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The Elizabethan Triumph and Unsettlement, 1585-1603

 Leicester in Neth; P2 plans invasion
o Only wants RC toleration & withdrawal from Neth
 Compile 130 ships to ferry Parma
o 3 years to fund, build, & assemble fleet
 Royal Navy founded by H8
o Navy Board w/ Lord High Admiral (Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham)
o Brain of Hawkins and heart w/ Drake
o New warship: longer, faster, maneuverable, more guns
 35 of them by 88 + converted merchant ships
 1585: Drake captures & burns SP port of Vigo
o 1587: attacked Cadiz (Armada assembly point)
 Destroy 30 ships, “singled the King of Spain’s beard”
 Wounded prestige, and delayed 1 year

What about Mary?

 Mid 80s: Mary corresponds w/ foreign agents & conspirators
o Intercepted by Walsingham
o Treaty of Berwick (mid-86): pledge mutual assistance b/w ENG-SCOT
 £4000/year pension & tacit promise of succession if J6 stays quiet
 Babington Plot: Anthony, former page of Mary
o Rally RC to support SP invasion & assassinate Eliz (first time)
o Walsingham discovered, but waited for Mary’s reaction
o Incriminating letter
 PC convinces Eliz by autumn 86 that this violates 85 legislation
o Eliz hesitates, signed warrant, left w/ 2nd Secr. State William Davison
 No instructions to implement
 Davison asks PC, convince to use
 Mary executed 2/8/87
o Eliz furious – Mary state funeral – protests innocence to James
 Sacked, fined Davison to Tower
 Released in 88, given lands, & paid salary until death in 1608
 Try to deflect SCOT, FR, SO anger by not ordering implementation
o Machiavellian?

The Spanish Armada

 Spring 1588: 130 ships w/ 7000 sailors + 17,000 soldiers to pick up 17,000 Parmese
o El Invencible – commander duke of Medina-Sidonia
 Pedigree, courtly, manners – not merit or experience
o Convoy, not fleet – warships in crescent to defend transports
 Only as fast as slowest ship – 8 knots (9MPH)
o Ill-equipped: few had cannon to sink ships at long range (20% of English)
 Plan to grapple + board
 Faster English avoid; stand off and pound
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 Medina-Sidonia told P2, but P2 confident God-favored

o Papal blessing, punish heresy
o SP ships: Santa Anna, San Martin de Portugal, Nuestra Senora del Rosaria
o EN ships: Victory, Triumph, Revenge, Ark Royal
 EN: no real army – ad hoc in Neth
o In EN only palace guard + militia “trained bands”
o 26,000 trained 10 days /year
o 200,000 untrained civilians w/ own muskets/pikes organized by county under Lords LTs
 Vs. greatest, most battle-hardened army in Europe
 Eliz joined (solidarity) @ assembly point @ Tilbury, Essex in July
o “My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of or safety, to take
heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery… Let tyrants
fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest
strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects… I know I have
the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king,
and of a king of England to, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of
Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any
dishonor shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general,
judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.”
 Armada sighted 7/19/88 – bonfires 7/21
o 1st encounter – EN stand at 300 years & bombard  little damage
o 7/27 make port at Calais
 Supposed to be Flushing, but Dutch retook
 Fireship attack 7/28 – Battle of Gravelines
o Few destroyed, but cut anchors to flee – out of formation
o Medina calls off, but Channel in English hands
 Orders fleet go around SCOT-IRESP
o Violent gales “Protestant wind” batter, low provisions, many founder trying to put into
IRE
 ½ ships return; b/w 5-15,000 dead
o Boost confidence & morale – providential deliverance as special nation
 Medal Afflavi Deus et dissipati sunt (God blew and they were scattered)

The War at Sea and on the Continent

 Only beginning of war – outlasts all to 1604
o Armada  SP resolve & expanded war
o 1st world war – EUR, N-AM, S-AM, ATL, & PAC
o Strains ENG administration & finances to limits
 Vast armies, navies
 Cecil: limited defensive war in Neth (FR & IRE)
o Leicester & Essex: offensive by land and sea
o Silver fleets: Eliz never decided – tried both, but insufficient
o Tried to fight on cheap w/o PARL taxation
 Paid by adventurers & investors
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 1589: Drake – 140 ships, 23,000 me search & destroy Armada

