Early modern Britain 1509–1745, Year 11: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Armada (Elizabethan England option)

1568

HintThe year after she was forced to give up the Scottish throne.

The whyShe had been forced to give up her throne after the murder of her second husband, Lord Darnley, and her marriage to the man suspected of it. She crossed the border hoping Elizabeth would help her win it back.

Henry VII

HintHer grandmother, Margaret, was his daughter.

The whyMargaret Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, had married the King of Scots. As Elizabeth had no children, Mary was her nearest heir. To Catholics who thought Elizabeth illegitimate, Mary was already the rightful queen.

About nineteen years

HintFrom her arrival until the year before the Armada.

The whyElizabeth could not send her back to Scotland, let her go to France or Spain, or allow her freedom in England. Parliament repeatedly called for her execution; Elizabeth was unwilling to kill a fellow queen and her own cousin.

The Babington Plot

HintLetters were smuggled in and out in beer barrels, and read on the way.

The whyWalsingham's agents intercepted and decoded every letter. When Mary replied approving the plan, he had the evidence needed to put her on trial for treason.

1587

HintThe year before the Armada.

The whyShe was beheaded in February. Elizabeth signed the death warrant but afterwards claimed it had been sent without her consent, and punished the secretary responsible.

It gave him a further reason to send the Armada against England

HintA Catholic queen had been put to death by a Protestant one.

The whyPhilip had supported plots to put Mary on the English throne. With her dead, that route was closed, and invasion was the way left to him.

The Netherlands were under Spanish rule, so she was backing a revolt against him

HintThe Treaty of Nonsuch sent English soldiers there.

The whyOther causes of the war were religion, with Catholic Spain against Protestant England, and years of English raids on Spanish treasure ships and colonies.

The Duke of Medina Sidonia

HintA Spanish aristocrat chosen by the king.

The whyHis orders were to sail up the Channel, join the Duke of Parma's army in the Netherlands and escort it across to England. The two forces never met.

Fireships

HintOld vessels packed with things that burn, set adrift at night.

The whyThe Armada had kept a tight crescent formation that English guns could not break. To escape the flames the Spanish captains cut their anchor cables and scattered in the dark.

Gravelines

HintA little way along the coast from Calais.

The whyEnglish ships were faster and easier to manoeuvre than the larger Spanish galleons. They fought at a distance with their guns and would not let the Spanish come alongside to board.

Storms

HintThe English spoke of a 'Protestant wind'.

The whyWith the wind against them, the Spanish could not return through the Channel. Many ships, damaged and without anchors, were wrecked on the rocky coasts. Only about half the fleet reached Spain.

1604

HintIt was signed under the new king.

The whyThe fighting dragged on for sixteen more years, in the Netherlands, in Ireland and at sea. Spain sent further fleets in the 1590s. The victory of 1588 saved England from invasion but did not win the war.