Book: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1 20

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[16] See _Search for the Northwest Passage by Frobisher_, page 156.

[17] See _First Colony of England beyond Seas_, page 198.

[18] See _Naming of Virginia: The Lost Colony_, page 211.

To Drake, greatest of all these wild adventurers, was it left to embroil
his country utterly with Spain. He followed Magellan in circumnavigating
the globe, and wherever he went he left a track of plundered Spanish
settlements behind. Elizabeth was in despair; she alternately knighted
him and threatened to hang him as a pirate. The Spaniards, re-reading
his name, called him the Dragon. He was the terror of their seas.

At last the long accumulating quarrel of religious and commercial
motives reached a head. Philip began gathering in all his ports that
vast "Invincible Armada," which was to assert his supremacy on sea as
upon land, to crush England and Protestantism forever. This was the
supreme effort of his life. There was no question as to where the blow
would fall. Elizabeth knew it coming, not to be evaded by any policy or
concessions. Drake knew it coming, and, taking time by the forelock,
sailed boldly into the harbor of Cadiz to "singe the King of Spain's
beard," destroyed all the ships and stores accumulated there.[19] But
Cadiz was only one port among several where preparations were being
hurried forward; there were others the hardy Dragon could not penetrate.
The next year (1588) the "Invincible Armada" sailed for England.

[19] See _Drake Captures Cartagena: He "Singes the King of Spain's
Beard" at Cadiz_, page 230.

The story of its destruction is too well known for repetition. This was
England's proudest achievement. Philip accepted the terrific downfall of
all his scheming and ambitions with a gallant calm. He had truly
believed that Heaven wished him to reassert Catholicism. He accepted the
storms which partly destroyed his fleet as the divine refusal of his
aid. "You could not strive against the will of Heaven," he said kindly
to his defeated admiral.[20]

[20] See _Defeat of the Spanish Armada_, page 251.

In England, the repeated plunderings of Spanish ships, and now this
final victory, flooded the land with wealth and triumph. The internal
improvement, the intellectual advance of the people, were prodigious.
The "Elizabethan Age" is the most famed in English literature. The first
English theatre was built in 1570, a crude and queer affair for cruder,
queerer plays.[21] Yet, in perhaps that very armada year of 1588,
Shakespeare began writing his remarkable plays. In 1601 the drama rose to
its perfection in his _Hamlet_, the flower of English literary genius,
accredited by some as the grandest new creation that ever came from the
hand of man.[22]

[21] See _Building of First Theatre in England_, page 163.

[22] See _Culmination of Dramatic Literature in_ Hamlet, page 287.

Elizabeth died in 1603. Her reign had seen also the final suppression of
the Irish Catholics and their subjugation to the English crown. In the
year of her death came the "Flight of the Earls," the mournful
abandonment of Ireland by the last of the great lords who had fought for
and now despaired of her independence.[23]

[23] See _Downfall of Irish Liberty: "Flight of the Earls_," page
299.

The age of Elizabeth can scarcely, however, be said to cease at her
death. The English people had grown greater than their sovereign, and
upon them the influences of their Spanish victory continued. Shakespeare
is even more the Elizabethan age than Elizabeth, and his writings
continued until 1611. Drake had died in 1596; Raleigh lived till 1618.

Since Elizabeth was childless, she was succeeded on the throne by the
Scotch king James VI (James I of England), son of the Mary Stuart whose
claims had caused such trouble. James, removed from his mother's care,
had been educated by his subjects as a Protestant, so he was welcome to
England. The first step toward uniting the two halves of the island was
made when they thus came under a common sovereign. The same atmosphere
of plot and treachery which had surrounded Elizabeth reached also to her
successor. In 1605 was unearthed the "Gunpowder Plot," a scheme to blow
up James with all his chief ministers and subjects in the House of
Parliament. The date of its discovery is still kept as a national
holiday in England.[24]

[24] See _The Gunpowder Plot_, page 310.

