0:00:09 > 0:00:13We remember Elizabeth I as one of our greatest monarchs.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Queen of Shakespearean England...
0:00:18 > 0:00:20HINGES CREAK
0:00:20 > 0:00:22..patron of great voyages of discovery...
0:00:24 > 0:00:27..and protector of the Protestant Church of England.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33But things could have been very different.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39In the summer of 1588,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Elizabeth and the people of England faced an overwhelming threat.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46The country was on the verge of invasion
0:00:46 > 0:00:48by the most powerful military fleet
0:00:48 > 0:00:52ever assembled - the Spanish Armada.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54SHOUTS AND GUNSHOT
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Defeat would have led to the imprisonment
0:01:01 > 0:01:04and execution of Elizabeth...
0:01:04 > 0:01:07My throne is unstable...
0:01:08 > 0:01:12..and a future for England under the control of Catholic Spain...
0:01:14 > 0:01:16..my kingdom tottering.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20..with dramatic consequences for the whole of Europe.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Now, to understand this defining moment in history, I'm going
0:01:29 > 0:01:31to take to the waters I love...
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Right, let's get out into the rough stuff.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36..following the course of the English navy as it battled
0:01:36 > 0:01:39the Spanish Armada in the Channel.
0:01:39 > 0:01:40There's now a howling gale,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44similar conditions to the ones that Drake and the fleet faced.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48While access to unique, eyewitness accounts...
0:01:48 > 0:01:51This is one of the most remarkable letters I have ever seen.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54..will take us, for the very first time,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58inside the minds of the commanders themselves...
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Your problem is that your fleet is divided.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05..and offer unprecedented insight into the corridors of power
0:02:05 > 0:02:07in England...
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Gentlemen.
0:02:08 > 0:02:09..and Spain...
0:02:09 > 0:02:12SHOUTING
0:02:12 > 0:02:16..allowing us to bring to life 12 days in the summer of 1588...
0:02:20 > 0:02:21..when England's very survival...
0:02:23 > 0:02:24..hung in the balance.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29This is a tale of astonishing twists and turns, which saw England
0:02:29 > 0:02:33and its Queen come within a whisker of disaster.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36This is the real story of the Spanish Armada.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06HORSES APPROACH
0:03:10 > 0:03:13When Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England,
0:03:13 > 0:03:18woke on Friday the 29th of July 1588,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23she knew that her life and her realm were in grave danger.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26A good night?
0:03:28 > 0:03:31My mind was tossing on the ocean.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40The cause of Elizabeth's nightmares was 700 miles away.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45King Philip II of Spain...
0:03:46 > 0:03:49..the most powerful man on earth,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52hellbent on the Queen of England's destruction.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59His weapon, a mighty Armada.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05125 ships...
0:04:07 > 0:04:08..packed with men...
0:04:10 > 0:04:12..bristling with cannon...
0:04:14 > 0:04:17..sent to crush a rogue state...
0:04:17 > 0:04:21that stole from Spanish treasure ships...
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and lived by the terrible heresies of Protestantism.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32This was a crusade for the safety of Spain and the glory of God.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38- Good morning, Your Majesty. - Good morning.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43England was a small country on the very edge of Europe...
0:04:43 > 0:04:47a Protestant outpost surrounded by Catholic powers.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Good morning, ladies.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Elizabeth had been in a cold-war standoff with Spain for years...
0:04:58 > 0:05:00Your Majesty.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03..but now she knew that the Armada had sailed...
0:05:06 > 0:05:08..and she was under immense strain.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12On the eve of the Armada,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Elizabeth is looking every single one of her 54 years.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Her skin is pockmarked, she had smallpox
0:05:18 > 0:05:20when she was some 25 years younger,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24her hair has largely fallen out.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26So she really is looking like an old woman, even though
0:05:26 > 0:05:28she's only in her mid-50s.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34She was God's anointed. She was the head of the body politic.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38She was England. Her face was the landscape of her country.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40She couldn't afford for it to look
0:05:40 > 0:05:42withered or decayed.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49It was a mammoth operation getting Elizabeth ready in the morning,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and we're talking about make-up that one critic at the time described
0:05:52 > 0:05:55as being half an inch thick.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Elizabeth is having to slap it on.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03She would've certainly been startling in appearance,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06almost frightening, I think.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08And I think that was part of it for Elizabeth.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11She didn't want to look like an ordinary human being.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13She was appointed by God and therefore
0:06:13 > 0:06:19she was going to appear at court as some kind of semi-godlike figure.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24This was England's virgin queen...
0:06:25 > 0:06:27..ageing...
0:06:27 > 0:06:29politically isolated...
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Your Majesty.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31Thank you, Blanche.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34..and under threat.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35There we are, then.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47200 miles from Elizabeth, on the coast of Devon,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49the men of the English navy
0:06:49 > 0:06:52were preparing for the battle of their lives.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58I've been fascinated by the momentous battles of the Armada
0:06:58 > 0:06:59since I was a child...
0:07:00 > 0:07:05..and I've been sailing in the English Channel for just as long.
0:07:05 > 0:07:06There you go, look at that!
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Now, I'm going to be following every manoeuvre of the navy
0:07:12 > 0:07:17and the Armada as they fought in these very waters 400 years ago.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25But on the morning of Friday the 29th of July,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27the English were still in harbour...
0:07:29 > 0:07:32..and they had no idea just how close the Spanish were.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Elizabeth had a big international network of spies and they'd spent
0:07:38 > 0:07:42months learning all they could about Spain's preparations for the Armada.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45But unfortunately, what none of them could tell the English government
0:07:45 > 0:07:48was exactly where or when the Armada might arrive.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52And that meant, through the early summer of 1588,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54England was on high alert.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Over 100 ships had been assembled at Plymouth,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05under the command of England's Lord High Admiral -
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Good afternoon, men.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14Please, continue.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Howard was a leading aristocrat, a former ambassador to France
0:08:19 > 0:08:21and Elizabeth's own cousin.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23The problem was that Howard had never commanded
0:08:23 > 0:08:24a fleet in battle before.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29He was an administrator, he was used to giving orders from behind a desk.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34Oh, easy, boy! We don't want to do the Spaniards' job for them!
