expressing his doubts about the expedition, but this letter was blocked by other courtiers.The other courtiers believed that God would lead the Armada to every victory.

Beginning of the War

Before the expedition, Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip to collect Crusade taxes and granted leniency to his men. After the Armada's ensign was blessed on April 25, 1588, the Armada sailed from Lisbon on July 21, 1588 and set sail for the English Channel. When the fleet left Lisbon, it consisted of 141 ships, 10,000 sailors and nearly 20,000 soldiers. In addition, there were about 1,500 volunteers, priests and servants. For firepower, it carried 1,500 brass cannons and 1,000 iron cannons. It took two days for the fleet to leave the harbor completely. Delayed by weather conditions, the Armada was forced to turn back near Galicia when four galleys and a galleon under the command of Captain Diego de Medrano were forced to turn back due to a storm. This left 137 ships on their way to the English Channel. Most of these ships were not designed as warships. Only 24 ships were fully-equipped as battle-cruisers. The rest were used for supplies, transportation, exploration and other tasks.

In the Spanish Netherlands, Alexander Farnese had gathered some 30,000 troops and had hundreds of flyboats built to carry them across the channel while they awaited the arrival of the Armada. Since the surprise attack plan had already failed, the new plan was to move the army by barge to a location near London. On the day of the Armada's departure, Valentine Dale, Elizabeth's ambassador to the Netherlands, began peace negotiations with Alexander's representatives, but on July 6 the talks were abandoned and the English fleet remained in Plymouth, albeit inadequately, awaiting intelligence on Spanish movements.

Only 122 ships from the Spanish fleet managed to enter the Channel. Deducting the ships allocated for delivering messages, maintenance and other work, there were 117 Spanish ships against a British fleet of about 226. However, the Spanish fleet had more firepower than the British fleet. Twelve of the British ships were owned by Lord Howard of Effingham, John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake.

In early June, Parma sent Captain Moresin to Admiral Sedonia. Medina Sedonia was under the impression that Farnese could easily open the Channel with his barges full of troops. Parma repeatedly informed the King that passage to the Channel was blocked by British and Dutch ships and that the only way to get their boats out was for the Armada to lift the blockade.

The Spanish fleet was sighted in England off the Lizard in Cornwall on July 29. The news was relayed to London by a beacon system built along the south coast. But on the same day, the British fleet was stranded in Plymouth Harbor due to the tide. Although the Spanish formed a council of war and proposed to enter the harbor at low tide and destroy the anchored ships, Philip explicitly forbade Medina Sidonia to enter the battle and had the Armada sail for the Isle of Wight. After the tide, 55 English ships left Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham and vice-admiral Sir Francis Drake.

Action off Plymouth

On July 30, the British fleet was off Eddystone Rock while the Spanish Armada was moving westward. The British had the Armada's wind at their backs to launch their attack and thus gained a significant advantage. At dawn on 31 July, the British and the Armada faced each other off Plymouth. The Armada was in a crescent defensive formation, while the British were positioned in two divisions.

The British attacked with cannon fire from outside the enemy's range, taking into account the Spanish advantage in close combat. However, due to the great distance between the two squadrons, at the end of the day, both fleets dispersed without losing any ships.

Portland Bill and the Encounter off the Isle of Wight

The British fleet and the Armada faced each other once again off Portland on August 1. With the wind shifting, the Spanish tried to get close to the British, but the British small ships were evaded by their high mobility. As the Spanish maneuvered to support the “Santa Ana”, the Nuestra Senora del Rosario collided with several ships and lost her bowsprit, causing her to drift towards the British. Drake entered the battle with “Revenge”, sailing towards Rosario at night. In this battle, Admiral Pedro de Valdes surrendered with his entire crew.

The British captured much-needed gunpowder and gold. As the battle continued, the “San Salvador's” powder magazine exploded and part of the ship caught fire. The Spanish tried to sink the ship but were unsuccessful. After the Spanish abandoned the ship, the British captured it.

If the Armada could establish a temporary base in the Solent, a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the British mainland, it could wait for news of Alexander's army. But there was no word from Alexander until August 6. When the British fleet organized its attack in four main groups, Medina Sidonia sent reinforcements south and ordered his army back to the open sea to avoid the shallows of Owers. Unable to find a safe harbor along the south coast of England, the Armada was forced to sail to Calais without any news of Alexander's army.

