The Spanish Armada (50 page)

Englefield, Sir Francis
(
c
.1520–96). Imprisoned for celebrating Mass before Princess Mary, 1551. Lost his seat on the Privy Council on
Elizabeth I’
s accession and fled to Valladolid, Spain, before May 1559.
Mary Queen of Scots
’ agent in Spain and later
Philip II
’s English secre- tary.
Outlawed for high treason in 1564 and estates confiscated in 1585. Blind for the last twenty years of his life. Buried at Valladolid.

Neville, Charles, Sixth Earl of Westmorland
(1543–1601). With
Sir Thomas Percy, Seventh Earl of Northumberland
, rebelled in 1569 with the aim of
freeing
Mary Queen of Scots
and restoring England as a Catholic realm. After the rebellion failed, he fled to the Spanish Netherlands, living at Louvain on a pension from
Philip
II
of Spain. In 1580, appointed colonel of a regiment of English refugees fighting for Spain and the following year went on pilgrimage to Rome. Died, heavily in debt, at Nieuport, 16 November
1601.

Sanders, Nicholas
(
c.
1530–81). Fled to Rome after
Elizabeth
’s acces- sion and ordained priest. His hopes of a cardinalate were
dashed by the death of Pius V in 1572 and he went to Madrid but
Philip
’s caution frus- trated his attempts to gain Spanish military assistance for the English Catholics. Published
De visibili Monarchia Ecclesiae
in 1572, giving the first account of the sufferings of Catholics in England. Papal commissary during 1579 invasion of Ireland and after its defeat, spent
two years as a fugitive in south-west Ireland, dying of dysentery and starvation.

Stukeley, Sir Thomas
(?1520–78). Privateer for
Elizabeth I
in 1563 but escaped to Spain seven years later where he received a pension from
Philip II
. He later joined a Portuguese expedition against Morocco and died after a cannon ball took off both his legs at the battle of Alcácer Quibir.

SCOTLAND

James VI of Scotland
, later succeeding
Elizabeth
as James I of England (1566–1625), Son of
Mary Queen of Scots
and her second husband
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

Mary Queen of Scots
(1542–87). Only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland who died when she was six days old. Widow of
François
II
of France, then of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and latterly wife to James Hepburn, Fourth Earl of Boswell. She had quartered the arms of England with those of Scotland and France in her
personal heraldry and claimed she was the strongest heir presumptive to the English crown through her direct descent from Henry VIII’s elder sister Margaret. Fled Scotland in May 1568 to
become the guest and prisoner of
Elizabeth I
for nineteen years before her execution at Fotheringay on 8 February 1587.

James Stewart, Earl of Moray
(
c
.1531–70). Illegitimate half-brother of
Mary Queen of Scots
, being the bastard son of her father James V
and Lady Margaret Erskine, wife of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven. Leader of the Scottish Reformation, adviser to Mary Queen of Scots after her return to Scotland in 1561 and the following year
defeated the rebellion by George Gordon, Fourth Earl of Huntley, at the Battle of Corrichie, near Aberdeen. Appointed Regent of Scotland in July 1567 after Mary’s forced abdication and
defeated her forces at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568. Assassinated by a supporter of Mary’s at Linlithgow, 23 January 1570 when he was fatally wounded by a gunshot fired out of a
window as he passed below in procession.

FRANCE

François II
(1544–60). King of France 1559–60. First husband of
Mary Queen of Scots,
marrying her on 24 April 1558 at Notre Dame
Cathedral Paris at the age of fourteen. Crowned at Rheims but governance of France was in the hands of his wife’s uncles, François and Charles de Guise. François II died, aged
sixteen, at Orléans from a brain abscess caused by an ear infection.

Henri III
(1551–89). King of France 1574–89 and elected monarch of Poland 1573–5. His Edict of Beaulieu in 1576 granted concessions to French
Huguenots and triggered the formation of the Catholic League. Fled Paris in May 1588 after
Henry Guise, Third Duke of Guise
entered the city. After Guise’s assassination, imprisoned
his son but Parliament
preferred criminal charges against him. Stabbed by a Dominican friar Jacques Clément at Saint Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, on 1 August 1589, his
assassin immediately killed by the royal guards. He died the following morning, naming the Protestant Henry of Navarre as the new King of France.

