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.
Englefield, Sir Francis (c.1520–96). Imprisoned for celebrating Mass before Princess Mary, 1551. Lost his seat on the Privy Council on Elizabeth I’s accession and fled to Valladolid, Spain, before May 1559. Mary Queen of Scots’ agent in Spain and later Philip II’s English secre- tary. Outlawed for high treason in 1564 and estates confiscated in 1585. Blind for the last twenty years of his life. Buried at Valladolid.
Neville, Charles, Sixth Earl of Westmorland (1543–1601). With Sir Thomas Percy, Seventh Earl of Northumberland, rebelled in 1569 with the aim of freeing Mary Queen of Scots and restoring England as a Catholic realm. After the rebellion failed, he fled to the Spanish Netherlands, living at Louvain on a pension from Philip II of Spain. In 1580, appointed colonel of a regiment of English refugees fighting for Spain and the following year went on pilgrimage to Rome. Died, heavily in debt, at Nieuport, 16 November 1601.
Sanders, Nicholas (c.1530–81). Fled to Rome after Elizabeth’s acces- sion and ordained priest. His hopes of a cardinalate were dashed by the death of Pius V in 1572 and he went to Madrid but Philip’s caution frus- trated his attempts to gain Spanish military assistance for the English Catholics. Published De visibili Monarchia Ecclesiae in 1572, giving the first account of the sufferings of Catholics in England. Papal commissary during 1579 invasion of Ireland and after its defeat, spent two years as a fugitive in south-west Ireland, dying of dysentery and starvation.
Stukeley, Sir Thomas (?1520–78). Privateer for Elizabeth I in 1563 but escaped to Spain seven years later where he received a pension from Philip II. He later joined a Portuguese expedition against Morocco and died after a cannon ball took off both his legs at the battle of Alcácer Quibir.
SCOTLAND
James VI of Scotland, later succeeding Elizabeth as James I of England (1566–1625), Son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
Mary Queen of Scots (1542–87). Only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland who died when she was six days old. Widow of François II of France, then of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and latterly wife to James Hepburn, Fourth Earl of Boswell. She had quartered the arms of England with those of Scotland and France in her personal heraldry and claimed she was the strongest heir presumptive to the English crown through her direct descent from Henry VIII’s elder sister Margaret. Fled Scotland in May 1568 to become the guest and prisoner of Elizabeth I for nineteen years before her execution at Fotheringay on 8 February 1587.
James Stewart, Earl of Moray (c.1531–70). Illegitimate half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots, being the bastard son of her father James V and Lady Margaret Erskine, wife of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven. Leader of the Scottish Reformation, adviser to Mary Queen of Scots after her return to Scotland in 1561 and the following year defeated the rebellion by George Gordon, Fourth Earl of Huntley, at the Battle of Corrichie, near Aberdeen. Appointed Regent of Scotland in July 1567 after Mary’s forced abdication and defeated her forces at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568. Assassinated by a supporter of Mary’s at Linlithgow, 23 January 1570 when he was fatally wounded by a gunshot fired out of a window as he passed below in procession.
FRANCE
François II (1544–60). King o
f France 1559–60. First husband of Mary Queen of Scots, marrying her on 24 April 1558 at Notre Dame Cathedral Paris at the age of fourteen. Crowned at Rheims but governance of France was in the hands of his wife’s uncles, François and Charles de Guise. François II died, aged sixteen, at Orléans from a brain abscess caused by an ear infection.
Henri III (1551–89). King of France 1574–89 and elected monarch of Poland 1573–5. His Edict of Beaulieu in 1576 granted concessions to French Huguenots and triggered the formation of the Catholic League. Fled Paris in May 1588 after Henry Guise, Third Duke of Guise entered the city. After Guise’s assassination, imprisoned his son but Parliament preferred criminal charges against him. Stabbed by a Dominican friar Jacques Clément at Saint Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, on 1 August 1589, his assassin immediately killed by the royal guards. He died the following morning, naming the Protestant Henry of Navarre as the new King of France.