0:08:34 > 0:08:38To be honest, he got the job mainly because of his aristocratic pedigree
0:08:38 > 0:08:43rather than his naval fighting skills, which was a bit alarming.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Come on, men, this is your home, keep it tidy.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Thankfully, Howard had a crack team of experienced commanders...
0:08:50 > 0:08:53- Are we ready? - We're patching up.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56..most famously, his deputy, Sir Francis Drake.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Good, good. Excellent work, Drake.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00That's why I'm here.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Drake was just a few years younger than Howard
0:09:02 > 0:09:04but he was from very different stock.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06He was the son of a Devon farmer
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and he'd spent nearly his entire adult life at sea.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12He was one of a new breed of self-made men who
0:09:12 > 0:09:14lived by their wits.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16He'd managed to complete, quite recently,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20the second ever circumnavigation of the globe and he'd been knighted
0:09:20 > 0:09:24for services to his country, which basically meant that he'd managed
0:09:24 > 0:09:28to fill Queen Elizabeth's coffers with stolen Spanish gold and silver.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34In short, Drake was England's most brazen pirate.
0:09:36 > 0:09:37Elizabeth had knighted him
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and made him second-in-command of her navy...
0:09:41 > 0:09:43..and it needed all the help it could get.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47The ague - how bad?
0:09:47 > 0:09:49'The fleet wasn't just in harbour,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'it was recovering from a failed mission.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:54And munitions?
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Loading what we can but could always do with more.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59As ever, mend and make do.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04My ships will be ready. They will be ready.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07An impetuous plan of Drake's to attack first...
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Keep our promises.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10..had seriously backfired.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Drake had just returned from a disastrous attempt
0:10:13 > 0:10:15to intercept the Spanish out at sea.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Terrible weather had battered his fleet
0:10:18 > 0:10:22and no-one had even spotted one single Spanish vessel.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26So this quayside would have been a scene of chaos and confusion,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30men were lying sick, vessels were being hastily repaired
0:10:30 > 0:10:32and provisions being piled on board.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36This was hardly the battle-ready fleet that Drake had promised.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Time was running out.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Philip's great Armada was just 40 miles west of Plymouth...
0:10:50 > 0:10:53..and inching ever closer to London...
0:10:53 > 0:10:54and Elizabeth.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02The Armada had left port a week before
0:11:02 > 0:11:04and was now approaching English waters.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06It was a massive fleet.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09125 ships crammed
0:11:09 > 0:11:10with 16,000 soldiers
0:11:10 > 0:11:14and 7,000 of Spain's finest sailors.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15They were in a variety of ships
0:11:15 > 0:11:18but they kept perfect formation as they approached the Channel
0:11:18 > 0:11:21and their sails darkened the southern sky.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Now, the English know they're coming, they haven't seen them
0:11:23 > 0:11:26yet but that's why they're positioned here at Plymouth
0:11:26 > 0:11:29so they can get them before they get into the main body of the Channel.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31We've got about 105 ships here, bit of a mixed bag
0:11:31 > 0:11:33but a lot of powerful galleons among them.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Not so many soldiers, of course,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38but add to this force another 30 ships over here,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42just off the Kent coast, about 135 in total - pretty similar numbers.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46But your problem is that your fleet is divided which means these
0:11:46 > 0:11:49ships alone have to be able to try and stop our Armada.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Well, that's what they're worried about, of course, in Plymouth.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54They know the Armada is coming, they haven't seen it yet
0:11:54 > 0:11:57but they must have feared it's going to be unstoppable.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04The destruction of Tudor England
0:12:04 > 0:12:07had been plotted here in Spain's capital.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13In the 16th century, Madrid was the hub of a vast empire...
0:12:15 > 0:12:18..stretching from Peru to the Philippines.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Spain was THE superpower. Immensely powerful.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It controlled not only the Iberian Peninsula
0:12:27 > 0:12:31but also the New World and all that bullion.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Spain had a foothold in North America, South America,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37the West Indies, the East Indies, Africa,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39great swathes of Europe.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42It was famously the empire upon which the sun never set.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50The nerve centre was this royal palace and monastery,
0:12:50 > 0:12:5230 miles to the north of the capital.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59From a small cell at its heart, King Philip orchestrated his empire.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04His motto matched his ambitions -
0:13:04 > 0:13:06"The world is not enough."
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Philip was an obsessive.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17Not the sort of person you'd like to sit next to at a dinner party.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Only two things concerned him - his empire and his religion.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30In 1588, Philip was 61 years old and in failing health
0:13:30 > 0:13:33but he remained driven by a singular zeal.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Your Majesty.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Philip was a dour, rather dull character, to be honest.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44More papers for you to sign.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46He was known as the Bureaucrat King
0:13:46 > 0:13:49and what he liked was nothing better than to sit in a very plain,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51simple apartment doing his paperwork.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54He didn't like personal contact with his minions, they had to submit
0:13:54 > 0:13:58their reports on paper, even if they were sitting in the next room.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Professor Geoffrey Parker is the world's leading expert
0:14:03 > 0:14:05on Philip and his empire.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09He's spent an entire career - over half a century -
0:14:09 > 0:14:14unearthing ancient documents in archives from California to Madrid.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20You would think, since the King died in 1598, we've had time to
0:14:20 > 0:14:23discover everything but this just isn't so.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I would say there's thousands of documents still out there
0:14:26 > 0:14:28which have not been identified.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31This is what comes of spending most of your days reading papers
0:14:31 > 0:14:35and annotating them - you leave a very long and wide paper trail.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38PHILIP COUGHS
0:14:38 > 0:14:39Highness, if I may...
0:14:41 > 0:14:43..your cough is getting worse.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48There's one document where he says, "It's the documents that
0:14:48 > 0:14:51"give me cough, every time I pick up a document I start coughing."
0:14:51 > 0:14:53What do you expect...
0:14:54 > 0:14:56..with all these papers?
