Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)

The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared.^{[citation needed]} The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in support of the resistance of the States General to Spanish Habsburg rule.

The English enjoyed some victories at Cádiz in 1587, and saw the Spanish Armada retreat in 1588, but then suffered severe defeats of the English Armada in 1589 and the Drake–Hawkins and Essex–Raleigh expeditions in 1595 and 1597 respectively. Two further Spanish armadas were sent in 1596 and 1597 but were frustrated in their objectives mainly because of adverse weather and poor planning.

The war became deadlocked around the turn of the 17th century during campaigns in Brittany and Ireland. It was brought to an end with the Treaty of London, negotiated in 1604 between representatives of the new King of Spain, Philip III, and the new King of England, James I. England and Spain agreed to cease their military interventions in the Spanish Netherlands and Ireland, respectively, and the English ended high seas privateering.

Causes[edit]

In the 1560s, Philip II of Spain was faced with increasing religious disturbances as Protestantism gained adherents in his domains in the Low Countries. As a defender of the Catholic Church, he sought to suppress the rising Protestant heresy in his territories, which eventually exploded into open rebellion in 1566. Meanwhile, relations with the regime of Elizabeth I of Englandcontinued to deteriorate, following her restoration of royal supremacy over the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy in 1559; first instituted by her father Henry VIII and rescinded by her sister Mary I. The Act was considered by Catholics as an usurpation of papal authority. Calls by leading English Protestants to support the Protestant Dutch rebels against Philip increased tensions further as did the Catholic-Protestant disturbances in France, which saw both sides supporting the opposing French factions.

Complicating matters were commercial disputes. The activities of English sailors, begun by Sir John Hawkins in 1562, gained the tacit support of Elizabeth, even though the Spanish government complained that Hawkins's trade with their colonies in theWest Indies constituted smuggling. In September 1568, a slaving expedition led by Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake was surprised by the Spanish, and several ships were captured or sunk at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz, Mexico. This engagement soured Anglo-Spanish relations and in the following year the English detained several treasure ships sent by the Spanish to supply their army in the Netherlands. Drake and Hawkins intensified their privateering as a way to break the Spanish monopoly on Atlantic trade.

English support was provided to Prior of Crato in his struggle with Philip II for the Portuguese throne. Philip began to support the Catholic rebellion in Ireland against Elizabeth's religious reforms.

In 1584, Philip signed the Treaty of Joinville with the Catholic League of France to stop the rise of Protestantism in France. In 1585, Elizabeth signed the Treaty of Nonsuch with the Dutch rebels, agreeing to provide them with men, horses, and subsidies. Philip took this to be an open declaration of war against his rule in the Netherlands.

In retaliation for the execution of Mary, Philip vowed to invade England to place a Catholic monarch on its throne. He assembled a fleet of about 130 ships, containing 8,000 soldiers and 18,000 sailors. To finance this endeavour, Pope Sixtus V had permitted Philip to collect crusade taxes. Sixtus had promised a further subsidy to the Spanish should they reach English soil.^[2]

On 28 May 1588, the Armada set sail for the Netherlands, where it was to pick up additional troops for the invasion of England. However, the English navy inflicted a defeat on the Armada in the Battle of Gravelines before this could be accomplished, and forced the Armada to sail northward. It sailed around Scotland, where it suffered severe damage and loss of life from stormy weather.

The defeat of the Armada provided valuable seafaring experience for English oceanic mariners. While the English were able to persist in their privateering against the Spanish and continue sending troops to assist Philip II's enemies in the Netherlands and France, these efforts brought few tangible rewards.^[3] One of the most important effects of the event was that the Armada's failure was seen as a sign that God supported the Protestant Reformation in England. One of the medals struck to celebrate the English victory bore the Latin/Hebrew inscriptionFlavit יהוה et Dissipati Sunt (literally: "Yahweh blew and they were scattered"; traditionally translated more freely as: "He blew with His winds, and they were scattered".)

An "English Armada" under the command of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norreys was dispatched in 1589 to torch the Spanish Atlantic navy, which was refitting in Santander, Corunna and San Sebastián in northern Spain. It was also intended to capture the incoming Spanish treasure fleet and expel the Spanish from Portugal – ruled by Philip since 1580 – in favour of the Prior of Crato. The English Armada was arguably misconceived and ended overall in failure. Had the expedition succeeded in its objectives, England may have threatened Spain's existence, and could have demanded that all of Spain's territory in the Americas be ceded in exchange for peace. Some merchant ships were captured at Corunna but when the English force, while waiting for a fair wind, pressed its attack on the citadel, they were repulsed and a number of English ships were captured by Spanish naval forces. Owing to poor organisation and lack of co-ordination with the Portuguese and Spanish reinforcements, the invading force also failed to takeLisbon. Sickness then struck the expedition, and finally a portion of the fleet led by Drake towards the Azores was scattered in a storm. In the end, Elizabeth sustained a severe loss to her treasury.