Guise
,
Henri
,
Third Duke of Guise
(1550–88) and cousin of
Mary Queen of Scots.
Helped plan the St
Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Huguenots in Paris in 1572 and formed the Catholic League. Nicknamed
Le Balafré
(‘the Scarred’) after being wounded in the cheek by a
harquebus shot during the Battle of Dormans on 10 October 1575 against German merce- naries fighting for the Protestant cause in France. On 9 May 1588, Guise entered Paris after Catholic rioting in
the city, forcing the French king
Henri III
to flee. After appointing Guise ‘Lieutenant General of France’, he summoned him on to the Château de Blois 23 December 1588
where Guise was assassinated.

NETHERLANDS

Justin of Nassau
(1559–1631). Illegitimate son of
William, Prince of Orange
and his mistress Eva Elincx. Appointed lieutenant admiral of Zeeland,
28 February 1585. Governor of Breda, 1601–25, when he sur- rendered the city to the Spanish after an eleven-month siege.

William I, Prince of Orange
(1533–84). ‘William the Silent’ was the main leader of the Dutch revolt until his assassination. Joined Calvinist
church 1574. Survived an assassination attempt on 18 March 1582 in Antwerp, when he was wounded in the face by a pistol fired by the Spaniard Juan de Jáuregni. Killed by a pistol shot in the
chest, fired at close range by a French Catholic, Balthazar Gérard, in the Prinsenhof in Delft, in the Netherlands after
Philip II
offered 25,000 crowns as a reward to any assassin
who killed this ‘pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race’. William’s last words were reportedly: ‘May God have pity on my soul: may God have pity
on this poor people.’

SPAIN

Philip II of Spain
(1527–98). ‘Philip the Prudent’ acceded to the throne on the abdication of his father Charles V in January 1556. King of
Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily. During his second marriage (of four) to
Mary I
in 1554–8, was also King of England and Ireland. In 1560, led a Holy
League
of Spain, Venice, Genoa, the Papal States and the Knights of Malta against the Ottoman Turks, destroying the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Dutch subjects rebelled against Spanish
rule in the Netherlands from 1568 and their States General declared they no longer recognised Philip as king in 1579.
Elizabeth I’
s
alliance with the Dutch and
Drake’
s
attacks on Spanish assets led to Philip’s plans to invade England. He was also at war with Protestant Henri IV of France in 1590–8. Died in his
palace of El Escorial, near Madrid, on 13 September 1598.

AMBASSADORS

de Figueroa, Gómez Suárez, Fifth Count de Feria
(?1520–71), later Duke of Feria. Captain of Spanish Guard 1558 and prominent counsel- lor to
Philip II.
Anglophile. Appointed Philip’s personal representative in England at end of 1557. Remained in England until May 1559.

de Mendoza
,
Bernardino
(
c
.1540–1604). Spanish ambassador in London 1578–84 and supporter of the cause of
Mary Queen
of Scots
. Son of the Count of Corunna, served as a cavalry captain with Spanish forces in the Low Countries 1567–75. Implicated in the
Throckmorton
plot and expelled from London
in January 1584, becoming Spanish ambassador in Paris from November that year. Acted as paymaster to the French Catholic League but after a cataract operation, he became blind in 1590 and resigned
because of poor health. Died in the convent of San Bernardo of Madrid.

NAVAL AND MILITARY COMMANDERS

de Baz
á
n, Álvaro, First Marqués of Santa Cruz
(1526–88). Captain general of the navy and of the ocean. Commanded
galleys of Naples in 1568 and commanded the reserves during the battle of Lepanto, 1571. Captured the Azores from supporters of Dom Antonio, Prior of Crato, fol- lowing the naval battle of Terceira
in 1583. On 9 August 1583, suggested invading England in a letter to
Philip II
. Died at Lisbon, 9 February 1588.

de Bertendona
,
Martin
(died 1604). Commander of the Armada’s Levant squadron in
La Regazona.
Brought his flagship safely home
and in 1589 was involved in the defence of Corunna against
Drake
’s and
Norris
’s expedition.

