The Spanish Armada (49 page)

Devereux
,
Robert
,
Second Earl of Essex
(1566–1601). Created a knight banneret for his bravery at the battle of Zutphen
in 1586 and became a favourite of
Elizabeth I
. He joined Drake’s and Norris’s expedition to Spain and Portugal in 1589 without the queen’s consent and was forced to obey
her letter ordering him ‘at his uttermost peril’ to return home imme- diately. The following year he married
Walsingham
’s daughter Frances, widow of Sir Philip Sidney,
enraging Elizabeth. In 1596, he commanded the successful English raid on Cadiz with
Lord Howard of Effingham
and Sir Walter Raleigh. Three years later, Essex was appointed lieutenant and
governor-general of Ireland but his attempts to suppress the rebellion led by Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in Ulster were disastrous, and he was deprived of his offices. In 1601 he tried to
raise a rebellion in London and was executed on 25 February on Tower Green.

Dudley
,
Robert
,
Earl of Leicester
(1533–88), fifth son of the executed John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Proclaimed
Lady Jane Grey (his sister-in-law) queen at King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 1553 but later pardoned by
Mary I
. Became favourite of
Elizabeth I
and was suspected of murder- ing his
first wife, Amy Robsart, at Cumnor, Berkshire, in 1560. Leicester launched the association for the protection of Elizabeth in 1584 and the next year was appointed commander of the English forces
sent to the Low Countries to assist the rebels against the Spanish. In January 1586, he became governor of the Dutch United Provinces. After being recalled, he was appointed lieutenant general of
the land forces mustered at Tilbury, Essex, to repel the Spanish invasion. He died of a ‘continual burning fever’ at his house at Cornbury, Oxfordshire, on 4 September 1588.

Fitzwilliam
,
Sir William
(1526–99). Administrator; lord deputy of Ireland, 1571–5 and 17 February 1588–11 August 1594.
Vice-treasurer and treasurer-at-war, Ireland. Ordered the arrest and execution of all Spanish survivors of the Armada ships wrecked on the west coast of Ireland on 22 September 1588. Punitive
expedition in counties Westmeath, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Tyrone against Spanish fugitives and those Irish hiding them, 4 November–23 December 1588. Died at Milton, Northamptonshire, 22
June 1599 and buried at Marham, Norfolk.

Radcliffe
,
Henry
,
Fourth Earl of Sussex
(?1530–93). Constable of Portchester Castle, Hampshire,
1560, and warden and captain of Portsmouth, 1571. Succeeded his brother as earl 1583 and was heavily involved in the defences of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, for which he was rewarded by being
made a Knight of the Garter in April 1589.

Radcliffe
,
Thomas
,
Third Earl of Sussex
(
c
.1525–83). Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1559–64. Appointed Lord
President of the North in 1569 and put down the rebellion of the
Earls of Northumberland
and
Westmorland
, pursuing the rebels into Scotland.

Walsingham
,
Sir Francis
(
c
.1532–90).
Elizabeth’s
Minister and spy- master. Ambassador in Paris, 1570–3;
witnessed the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris on St Bartholomew’s Day, 24 August 1572. Privy Councillor and joint Secretary of State 20 December 1573 and knighted on 1 December 1577.
Elizabeth starved him of funds for his network of spies in England and across Europe. Died at his home in Seething Lane, London, with debts of £27,000, on 6 April 1590. Buried the following
night in Old St Paul’s Cathedral.

NAVAL AND MILITARY COMMANDERS

Bingham, Sir Richard
(1528–99). Soldier; from 1584, governor of the Irish province of Connacht with his brothers George and John serving as assistant
commissioners. He fought for the Dutch rebels as a volunteer in the Low Countries in 1578. Sent to Ireland in 1579 to assist in the sup- pression of the second Desmond Rebellion. Presided over
Galway Assizes early in 1584 when he declared more than seventy death sentences on rebels. Later the same year he successfully besieged Castle Cloonoan, in Clare, afterwards slaughtering the
garrison. Died, Dublin, 19 January 1599 and buried in Westminster Abbey.

