The Tudors for Dummies (AvaxHome Download) (35 page)

Brilliant and energetic though Medina Sidonia was, he didn't think the Armada

would work and wrote to Philip to beg off, claiming (rightly) a lack of naval

experience. Philip refused to let him off the hook and Philip's aides inter-

cepted more forthright letters from Medina Sidonia; the king never saw them.

So the admiral set to work. He increased the number of ships from 104 to 130;

he nearly doubled the size of his army to 19,000 men; he provided food for

the troops; and he improved the powder and shot problem for the guns.

Smashing the Armada

After leaving, the Spanish fleet sailed in a crescent formation through the

Bay of Biscay towards England's south coast, with the slower transports in

the centre rear and the faster galleasses on the wings. The problem facing

the English was that they couldn't be sure what Medina Sidonia plans were �

whether he intended a direct invasion somewhere in the south or whether he

intended to link up with Parma in the Netherlands.

Sighting the Spaniards

The English lord admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, was based at Plymouth

on the Devon coast, because from there he could strike out against the

Armada as soon as it was sighted and carry on a running gun battle up the

Channel as far as was necessary. Howard also kept a squadron off the coast

of Flanders, opposite the duke of Parma's position, to make sure he didn't

break out from there.

The Armada sailed down the Tagus on 20 May with 132 ships. They were a

motley collection of huge galleons (like Medina Sidonia's flagship, the San

Martin de Portugal), galleasses, galleys, armed merchantmen and grain ships.

Philip called this the Enterprise of England and it was underway at last. Its

crescent formation when it was first seen off the south coast of England must

have been terrifying.

Beacons were lit all over the south coast, linking up to others further inland,

so everyone knew the Spaniards were coming.

It's not likely that Francis Drake was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe and

refused to give up his game even though the Spanish fleet had been sighted.

That said, he knew the Devon seas like the back of his hand and knew he had

plenty of time before engaging the enemy. Chapter 15: Facing the Armada 263

But Medina Sidonia had problems. He had no clear instructions on how to

link up with Parma (Philip told him God would sort it out � thanks, Your

Serene Majesty; nice one!) and an appalling storm off Galicia, northwest

Spain, meant that the fleet had to put in to Corunna for repairs.

Preparing Dad's Army

The Tudors had got rid of nobles' private armies, and apart from a handful of

men who'd fought in Scotland or France very little military experience existed

in England. Everybody was afraid of Parma because of his warfaring reputa-

tion and everybody was relying on the navy to prevent him landing.

By the end of June the county militias had been organised. They were led by

the lords lieutenant and were badly armed and equipped. The plan was that

A third of them would defend the beaches � the best place to stop an

invasion.

A third would form the second wave of defence if the Spaniards got

inland.

A third would fall back on London to defend the queen, who was already

gearing up for the speech of her life (see the later section `Inspiring the

troops').

A life on the ocean waves You wouldn't have liked working on a Tudor Tudor warships didn't have hammocks (canvas warship. Check out the Mary Rose Museum at beds) until the mid 1590s, so men slept on the Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard for an idea of decks between their guns. Guns came in lots of what it was like. For most of the time you were different sizes and weights with a whole vari- cramped below decks in the dark with rats, fleas ety of names � culverins, sakers, minions, fal- and lice as well as the livestock you'd brought cons, port pieces, fowlers and bases. All guns on board for food � chickens, geese and sheep. fired round shot (iron cannonballs) designed The water had to be rationed � drinking sea- to smash through the hulls of enemy ships. On water kills your kidneys � and the usual daily firing, the guns jolted backwards with the recoil food was ship's biscuits infested with slimy little and so they had to be held fast by ropes. The creatures called weevils. Scrubbing the decks noise was deafening and some men perma- was a daily chore and you needed to be quick, nently lost their hearing. Some Spanish eye- strong and agile to climb the rigging to the mast witnesses said that the English could fire their heads 9 metres (30 feet) up in high winds and cannon as fast as the Spaniards could fire their driving rain. muskets. 264 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Keeping the crescent

The appalling weather kept Howard's fleet penned in and then blew him off

course far to the south, so he had to put in to Plymouth again to restock with

food. Luckily for him, Medina Sidonia's approach was made at the speed of

his slowest troop carriers so the English still had time to sail out against the

Spanish.

Throughout July Howard's navy bombarded the crescent formation of the

Armada, snapping at its heels as it made its way up the Channel. Fearing that

the Spaniards would land on and capture the Isle of Wight, Howard divided

his command into four. He led one squadron on board the Ark Royal and

Drake, Hawkins and Martin Frobisher led the others on board the Triumph,

the biggest ship in either fleet.