0:14:56 > 0:14:59'They all say he stares at you and the other thing
0:14:59 > 0:15:02'they all say is he speaks very, very quietly
0:15:02 > 0:15:04'and he says very, very little.'
0:15:06 > 0:15:07I meant no...
0:15:11 > 0:15:14One startling new discovery has revealed over 3,000
0:15:14 > 0:15:18hand-written papers, shedding light on a man who was intent
0:15:18 > 0:15:23on keeping his world in order by micromanaging every detail himself.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is absolutely typical.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31It's a letter from his private secretary,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Mateo Vazquez, saying, you know, "I need a decision on something."
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The King launches into a four page tirade about how much
0:15:38 > 0:15:41work he has to do, "I don't know how I put up with it, I don't
0:15:41 > 0:15:43"have time to do everything", on and on and on. This is just
0:15:43 > 0:15:48pages two and three of a four-page response, and the brunt of it is,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50"I don't have time to take the decisions."
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Well, this took him 15 minutes.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57But in the summer of 1588,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Philip was preoccupied with the problem of England.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07The Armada was his solution...
0:16:10 > 0:16:13..to finally deal with a heretic Queen...
0:16:16 > 0:16:19..a woman who, surprisingly...
0:16:21 > 0:16:24..he had once asked to be his wife.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Philip and Elizabeth had first met here at Hampton Court,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39near London, more than 30 years earlier.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Elizabeth was then a 20-year-old princess...
0:16:46 > 0:16:51..Philip, a Spanish prince, sent to forge an alliance with England
0:16:51 > 0:16:56by marrying Elizabeth's older, Catholic half-sister, Queen Mary.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02So we've got a really interesting coin here.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07It's an image of Philip and Mary but above them is a floating crown.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Now what this suggests is a kind of dual monarchy, the idea...
0:17:11 > 0:17:14This isn't a crown that's on the top of Mary's head,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17it's both above Mary and Philip.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20It shouldn't be but it's a kind of little-known fact that Philip
0:17:20 > 0:17:22was, for a time, King of England.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28But just four years later, Mary had died, and Elizabeth -
0:17:28 > 0:17:31a Protestant - had been crowned Queen.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37We have this coin and, if we compare the coin to the one we saw of
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Mary and Philip, a dual monarchy,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42here we have Elizabeth as sole Queen
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and, of course, this is a situation
0:17:45 > 0:17:48that was to continue through her life
0:17:48 > 0:17:51even though, for the very early years of her reign,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Elizabeth was relentlessly petitioned to marry.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58First in the queue had been Philip himself.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Historians still debate whether his proposal
0:18:04 > 0:18:06was driven by royal politics...
0:18:06 > 0:18:08religion...
0:18:08 > 0:18:09or even love.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Philip proposes to Elizabeth soon after she becomes Queen
0:18:15 > 0:18:19because he doesn't want to give up being King of England.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20It was a jewel in his crown,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and he isn't going to give it up without a fight.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Also I think he had this sort of obligation to God, in a way.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31He said that he wasn't attracted to Elizabeth but it was the fact
0:18:31 > 0:18:34or the hope of saving Catholic souls
0:18:34 > 0:18:38that made him reluctantly propose to her.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42I think there was an attraction on Philip's part towards Elizabeth.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Certainly she was a stark contrast, in those days, from her sister
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and I think, actually, that Philip was drawn to Elizabeth.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Philip did not love Elizabeth. There's no evidence of this at all.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59This was a dynastic match, this was for religious reasons.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Whether or not Philip's alleged love was genuine,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04it certainly wasn't requited.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Elizabeth made him wait, manana, manana, so Philip waited,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12he waited for several weeks and then she turned him down.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19Now, three decades later, Philip wanted Elizabeth dead,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and England for himself.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Years of religious differences
0:19:25 > 0:19:29had bred an increasingly bitter animosity.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Philip certainly wasn't pleased with the Protestant direction
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Elizabeth was taking her country in.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37He saw the mass being banned, he saw priests being outlawed.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Torture was used and almost 200 men
0:19:40 > 0:19:44and women were executed in her reign for essentially religious reasons.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49In addition to this, England has not been out
0:19:49 > 0:19:55and found its own wealth but, instead, is attacking
0:19:55 > 0:20:00the Spanish treasure fleet as it's making its way back from the Indies.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And this is state-sponsored piracy.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06The final straw for Philip
0:20:06 > 0:20:08was when Francis Drake made his famous raid on Cadiz,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11"the singeing of the King of Spain's beard," as it was called.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14It was one thing to try and intercept the treasure fleet,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16it was another thing to raid the coast of Spain itself.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18And if Philip could not respond to this,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22then his hold on his provinces was under threat.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28The time had come to stop this dead in its tracks.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31He decided after two months' rumination,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33the only way he could do that
0:20:33 > 0:20:37was to set up an Armada and invade Protestant England.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40BELL
0:20:42 > 0:20:44The cold war...was over.
0:20:46 > 0:20:47Philip's great Armada
0:20:47 > 0:20:54had finally set sail from Spain on the 21st of July, 1588...
0:20:55 > 0:20:59..intent on annihilating the English navy, Elizabeth,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01and all they stood for.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06BIRDSONG
0:21:06 > 0:21:08CHURCH BELL CHIMES
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Some weeks earlier,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Elizabeth had cancelled all her public engagements.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20- Her entire court had moved to Richmond Palace... - SQUAWKING
0:21:20 > 0:21:22..her country retreat outside London.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24BELL
0:21:24 > 0:21:27It's the place she always feels safest.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29She calls it her "warm box".