Borough
,
William
(1536–99). Naval commander. Appointed Comptroller of the Queen’s ships in 1580. Hanged ten masters of captured
pirate ves- sels at Wapping on the River Thames in June 1583. Vice-admiral during
Sir Francis Drake
’s raid on Cadiz in April 1587 and afterwards acquitted of charges of mutiny and
cowardice. Commanded the galley
Bonavolia
in the Thames estuary during the Armada campaign.

Drake
,
Sir Francis
(1540–96). Vice-admiral and second-in-command of English fleet during the Armada campaign; swashbuckling privateer
and navigator. Called ‘
El Draque’
by the Spanish. Born in Tavistock, Devon, the eldest of twelve sons of the Protestant farmer Edmund Drake. Second
cousin of
Sir John Hawkins
and accompanied him in selling African slaves to the Spanish in the Caribbean. Knighted by
Elizabeth
on board his ship
Golden
Hind
at Deptford, 4 April 1581 after his circumnavigation of the world in 1577–80. In 1585 Drake sacked the Spanish ports of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola and Cartagena in today’s
Columbia and captured the Spanish fort of San Augustine in Florida. Sacked Cadiz and destroyed some of the Armada shipping, 1587. Together with Sir John Norris, led a privately funded English
expedition 1589 to attack surviving Armada warships in Spain and to instigate a Portuguese uprising in support of the pretender Dom Antonio. This proved unsuccessful and Drake fell out of favour
for some years. Died of dysentery during expedition to West Indies and was buried at sea near Puerto Bello, Colón, Panama, 28 January 1596.

Frobisher
,
Sir Martin
(1539–94). Navigator and naval commander. Undertook three voyages to New World, landing in north-east Canada,
1576–8. Commanded the
Triumph
in campaign against Armada and led one of
Howards’
squadrons. Knighted and appointed commander of squadron in Narrow Seas 1588–9.
In November 1594, he was involved in the siege and relief of Brest, France and received a gunshot wound during the siege of the Spanish-held Fort Crozon. He died at Plymouth on 15 November.

Hawkins
,
Sir John
(1532–96). Naval commander, privateer and slaver. Undertook three slaving voyages to Sierra Leone 1562–8; during
last, most of his ships were destroyed by a Spanish fleet and Hawkins had to land some of his crews in Mexico because of lack of food. Appointed Treasurer of the Navy 1 January 1578 and introduced
new designs for faster, more manoeuvrable warships. Commanded
Victory
in Armada campaign and the rear squadron during fighting in the English Channel. Knighted by
Howard
after the
action off the Isle of Wight. Died at sea off Puerto Rico in 1596 while serving with
Drake
on an expedition to the West Indies.

Howard
,
Charles
,
Second Baron Effingham
and later
Earl of Nottingham
(1536–1624). Eldest son of
William Howard, first son of Thomas Howard, Second Duke of Norfolk and his second wife, Agnes Tilney. Married Katherine Carey, eldest daughter of
Elizabeth
’s second cousin, Lord
Hunsdon, in 1563
.
Commanded cavalry during the 1569 northern rebellion. Lord Chamberlain 1574–85. Appointed Lord High Admiral of England in May 1585. Commissioner at trial of
Mary Queen of Scots
. Commanded the English fleet during skirmishes against the Armada up the English Channel in 1588; fought Battle of Gravelines and chased the
survivors into Scottish waters. Created Earl of Nottingham in 1596 after his successful raid that year on shipping in Cadiz and appointed lieuten- ant general of all England in 1599.
Commissioner at
Essex
’s trial, 1601. Commissioner for union with Scotland, 1604 and at trial of gunpowder plot conspirators, 1606.

Norris
,
Sir John
(?1547–97). Soldier. Whilst a captain under Sir Walter Devereux, First Earl of Essex in Ulster in 1573, Norris
massacred two hundred Scots at Rathlin Island, afterwards killing several hundred of their women and children. In 1577, he commanded English volunteers in the Low Countries fighting the Spanish in
support of the Dutch rebels. He had three horses shot from under him at the battle of Rijmenam on 2 August 1578 and relieved Steenwijk two years later. Returned home in 1584 and appointed president
of Munster in Ireland that July. Commanded a small English army in Low Countries in 1585 and was knighted by
Leicester
the following year after his relief of the town of Grave. Under
Leicester, marshal of the camp at west Tilbury during the Armada cam- paign and with
Drake
, led the unsuccessful expedition to northern Spain and Lisbon in 1589. In 1591–3, fought
for Henri IV of France, in support of the Protestant cause in Brittany, seizing the Spanish fortress of Crozon, outside Brest. After further inconclusive military service in Ireland, he died at
Mallow, probably from gangrene from old wounds.

