Explain the Main Causes of the Spanish Armada

At this time, Portugal was being ruled by Spain. Portugal wanted full independence from Spain, but naturally, they refused. England supported Portugal and were allies of the Portuguese.

Mary Queen of Scots was not a popular choice to be Queen as she was strongly Catholic and the country at the time was Protestant. She was also unwilling to take advice from the English nobles. When she was to marry, despite having several candidates from amongst the English nobility, she ignored all advice and married Prince Philip, heir to the throne. Philip only married Mary as he wanted to turn England Catholic. When he realised this was never going to happen he rushed back home. This coincided with the death of his father. Abandoned by Philip, Mary decided to Prosecute the Protestants. She was eventually executed. Spain was angry as they had supported Mary Queen of Scots. When Elizabeth took the throne, she refused to marry Philip II next. Also, Spain was still furious about the way Catherine of Aragon had been treated by Henry VIII.

The Spanish ships were bringing back enormous cargoes of gold and silver from South America. The English sea captains like Drake stole these cargoes and their ships regularly.

These were angering Spain but were not a pretence to go to war until the ‘Singeing of the King of Spain’s Beard’

In a daring raid Sir Francis Drake and a few ships destroyed the Spanish fleet as it was anchored deep in Cadiz harbour. This was seen by the Spanish as the last straw and an out and out act of war. They moved their ship building to the safety of Lisbon. Shortly after, the King called for the Spanish Armada to be assembled, in retaliation to the sheer act of aggression from the British.

From this essay you can see the reasons why the Spanish Armada occurred. The ‘Singeing of the King of Spain’s Beard’ was known as the trigger event as it was the very thing that pushed Spain over the edge. However, the religious conflict in England was probably the most significant of the causes of the Spanish Armada in terms of fostering Spanish anger.