0:21:29 > 0:21:31And we can trace throughout her reign
0:21:31 > 0:21:32that she tends to go to Richmond
0:21:32 > 0:21:34when she's feeling particularly under threat.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40I'm as happy here as anywhere.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Always so peaceful.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46As Elizabeth hid in Richmond,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49she surrounded herself with her menagerie of pets,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51her ladies-in-waiting,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54and the only person she could fully confide in,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58her oldest companion, Blanche Parry.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Elizabeth had lost her own mother, Anne Boleyn,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06when she was just two years and eight months old.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Blanche had entered her household very soon afterwards.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13I think there's no doubt that she was almost a replacement mother figure for Elizabeth.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17She is somebody that Elizabeth trusts.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19And, of course, at this point
0:22:19 > 0:22:22when Elizabeth is very, very fearful and apprehensive,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25it's trust and people that have been with her for years
0:22:25 > 0:22:27that she's going to increasingly rely on.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29SIGHING
0:22:29 > 0:22:31As her navy prepared for battle,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Elizabeth's ladies whiled away the hours.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40- Your Majesty.- Can't we let him off his leash? Just for a moment?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42You know he'll run amok.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45BLANCHE LAUGHS I feel for him.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47BLANCHE LAUGHS SOFTLY
0:22:47 > 0:22:51We can conjecture about how she might have felt.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54She's a woman, she's unmarried,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57she's childless, so there is no heir,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and she is also governing a country
0:23:01 > 0:23:06where Catholicism is STILL present.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09The threat to Elizabeth wasn't just from without, it was from within.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11The great dread was that
0:23:11 > 0:23:14there was this huge fifth column of Catholics
0:23:14 > 0:23:17who were just ready to march under the papal banner.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19ELIZABETH SIGHS
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Even in her favourite palace, Elizabeth's life was still at risk.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Just for an hour, Blanche...
0:23:29 > 0:23:31to breathe the air.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35No-one need know.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41It's safer...within the embrace of these walls.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46Elizabeth has been constantly under threat of assassination.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And then of course the Pope excommunicates her.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53He doesn't just sanction her death, he encourages it.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57He encourages her subjects to kill the Queen of England.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Sometimes at night, I see such terrible things.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Women, children,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12maids, sucking babes...
0:24:12 > 0:24:15murdered.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Cast into the river...
0:24:19 > 0:24:22turned red with blood.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30GULLS SCREECH
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Meanwhile, at four o'clock that same afternoon,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38a small boat dropped anchor in Plymouth harbour.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45It carried the news that England, and Elizabeth, had been dreading.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48The boat's captain, Thomas Fleming,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52had been patrolling in the western approaches of the Channel.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56At dawn that day just off the Scilly Isles, he'd seen the Spanish ships.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And he sailed back here to let the navy know.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07The English fleet was caught off-guard.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11Still not ready, it had to set sail to meet the Spanish threat.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15And on the afternoon of July 29th,
0:25:15 > 0:25:20it faced yet another problem that could have proved disastrous.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Back in 1588, you couldn't just turn a ship's engine on
0:25:24 > 0:25:27and go wherever you wanted to go whenever you wanted to go,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30you were at the mercy of the conditions,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32wind and tide had to be favourable.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Today's a great example. There's now a howling gale blowing me back towards Plymouth
0:25:35 > 0:25:38and I'm fighting the tide too, which is flowing in.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And those are similar conditions to the ones
0:25:41 > 0:25:45that Drake and the fleet faced that afternoon of 1588.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51This explains one of the most famous stories about Drake's actions that day.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54The old story goes that Sir Francis Drake
0:25:54 > 0:25:57was right up there on Plymouth Hoe playing bowls
0:25:57 > 0:26:01when the news arrived that the Spanish Armada had been sighted.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The legend has it that he calmly said,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08"Well, we have time to finish the game and beat the Spaniards too."
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Sadly, that certainly is a legend, it was invented decades later.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16But if Sir Francis Drake had been playing bowls up there on that afternoon in 1588,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20he would have known as a consummate sailor full well,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23that he might as well finish the game because there was nothing else he could do.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29The English fleet were effectively trapped by wind and tide right there in Plymouth harbour,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32and there was no way they could go anywhere very quickly.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38With the English fleet stuck in harbour,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Elizabeth's kingdom lay undefended.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46For the Armada, it was an incredible opportunity to move in early...
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and deal a decisive, killer blow.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53For centuries we had little idea
0:26:53 > 0:26:56what the Spanish commanders were thinking at this key moment,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59until Professor Geoffrey Parker
0:26:59 > 0:27:04began to explore some boxes of old papers in Madrid.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07It's one of those amazing pieces of luck.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11There were four boxes, in a series called Military Orders,
0:27:11 > 0:27:13which just didn't seem to fit.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17I was able to open them, undid the tape,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20wondering what I was going to find.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23And I opened them up...
0:27:23 > 0:27:26and they said...Curious Papers.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29And I thought, "Ohh, this is going to be interesting."
0:27:31 > 0:27:36As Geoffrey painstakingly deciphered the near illegible handwriting,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39he realised he'd stumbled across a treasure trove
0:27:39 > 0:27:43that took him to the very heart of the Armada.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46It took me a little while to figure out
0:27:46 > 0:27:48that this was the series of exchanges
0:27:48 > 0:27:52between the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the Commander of the Armada,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56and his second in command, a man called Juan Martinez de Recalde.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59And, in fact, it was Recalde's papers.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02It's very unusual, I later discovered unique
0:28:02 > 0:28:06to find correspondence between two unit commanders during a naval battle.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09And it tells us why certain decisions were taken,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11why there was a disagreement on tactics.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15And it's not just any battle, this is the Spanish Armada.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19MAN: Recalde.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25This unique window into the Spanish command allows us, for the very first time,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27to recreate just what was going on
0:28:27 > 0:28:29as Philip's battle fleet approached Plymouth.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34With God's blessing...we will crush the heretics.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36There is no time to be wasted.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Like his English counterpart, Lord High Admiral Howard,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Medina Sidonia was a landed aristocrat
0:28:42 > 0:28:46whose high social standing had put him in charge.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Astonishingly, Medina Sidonia
0:28:51 > 0:28:54had never actually commanded a fleet at sea before.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58The landlubber was actually quite uncomfortable afloat.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01He wrote to King Philip saying, "I don't do well at sea."