The Spanish naval battle system was different from the English. Medina

Sidonia's tactic was to fire on an enemy ship (a broadside) then get close

enough for soldiers to swing across by rope and fight hand-to-hand on the

enemy's decks. The English system, by contrast, was to continue firing until a

ship sank or surrendered and dart away out of range if the going got tough.

While the others prevented the Armada from sailing into the Solent where

the Mary Rose had gone down 43 years earlier (see Chapter 3), Drake hit their

right wing and drove them further north-east.

But despite the superior English gunnery, the crescent formation was still

intact and essentially, the Armada was still on its original course. Gravelines

would change all that.

Battling off Gravelines

When he got to Calais Roads, Medina Sidonia was appalled to see no sign of

Parma, who should have been on the coast to meet him as he put in to har-

bour. The general had been delayed and anyway would not put to sea as long

as the English navy was still harassing the Armada. He wasn't to know that

Howard's men were desperately short of shot and probably wouldn't have

been able to withstand a direct assault by the Armada.

The English admiral sent in his fire ships, which exploded in the crescent for-

mation, sank a few ships and scattered the rest.

Then, off Gravelines in France at the end of July, Howard went in for the kill.

Only three or four Spanish ships were sunk but most of the rest were made Chapter 15: Facing the Armada 265 unseaworthy. The casualty rate on board each ship probably wasn't very high, but the ships themselves scattered, leaderless, and were forced into the North Sea by rough winds.

The Enterprise of England had failed.

Limping home Many of the Armada ships never got back to Spain. They sailed all the way round the British coast and many were wrecked on the treacherous rocks of the Western Isles of Scotland (see Figure 15-3 for a map of their route from start to finish). The rocks around Britain are still littered with Spanish wrecks. Some landed on the Irish coast and were greeted as brothers in arms by fellow Catholics who hated the English. In other places, locals cut the Spaniards' throats as they waded ashore.

About 15,000 men had died, mostly by drowning, and the huge cost of the whole project threatened to bankrupt Spain.

Inspiring the troops About 20,000 men were ready to defend London if necessary. Even with the fleet scattered, the Council knew that if the Armada could put in to neutral Norwegian ports they might still refit and get Parma across to England.

On 9 August 1588 Elizabeth made speech at Tilbury, east of London. She knew that a renewed attack by the Armada wasn't likely, but the men who heard her speak that day knew no such thing and probably feared the worst. She wore a breastplate and backplate, rode a white horse and waved a sword. The queen told her men:

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart

and stomach of a king and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn

that Parma or Spain or any other Prince of Europe dare invade the borders

of my realm . . . Elizabeth was deafened by the cheers and applause and her speech has gone down as one of the great moments in history. Check out Cate Blanchett's deliv- ery in Elizabeth. She's about 20 years too young for the queen at this point in her life, but catches the combination of bravado and vulnerability beautifully.

N

[Many

shi ps l ost]

N ew c a s t l e - o n - Ty n e

ewc t yne

D ubl i n

London

D ove r Gravelines

P or tsmouth

Po r tsm outh Ca l a i s

Isle of Wight

Pa r i s

B r est

[S torm ]

La Coruna Santander

B ar cel o n a

Figure 15-3:

The Li sbon

Armada's

attack route Cadi z

and battles.

Winning the Battle, Not the War

If this was a Hollywood film, this chapter � indeed this book � would end

here, with triumph and success. History isn't like that. The show must go on. Chapter 15: Facing the Armada 267

Considering another invasion

Could a Spanish invasion have worked in 1588? No, because

English seamanship and gunnery made Medina Sidonia's plan to link up

with Parma impossible.

Bad weather helped the English enormously.

Bad Spanish planning meant that there wasn't much of a Plan A, still

less a Plan B. No one had any idea how to get Parma's troop transports

across the Channel.

Crossing the 21 miles of water to England has always proved a problem.

Napoleon couldn't do it in 1804; neither could Hitler in 1940. It only worked

in 1688 because the invading army of William of Orange was actually invited

over. The last actual enemy who'd managed the crossing was William, duke of

Normandy, in 1066.

Lining up for a rematch?

Philip was, of course, distraught, believing he must have offended God some-

how to explain the Armada's loss. But although shaken, he was also stirred

and he fought back, entirely rebuilding the fleet by 1593 and improving

West Indian and South American defences, so that when Drake attacked the

Spanish Caribbean in 1595 he came away empty-handed.