Wynter
,
Sir William
(d.1589). Naval commander. Surveyor of Navy, 1549–89; master of ordnance, 1557–89. Knighted 1573. Commanded
Vanguard
during Armada campaign.

CATHOLICS EXECUTED OR IMPRISONED IN ENGLAND

Babington, Anthony
(1561–86). Conspirator whose correspondence with Mary Queen of Scots, containing plans for a foreign invasion, a Catholic uprising and
the assassination of Elizabeth, was the major factor in her subsequent indictment and execution. Executed at Tyburn, 20 September 1586.

Campion
,
St Edmund
(1540–81). Jesuit martyr. Joined Jesuits 1573 and ordained priest 1578. Chosen for mission to England with Robert
Parsons 1580. Arrested at Lyford, Berkshire, on 17 July 1581 and taken to Tower of London, where he was racked three times. Executed at Tyburn, 1 December 1581. Beatified in December 1886 and
canonised by Paul VI in 1970.

Howard
,
St Philip
,
Earl of Arundel
(1557–95). Eldest son of
Thomas
Howard, Fourth Duke of
Norfolk
. Became a Catholic in 1584 and impris- oned after attempting to escape from England in 1585. Condemned to death for allegedly arranging Mass for the success of the Spanish Armada in
the Tower of London, but not executed. Died in the Tower of London from malnutrition and ill treatment, although some claimed he was poi- soned. Canonised by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970.

Howard
,
Thomas
,
Fourth Duke of Norfolk
(1536–72). Inherited the title from his grandfather, the third duke on his death
in 1554. Too trusting and politically naïve, he became embroiled in the Catholic conspiracies in London and planned to marry
Mary Queen of Scots
and was executed in 1572.

Parry
,
William
(died 1585). Conspirator. Secretly became a Catholic around 1579. Accused in 1585 of conspiring to kill
Elizabeth I
and exe- cuted 2 March 1585, Palace Yard, Westminster.

Percy, Blessed Sir Thomas, Seventh Earl of Northumberland
(1528–72). Elder son of Sir Thomas Percy, attainted and executed in June 1537 for his prominent
role in the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion against Henry VIII. Mary I favoured him as a staunch Catholic and granted him the Earldom of Northumberland in 1557. After promises of Spanish mili- tary
assistance in 1569, Northumberland, together with
Charles Neville, Sixth Earl of Westmorland,
rebelled in 1569 with the aim of freeing
Mary Queen of Scots
and restoring England to
Catholicism. After the revolt failed, Northumberland fled to Scotland but was handed over to the English authorities in exchange for £2,000 and he was beheaded in the market place at York on
22 August 1572. Beatified by Pope Leo XIII in May 1895.

Throckmorton
,
Francis
(1554–84). Member of a large West Midlands Catholic family who acted as an intermediary between
Mary Queen of
Scots
and her agent in Paris, Thomas Morgan. Executed at Tyburn on 10 July 1584 for his role in plotting a French invasion of England; the Spanish ambassador
Bernardino de Mendoza
was
expelled from England in January 1584 for his role in the conspiracy.

EXILED CATHOLICS

Allen, Dr William,
later
Cardinal of England
(1532–94). Leader of the exiled English Catholics in Europe during
Elizabeth
I
’s reign. Principal of St Mary’s Hall, Oxford, in 1556 but fled to the Spanish Netherlands in 1561. Founded a seminary college at Douai, in the Low Countries (now
in northern France), funded by Pope
Gregory XIII
but it was expelled in 1578 and re-established in Rheims, in the Champagne-Ardennes region of France, under the protection of
the Guise family. Allen supported plans to enthrone
Philip II
of Spain in England – with him appointed Papal Legate, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor in a Catholic
government.
Sixtus V
made him a cardinal on 7 August 1587 at the request of Philip II. Buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity, adjoining the Venerable English College in Rome.

Arundel
,
Charles
(?1540–87). Second cousin to
Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk
. Devotee of Mary Queen of Scots. Fled
England in the aftermath of the Throckmorton plot of 1583.