0:29:01 > 0:29:04And he begged Philip to give command of the Armada to someone else.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06But the King was having none of it.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Luckily, for the Spanish, like Howard, Medina Sidonia
0:29:10 > 0:29:13would be surrounded by his own group of experienced sea dogs.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16He even had his own Drake - Recalde.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24Like Drake, Recalde had worked his way up through the ranks of the navy
0:29:24 > 0:29:26and was an expert sailor,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29the most experienced commander of the entire Armada.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31There is no time to be wasted,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34it is better to destroy the serpent in its egg.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39One letter reveals a startling plan.
0:29:39 > 0:29:44Recalde proposed a direct and immediate attack on the English navy
0:29:44 > 0:29:48while it lay tide-bound in Plymouth harbour.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Recalde makes it clear in his rather accusatory letter to Medina Sidonia
0:29:53 > 0:29:55that there had been a counsel meeting the previous day.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59I propose...we attack Plymouth.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01We have no idea of the enemy's strength.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05What we know is that the harbour is narrow and treacherous.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07A first strike would be decisive.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10You know the seas better than I.
0:30:10 > 0:30:16What we need...is success for the King!
0:30:16 > 0:30:18I'll drink to that.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22But despite Recalde's entreaty, the Spanish did not attack.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Instead, they sailed on.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Recalde clearly thinks that it's been agreed
0:30:27 > 0:30:30that they will indeed attack Plymouth
0:30:30 > 0:30:32and he feels betrayed when they did not.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38He says, "I don't know why we failed to enter Plymouth harbour."
0:30:38 > 0:30:40"I feel downhearted," he writes,
0:30:40 > 0:30:43"there are some very experienced people out there," meaning the English,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46"and we behaved like novices and we made the wrong call."
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Surely, Sam, here's a great opportunity, isn't it?
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Because if the Spanish had attacked Plymouth,
0:30:55 > 0:31:00either blockaded it or, even bolder still, come in and attacked the British ships at anchor,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04had they not got an opportunity to destroy the defence of England in a single blow?
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Absolutely. It is a clear opportunity.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11And if they'd changed course and headed for Plymouth, that great port in the West Country,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13then they certainly could have done something.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18It's not necessarily clear cut if they could have removed the English fleet from the equation,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21because attacking a fleet at anchor's actually very difficult,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24but they could have certainly done something here in the south-west,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27perhaps attack Plymouth, perhaps land in Falmouth or Torbay.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30So we're agreed then, it's a missed opportunity,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33and if it had been taken it could have been the end of Tudor England.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39The experienced sailor, Recalde,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42resented Medina Sidonia dismissing his advice.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46He believed that decisive action
0:31:46 > 0:31:49could have handed Spain a swift victory.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54And he might well have been right.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58The fact was, Medina Sidonia had absolutely no intention
0:31:58 > 0:32:02of diverting from the plans given to him by Philip.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06If he had done so, the life of Queen Elizabeth, and this story,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09might virtually have been at an end.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23Far to the south, the architect of the grand invasion plan
0:32:23 > 0:32:25continued to work...
0:32:27 > 0:32:30..unaware of exactly where his Armada was...
0:32:33 > 0:32:38..or of the developing tensions between his two top commanders.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Your Majesty, how do you feel today?
0:32:41 > 0:32:43PHILIP COUGHS
0:32:43 > 0:32:47I feel there is not time enough in the world for me.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50I will not stop.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55Philip's orders had left no room for opportunistic attacks.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Carefully considered, he expected his plans to be carried out to the letter.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Philip had a choice of two plans that he could adopt.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12The army came up with the idea of a quick incursion from the Spanish Netherlands,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15where the Duke of Parma, his main military commander, was based
0:33:15 > 0:33:20with a large army to shoot across the Channel and stage a smash-and-grab raid, if you like,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23on England and depose the Queen that way.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26His navy, naturally as navies do, wanted a seaborne force,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30an Armada to set off from Spain and conquer England that way.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Philip had been given two choices...
0:33:35 > 0:33:37but he'd taken neither.
0:33:37 > 0:33:44Instead, he'd combined them into one seemingly invincible master plan.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Philip's master plan was for his ships
0:33:48 > 0:33:51to sail up the Channel as quickly as possible.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Now, they would go the whole length of the Channel.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58And the idea was for them to land here at Margate,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02where they would join forces, in his words "join hands," with the Duke of Parma,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05who had a vast army in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Now, the Duke of Parma was Philip's nephew
0:34:07 > 0:34:10and he was one of the greatest soldiers of his generation.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15The Armada would then cover that army marching up the Thames to London.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19It's a hugely ambitious and complex plan, isn't it, Sam?
0:34:19 > 0:34:21But one thing is not in any doubt,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24if that veteran Spanish army gets over to England,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27we've pretty much got nothing left to oppose them with.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29And it would do three major things for Philip.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31It would consolidate his empire,
0:34:31 > 0:34:33he could realise his dreams of a Catholic Europe,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37and he could free the seas of irritating English piracy.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46On the evening of July 29th, the Armada sailed on...
0:34:46 > 0:34:49its mission clear...
0:34:49 > 0:34:54..to "join hands" in the Channel with a battle-hardened Spanish army
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and invade.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Army and navy together.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04- Their might would be...- Unstoppable.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09CHURCH BELL CHIMES
0:35:09 > 0:35:10CICADAS CHIRRUP
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Another day passes.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20- With no news.- Take confidence from that.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23In Madrid, and in Richmond,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Philip and Elizabeth prepared for bed.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Your bed is safe, Your Majesty.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33I would hope so.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35ELIZABETH LAUGHS WEAKLY
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Both monarchs prayed for the blessing of an even greater power.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Philip was intensely religious.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49PHILIP PRAYS IN LATIN
0:35:49 > 0:35:53He had a cell-like bedroom surrounded by pictures of the saints.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55And the Escorial wasn't just a palace,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58it was a monastery and a church and a mausoleum.
0:35:58 > 0:36:04And it seemed for him like it was an extra weapon in his crusade against Elizabeth.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08PHILIP PRAYS IN LATIN
0:36:08 > 0:36:13Philip believed fervently that God was on his side. How could he fail?
