![]() ![]() Within hours, the mightiest fleet ever assembled is mercilessly harried into fleeing north, at the mercy of the elements and the dream of subduing the Protestant English lies in tatters.Ī triumphant combination of historical detail and storytelling flair, The Confident Hope of a Miracle draws on undiscovered and little known personal papers and records to tell the epic story of the Spanish Armada in all its scope. As soon as it engages with the English fleet, its shortcomings are clear in the face of superior tactics and firepower. Their only hope lies in the English Navy.īut Philip's Armada is doomed before it even leaves port. ![]() Great warning beacons stand all along the coast of England. ![]() He further claims that Queen Elizabeth was a monarch who left many of the survivors of the battle to die of disease or starvation and whose parsimony, prevarication and cynicism left her unable to. Lying in wait in the Netherlands lies a battle-hardened Spanish army, ferocious professionals with a taste for rape, looting and atrocity.Īcross the Channel the English are scraping together bands of barely trained men, many armed only with scythes, stakes or longbows. In this controversial study, Neil Hanson claims that Francis Drake’s intention was not to sink the Armada ships but to disable and plunder them. Obsessed by the dream of reclaiming England for the Catholic Church, Philip II of Spain has assembled a huge fleet of castle-crowned galleons ripe for the task. It is the summer of 1588, and the fate and future of England hangs in the balance. 'Continual destruction in the foretop, the pox above board, the plague between decks, hell in the forecastle and the devil at the helm.' ![]()
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