Fireships in Calais

The Armada anchored off Calais on 7 August in a tight defensive formation. Alexander's army, which had suffered losses due to disease, was supposed to wait ready to join the fleet on barges sent from ports on the Flemish coast. According to the plan, Alexander's army would provide the firepower for the invasion, and this army would be transported across the English Channel on unarmed barges. These barges would be guarded by the great ships of the Armada. But what was not taken into account was that in order to reach the Armada, the barges would have to pass through areas controlled by the Dutch navy. Because of the Eighty Years' War with the Netherlands, the Armada could not enter this area. Communication was very difficult and Alexander's army was poorly equipped, so the news to assemble in the harbor came too late. While Medina Sidonia waited at anchor, Dunkirk was blockaded by a fleet of 30 flyboats under Vice Admiral Justinus van Nassau. Dutch flyboats could maneuver in shallow water, unlike British and Spanish ships. Alexander expected the Armada to send a group of light “pataches” to drive the Dutch away, but Sidonia did not send them because she wanted to keep them under her protection. The lack of a deep harbor in which the Spanish could take refuge made them even more vulnerable at night.

The Dutch had undisputed naval superiority in these waters, albeit inferior in firepower. With Medina Sidonia not attempting to break the Dutch blockade and Alexander not risking unescorted passage, the Army of Flanders (the Spanish army based in the Netherlands) escaped the trap Van Nasssau had laid for them.

On August 7, Howard sent a squadron under Lord Edward Seymoue and William Wynter, stationed on the Downs, to reinforce the Dutch in case Alexander made a move.

The wind and currents were favorable for sending fireships against the Armada. Walsingham had sent orders to Dover to collect fishing sacks, wood and pitch for this purpose. But the British commanders felt they could not wait for suitable fireships and sacrificed their own ships. Drake offered one of his own ships, the 200-ton “Thomas”. Hawkins offered his own ship, the “Bark Bond”. In addition to these two ships, six other ships volunteered. In total, eight ships were filled with tar, sulphur and pitch. Because of the urgency of the operation, weapons and other items were left inside the ships.

In the middle of the night of August 7-8, the British set fire to these fireships and sent them towards the Armada. Three of them were stopped by Spanish patache ships. But the rest advanced towards the Armada. Medina Sidonia and some of the battleships held their formation, but the rest cut their ropes and broke formation. Although none of the Spanish ships were burned, their entire formation was too disorganized to recover. The British took a fighting position against the fleet as it dispersed towards Calais. Alexander Farnese found out the next day.

Battle of Gravelines

The small port of Gravelines was part of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, bordering France, and was the closest Spanish territory to England.

At dawn on August 8, Medina Sidonia was trying to regroup her fleet, which had been scattered by fireships. He was hesitant to go further east than Gravelines, knowing that off Flanders the Dutch had removed the naval marks and there was therefore a danger of grounding. The British, on the other hand, had learned of the Armada's weaknesses from the Channel skirmishes and concluded that they needed to get as close as 90 meters for optimal firing distance. Although the British had spent most of their gunpowder in their first engagement, they had saved their heavy shells. Also, while capturing Rosairo, Drake noticed that the Spanish heavy guns took too long to reload. The Spanish fired their guns first and then tried to board the enemy ship. This was a major disadvantage for the Spanish, who fought by boarding instead of using cannon fire from a distance. The British were aware of this and were careful to avoid it.

While Medina Sidonia was trying to get her ships into the traditional crescent formation, the British fleet moved in and as a result the Armada found itself facing the entire British fleet. Against the Spanish fire, the British stayed out of range and repelled the attack. With the wind in their favor, the British fired a volley that killed most of the Spanish artillery. The task of using the cannons was left to the soldiers who had no knowledge of them. The ships, now close enough to exchange musket fire, fought for eight hours. At the end of eight hours, the British ships, low on ammunition, fired their last shots and retreated. At the end of the battle, five Spanish and Portuguese ships were lost. “Maria Juan”, part of Don Diego Flores de Valdes' Castilian Squadron, lost her crew and sank off Blankenberge. Don Hugo de Moncada's flagship, the Galleon San Lorenzo, which was below the waterline, had to run aground in Calais to avoid sinking. Seeing this, Howard landed on the ship with a fleet of boats. Moncada was killed in the battle here. Similarly, the heavily damaged Galleon San Mateo ran aground between Sluis and Ostend. These ships were captured with the cooperation of the Dutch and the English. Captain Don Diego Pimmental surrendered with the survivors of his crew. Later that day, the San Felipe, commanded by Maestre de Campo Don Francisco de Toledo, sank and ran aground on Walcheren Island. British troops sailed from Flushing and attacked the stranded ship, capturing the crew. Later, a Dutch force led by Justinus van Nassau captured the ship and tried to prevent it from sinking. In addition, many other Spanish and Portuguese ships were badly damaged. At the end of this battle, the Spanish plans to unite with Alexander's army failed.