0:36:13 > 0:36:16PHILIP PRAYS IN LATIN
0:36:16 > 0:36:20And he believed that it was his own personal duty
0:36:20 > 0:36:23to try and save those English Catholics
0:36:23 > 0:36:27and revenge all those Catholic martyrs who had been slaughtered,
0:36:27 > 0:36:32not only by Elizabeth, but by her father as well, Henry VIII.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37In these last and worst days of the world,
0:36:37 > 0:36:41when wars and seditions with grievous persecutions ...
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Elizabeth was by inclination moderate,
0:36:43 > 0:36:45she didn't want to force consciences,
0:36:45 > 0:36:50but she did expect obedience from her subjects and she was devout.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54The love of my people has appeared firm
0:36:54 > 0:36:58and the devices of mine enemies frustrate.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03Elizabeth made much of the fact that God was on her side.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Philip was on the side of the devil,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09and that's how the contest was going to be played out.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11World without end.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14- Amen.- Amen.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25GULLS SCREECH
0:37:32 > 0:37:33Dawn.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39BOY SINGS IN LATIN
0:37:42 > 0:37:43As morning prayers were sung,
0:37:43 > 0:37:48the Armada continued its journey into the Channel.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51HE CONTINUES SINGING IN LATIN
0:37:53 > 0:37:55All was calm...
0:37:55 > 0:37:59but the Spanish were wary of their easy progress.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03There was no sight of the English navy,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06and no way of knowing if it was still anchored in Plymouth,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10or preparing to attack at any moment.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12BOY CONTINUES SINGING IN LATIN
0:38:16 > 0:38:20In fact, the English fleet had left port.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Overnight the tide had turned, the wind had changed,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25they'd sailed down here out of Plymouth Sound.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29But they had no intention of taking on the Spanish head-on.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Instead, they were going to try something far more cunning.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38The English realised that the Armada was too big to take on directly.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43So their plan was to stop the Spanish
0:38:43 > 0:38:46from taking any harbour deep enough to use as a base...
0:38:48 > 0:38:52..without getting themselves blown to pieces in the process.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00You think that the Armada want to take a deep water port on the south coast of England, maybe Plymouth.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02But their plan is to keep moving up,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05constantly driving up towards Parma's army.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08You're absolutely right. The English are pre-occupied
0:39:08 > 0:39:12with the possibility the Spanish are going to take a deep-water port, they must prevent it.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14First of all, get them away from Plymouth Sound.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18But once they're out into the open, they're then going to put their master plan into operation,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22which is to get behind the Armada, drive it up the Channel,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25hopefully out the other end, and harry them like a terrier.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28With the quality of our seamanship and the compactness of our formation
0:39:28 > 0:39:30that's actually all you can do.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38The English fleet first caught sight of the Spanish Armada
0:39:38 > 0:39:41on Saturday 30th July at 3pm.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43The weather had turned foul,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and so when a look-out on Howard's ship, who was up in the crow's nest high up in the mast,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51was peering through the mist and the rain and he finally caught sight
0:39:51 > 0:39:54of the Spanish ships just out there.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04It was now time to turn plans into action...
0:40:04 > 0:40:08and let the harrying begin.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10But would it be enough?
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Or would Philip's great Armada manage to successfully "join hands"
0:40:14 > 0:40:18with the vast Spanish army...and invade?
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Riders dispatched from Plymouth the previous day
0:40:27 > 0:40:30reached Richmond Palace 24 hours later.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32HORSE WHINNIES
0:40:37 > 0:40:42The news was delivered first to Elizabeth's most trusted ministers,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Sir Francis Walsingham...
0:40:45 > 0:40:47and Lord Burghley.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52What news?
0:40:52 > 0:40:54The Spanish are sighted...
0:40:55 > 0:40:57..off the Lizard.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01At our gates.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03The two dominant figures in Elizabeth's court,
0:41:03 > 0:41:08the Tweedledum and Tweedledee if you like, were Burghley and Walsingham.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12They sail with more than 120 ships.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Might and malice to match.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Burghley was the most powerful man in England.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24He'd known Elizabeth since she was a princess
0:41:24 > 0:41:26and they'd had tough times together.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30She trusted him and she relied on him to speak truth to power.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32She called him her "spirit".
0:41:32 > 0:41:36He wanted to avoid a confrontation, because it was incredibly expensive.
0:41:36 > 0:41:37He was Lord High Treasurer,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40he wanted to keep his hands on that purse.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Walsingham was Elizabeth's spy master.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48He'd set up this incredibly sophisticated intelligence network.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50And because of his experiences,
0:41:50 > 0:41:55he'd seen at first hand the terror that Catholic Europe could contain,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57he was always advising Elizabeth
0:41:57 > 0:42:00towards an aggressive foreign policy.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02Elizabeth's biggest problem was, I think,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05that she listened to both opinions for action and for inaction
0:42:05 > 0:42:07and dithered between the two of them.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13Elizabeth vacillated.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Let's remember, she is a woman in a man's world.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18When she makes up her mind,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21she's stuck with the results of that decision.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25So she looked at a decision from lots of different ways,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28and frequently changed her mind once she'd made one.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Gentlemen.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32We sued for peace...
0:42:32 > 0:42:34but to no avail.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38I pray you, speak plainly.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42The time has come. A Holy War.
0:42:42 > 0:42:43ELIZABETH SIGHS
0:42:43 > 0:42:47I did not desire this...
0:42:47 > 0:42:50but I did expect it.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Elizabeth, naturally, was very cautious.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55She did not like spending money.
0:42:55 > 0:43:01She naturally favoured Burghley's very conservative foreign policy.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05But equally, she was justifiably aware
0:43:05 > 0:43:10of the threat posed to her safety by the powers of Catholic Europe.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14What is clear is that we cannot afford to stand idle.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17We must strike...and strike hard.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20And if that fails? When we have nothing left to strike with?
0:43:20 > 0:43:23With the Armada looming,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Elizabeth knew the time for havering was over.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29She really had nowhere else to go.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31She knew she'd have to fight.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36And those ships, those wooden walls defending England,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39were the only thing between her and oblivion.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Your Majesty, you must meet this battle,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46for the sake of England.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48For you.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52Then we shall prevail...