Meanwhile, under threat of yet another invasion, Elizabeth reluctantly spent

money updating Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to make it a state-of-

the art fortress (find out more about the castle in Chapter 19).

The plight of the queen's sailors More sailors died on board the English ships stayed on board because Elizabeth refused to after the Armada was scattered than during pay them, whereas a bitterly disappointed Philip the whole of the action, mostly from plague and nevertheless welcomed his men home as if they typhus. The casualty list was nearly as high were returning heroes. as that of the Spaniards. The English sailors 268 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Another Armada was launched from Ferrol in Spain in 1597, with 136 ships

and 9,000 soldiers. Again, vicious storms destroyed it off the Lizard, the

Cornish Peninsula, and no invasion took place.

Dispensing with Drake

In the autumn of 1588 the English plan was to smash the remnants of Philip's

Armada, moored in Santander, Spain. The queen sent Francis Drake to get the

job done but he exceeded his authority, as he often did, and he attempted

to put the pretender Dom Antonio onto the Portuguese throne, which Philip

had held since 1580. The deal was that Antonio was supposed to have a huge

following in Portugal (not true) and would give the English all kinds of trade

benefits (which never happened).

The campaign's backers lost a lot of cash, the queen herself losing �20,000.

Drake's career was effectively over and Elizabeth decided that from now on,

war would be conducted solely by warships under direct orders from the

Council.

For the queen herself, the last years of her reign lay ahead (see Chapter 16).

Ending an Era: 1590�1603 In This Chapter

Dealing with Devereux: the earl of Essex

Going up against Tyrone in Ireland

Sparring with Spain: the ongoing problem

Passing the baton to the Stuarts

T he end of the 16th century coincided (almost!) with the end of Elizabeth's

reign. The queen was 60 in 1594 and couldn't pretend to be a luscious

young lovely any more. Children were out of the question � and that meant

that crafty English politicians were already looking to Scotland for the next

ruling generation in James VI. `The queen is dead; long live the king.'

But before she went, Elizabeth had unfinished business. Spain was still a

threat, Ireland was still grumbling and ambitious men like Robert Devereux,

the earl of Essex, and Walter Ralegh, `that Lucifer', toyed with her affections.

And the men who'd always been there for Elizabeth had gone � William Cecil

and Francis Walsingham, who'd guided her policies and watched her back,

were dead or dying. A new generation jockeyed for position and got mixed up

in intrigue.

One thing was certain � Elizabeth would go out in a blaze of glory that still

shines bright today.

Dashing Devereux: Elizabeth's Last Fling

Robert Devereux was the second earl of Essex and the stepson of Elizabeth's

favourite, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (we cover their relationship in

Chapter 12). He was better looking than Leicester, but just as vain and ambi-

tious, and step-daddy introduced him at Court in 1584 when Essex was 18. 270 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Did they/didn't they?

Getting a handle on the relationship between Elizabeth and Essex is difficult.

In the film The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Bette Davis makes a rea-

sonable Elizabeth, but for all the white make-up, she's 20 years too young for

the queen. Essex is Errol Flynn, the greatest swashbuckler of them all and the

casting is perfect.

The real Elizabeth and Essex enjoyed each other's company and played cards

in her bedroom all night, but probably no more. She was 33 years older than

he was but the bottom line is that they each had what the other wanted.

Elizabeth was queen of England, the most powerful woman in Europe, and

could open all sorts of doors for an ambitious young blade. Essex was young,

handsome, funny and outrageous and no doubt he reminded the queen of the

now-dead Leicester and the heady days of her youth.

Climbing the promotion ladder

If one thing stands out about careers in the past, it's not what you know,

but who you know. And for every brilliant practitioner, like Thomas Wolsey,

Thomas Cromwell, William Cecil and others we meet in this book, you find a

lot of idiots. Essex was one of these.

He started out okay:

He was made general of the horse (cavalry commander) and went with

Leicester to the Low Countries where he fought at Zutphen in 1586 (see

Chapter 15).

He was knighted on the field (by his step-dad).

He was made master of the horse, following again in Leicester's foot-

steps (see Chapter 12).

So far, so nepotistic, but Essex's arrogance would've been the ending of any-

body else's career:

He quarrelled with the queen over her treatment of his mother and

flounced out of Court. That would've been social death for anyone but

Essex.

He spent a fortune, both on courtly duties and on a small sailing fleet

that was always in the red.