Elizabeth's Tilbury Speech

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, had assembled a force of 4,500 men at West Tilbury to protect the Thames estuary from a possible invasion from the Dutch side. With the result of the British fireship attack and the Battle of Gravelines yet to reach England, Elizabeth went to Tilbury on 18 August to review her forces and arrived on horseback in armor to signal to the assembled force that she was ready to lead them. At the ceremony, she delivered the following royal speech, which has survived in at least six different versions: “My dear people, we have been persuaded by some who fear for our safety to beware how, for fear of treachery, we give ourselves over to armed mobs. But I assure you that I do not wish to live so as not to trust my loyal and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always acted in such a way that I have based my greatest strength and assurance under God on the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and for this reason I have come among you, not for fun and pleasure, as you now see, but determined to live or die among you in the heat and heat of battle. I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and mind of a king. I myself will be your general, your judge, and the rewarder of every one of your virtues on the battlefield. I already know that you deserve rewards and crowns for the way you have marched forward, and I assure you that, on the word of a prince, they will be returned to you as they should be. In the meantime, I will be succeeded by my lieutenant-general, whom no prince has ever commanded a nobler and more worthy subject; and I have no doubt that by your obedience to my general, your harmony in the camp, and your valor on the field of battle, we shall soon win a famous victory over the enemies of my God, my kingdom, and my people.”

Armada in Scotland and Ireland

The Spanish ships, damaged after the long voyage, were held together by cables. With their food supplies depleted, the Armada's main objective was to find safety off the coast of Scotland and Ireland. With no way to accurately measure longitude, the Spanish were unaware that the Gulf Stream was dragging them north and east as they tried to head west, and eventually they were closer to the coast than they realized. Off the coast of Scotland and Ireland, the fleet encountered a series of westerly winds that drove many of the damaged ships towards windless shores. Having cut their anchors while fleeing English fireships off Calais, the fleet found no shelter when they reached the Irish coast and drifted onto the rocks. Here the Spaniards, plundered by the local population, were forced to experience unusually strong North Atlantic storms in the late sixteenth century and especially in 1588, perhaps linked to the high polar ice accumulation off the coast of Greenland, a feature of the “Little Ice Age”. He lost many more ships to cold and stormy weather than when he was directly at war.

Many of the ships lost in the storms were off the Irish coast. Many sailors lost their lives after the ships ran aground off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. The British Deputy Lord Lieutenant William Fitz William ordered British troops in Ireland to kill Spanish soldiers, and this order was carried out several times, as was common at the time. One of the biggest Spanish casualties was the Spanish galleon La Girona, which drifted into Lacada Point in County Antrim on the night of October 26. Of the entire crew on board, only nine survived. In addition, many bodies washed ashore, including that of Alonso Martinez de Leiva, a knight and member of the Council of Thirteen of the Order of Santiago.

Back to Spain

The whole of continental Europe waited all summer for news from the Armada. The Spanish postmaster general and Spanish agents in Rome spread news of Spanish victories in order to convince Pope Sixtus V to fulfill his promise of a million ducats in gold if the troops landed. The Spanish and English embassies in France published conflicting reports. It was not until the end of August that the Spanish defeat reached the major cities, where Spanish victory was widely celebrated.

The first rumors of the navy's decline began to circulate when news reached Spain that British fireships had disrupted Spanish order at Calais. By September 21, the first ships of the Armada began to arrive in Spain. The first of eight ships, including Medina Sidonia's San Martin, entered Coruna. Over the next few days, 22 more ships arrived in the port.

After Medina Sidonia arrived in Coruna and after the death of Admiral Miguel de Oquendo, Captain Diedgo de Medrano was appointed interim Admiral to return the remaining fleet to Spain. By mid-October, it was accepted by the Spanish that very few of the fleet's lost ships would return. Three months after the battle in the English Channel, there were still Spanish ships on their way. When one of the last, the hospital ship San Pedro El Mayor, carrying many wounded, docked at Hope Bay in Devon on November 7, the commander was trying to find a suitable place to run her aground. The entire crew was taken prisoner and the patients were treated in Bodmin and Plympton.

Consequences of the War

Once Alexander was sure that the Armada had moved away from the coast of Flanders and that it was no longer possible for him to participate in the invasion plan, he ordered his troops to disembark. He then set up a council of war to reshape his forces just before the onset of winter. At the end of September, he divided his army into three different groups; one group was sent to the Rhine, while another remained in the coastal region. The last group was sent to Bergen-op-Zoom by Alexander himself. In November, however, this force was repulsed by the Anglo-Dutch garrison with heavy losses. Another attempt was made for the Dutch-held island of Tholen, but this also failed.

Post-War Britain and the Netherlands

Although the Armada had failed to invade England, it had shown that it could be done and that the British Isles were generally open to attack.

