Maritime history of England Instructions were issued in 1653 and Sailing Instructions in 1673. During the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) the French fleet was initially stronger than that of the English, but the former was almost completely destroyed at the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Many other sea battles were fought in this period. The Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588. It was sent by King Philip II of Spain to take the Duke of Parma's army from the Spanish Netherlands to a landing
Armada Portrait Armada Portrait The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I of England is the name of any of three surviving versions of an allegorical panel painting depicting the Tudor queen surrounded by symbols of imperial majesty against a backdrop representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The combination of a life-sized portrait of Elizabeth I with a landscape format is "quite unprecedented in her portraiture", although allegorical portraits in this format, such as the "Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession" (1572) attributed to Lucas de Heere, pre-date the "Armada Portrait". English art in this period was