He joined the Lisbon expedition (part of the Counter-Armada led by Francis

Drake in 1589) when Elizabeth had told him not to and he was recalled.

Even so, he wasn't disgraced and his charmed life at Court continued. Chapter 16: Ending an Era: 1590�1603 271 Failing in France Essex's experience in the Low Countries made him believe he was a brilliant soldier (he wasn't) and he had the cheek to write to the new French king, Henri IV, to ask for a job.

The French Wars of Religion were still going on (see Chapter 13) and Henri (of Navarre, as he was then) was the leader of the Protestants against the Catholic League run by the Guises. In 1591 Henri asked for Elizabeth's sup- port in Normandy and suggested Essex as the man for the job. The queen gave Essex only 4,000 men and kept him (sensibly) on a tight rein. Even so, Essex saw himself as some sort of latter-day Alexander the Great.

The campaign didn't go well, but it wasn't entirely Essex's fault. Elizabeth and Henri disagreed over the strategy (the main objective) of the campaign and Essex wasn't good enough to rise above this. He did, however, knight 24 of his officers on the battlefield, which annoyed the queen considerably.

Elizabeth recalled Essex after six months, but guess what? He wasn't just still a favourite at Court; he got a job on the Privy Council as well.

Stirring up the Council By the 1590s Elizabeth's 22-strong Council had dwindled to a hardcore of 13 who met regularly. Of these, only a handful made most key decisions � William Cecil (replaced after his death in 1598 by his son Robert); Lord Howard of Effingham (the lord admiral) and Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon, (the lord chamberlain). They were a tight-knit bunch and dropping Essex into their little pond was a disaster.

From February 1593, when Essex arrived, people began to flock round him for advancement. Elizabeth was shrewd enough to realise that this was dodgy and didn't promote any of his followers. Essex began to smell a conspiracy.

While Essex was taking part in the capture of Cadiz in 1596 (see `Looking Beyond England' later in this chapter), Elizabeth promoted Robert Cecil to principal secretary. He'd been doing the job for a while because his dad was too old and ill to cope.

Robert Cecil was deformed, possibly with a spinal condition, and was only about 147 centimetres (4 foot 10 inches) tall. Elizabeth (who of course had known Robert since he was a baby) called him `my imp', which he hated.

When Essex came back from Cadiz he was furious to find the younger Cecil in the top job and clashed with him constantly. 272 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Essex had his own spy network and was well informed about events in Europe.

He dealt directly with leaders in France, Scotland and the United Provinces

(the northern Netherlands � see Chapter 15) and his mood swings were

affected by how well-informed he was. When his confidence was low, Essex

sulked and quarrelled with everybody; when it was high, he was generous and

gracious.

In 1597, at a particularly low point, Essex left the Court but came back on the

death of William Cecil the following year. Elizabeth made him earl marshal,

the senior peer of the realm.

The earl marshal's job today is to organise the great state occasions like

Trooping the Colour and the Opening of Parliament. In Elizabeth's day occa-

sions like these (see her progresses in Chapter 12) were the only way in which

ordinary people ever saw their monarch, so they were vitally important PR

exercises. Even today, nobody does pageantry like the British.

Tackling Tyrone

Increasingly, after the death of Philip of Spain (see the later section `Looking

Beyond England') and treaties between Spain and France, the mood of the

Council was for peace. Essex stood out like a sore thumb over this, look-

ing for military glory anywhere he could find it. He didn't want Ireland, but

the death of the governor, Sir Thomas Burgh, in 1597 meant that he got it

anyway.

Understanding Ulster

The most northern of the Irish provinces, Ulster, was divided between

Turlough O'Neill and Hugh O'Neill, the earl of Tyrone, who was a Gaelic chief-

tain and an Anglo-Irish peer (for more on the O'Neills, see Chapters 13

and 14).

Hugh O'Neill had been raised in the English Court, and in spite of his open

Catholicism and proud Gaelic heritage he believed he was the man to run

Ulster for the English and stop centuries of in-fighting. This became particu-

larly important in 1586�1587 when Philip II had been toying with the idea of

mounting a Spanish invasion from Ireland (see Chapter 15).

The Council, however, didn't want to know about Tyrone's offer of stability �

neither did the English governor at the time, William Russell. Mightily miffed

by this snub, Tyrone became a rebel against the English instead.

