Elizabeth's Spymaster (50 page)

10
Ibid., pp.58–61.

11
Ibid., p.90. Much of the information came from a Portuguese living in Nantes in France who had sent his son to Lisbon, where he had a kinsman working on the provisioning for the Armada. There had also been reports from Brittany.

12
A quintal was 102 lbs (46.28 kg). The capacity of a butt – a large cask – varied, but may be estimated at 108 gallons (477 litres).

13
Fernandez-Armesto, p.163. The reports were broadly correct about the location of the ordnance in the Armada ships. With the exception of small-calibre ordnance, the Spanish shunned iron guns, made of welded rods bound together by hoops of steel, because of their habit of bursting open at inconvenient moments and killing their crews. Instead, their guns were mainly of cast bronze.

14
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.24. Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in Paris, described Raleigh as being Very cold about these naval preparations and is secretly trying to dissuade the queen from them’.

15
The standing strength of the Royal Navy at this time was around twenty-five ships. In war, this would be augmented by chartering merchant ships, and various towns and cities also paid to fit out further vessels.

16
Corbett, Vol. I, pp.103–4.

17
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.63. The estimates of the size and make-up of the squadron were inflated.

18
Ibid., p.97.

19
Corbert, Vol. I, pp.106–7.

20
A small two-masted, square-rigged vessel, displacing about twenty tons, designed to be used to carry dispatches from ship to shore and vice versa.

21
This type of sixteenth-century warship was a larger version of the galley, lateen-rigged on three masts and carrying 300 slaves to man the oars. It was able to fire broadsides from guns mounted above the banks of oars. Six galleasses were to sail with the Armada in 1588 but, being more suited to calmer Mediterranean waters, suffered in the storms of the North Sea and English Channel.

22
A large merchant ship, the name originating from a corruption of the Sicilian region and town of Ragusa.

23
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.87.

24
They were unarmed and not manned.

25
SPD,
Elizabeth, 1581–90,
pp.411–12.

26
Borough (1536—1599), a famous navigator, was vice admiral for the Cadiz operation. He was placed under arrest by Drake in his own ship, the
Golden Hind,
for questioning his orders during the expedition, but the following year he commanded a ship in the battles against the Armada up the English Channel.

27
SPD,
Elizabeth, 1581–90,
p.412.

28
A three-masted ship with tall fore – and sterncastles, or superstructures, carrying up to 1, 500 tons of cargo, which had great difficulty sailing against the wind.

29
BL Harleian MS 6, 994, fol.76. Walsingham’s plan was supported by Lord Admiral Howard and the Lords Cobham and Hunsdon on the Privy Council.

30
See, for example, the estimates of Spain’s annual revenues c.1584–9 in BL Add. MS 63, 742, fols.99–105.

31
Welwood, pp.8–9, Read,
Mr Secretary Walsingham,
pp.285–6 fn. and the ‘Life of Sutton’ in
Biographia Britannica, or the Lives of the Most Eminent Persons
who have Flourished in Great Britain
, six vols., London, 1747–66, Vol. VI, p.3, 852. There is no mention of Sutton’s involvement in this economic warfare in the twenty-seven folios of his
Life,
written in the seventeenth century and now in BL Lansdowne MS 1, 198.

32
Cited by Somerset, p.568 and ‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.127.

33
The full text of the treaty can be found in Meyer, p.454.

34
Strype, Vol. III, book ii, pp.551–2.

35
Walsingham was misinformed as to the amount of the loan.

36
BL Cotton MS Galba D ii, fol.86.

37
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.62.

38
BL Cotton Vespasian C viii, fol.207.

39
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.123.

40
Ibid., p.123 fn. The rectory of the Church of St Helen’s Bishopsgate in the City of London formed the royal grant.

41
The city and port in north-west Italy, near Savona, occupied by the Spanish in the early 1570s.

42
In Holland. The city survived a siege by Spanish forces in 1573–4. Every year, on the anniversary of the relief of Leiden – 3 October – the inhabitants eat
hutspot,
a kind of stew made of carrots, onions and potatoes, the only food remaining following the siege.

43
Cited in Read,
Mr Secretary Walsingham,
Vol. III, p.287. This potential informant was Patrick Plunkett, Seventh Lord Dunsany, who was based in Ireland. He died in 1601.