Guise, Henri, Third Duke of Guise (1550–88) and cousin of Mary Queen of Scots. Helped plan the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Huguenots in Paris in 1572 and formed the Catholic League. Nicknamed Le Balafré (‘the Scarred’) after being wounded in the cheek by a harquebus shot during the Battle of Dormans on 10 October 1575 against German merce- naries fighting for the Protestant cause in France. On 9 May 1588, Guise entered Paris after Catholic rioting in the city, forcing the French king Henri III to flee. After appointing Guise ‘Lieutenant General of France’, he summoned him on to the Château de Blois 23 December 1588 where Guise was assassinated.
NETHERLANDS
Justin of Nassau (1559–1631). Illegitimate son of William, Prince of Orange and his mistress Eva Elincx. Appointed lieutenant admiral of Zeeland, 28 February 1585. Governor of Breda, 1601–25, when he sur- rendered the city to the Spanish after an eleven-month siege.
William I, Prince of Orange (1533–84). ‘William the Silent’ was the main leader of the Dutch revolt until his assassination. Joined Calvinist church 1574. Survived an assassination attempt on 18 March 1582 in Antwerp, when he was wounded in the face by a pistol fired by the Spaniard Juan de Jáuregni. Killed by a pistol shot in the chest, fired at close range by a French Catholic, Balthazar Gérard, in the Prinsenhof in Delft, in the Netherlands after Philip II offered 25,000 crowns as a reward to any assassin who killed this ‘pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race’. William’s last words were reportedly: ‘May God have pity on my soul: may God have pity on this poor people.’
SPAIN
Philip II of Spain (1527–98). ‘Philip the Prudent’ acceded to the throne on the abdication of his father Charles V in January 1556. King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily. During his second marriage (of four) to Mary I in 1554–8, was also King of England and Ireland. In 1560, led a Holy League of Spain, Venice, Genoa, the Papal States and the Knights of Malta against the Ottoman Turks, destroying the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Dutch subjects rebelled against Spanish rule in the Netherlands from 1568 and their States General declared they no longer recognised Philip as king in 1579. Elizabeth I’s alliance with the Dutch and Drake’s attacks on Spanish assets led to Philip’s plans to invade England. He was also at war with Protestant Henri IV of France in 1590–8. Died in his palace of El Escorial, near Madrid, on 13 September 1598.
AMBASSADORS
de Figueroa, Gómez Suárez, Fifth Count de Feria (?1520–71), later Duke of Feria. Captain of Spanish Guard 1558 and prominent counsel- lor to Philip II. Anglophile. Appointed Philip’s personal representative in England at end of 1557. Remained in England until May 1559.
de Mendoza, Bernardino (c.1540–1604). Spanish ambassador in London 1578–84 and supporter of the cause of Mary Queen of Scots. Son of the Count of Corunna, served as a cavalry captain with Spanish forces in the Low Countries 1567–75. Implicated in the Throckmorton plot and expelled from London in January 1584, becoming Spanish ambassador in Paris from November that year. Acted as paymaster to the French Catholic League but after a cataract operation, he became blind in 1590 and resigned because of poor health. Died in the convent of San Bernardo of Madrid.
NAVAL AND MILITARY COMMANDERS
de Bazán, Álvaro, First Marqués of Santa Cruz (1526–88). Captain general of the navy and of the ocean. Commanded galleys of Naples in 1568 and commanded the reserves during the battle of Lepanto, 1571. Captured the Azores from supporters of Dom Antonio, Prior of Crato, fol- lowing the naval battle of Terceira in 1583. On 9 August 1583, suggested invading England in a letter to Philip II. Died at Lisbon, 9 February 1588.
de Bertendona, Martin (died 1604). Commander of the Armada’s Levant squadron in La Regazona. Brought his flagship safely home and in 1589 was involved in the defence of Corunna against Drake’s and Norris’s expedition.
