Spanish hegemony and the
Counter-Reformation achieved a clear boost in
1554, when Philip married
Queen Mary, a Catholic, the older daughter of
Henry VIII, and his father's first cousin). However, they had no children;
Queen Mary, or "Bloody Mary" as she came to be known in English Protestant lore, died in
1558 before the union could revitalize the Catholic Church in England.
The throne went to the formidable
Elizabeth, the Protestant daughter of Henry VIII and
Anne Boleyn. This union was deemed illegitimate by English Catholics, who did not recognize divorce and who claimed that
Mary, Queen of Scots, the Catholic great-granddaughter of
Henry VII, was the legitimate heir to the throne.
The execution of
Mary, Queen of Scots, in
1587 ended Philip's hopes of placing a Catholic on the English throne. He turned instead to more direct plans to return England to Catholicism by invasion. His opportunity came when England provided support for the Dutch rebels. In
1588 he sent a fleet of vessels, the
Spanish Armada, to lead an invasion. The fact that the Spanish fleet had no deep bay in which it could deploy its main fleet meant that it was unable to land and was vulnerable to the smaller English ships. The absence of a backup from the troop carrying ships that were unable to link up with the Armada meant that they were isolated and open to the English fire ships and close range artillery. It was by no means a slaughter; it was a tightly fought battle, but the Spanish were caught in an awkward position and were forced back into retreat. Nonetheless, the operation had little chance of success from the beginning with huge delays, lack of communication between Philip II and his two commanders and of course the obvious lack of a deep bay. Eventually, three more Armadas were deployed; two were sent to England (
1596 and
1597), both of which also failed; the third (1599) was diverted to the Azores and Canary Islands to fend off raids there. This
Anglo-Spanish war (1585-1604) would be fought to a grinding end, but not until both Philip II (d. 1598) and Elizabeth I (d. 1603) were dead.
The stunning defeat of the
Spanish Armada gave great heart to the Protestant cause across Europe. The storm that smashed the retreating armada was seen by many of Philip's enemies as a sign of the will of God. Many Spaniards blamed the admiral of the armada for its failure, but Philip, despite his complaint that he had sent his ships to fight the English, not the elements, was not among them. A little over a year later, in a chat with a monk working in his garden, Philip remarked that:
"It is impiety, and almost blasphemy to presume to know the will of God. It comes from the sin of pride, Even kings, Brother Nicholas, must submit to being used by God's will without knowing what it is. They must never seek to use it."
The Spanish navy was rebuilt, and intelligence networks were improved. An example of the character of Philip II can be given by the fact that he personally saw that the wounded of the Armada were treated and received a pension, which was unusual for the time.
While the invasion had been averted, England was unable to take advantage of this success. An attempt to use her newfound advantage at sea with a
counter armada the following year failed disastrously. Likewise, English buccaneering and attempts to seize territories in the Caribbean were defeated by Spain's rebuilt navy and her intelligence networks (although Cadiz was destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch force after a failed attempt to seize the treasure fleet.)
Even though Philip was bankrupt by
1596 (for the fourth time, after France had declared war on Spain), in the last decade of his life more silver and gold were shipped safely to Spain than ever before. This allowed Spain to continue her military efforts, but led to an increased dependency on the precious metals.