44
This is mere peanuts compared to the £1.355 billion allocated in the 2004/5 budget for the British domestic Security Service MI5 alone – although these funds have been inflated considerably by current strategic concerns: the demands of the war against terrorism (67% of resources) and the prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

45
Leicester had been dispatched back to the Low Countries in June 1587 with £15,000 for the States General to pay for 5, 000 extra troops.

46
Coming from Bergamo in Lombardy.

47
BL Harleian MS 296, fol.48.

48
A letter in BL Harleian MS 286, fol.46, addressed to Jacomo Manucci, Walsingham’s trusted Florentine agent, signed ‘B. C.’ but in the same handwriting as others by ‘Pompeo Pellegrini’, is endorsed: ‘from Mr Standen’.

49
Cited by Read,
Mr Secretary Walsingham,
Vol. III, p.290.

50
BL Harleian MS 6, 994, fol.76.

51
BL Harleian MS 296, fol.46.

52
Santa Cruz was captured by four English privateer ships when they attacked his vessel, en route from the Canary Islands to Lisbon in April 1587. Valverde was taken prisoner when his ship, separated from the rest of a Spanish flotilla by a storm, was boarded in 1586.

53
Nünez had been used effectively by Walsingham in 1582 as a go-between in negotiations over a peace treaty with Spain. See Read,
Mr Secretary Walsingham,
Vol. III, pp.125–6.

54
In the original document, Philip II underlined the names.

55
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.221.

56
Two men who were to be exchanged for Valverde had already been set free and of the five Englishmen who were to be swapped for Santa Cruz, four had been freed and the fifth, James Lomas, was suffering ‘from a malignant fever’ whilst living in the home of the Archbishop of Seville’s cook.

57
Langton, Vol. I, p.213.

58
Fernandez-Armesto, p.109. A French force had landed on the island in July 1545 as their fleet attacked Portsmouth. See Hutchinson, pp.117–18.

59
Fernandez-Armesto, p.114.

60
The German Gestapo compiled a similar arrest list for Operation Sea Lion, the plan to invade Britain in 1940–1.

61
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, pp.184–6.

62
Ibid., p.123. Letter dated 12 July 1587.

63
Deacon, p.20.

64
Ibid., p.35.

65
Neale,
Essays,
p.174.

66
Mendoza was said to have three informants within the English embassy; all may have been one and the same person.

67
Deacon, p.18. Some modern historians, such as Neale
(Essays,
pp.147–69), defend Stafford and maintain his innocence of treachery, suggesting that he supplied deliberately misleading reports on his own authority. Others, notably James McDermott (‘DNB2’, Vol. 52, p.44), believe the evidence for his treason is both substantial and circumstantial.

68
Neale,
Essays,
p.153 and BL Harleian MS 288, fol.218.

69
Stafford remained as ambassador in Paris until November 1590 and died in February 1605. McDermott (‘DNB2’, Vol. 52, p.44) believes that the reason he was not impeached was because Walsingham felt less secure at court. Burghley remained a staunch friend to Stafford. Some of the ambassador’s debts were cancelled by Elizabeth after the deaths of Leicester and Walsingham in 1588–9, but he had failed to repay several more at the time of his death.

70
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, pp.164–5.

71
Read,
Lord Burghley,
p.405.

72
The practice remains in today’s war-planning in Whitehall, known by the acronym STUFT – Ships Taken Up From Trade. Such vessels were used extensively by the British during the Falklands War in 1982.

73
APC, Vol. XV, pp.252–4.

74
BL Cotton MS Galba D ii, fol.178.

75
NA PRO SP 12/198/64.

76
A plan for an inspection two months before had been stopped by Elizabeth on grounds of cost. Burghley told Walsingham on 27 October: ‘When her majesty was informed by me … of the names of such as should have been sent to the Lieutenants … she changed her mind, resting upon answer from the Lieutenants, as I think misliking the charge which would not have been above 200 marks [£60].’ See Murdin, Vol. II, p.590.

77
Walsingham received a letter from the Low Countries, dated 15 July 1588, informing him that ‘Adrian the armourer is gone to Utrecht and Amsterdam to get your armour done, in which there shall be no want of diligence used that your honour may be served speedily.’