The earl of Tyrone isn't the usual hero of any film and the one portrait of him

isn't likely to be accurate, so we don't know what he looked like. But check out

Alan Hale's performance in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. How could

any self-respecting Irishman fail to follow him? Chapter 16: Ending an Era: 1590�1603 273 Reviving hope Tyrone raised a huge army of 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. Unlike most rebel armies, which were small and badly equipped, Tyrone's men were trained and had the latest state-of-the-art muskets and pikes. By June 1595 Tyrone had taken Sligo and most of Connaught.

Slightly panicky, the Council sent over reinforcements. Russell now had 600 cavalry and 4,000 infantry.

Playing for time In October Tyrone asked for a pardon and got a truce that lasted until the fol- lowing May. He was hoping that Philip II, still harbouring ever wilder dreams of mounting another Armada (see Chapter 15), would use his services against the English. Tyrone's chance was lost along with several ships that Philip sent out in October 1597.

Upping the ante The scale of Tyrone's actions against the English had now amounted to a civil war. Russell was recalled by the Council and replaced by an excellent soldier- administrator, Thomas Burgh. He was outnumbered by Tyrone, however, and died of typhus before he could make any real headway against him.

No hard evidence exists to tell us where Tyrone's cash was coming from. Okay, he had Ulster under his control, which brought in about �80,000 a year in rent, but the war was costing him �500 a day. Perhaps some Spanish loot was coming his way.

Fighting at the Ford On 14 August 1598 Tyrone, backed by rebel leaders Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh Maquire, smashed an English army under Henry Bagenal at the Battle of Yellow Ford over the Blackwater River. Bagenal himself was killed and this was a major blow to English hopes of controlling the provinces. More than 3,000 settlers fled from the plantations in Munster, mostly to Cork and Waterford.

Tyrone's rebellion was something new in Irish history. It was organised, disci- plined and backed with cash. Using the Catholic religion and Gaelic heritage, Tyrone helped to create a national identity in Ireland that, centuries later, would drive the English out of all provinces except, ironically, his own in Ulster.

It was against this background that Essex took up his Irish appointment in March 1599. His failure in Ireland was more obvious than in France. He had a massive army of 17,000 men but spent weeks marching all over southern Ireland, where no opposition existed, and decided he couldn't meet Tyrone head on. 274 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Forced north on the orders of a furious Elizabeth, Essex inexplicably only had

4,000 men with him when he met the rebels near Louth. He agreed a feeble

truce with Tyrone and Elizabeth recalled him.

Rebelling with Essex

This time the queen's darling had gone too far and as soon as he arrived in

England Essex was arrested and spent a year in prison. Elizabeth would hear

no more excuses � the man was in his 30s by now, an experienced soldier and

politician, and he'd made a complete dog's breakfast of Ireland.

Released in August 1600, Essex was a broken man. His finances were non-

existent and he was forbidden to attend Court, the one place where he might

have smarmed round the queen again. He sulked at Essex House in London

throughout October, brooding over the enemies who'd conspired against him �

Robert Cecil, of course, Lord Cobham on the Council and one of the most daz-

zling men of Elizabeth's age, Walter Ralegh (you can find out about him in the

nearby sidebar `That Great Lucifer: Walter Ralegh').

`That Great Lucifer': Walter Ralegh

Ralegh (he never spelled the name with an Essex replaced Ralegh as the queen's favou-

`i') was another Devon seadog like Drake and rite, and he never had an earldom or a place on

Hawkins (see Chapters 12 and 15). He loved the Council. In 1592 the queen found out about

nothing better than a fight and had abandoned Ralegh's affair with one of her ladies, Bess

his Oxford University place to fight for the Throckmorton (check her out in Chapter 17),

French Huguenots (Protestants) at Jarnac and and put Ralegh in prison for four years (over the

Moncontour. He raided Spanish colonies with top, or what?), only letting him out to negotiate

his half-brother Humphrey Gilbert and put down with Devon pirates for her cut of the loot from

a rising in Ulster in 1580. a Spanish treasure ship, the Madre de Dios,

which was the biggest prize of the entire reign.

Elizabeth was dazzled by Ralegh � his West

Country brogue, his dark, brooding good looks � Ralegh was supposed to be an atheist and a

and she heaped honours on him. Ralegh was member of the pseudo-scientific School of

seriously rich after she gave him total control Night (see Chapter 17 for more on this group).

of wine imports and cloth subsidies. In the He lived on after Elizabeth in increasing dis-

1580s he was exploring North America and set- favour under James I and was executed at

ting up the English colony at Roanoke, bringing Whitehall in 1616.

tobacco and potatoes to England (see Chapter

18 for more on this).