A Battle Royale
Alone in his strange and magnificent palace, the Escorial, King Philip II brooded over the problems of governing a vast empire in a hostile world. For thirty-two years he had ruled Spain, ever since his father, Charles V, worn out by power, abdicated and retired to a monastery. Now, in the early spring of 1588, Philip contemplated an act that he knew would determine the future of his kingdom and perhaps change the course of history as well. Like his father, Philip was the most powerful and the most Catholic monarch in Europe. He resolved, though, to succeed where his father had failed. Philip intended to subdue the political and religious enemies of Spain so that Spanish power and the Catholic faith could once more enjoy unrivaled dominance in the Old World and the New.
Having assembled a great armada (navy), Philip planned to unleash it against England. He had many reasons to do so. In 1535, King Henry VIII of England had renounced Roman Catholicism when the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry then established the Church of England, or the Anglican Church. Since that time, Spain and England had been bitter foes. Philip married Henry's eldest daughter, Mary.
During her reign (1553-1558), Mary restored England to Catholicism. When Mary died, however, her half sister, Elizabeth I, succeeded her to the throne. Elizabeth was a Protestant and she declared Protestantism the official religion of her kingdom.
Philip was outraged and dismayed at this turn of events. Protestant England not only threatened the power of Spain but the authority of the Catholic Church. From Philip's point of view, the defeat of this "heretic kingdom" and its upstart queen would thus right a terrible wrong. Pope Pius V blessed Philip's undertaking, and even promised him "a million of gold, one half to be paid in ready money, and the [other] half when the realm of England . . . [was] subdued."
In addition to defending the Catholic faith, other concerns prompted Philip move against England. For some time, English ships under the command of Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake had made great sport of raiding Spanish galleons laden with gold and silver from the Americas. Philip desperately needed this precious cargo to replenish the Spanish treasury. Without the income brought from Spanish colonies in the New World, Philip found it increasingly difficult to afford the bureaucracy and the army he needed to govern and protect his empire. These acts of piracy, which Elizabeth secretly encouraged, angered Philip, who decided to put a stop to them once and for all.
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