0:43:52 > 0:43:54for God's favour is with me.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57Then God will help us all.
0:43:59 > 0:44:05Let all of England...taste victory.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Out in the Channel, both sides were preparing for battle.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24Many no doubt were praying,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27some were checking weapons and ammunition.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29The ships on both sides were bristling with cannon,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33most ships had between 20-50 cannon.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37And they would be firing cannonballs, some light, about 6lbs,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40others up to 60lbs of iron,
0:44:40 > 0:44:45waiting to crash through wooden hulls and rigging.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52Despite the sheer might of the Armada,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55the English did have some reason for hope.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01Superior weapons created by new English technology.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05The great revolution in the 16th century
0:45:05 > 0:45:10was an amazing technological advance, it led to the Industrial Revolution,
0:45:10 > 0:45:15and this was the introduction of the blast furnace for cast iron.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20- Traditionally, cannons had been handmade... - HAMMERING
0:45:20 > 0:45:23..the metal crafted into shape.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Cannonballs had been hand carved... from stone.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29HAMMERING
0:45:29 > 0:45:34The blast furnace enables you to melt large quantities of cast iron,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37it flows like water, so you can pour it into moulds.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43You can make repeated items exactly the same.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45It was cannonballs first,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49it was then used to make the first cannon in England.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52These iron guns were much cheaper,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55they could be made fairly consistently
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and they could be issued with large quantities
0:45:58 > 0:46:01of consistent, standardised cannonballs.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07England was ahead of the rest of Europe.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11New technology furnished the English navy with cannon
0:46:11 > 0:46:16that were more accurate and more powerful than those of the Spanish.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22But would that be enough to even break the tight formation of the Armada,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25let alone defeat it?
0:46:35 > 0:46:38- First light. - MAN SHOUTS IN SPANISH
0:46:38 > 0:46:42And a Spanish lookout finally spotted the English navy.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46But it wasn't where the Spanish were expecting it to be.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53The Spanish were expecting the English to appear in front of them,
0:46:53 > 0:46:56to contest their march up the Channel.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58But instead the English did something quite different,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02they split into two groups, came round behind the Spanish,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04and prepared to launch a pincer attack.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11Medina Sidonia ordered the Spanish royal standard to be raised,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14the signal for the Armada to get into battle formation,
0:47:14 > 0:47:19a crescent of ships stretching for over two miles.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Then at 9am, in a piece of old-fashioned chivalry,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Howard decided to officially throw down the gauntlet to the Spanish.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28He sent ahead a small ship, appropriately called the Disdain,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32which fired one shot into the midst of the Armada...
0:47:32 > 0:47:33and then quickly turned round
0:47:33 > 0:47:35and headed back to rejoin the English fleet.
0:47:35 > 0:47:41With that, the first battle against the Spanish Armada had begun.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43MEN SHOUT
0:47:46 > 0:47:50Now, we've surprised you by our position, Sam,
0:47:50 > 0:47:52but the English have also got another trick up their sleeve,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55- the way they're going to fight.- Oh, yeah?
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Their tactics are to use new and more effective guns,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02but also the way they're going to use them, this is going to surprise the Spanish.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Traditionally, what the Spaniards are expecting
0:48:05 > 0:48:06is to have boarding actions
0:48:06 > 0:48:09where the ships will come up close alongside,
0:48:09 > 0:48:11the soldiers'll pile in with grappling hooks,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13there'll be lots of stabbing, and fighting, and slashing,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16and they'll settle the matter in hand-to-hand combat.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19That's exactly what they expect and they want the English to do.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Now, that's exactly what the English didn't want to do.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24They didn't want to close with the Spanish ships,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27which were bigger and they were packed with more men.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29Instead, they wanted to stand off, keep their distance,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32and blast them with cannon fire.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36Now, to us today that seems entirely logical, but for the Spanish,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39it was pretty much the first time they'd ever seen this.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45MEN HOLLER
0:48:45 > 0:48:48The Spanish soldiers were stuck on their decks,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51and could only taunt an enemy...
0:48:51 > 0:48:54who refused to come close.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56MEN HOLLER
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Now, the one problem you're going to have is that if there's one thing the Spanish are good at,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03it's maintaining close formation under hostile attack,
0:49:03 > 0:49:05it's how the Spanish empire works.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08They usually protect their silver convoys going across to the New World.
0:49:08 > 0:49:14This time they're protecting their vulnerable troop ships in the centre of this crescent formation.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16And they're very good at seamanship,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19they're good at maintaining their position in this tight crescent formation.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22It's absolutely true, it's a formidable formation,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25but it has a couple of weaknesses and I'll show you were they are.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27These two arms of the crescent,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30if we can use our ships to close up pretty effectively
0:49:30 > 0:49:34and then we can fire our guns at a distance in a continual rolling fire.
0:49:34 > 0:49:40And if you have enough of these ships sailing one after the other after the other, using their broadsides,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43you've almost got a primitive machinegun.
0:49:52 > 0:49:53HUBBUB
0:49:56 > 0:49:57- MAN:- Fire!
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Drake and Howard lined up their squadrons
0:49:59 > 0:50:03and launched a relentless barrage against the Armada.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05- MAN:- Come on!
0:50:05 > 0:50:06MEN SHOUT
0:50:14 > 0:50:15This was one of the first times
0:50:15 > 0:50:18this had ever happened on this scale in European naval history.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20Over the next couple of hours,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23the English managed to fire off around 2,000 shots.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26The Spanish only got in 750 in reply.
0:50:26 > 0:50:27HUBBUB
0:50:30 > 0:50:35What people were witnessing here was a revolution in military tactics.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45The English called off the attack after two hours,
0:50:45 > 0:50:49having driven the Armada beyond Plymouth.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53But the reality was the Armada had never been planning to enter Plymouth,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56and for all their rapid cannon fire,
0:50:56 > 0:50:59the English hadn't actually inflicted that much damage.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08So often the details of historic battles are lost,
0:51:08 > 0:51:12but because of Professor Geoffrey Parker's discoveries,
0:51:12 > 0:51:16we know that the Armada's second-in-command, Recalde,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20immediately understood the English tactics.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23One of the things I most admire about Recalde,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26he sees instantly what the English are up to
0:51:26 > 0:51:31and he writes to Medina Sidonia saying, "We're not doing well here."