The day after the Tilbury speech, Elizabeth ordered the army disbanded. The navy was also disbanded and sent home without pay. While all this was happening, defense costs were also increasing and measures were taken for these costs. In addition to these difficulties, diseases such as typhus, dysentery and scurvy were harming sailors more than the war itself. For example, out of Bonaventure's crew of 500, more than 200 sailors died due to illness. As a result, the Chatam Fund was set up to pay pensions to disabled sailors.

It took some time for the magnitude of the victory to sink in because the news only began to be heard in late August and early September. A series of thanksgiving services were held in cathedrals and churches across England. When news of England's victory over Alexander at Bergen-op-Zoom spread, a larger national thanksgiving service was held on November 29. At the second and final thanksgiving service five days later, the Queen joined the royal procession through the streets of London in a chariot.

The captured Spanish galleons Nuestra Senora del Rosario and San Salvador were studied by the English. San Salvador sank off Studland in 1588. Nuestra Senora del Rosairo was brought to Dartmouth and her 397 crew were taken to Torre Abbey near Torquay, where they were held captive in a barn and saved from execution. Rosario was then sent to Chatham, where she was dry-docked and eventually sunk to support a pier. The captured Pedro de Valdes was held captive in the Tower of London until a ransom was paid by his family for his return to Spain. Valdes, who was not held responsible for the loss of his ship, served as colonial governor of Cuba from 1602-1608.

The Dutch also made commemorative medals and paintings to celebrate the victory. They smashed the two stranded Spanish ships, the San Mateo and the San Felipe, and used the cannons in nearby forts. The main mast of the San Mateo, depicting Christ crucified, was taken and hung in the choir of St. Peters Church in Leiden.

Post-War Spain

The news of the defeat brought great despair and disappointment throughout Spain. Believing false reports that Drake and Howard had been taken prisoner, that Alexander's army was near London and that Plymouth had been captured, the King of Spain shut himself in the palace for days in the face of the truth. The entire functioning of the government ground to a halt.

The number of ships lost is disputed. According to a study conducted by Spanish naval historian Fernandez Duro in the mid-1880s, a total of 63 ships were lost. Another historian, Jose Luis Casado Soto, analyzed the fate of each ship separately and claimed that 35 ships were lost. It was also stated that 87 of the 122 Armada ships that entered the English Channel returned from their voyages around the English Channel and the British Isles. Further research by historians such as Neil Halson, Robert Hutchinson, Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker has investigated the returning ships and concluded that between 44 and 51 ships were lost in total. These figures suggest that a third of the fleet was sunk, captured or wrecked. Although the vast majority of the ships returned, many suffered serious damage from storms or cannon fire. The “Doncella” sank after anchoring in Santander, while the “Santa Anna” was accidentally burned a few days after entering San Sebastian. The badly damaged Galleons San Marcos and San Francisco were also broken up and their guns and timber sold. Although a third of the fleet returned, many of those that did were unfit to sail again. So they were either abandoned, sunk or broken up.

Spanish sources state that more than 11,000 people died. Philip's administrators, bureaucrats and secretaries archived and dated all the documents of the empire. Today, according to documents in the National Archives of Spain, 25,696 people embarked on the expedition and 19,339 returned. After arriving in Spain, deaths continued due to illness. These deaths included Miguel de Oquendo, Vice Admiral of the fleet and commander of the Guipuzcoa Squadron, and Juan Martinez, commander of the Biscayan squadron. Medina Sidonia was allowed to return home due to illness and was not charged despite the defeat.

End of the War

Throughout the war, the main Spanish aims were to gain control of the English Channel, stop English intervention in Flanders and stop the actions of English privateers in the transatlantic. The Spanish carried out a series of raids, such as the Mount Bay Raid in Cornwall on July 26, 1595. The following year, a raid was organized in the same place, but it was unsuccessful. In June 1596, the States of England and the Netherlands sent a fleet to Spain and captured Cadiz, which they held for some time. After this event, Spain sent three more fleets to England. The first fleet sent in 1596 was dispersed due to a storm, the second one was captured by the English fleets. The last one surrendered at Kinsale. The conflicts ended with decreasing military actions and finally ended with the Treaty of London in 1604.

References

• Howarth, David. The Voyage of the Armada: The Spanish Story (https://archive.org/details/isbn_1585744247/page/n9/mode/2up) (last access 02.12.2024)

  
  

• McDermott, James. England & the Spanish Armada: The Necessary Quarrel (https://archive.org/details/englandspanishar0000mcde) (last access02.12.2024)

  
  

• Wernham A. B. The Return of the Armadas: the Later Years of the Elizabethan War against Spain, 1595–1603 (https://archive.org/details/returnofarmadasl0000wern) (last access 02.12.2024)