2nd Spanish Armada religion, Spanish intervention and not to make peace with Elizabeth. For the Spanish the strategy was simple – the war in Ireland would create a new front, hoping to draw English troops away from the fighting in the United Provinces, and from which the English would have to fight. In Spain's eyes, the English fighting on this new front was one they could not afford to do. Philip II placed great hope in the new Grand Armada that was being organised in Lisbon. There were fifteen galleons from Castile and nine from Portugal, 53 Flemish and German boats which had
Spanish Empire and Protestant England. When the Spanish Armada sailed in 1588, England faced the most serious threat of invasion since the Norman Conquest of 1066. Its defeat did not end the threat. England sent out its own armada in 1589, but this endured heavy losses. In 1591, Spain reasserted its naval superiority at the Battle of Flores, when an attempt to capture its treasure fleet was thwarted. Spain had invested itself in the religious warfare in France after Henry II's death. In 1589, Henry III, the last of the Valois lineage, died at the walls of Paris. His successor, Henry IV