o Plan: aid rebellion in PORT, then take Azores to raid New World shipping
o Go to Corunna instead & sack, get drunk
 Lisbon attack botched; take Azores, but forced to abandon
 Cost £100,000 & 11,000 men – similar in 95, 96, & 97
o Panama invasion in 95-96 where both Hawkins & Drake die
 Some smashing successes, but most of limited scope
 Neth war b/w 85-1603: conscript 90,000 men (11-12% male population)
o Most drafted were landless, vagrants, & criminals
o Captains chose equipment after lump sum from Exchequer
 Cheaper equipment means more $
o Low morale, desertion, disease
 Inadequate diet & clothes lead to poor sanitation (typhoid, dysentery)
 Leicester home late 87, dies
o Neth gathers resources, gain time
o Prince Maurice of Nassau more effective, use EN as auxiliaries after 90
o Take Breda; Parma d. 92; SP on defensive
 Dutch begin to repay debt 1600
 89: EN support Bourbon vs. Cath-League
o RC victory would doom Neth & open up Armada II
o 4000 men to secure Normandy in September
o More troops 91, failure, heavy disease, but buy H4 time
 93 conversion splits FR RC moderates
 Peace w/ Cath-League in 96, Spain 98  Nantes, 98

The War(s) in Ireland

 94: N-IRE province Ulster rebels
o Island descends into vicious 9 Years War
o AN-IRE & septs supposed acknowledge EN king
o 1530-40s, H8 acknowleged as king & Supreme Head
o Surrender & regrant
o REF little accepted
o Destabilized after death & removal of Kildares
 1546-7 unrest: H8 & Somerset abandon surrender & regrant for expanded garrison, but too
much $
 “plantations” – confiscate Gaelic land
o Grant to PROT from EN & SCOT (“New English”)
o Lords and some peasants thrown off land
o Rest turned into shires w/o JPs –EN law, courts, rel
o 1560: Act of Uniformity for Ireland passed by Dublin
 Bishop conform, but not laypeople
 No Gaelic Bible or BCP
 Technically, all Ireland but Ulster English by 1590
o Hostility, bitterness, & plantation econ unsuccessful
o “old” resent “new”, high taxes, troops
o Riots vs. cess (tax for soldiers), frequent martial law – family rivals w/ support
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 Rebellions vs. Eliz: Butlers, 60s; O’Briens, Fitzgeralds, some Butlers (rest of S & E) in 68-73;
earl of Desmond & Lord Baltingloss in Munster & Pale, 79-83; Connaught 89; Ulster 94
o Usually local feuds, not religious or national
o Suppress w/ increasing brutality
o Massacres, crop burns
o PROT saw as civilizing mission
 Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, #1 in Ulster, threatened
o Struck 1st, seize EN mil positions in winter 95-6
o Sought “Old”, SP, papal support
o Offered crown to SP
 Some “Old” stay away, suspecting O’Neill of power grab
 SP expedition 96: destroyed by “Protestant wind II”
o 97 & 99 weather thwarts
o Eliz overextended –O’Neill wants: pardon, rel tolerance, Ulster autonomy
 In 98 Irish win victory, slaughter English in Munster  critical for Eliz to
respond
 16,000 foot + 1300 horse under Essex – brave, chivalrous, impulsive, prideful
o Poor general – Spring 99
o Aimless marching in S-IRE, wasting £300,000 in 5 months
o Peace talks with Tyrone (technically treason) in Sept, but he’s outmaneuvered


 /\\NU,;NH/9/
 Abandons army to defend self @ court
 Tyrone burns ENG lands in South
 Christopher Blount, Lord Mountjoy replaced Essex
o Suppressed revolt by 12-24-1601
 P2 sent 3400 elite troops in 1601 to seize Kinsale
o Mountjoy besieges, forcing Tyrone to come N to relieve
o Tyrone defeated, SP surrender
 Tyrone submits 3-30-1603: days after Eliz’s death
 Cost £2,000,000; Ulster devastated; Munster & Cork depopulated; trade ruined; famine; 60,000
Irish dead; 30,000 EN dead  bad legacy
 1607: Tyrone, earl of Tyronnel, others flee to EUR for RC support
o Never return
o “flight of the earls” – left peasants
 EN confiscate land for PROT
o Ulster becomes PROT (still today)
 By 1640: 40,000 Scots & 10-20,000 EN
 RC own 60% of IRE until Cromwell
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Crisis of the 1590s