Farnese
,
Alexander
,
Duke of Parma
(1545–92). Mother was half-sister to
Philip II
. Fought against the Turks in
the naval battle of Lepanto, 1571; Governor of Netherlands and commander of Spanish forces against the
Dutch rebels, 1578. Successfully besieged Antwerp, July
1584–August 1585; captured the port of Sluis, August 1587. Failed to rendezvous with Medina Sidonia’s Armada.

de Guzmán
,
Alonso Pérez
,
Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia
(1550–

1615). Commander-in-chief of Spanish Armada, unwillingly succeed- ing
Santa Cruz
on his death in February 1588, because of his lack of military experience and fear of
seasickness. After a cautious campaign up the English Channel, Medina Sidonia was sent into convalescence but retained his posts of captain general of the ocean and of Andalusia. His slow response
to the English attack on Cadiz in 1596 brought criticism in Spain, as did his loss of a squadron in fighting against the Dutch off Gibraltar in 1606.

de Oquendo
,
Miguel y Sequra
(died 1588). Fought in the battle of Terceira under
Santa Cruz
in 1583. Commander of the Guipúzcoa
squadron of Spanish Armada but his ship caught fire and he died soon afterwards.

de Recalde
,
Juan Martinez
(1532–88). Commanded Spanish naval forces in Netherlands, 1572–80 and in the latter year, was naval
commander in the expedition to the west coast of Ireland. Commanded the Biscayan squadron in the Armada campaign.

de Toledo, Fernando Alvárez
,
Third Duke of Alba
(1507–82). Governor and captain-general of Spanish Netherlands 1567–73.

de Valdés
,
Diego Flores
(
c
.1530–95). Spanish admiral and chief of staff and adviser to Medina Sidonia. Cousin and bitter
enemy of
Pedro de Valdés
, commander of the Armada’s Squadron of Andalusia. Joined Spanish navy in 1550, serving in Peru and Chile in 1555 and in the Caribbean from 1565.
Commander of the Chilean fleet, 1581–4, protect- ing Spain’s South American trade against English pirates. After return of Armada, imprisoned in Burgos.

de Valdés
,
Pedro
(1544–1615) Spanish admiral, commander of the Armada’s Squadron of Andalusia from 1587. Fought against the
Ottoman Turks in the eastern Mediterranean; against French privateers off the coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico in 1566–73 and in the campaign of 1582–3 in the Portuguese
Azores. Cousin and bitter enemy of
Diego Flores de Valdés,
Medina Sidonia’s chief of staff. His flagship
Nuestra Senõra de Rosario
was captured by
Sir
Francis Drake
after she was badly damaged in several collisions. Ransomed in February 1593. (He may have been the inspiration for the ‘great pirate Valdés’ in
Shakespeare’s
Pericles,
Prince of Tyre
, written in 1607 or early 1608.) Served as captain general of Cuba 1602–8 and created Marqués of Canalejas.
Died at Gijón.

THE VATICAN

Gregory XIII
(1502–85). Pope 1572–85. Reforming Pope who laboured to stem the tide of Protestantism by founding or supporting a number of seminary
colleges for priests. After the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris in 1572, he held a celebratory
Te Deum
mass in Rome and struck a commemorative medal inscribed ‘vgotiorum
strages’ (‘Massacre of the Huguenots’). Sent papal troops to support the second Desmond Rebellion in Ireland in 1579–80. The English Jesuits persuaded him in 1580 to water
down
Pius V
’s bull excommunicating
Elizabeth I
; English Catholics were now advised to obey her while awaiting her overthrow.

Pius V
(1504–72). Pope 1566–72. On 25 February 1570, he published the bull
Regnans in Excelsis
that excommunicated
Elizabeth I
and deprived this ‘pretended queen’ of her throne and absolved her Catholic subjects of any loyalty or allegiance to her. Their disobedience would also attract excommunication.

Sixtus V
(1520–90). Pope 1585–90. Imposed new taxes and sold appoint- ments to repair Vatican finances after the papacy of
Gregory XIII.
Although he admired her greatly, agreed to renew the excommunication of
Elizabeth I
and to grant a subsidy to
Philip II
, payable only after the Spanish Armada landed in England.
He also excommunicated Henri IV of France.