Elizabeth I And The Spanish Armada Essay

, Research Paper

History: European:

Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada February 18, 1999

Andrew Stein Term Paper February 15, 1999 The cold, stormy night was all too familiar to the English. A devious plan by Spain’s king, Philip II, was being formed to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and rid the world of the English “heretics.”1 It was a story of deception, false judgments, and poor planning. What was one king’s dream turned into his country’s nightmare. While the Spanish had bad leaders, the English had good ones. The Spanish had bigger, but slower ships, while the English had smaller and faster ships. The English knew the weather conditions and how to prepare for them, while the Spanish thought it would not be a problem. The English entered the battle in a calm manner, while the Spanish were overconfident. All of these factors led to Spain’s undoing. In 1588, Queen Elizabeth I, of England, defeated the Armada and the Spanish hubris with good luck, favorable weather and excellent leadership. Elizabeth I was born on September 7th, 1533 to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was just three years of age, her mother had lost favor with the king for not producing a male heir. Anne Bolyen was soon executed and Elizabeth was deprived of any rights to succession. Elizabeth also had two half-siblings from two of her father’s many other marriages. Edward VI, son of Jane Seymour, became King of England and Ireland in 1547. Mary I, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, became Queen of England in 1553 and soon grew suspicious of her Protestant step-sister. Due to this fact, Elizabeth was placed in the Tower of London for some time, only to be pardoned when it was discovered that Queen Mary had fallen ill. Mary died unhappy with the fact that her throne was to be succeeded by a Protestant, and not by a Roman Catholic, as she had been. When her half-sister died in 1558, Elizabeth was left with an England torn and bankrupt by war, and a people divided by religion. At the beginning of her reign, she made the Church of England the official religion of England and she fashioned her court after that of her fathers. For a woman during that era, Elizabeth was a very daring and smart ruler. For example, she secretly encouraged sailors such as Francis Drake to make raids on Spanish shipping and challenge their naval superiority. When she was a little girl, she was well educated and was able to speak several languages, including French, Spanish, and Latin. In addition, throughout Elizabeth’s reign, there was always the threat of hostilities in some form or another. Elizabeth kept the peace between rival leaders of different religions by dominating her court so she could keep the balance of power.2 She was smart enough to come up with a plan which kept the church at bay with their questions of marriage.3 She also calmed the Spanish and the French by entertaining suitors of each respective country; Philip II of Spain and Duke of Anjou of France, but she never married either of them and was therefore known as ” the Virgin queen”.4 Elizabeth was a Protestant queen who was not always on good terms with most Catholic rulers of Europe. Because of that, there were several assassination plots against her so the Catholics could put Mary, Queen of Scots, in her place. During the 1580’s, Elizabeth began to bring her full weight onto the catholic rebels. Hundreds of Catholics died at the stake just as the Protestants had several years before under the rule of Mary I. As a final blow, Elizabeth had Mary, her closest relative, ex-wife of Philip II, and next in line to the throne, beheaded in February of 1586.5 The execution was the final blow to Philip’s patience, it was time to attack the English “heretics”.6 As a extra sucker-punch, Elizabeth ordered Francis Drake to conduct a raid on the Spanish port of Cadiz. It resulted in the destruction of several ships bound for the Armada and several thousand pounds worth of treasure. Philip II had enough of Elizabeth and from that point on he put together one of the world’s most devious and ambitious plans. What was soon to be decided would be a immense achievement for a big empire, or a David and Goliath type-story for a recovering nation. The English were lucky because, in Philip’s twisted mind, the plan was simple enough. His entire strategy was one Spanish blunder after another. The Armada would assemble in Lisbon, Portugal-then a part of the Spanish Empire-and set sail for the strait of Dover, where the fleet would secure the passage for the Duke of Parma’s forces stationed in Flanders. The English fleet was thought to be only a minor problem during the voyage.7 Philip and his leaders also believed that upon arrival in England, James VI, a Catholic leader would lead an anti-Protestant rebellion that would aid Parma’s army.8 The Spanish Armada, or the Invincible Armada as it has become to be called, was originally designed by the Marquis of Santa Cruz, but he died during the planning stages of the fleet and King Philip II appointed the Duke of Medina Sidonia to head up the invasion.9 Medina Sidonia was a man with no prior experience at sea and was, in fact, a general in the army who, during the invasion, went through constant bouts of sea-sickness. The Armada was planned to have consisted of 360 Spanish ships, 80 gallias from the leaders of Venice and Genoa, and 1 gallias from the Duke of Florence. When it was time to set sail for England, t