Their knavish tricks frustrated

The Enterprise of England, the name given by His Most Catholic Majesty, Philip II of Spain, to the attempted overthrow of Queen Elizabeth I and the conquest of England, was part of a great plan. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada set sail for the English Channel, Philip already controlled the greater part of the accessible globe. But Europe was divided into Protestant and Roman Catholic camps and the Calvinist Spanish Netherlands were in revolt against rule from Madrid. If Philip could bring England back to Rome and, by taking possession of the powerful Tudor navy, gain the means to subdue the Dutch rebels, the Counter-Reformation and the Spanish Crown might carry all Europe before them. A Spanish victory would also relieve Spanish imperial trading vessels from constant and costly plundering by English pirates, led by the fearsome and fearless Drake, on the high seas.

Neil Hanson’s entertaining and exhaustive book sets out the issues at stake and with great clarity unravels the bewildering diplomatic, dynastic, religious and commercial turmoil of late 16th-century Europe. So various and conflicting were the pressures on Elizabeth that it is a bit unkind to charge her as unrelentingly as Hanson does with indecision. Philip gets only slightly higher marks for statesmanship, but neither he nor Elizabeth, as Hanson makes clear, could rely on any of their sources of intelligence. Nor is there much to be gained from painting Elizabeth as avaricious. Mediaeval monarchs could not regularly rely on parliaments for money; they were expected to be rich and they were expected to live by their wits and to provide for themselves.

By and large, however, Hanson’s touch is sure. The pen sketches of the leading characters are well pointed. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia had not experience of naval warfare before 1588 and he was given to sea-sickness.