Farnese, Alexander, Duke of Parma (1545–92). Mother was half-sister to Philip II. Fought against the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto, 1571; Governor of Netherlands and commander of Spanish forces against the Dutch rebels, 1578. Successfully besieged Antwerp, July 1584–August 1585; captured the port of Sluis, August 1587. Failed to rendezvous with Medina Sidonia’s Armada.
de Guzmán, Alonso Pérez, Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia (1550–
1615). Commander-in-chief of Spanish Armada, unwillingly succeed- ing Santa Cruz on his death in February 1588, because of his lack of military experience and fear of seasickness. After a cautious campaign up the English Channel, Medina Sidonia was sent into convalescence but retained his posts of captain general of the ocean and of Andalusia. His slow response to the English attack on Cadiz in 1596 brought criticism in Spain, as did his loss of a squadron in fighting against the Dutch off Gibraltar in 1606.
de Oquendo, Miguel y Sequra (died 1588). Fought in the battle of Terceira under Santa Cruz in 1583. Commander of the Guipúzcoa squadron of Spanish Armada but his ship caught fire and he died soon afterwards.
de Recalde, Juan Martinez (1532–88). Commanded Spanish naval forces in Netherlands, 1572–80 and in the latter year, was naval commander in the expedition to the west coast of Ireland. Commanded the Biscayan squadron in the Armada campaign.
de Toledo, Fernando Alvárez, Third Duke of Alba (1507–82). Governor and captain-general of Spanish Netherlands 1567–73.
de Valdés, Diego Flores (c.1530–95). Spanish admiral and chief of staff and adviser to Medina Sidonia. Cousin and bitter enemy of Pedro de Valdés, commander of the Armada’s Squadron of Andalusia. Joined Spanish navy in 1550, serving in Peru and Chile in 1555 and in the Caribbean from 1565. Commander of the Chilean fleet, 1581–4, protect- ing Spain’s South American trade against English pirates. After return of Armada, imprisoned in Burgos.
de Valdés, Pedro (1544–1615) Spanish admiral, commander of the Armada’s Squadron of Andalusia from 1587. Fought against the Ottoman Turks in the eastern Mediterranean; against French privateers off the coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico in 1566–73 and in the campaign of 1582–3 in the Portuguese Azores. Cousin and bitter enemy of Diego Flores de Valdés, Medina Sidonia’s chief of staff. His flagship Nuestra Senõra de Rosario was captured by Sir Francis Drake after she was badly damaged in several collisions. Ransomed in February 1593. (He may have been the inspiration for the ‘great pirate Valdés’ in Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, written in 1607 or early 1608.) Served as captain general of Cuba 1602–8 and created Marqués of Canalejas. Died at Gijón.
THE VATICAN
Gregory XIII (1502–85). Pope 1572–85. Reforming Pope who laboured to stem the tide of Protestantism by founding or supporting a number of seminary colleges for priests. After the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris in 1572, he held a celebratory Te Deum mass in Rome and struck a commemorative medal inscribed ‘vgotiorum strages’ (‘Massacre of the Huguenots’). Sent papal troops to support the second Desmond Rebellion in Ireland in 1579–80. The English Jesuits persuaded him in 1580 to water down Pius V ’s bull excommunicating Elizabeth I; English Catholics were now advised to obey her while awaiting her overthrow.
Pius V (1504–72). Pope 1566–72. On 25 February 1570, he published the bull Regnans in Excelsis that excommunicated Elizabeth I and deprived this ‘pretended queen’ of her throne and absolved her Catholic subjects of any loyalty or allegiance to her. Their disobedience would also attract excommunication.
Sixtus V (1520–90). Pope 1585–90. Imposed new taxes and sold appoint- ments to repair Vatican finances after the papacy of Gregory XIII. Although he admired her greatly, agreed to renew the excommunication of Elizabeth I and to grant a subsidy to Philip II, payable only after the Spanish Armada landed in England. He also excommunicated Henri IV of France.
GLOSSARY
almain rivets Light body armour, replaced by the CORSLET.
argosy Large merchant ship, its name derived from Ragusino, modernday Dubrovnik in Croatia.
armour Worn from the thigh upwards by officers, pikemen and heavy cavalry.
arquebus See HARQUEBUS.
arroba Spanish measurement of liquid volume equivalent to 3.5 gallons (15.91 litres).
barque Three-masted sailing vessel, square-rigged on the fore and main masts with a fore-and-aft spanker sail rigged on the mizzen.
boom Floating barrier of large tree-trunks, chained together, to bar entry by attacking ships to harbours or rivers.
bowsprit Long wooden spar projecting forward from a ship’s bows to which extra sails are secured.
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