0:51:31 > 0:51:35And he says, "In future we need to make sure that our enemies
0:51:35 > 0:51:40"don't consume us little by little - poco a poco - and without risk to themselves.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43"We should rather put all our eggs in one basket
0:51:43 > 0:51:48"and the sooner the better for this fleet and for the army."
0:51:48 > 0:51:50So Recalde's strategy is
0:51:50 > 0:51:54turn the fleet around and hit the English hard now.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00But once again, Medina Sidonia ignored Recalde's advice
0:52:00 > 0:52:04and dutifully sailed on, following Philip's master plan.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16After the battle off Plymouth, for all the smoke and noise,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19neither side had lost a single ship.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24But that was about to change.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29All that day, local people lined these cliffs around Plymouth
0:52:29 > 0:52:33watching the great battle out at sea for the fate of England.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37For those who'd never heard anything louder than a church bell or a clap of thunder,
0:52:37 > 0:52:44the noise of these several hundred cannon reverberating off these hills must have been almost deafening.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46But the loudest explosion of all
0:52:46 > 0:52:48would come that afternoon at four o'clock.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56One Spanish ship, the San Salvador, blew up.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59Now, we don't know why or how, but there are some accounts
0:52:59 > 0:53:02that there was a disgruntled Dutch or German sailor on board
0:53:02 > 0:53:05who set fire to the powder store and then legged it overboard.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09In any case, 200 Spanish sailors drowned. It was a massive own goal.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14It's not the only disaster that day, because that same afternoon, a second ship, the Rosario,
0:53:14 > 0:53:20another of your most powerful fighting ships, bumps into first one ship then another,
0:53:20 > 0:53:25the foremast comes down into the mainmast and completely disables the steering.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Medina Sidonia would have loved to have gone back to rescue the Rosario,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31but he didn't feel he could deviate just one little bit
0:53:31 > 0:53:34from the master plan given to him by King Philip.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38So, reluctantly, he led the Armada on up the Channel.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46The Rosario was left to its fate.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Recalde was appalled
0:53:49 > 0:53:52and vented his feelings in a hastily written letter,
0:53:52 > 0:53:57discovered by Professor Geoffrey Parker over 400 years later.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02He's absolutely furious.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07"I can't begin to tell your Excellency how grievously I felt the loss of the ship."
0:54:07 > 0:54:12And then he goes on to say, "If we'd laid to, if we'd drawn in sail,
0:54:12 > 0:54:17"the situation could have been remedied. In the position we were in, we could have done it."
0:54:17 > 0:54:21I think this is the point where perhaps Recalde's beginning to think
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Medina Sidonia is not the right man for the job.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28As the Armada sailed on, shadowed by the English fleet,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32the commanders took stock of the day's events.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Medina Sidonia hadn't been able to get close to the English navy,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42and he'd already lost two great ships.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51Meanwhile, Howard and Drake were no happier...
0:54:51 > 0:54:56all too aware of the formidable strength of their enemy.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59- Two ships down.- Better we'd dealt the deadly blows.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06We'll puck their feathers little by little.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08That's a lot of plucking.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14But they were already concerned by a serious problem,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17caused by their rapid-firing tactics.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27Quite simply, the English were lacking crucial ammunition, powder and shot for their cannon.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31So much so that that very night, Howard wrote to London,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35he wrote to Walsingham, asking for more supplies.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37But he knew that, in all likelihood,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39that request would fall on deaf ears.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Elizabeth's finances are in a parlous state,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50the coffers are bare and Elizabeth doesn't want
0:55:50 > 0:55:53to go to parliament to ask for more tax revenue.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57In a sense, she doesn't want to be in hock to parliament.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01MONKEY CHITTERS ELIZABETH GASPS
0:56:01 > 0:56:03Brazen-faced jackanapes!
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Please remove the monkey, Bess.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Your Majesty.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11He takes what is mine without fear nor favour.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14She had spent quite a lot of money
0:56:14 > 0:56:17on building up brand-new ships for her navy,
0:56:17 > 0:56:24but now she didn't really want to spend money on ammunition, or indeed food to feed her sailors,
0:56:24 > 0:56:26because her cupboard was bare.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29To the Tower with the impertinent ape!
0:56:33 > 0:56:36ELIZABETH CACKLES
0:56:36 > 0:56:39A jest, that was all!
0:56:39 > 0:56:41ELIZABETH LAUGHS
0:56:41 > 0:56:43Even at this time of great crisis,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47Elizabeth was failing to properly provide for her navy.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50She was clearly hoping it would defeat the Spanish Armada
0:56:50 > 0:56:53without any further financial assistance.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57She was, basically, sending it into battle with one arm tied behind its back.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Being short of ammunition was bad,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05but things were about to get much worse.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10That evening, Howard ordered Drake to lead the English navy
0:57:10 > 0:57:15during the night with a light on the stern of his ship, the Revenge.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19But, ever the maverick, Drake had other plans...
0:57:21 > 0:57:23..and he extinguished the flame.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30He knew exactly where the Rosario lay stricken,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and for such a seasoned pirate, the fully-stocked Spanish ship
0:57:34 > 0:57:37was simply too much of a temptation.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43It was an extraordinary dereliction of duty, but Drake, in typical fashion,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47was about to stumble across a great treasure trove, gold and ammunition,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50but something even more important than that...intelligence.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Intelligence that was to give the English a hope
0:57:53 > 0:57:57that they could in fact defeat this, the greatest naval force on the planet,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00keep their country independent and Protestant,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03and their Queen Elizabeth...alive.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10Next time.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13The Armada sails ever closer.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16MAN: Remember, speed. Now!
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Drake tries out new tactics.
0:58:19 > 0:58:20Whoa!
0:58:20 > 0:58:24And the battles for England grow ever more intense.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Subtitles by Ericsson