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

1568

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

为什么She 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

提示Her grandmother, Margaret, was his daughter.

为什么Margaret 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

提示From her arrival until the year before the Armada.

为什么Elizabeth 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

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

为什么Walsingham'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

提示The year before the Armada.

为什么She 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

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

为什么Philip 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

提示The Treaty of Nonsuch sent English soldiers there.

为什么Other 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

提示A Spanish aristocrat chosen by the king.

为什么His 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

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

为什么The 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

提示A little way along the coast from Calais.

为什么English 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

提示The English spoke of a 'Protestant wind'.

为什么With 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

提示It was signed under the new king.

为什么The 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.