78
Langton, Vol. I, p.107.

79
A large-calibre pistol, fired with the butt placed against the chest.

80
HMC, ‘Cal. Foljambe’, p.40. This force, probably raised in Wiltshire, was under the command of William Darell. Walsingham’s contribution was larger than any other member of the English nobility or of the Privy Council save two – Hatton and the Earl of Essex.

81
Cited by Read,
Mr Secretary Walsingham,
Vol. III, p.302.

82
BL Cotton MS Vespasian C viii, fol.97, list of crew and equipment under command of Medina Sidonia, 1 May 1588; fol.205B, Spanish shipping in the Netherlands; fol.75, account of ships’ ordnance and stores at Dunkirk, 13 June 1588.

83
Langton, Vol. I, p.221.

84
APC, Vol. XVI, p.138.

85
Ibid., p.168 and SPD,
Elizabeth,
1582–90, p.507. Burghley admitted he had sleepless nights worrying about the defences of the River Thames. The cost of the barrier was £1,470 but the structure collapsed shortly after completion. See Fernandez-Armesto, p.m.

86
Motley, Vol. II, p.435 fn 1.

87
Fernandez-Armesto, p.237.

88
A laborious and repetitive method of moving sailing ships in the absence of wind. The anchor, attached to a cable, is rowed out ahead of the ship and dropped to the sea bed. The crew then wind in the cable using a windlass, and the ship is pulled in the direction of where the anchor has been dropped. The operation is then repeated as often as necessary.

89
Langton, Vol. I, pp.288–9 and SPD,
Elizabeth, 1581–90,
p.507.

90
Langton, Vol. I, pp.301–2.

91
A type of helmet with a peak and cheek pieces.

92
SPD,
Elizabeth, 1581–90,
p.520.

93
APC, Vol. XVI, pp.171, 176–81 and 187. A last was twenty-four barrels, each containing 100 lbs (45.06 kg) of powder.

94
Parma’s original plan was to try to fool the English into believing he was attacking Ostend. His final invasion force numbered 4, 000 Spanish, 9, 000 Germans, 8, 000 Walloons, 3, 000 Italians and 1, 000 Burgundians, plus 1, 000 cavalry – a total of 26, 000 troops. They would be transported to England in 173 vessels in three squadrons made up
of pleitas –
river boats, sixty to seventy feet long and fifteen to twenty feet wide – capable of carrying 200 troops apiece – and the smaller
huyas.
Each craft would be manned by three or four sailors. See Gallagher and Cruickshank, p.96.

95
Ibid., p.239. His estimate of the number of Spanish survivors who came ashore in Ireland is probably too low: Don Alonso de Leyra had 1, 520 under his command after they were wrecked. Fitzwilliam left Dublin on 4 November and swung through Athlone to Sligo, on to Strabane and returned to Dublin on 23 December.

96
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.432.

97
Laughton, Vol. II, p.126.

98
BL Harleian MS 286, fol.149.

Chapter Eight

1
NA PRO PROB 11/75 PCC 33
DRURY.

2
His salary on appointment in December 1573 is worth £14,782 in modern monetary values, but had declined to £13,630 in 1590 as a result of the ravages of Elizabethan inflation.

3
BL Add. MS 15, 891, fol.37.

4
Nicholas,
Memoirs of…
Hatton,
p.189.

5
SPD,
Elizabeth, 1581–90,
p.181.

6
‘Cal. Spanish’, Vol. IV, p.499.

7
Stählin, p.57 fn.1. Letter to Sir Robert Bowes, Treasurer of Berwick. Walsingham, in fact, departed on 17 August with an eighty-strong escort. When he finally met the seventeen-year-old King James VI on 9 September, Walsingham
sternly remonstrated with him over his choice of councillors and bluntly pointed out his errors in government, including his tacit acceptance of outrages on the border between Scotland and England. The Scots retaliated by hiring a witch called Kate to sit at the palace entrance in Perth to taunt and revile Walsingham and his colleagues as they arrived and departed. She was paid partly in kind – a new plaid – and with
£6
in cash for her efforts. See ibid., p.100 fn.1 and BL Harleian MS 291, fol.146.