 World war stretches capacity & resources, but no major reforms
o Expanded local gov’t & mil
o Mil spending 85-04 £ 4,500,000; or £240,000/year
o ½ on IRE
o Cecil: expand revenues from £160,000 to £300,000
 Frugality; feudal dues; selling land
 Disgruntled nobles, unpopular over long-term
o Expenditures still £100,000 over income
 ELIZ didn’t like PARL
o Met 28 times in 30 years from 1529-1558; then 8 times over next 25 years
o Usually during crises for taxes: 85, 86, 87, 89, 93, 87-8, 01
o Taxes paid for war b/w 89-01: £1.1 million
 Inflation and widespread evasion
 Debt @ death only £365,254
 P2 went bankrupt 3 times
o PARL raise uncomfortable issues, develops expertise, est. solidarity
 Local laws & agriculture, trade, industry, religion, poor relief, crimes (slander,
shoplifting, witchcraft) – followed PC lead
 62% MPs only sat once
 Others many times, some seasoned
 Reassert idea of redressing grievances
 Eliz repeatedly rejected idea that PARL could debate “matters of state”
o Her responsibility for church reform, marriage, foreign policy
o When Eliz heard in 1563 group MPs planned to discuss marriage  Tower
o Same w/ Peter Wentwork in 87, 93, 96
 Died in Tower in 96 – free speech martyr
o Cecil’s job to manage to get $$
 Eliz used charm: c. 60 members of Lords – harder w/ 462 MPs
o Played trump card: aura of sanctity, courage, affection, & popularity
 1601: EN taxpayers sick of war
o Lots of recruits, feudal dues, purveyance (royal right to commandeer # food from each
county)
o Econ crisis thru 80-90s: wool trade w/ NETH war
 Plague in 90s; 4 bad harvests in 90s
 Wheat price doubled, riots, death rate 150%
 Rapid population growth: inflation, wage stagnation, unemployment
 Small business failures, credit restrictions, crime rates up
 PARL attempted fix econ & soc distress w/ Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601
o Monopolies granted as rewards to favorites
 Sale of commercial goods: nails, soaps; Raleigh-tin, playing cards & taverns)
o Cut from merchant profits  pass to consumers
 Benefit gov’t, not buyer
 Price of starch 3X; salt 11X
o Taxes never approved by PARL; violate paternalism
o PARL tried to address (59, 71, 76) – nothing; promised in 98 – nothing
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 1601 speech: afterwards repeals 12 of them, but no PARL statute

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 Eliz: lonely as courtiers die & replaced

o Leicester, 1588; Walsingham, 1590; Hatton 1591; Cecil 1598
o New favorites: Essex, Raleigh (captain of king’s guard, but never PC)
o PC important: more than deliberate & advise
 Oversaw new collections, expenditures, named commissioners (L-Lts, JPs); Star
Chamber
 Used as 11-13 trusted personal advisers – not representative body of important
men
 Robert Cecil – PC in Aug 91; Sec State 96 – led faction vs. Essex
 Essex: patron, old noble values Eliz crushing
o Flirtatious, feel young
o Frustrated at Cecil’s control of patronage
o Only 2500 gov’t posts – 1200 suitable for gentlemen
 Eliz kept household expenses down to £40,000/year
o Women hold posts close to her in Privy Chamber (maids of honor)
o No expansion of court, no new palaces
 Compete for favor – gaudy hose & dyed hair
 By end of Eliz’s life – factions struggle for preeminence in succession
o PC IRE debate July 98
o Essex stands, turns back – Eliz orders return, slaps “Go and be hanged” (proud, woman!)
 “intolerable wrong” – grabs hilt – restrained
o Banned from court – forgiven in Oct 98 – sent to IRE in 99
o Cecil’s rival gone from court
 Essex’s IRE disaster – abandons for court
o Essex bursts in Privy Chamber 9-28-99
 First time anyone knows he’s back from IRE
o Plead case in private – Star Chamber: abandon command + treason w/ Tyrone
 Private hearing: June 1600 – stripped all but Master of Horse, confined to Essex
House, London
 Autumn: Eliz doesn’t renew monopoly on sweet wines
o Heavily in debt b/c of high living & generosity
o Claimed to free Eliz from Cecil – counts on his London popularity
 Revolt – march on London 2-8-01
 Want crown? – few join
o Fled to Essex House @ end of day, surrendered  executed end Feb
 Noble power not land or affinity – but royal favor & court standing
o Tudors: relatively united, centralized state under powerful monarch
 Succession question
o Eliz afraid of death
o Remembers own time under Mary
o Refuse to address: heir might try to supplant – admit death
o Privately admitted James VI, who cultivated Cecil (promise grease transition if he made
no move until death)
 Died Richmond Palace 3-24-03: Cecil proclaims James I
o Transition smooth & peacefully in middle of war, econ crisis, nat’l anxiety
 Tribute to Tudors
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 Very different from H7 takeover

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 Tudors: calmed disorder from taking power, tamed nobles & Church
o Forged EN as PROT nation w/ strong, central king able to defend itself
o Much more secure in 1603 than 1485 or 1558
o EN still susceptible to unpredictable weather, disease, population growth, and econ/soc
consequences
o Tudor gov’t achievement had ignored, marginalized, & oppressed many in EN, IRE, in
N
 Unanswered questions about sovereignty, finances, religion, foreign policy,
central vs. local control