Spanish Armada, The

DESCRIPTION: "In May 1588, Cries Philip, 'The English I'll humble.'" So he sends the "invincible Spanish Armada." Howard tells "noble Queen Bess" that they are coming. The Lord Mayor of London promises a hundred ships. The English are victorious
AUTHOR: Words: John O'Keefe (1747-1833) / Music: Dr. Arnold (source: Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads)
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads)
KEYWORDS: ship royalty battle patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1588 - Defeat of the Spanish Armada
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads L, pp. 82-83, "The Spanish Armada" (1 text)
Roud #32555
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Francis Drake, or Eighty-EIght" (subject of the Armada)
NOTES [307 words]: I have no idea why Steve Roud gave this a number; it's not traditional either by source or by transmission. But since it has a number, I'm indexing it also.
I will resist the urge to write an article on the Spanish Armada, since it's an easily accessible story, but we can gloss a few of the names:
"Philip": Philip II of Spain (1527-1598), King of Spain 1556-1598. Having been married to Mary I of England, he considered himself to have a claim to the throne, and since he was Catholic, he considered it proper to conquer England anyway. So he launched the Armada. But, because in addition to all his other traits he was rather stupid (he couldn't control his finances, and his policies encouraged the Dutch Revolt), the Armada was ill-equipped for its task and failed miserably.
"Queen Bess": Elizabeth I, reigned 1558-1603, widely known as "Good Queen Bess."
"Howard"/"Effingham": Charles Howard (1536-1624), 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, later 1st Earl of Nottingham (a member of the family of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk, but a cadet branch) was Admiral of England at the time of the Spanish Armada, and led the fleet against them although he somehow seems to get overshadowed in a lot of the histories.
"The Lord Mayor of London": Sir Martin Calthorpe was Lord Mayor in 1588. I've never heard that he was important in the defense of the Armada, but Queen Elizabeth apparently approved of how he managed to go from rags to rices.
"Medina": The commander of the Armada was Don Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia. He was a last-minute fill-in, and was not a sailor (in fact, I've heard that he suffered intense sea-sickness). His lack of naval knowledge probably contributed to the Armada's defeat, although the real problem was that Philip II had commanded an attack without supplying the ships or sailors required. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SSS050

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