History Is Written By The Victors

'History is written by the Victors ': How does this help us to understand English and Spanish interpretations of the Spanish Armada?

The English and the Spanish interpretation of the outcome of the Spanish Armada differ greatly. English believed they were the true victors; that God had helped England to defeat the Spanish; for the English throughout history the Armada was seen as part of national identity. However evidence suggests that this may not have been the outcome of the Armada, and the victory was exaggerated by England.
For much of the sixteenth century Spain and England had been allies, this was due to the marriage of Philp II and Mary Tudor; Mary also had strong catholic beliefs and even killed many protestants in her reign, earning her the name ‘Bloody Mary’. However Mary’s death in 1558 meant the crown was passed to Mary’s half-sister; Elizabeth I.1 After Mary’s death Phillip had offered to marry Elizabeth, to keep the relations between Spain and England; however Elizabeth rejected his proposal and wanted to rule England on her own. When Elizabeth became queen, she introduced England to being Protestants, however the Catholics saw Elizabeth as being an illegitimate queen. The Catholics believed the rightful queen was Mary Stewart; a Catholic. After the murder of her husband; Earl of Darnley, she was imprisoned but escaped and fled to England. However after the Throckmorton plot to kill Queen Elizabeth; as well as other catholic plots. Queen Elizabeth had ordered the execution of Mary Stewart in 1587. Mary’s death developed tension between Phillip II and Queen Elizabeth; as Philip was also catholic. However it is also said that Phillip commanded the Armada due to him wanting to take the throne for himself and rule England under catholic Spain. Another reason for the Armada was Elizabeth signing the Treaty of Nonsuch and taking the side of the Dutch in the Anglo-Spanish War 1585-1604.2 Elizabeth’s involvement with the Netherlands and the help she gave to Antion; the successor- also a protestant, was seen by Phillip as damaging to his reputation. The attack on Spain in 1586 by Sir Francis Drake also caused a lot of tension between the two countries. By October 1585 Phillip II was planning the invasion of England.
Phillip II had two proposals for a plan of the Armada; the first being a plan by one of his commanders; Santa Cruz. However Cruz’s plan involved a high number of men and a vast amount of money. The other proposal was by Phillip’s nephew, the prince of Parma; his plan was a surprise attack that needed a considerably smaller amount of men and money.3 Phillip chose a combination of both the plans. The Armada was not well hidden, word got to England of Phillip’s plans to invade. However it can be argued that it was Phillip’s intention for England to be aware of his plan; hoping to panic Elizabeth. The Queen took action and Elizabeth’s main commander Sir Francis Drake was sent to attack Spain in 1587. Drake attacked Cadiz; one of the ports where many ships of the Armada were being constructed, although Cadiz were tipped off that Drake would be invading, Spanish didn’t take this seriously; Drake was able to destroy many of the Ships.4 It was then that Santa Cruz suffered a sudden death on the thirteenth of January 1588, however Phillip was quick to replace his commander with the Duke of Medina Sidonia.5 The plan was to meet Parma in the Netherlands by traveling up the English Chanel. The Duke had troops waiting for the arrival of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, then the pursuit to invade England.6 However bad weather and a lack of food and water had delayed the Armada in April 1988. It was not until May the Armada was able to sail again. However the Spanish ships were heavy and hard to manoeuvre. Therefore when the Armada hit bad weather again, the ‘famous’ crescent formation of the ships was destroyed and many of the ships were not able to recover.7 On the ninetieth June the fleet stopped at Corunna, for supplies and to fix damaged vessels. The fleet was able to set off a month later on the twenty second of July.
As Elizabeth had already heard the news of the incoming invasion. Elizabeth and her commander in charge; Baron Howard of Effingham and his Vice-Admiral, Drake, were able to raise a large army to defend England. This resulted in a battle in Plymouth, led by Drake. However the battle did very little damage to the Armada, and is said it was just a waste of ammunition. At this time the Protestant Dutch were not allowing Parma’s fleet leaving the Netherlands. English attacked again, and this time was able to break the crescent. The only port available to stop was Calais. However winds were to strong and the Spanish were worried the winds would take them to far north. Elizabeth visited some of her troop in Tilbury on the ninth of August. This is when the famous ‘Tilbury speech’ took place. However there is no evidence of the speech ever taking place, and is rumoured to be propaganda developed throughout the years; as there was no reliable eyewitness. Throughout history Elizabeth is said to have ridden on a white horse, with her armour and a helmet. However once again there is no evidence of this. It may have been an image that was manifested by the Stewarts, who saw Elizabeth as a role model.8 While the Spanish were anchored at Calais, the English had sent ‘fire ships’ in an attempt to disarm the Spanish. It is said that the Spanish has fled in a panic, abandoning their defence. However it is said that the Spanish has seen a stray fire ship and were moving to safety back to Spain9 The English for many years have claimed victory over the Spanish, due to believing the bad weather was due to God being on the English side. However the English had better ships to compete with the weather. They also had help from the Dutch rebels keeping Parma’s fleet from leaving. The English was also strategically better, and had strong commanders. It can be seen that the Victory was deserved, however can also be down to a touch of luck.

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Bibliography
Adams. R, History of the Spanish Armada, Royal Museums Greenwich, (April 2008), http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/charts-and-maps/research-guide-p3-charts-of-the-spanish-armada-by-robert-adams-in-the-museum,
Background to the Armada, British Library,http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/uk/armada/back/backd.html
Frye. S, The Myth of Elizabeth at Tilbury, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 95-114
Jensen. D.L, The Spanish Armada: The Worst-Kept Secret in Europe, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Winter, 1988), pp. 621-641
Kelsey. H, Sir Francis Drake: The Queen 's Pirate, (Yale Nota Bene, 2000)
Hirschman. E.C, Back to the future: Islamic Spain as a model for marketing efflorescence, Marketing Theory, December (2013) vol. 13 no. 4, pp. 513-520,
Martin. C, Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada: Revised Edition, (Mandolin, Manchester University Press),
Tenace. E, Spanish Armada (1588), The Encyclopedia of War, 13 NOV 2011 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow587/abstract

Bibliography: Adams. R, History of the Spanish Armada, Royal Museums Greenwich, (April 2008), http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/charts-and-maps/research-guide-p3-charts-of-the-spanish-armada-by-robert-adams-in-the-museum, Background to the Armada, British Library,http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/uk/armada/back/backd.html Frye. S, The Myth of Elizabeth at Tilbury, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 95-114 Jensen. D.L, The Spanish Armada: The Worst-Kept Secret in Europe, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Winter, 1988), pp. 621-641 Kelsey. H, Sir Francis Drake: The Queen 's Pirate, (Yale Nota Bene, 2000) Hirschman. E.C, Back to the future: Islamic Spain as a model for marketing efflorescence, Marketing Theory, December (2013) vol. 13 no. 4, pp. 513-520, Martin. C, Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada: Revised Edition, (Mandolin, Manchester University Press), Tenace. E, Spanish Armada (1588), The Encyclopedia of War, 13 NOV 2011 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow587/abstract