A Power Struggle Or A Holy War?

A Power Struggle Or A Holy War?

Why is England largely Protestant and not Catholic?

IN 1558 Elizabeth I, a Protestant, succeeded her half sister Mary Tudor, a Roman Catholic, as queen of England. Mary had done everything she could to make England Catholic and had earned her name “Bloody Mary” by burning many Protestants at the stake. On the other hand, the pragmatic Elizabeth realized that her subjects were largely Protestants, and she adamantly opposed allowing the pope to rule her country.

England’s arch rival at the time was Spain, which was Catholic. The Spanish king Philip II was Europe’s most powerful monarch. The pope, Emperor Ferdinand I of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots all encouraged Philip to invade England to restore Catholicism.

Queen Elizabeth cleverly toyed with King Philip, letting him think she might marry him or his son. King Philip, hoping that he might be able to win England with a wedding ring, patiently waited to see what would happen.

Meanwhile, English pirates under the direction of Francis Drake plundered Spanish merchant ships with Elizabeth’s tacit approval.

At this time the Netherlands were in revolt against Spain. Elizabeth knew that as long as Philip was fighting in the Netherlands, he was less likely to invade England. Therefore she secretly helped the Dutch rebels so that they would not surrender to Spain.

Then Elizabeth received a financial windfall. Spanish ships carrying the payroll for their troops in the Netherlands were driven into England’s ports by English pirates. Philip kept his temper, and Elizabeth kept the money.

But when she imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots, Philip’s patience ran out, and he became involved in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth. When Elizabeth found out, she expelled the Spanish ambassador and began openly aiding the Netherlands. The lines were drawn. Both Elizabeth and Philip put all their resources into preparing for the war that would determine the mastery of the seas and the religion of England.

Queen Elizabeth assembled her fleet of 34 royal warships. In addition, she induced the owners of 170 merchant ships to equip their vessels with armaments. Philip’s Spanish Armada consisted of 130 ships, the most powerful navy the world had ever seen. Hundreds of monks accompanied the Armada to help restore Catholicism to England. A profound religious spirit pervaded the Spanish sailors. On the morning the armada sailed, every sailor took the Eucharist, and all Spain prayed. The plan was to defeat the English navy and then to invade England.

The winds favored the English. The armada immediately ran into a destructive storm and had to retreat to a harbor to heal its wounds.

The battle’s main action occurred off the coast of France. Shortly after midnight on July 28, Francis Drake set fire to several small boats and placed them in the wind to drift into the Spanish fleet. Panic seized the Spaniards as two ships caught fire and several of the largest became entangled with one another trying to escape the burning boats. Beginning at noon, the full English fleet poured its artillery into the armada. Some ships sank, and many that survived had difficulty staying afloat.

The coup de grace for the Spanish came the following day, July 29, 1588. The wind carried the broken armada off into the North Sea, where heavy winds wrecked many of the remaining ships off the coast of Ireland. One Irish city saw the bodies of eleven hundred Spanish sailors wash ashore.

Of the 130 ships that had left Spain, just 53 returned, and they were so badly damaged that they were worthless. Of the twenty-seven thousand men who left, ten thousand returned, most of them wounded or sick.

England lost just sixty men and not one ship and would remain Protestant.

Reflection

What role, if any, do you feel that God had in the defeat of the Spanish Armada? Did the English have God to thank for the victory? Do you believe that God has a plan for history that he is working out, or are such events ruled by chance?

All things happen just as he decided long ago.

Ephesians 1:11