Then in 1607 came the fruition of Raleigh's efforts and those of Drake,
the beginning surely of a new era. Spain being no longer able to oppose,
a new colony was sent out from England to Virginia. It settled at
Jamestown, and began the successful colonization of the United
States.[25] The next year, the French, supported by their great king
Henry IV, made a similar beginning. Quebec was founded by them on the
St. Lawrence.[26] The era of American discovery was over, and that of
American settlement was come.

[25] See _Settlement of Virginia_, page 350.

[26] See _Founding of Quebec_, page 366.


[FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME XI]




ENGLAND LOSES HER LAST FRENCH TERRITORY

BATTLE OF ST. QUENTIN

A.D. 1558

CHARLES KNIGHT


From 1347, when it was taken by Edward III, Calais remained a
stronghold of England until it was retaken for France by the Duke
of Guise (Francois de Lorraine), in 1558. With the surrender of
Calais the English lost their last foothold in French territory.

Weary with the long tumults and wars of his reign, Charles V in
1555 resigned all his crowns to his son, Philip II of Spain, and
his brother Ferdinand, King of Bohemia and Hungary. Pope Paul IV,
wishing to subvert the Spanish power, entered into a league
with Henry II of France against Philip. Guise, who had warred
successfully with Charles V, against whom he defended Metz when it
was won for France (1553), now espoused the papal cause. His main
object was to recover Naples to his own family. Thus he became a
leading actor in the events culminating in the capture of Calais.

Throughout the reign of Philip II his chief aim was to restore the
Roman Catholic religion in Protestant countries and to establish a
uniform despotism over his dominions. In 1554 he had married Queen
Mary of England, and after a short sojourn in that country, whose
crown he vainly tried to obtain, and to whose people he was
obnoxious, he returned to the Continent. Soon after "he was called
to a destiny more suited to his proud and ambitious nature than to
be the unequal partaker of sovereign power over a jealous insular
people."


In March, 1557, Philip returned to England. He came, not out of
affection for his wife or of regard for his turbulent insular subjects,
but to stir up the old English hatred of France and to drag the nation
into a war for his personal advantage. The fiery Pope, Paul IV, panted
for the freedom of Italy as it existed in the fifteenth century; he
wanted to accomplish his wishes by an alliance with France; he would
place French princes on the thrones of Milan and Naples. The Spaniards
he pronounced as the spawn of Jews and Moors, the dregs of the earth.

When there was a question of temporal dominion to be fought out, the
Pope did not hesitate to wage war against that faithful son of the
Church, King Philip; nor did King Philip hesitate to send the Duke of
Alva, the exterminator of Protestants, to enter the Roman states and lay
waste the territories of the Pope. Frane and Spain were upon the brank
of open war when Philip arrived in England. He urged a declaration of
war against France. There were grievances in the alleged encouragement
which had been given in Wyat's rebellion, and in the lukewarmness with
which Henry II met Queen Mary's desire that he should afford her the
means of vengeance upon the exiles for religion who took shelter in
France.

The most recent complaint was that France had connived at the equipment
of a force by Thomas Stafford, a refugee, who had invaded England with
thirty-two followers and had surprised Scarborough castle. This
adventurer claimed to be the house and blood of the Duke of Buckingham,
who was beheaded in the times of Henry VIII. The proclamation which he
issued from his castle of Scarborough, which he held only two days, was
addressed to the English hatred of the Spaniards, rather than directed
against the ecclesiastical persecution under which the country was
suffering: "As the duke of Buckingham, our forefathers and predecessors,
have always been defenders of the poor commonalty against the tyranny of
princes, so should you have us at this juncture, most dearly beloved
friends, your protector, governor, and defender against all your
adversaries and enemies; minding earnestly to die rather, presently, and
personally before you in the field, than to suffer you to be overrun so
miserably with strangers, and made most sorrowful slaves and careful
captives to such a naughty nation as Spaniards." Stafford and his band
were soon made prisoners; and he was beheaded on Tower Hill, and three
of his followers hanged, on May 25th. Seizing upon this absurd attempt
as a ground of quarrel, war was declared against France on June 7th; and
Philip quitted the country on July 6th, never to return.

An English force of four thousand infantry, a thousand cavalry, and two
thousand pioneers joined the Spanish army on the Flemish frontier. The
army was partly composed of German mercenaries; the _lanzknechts_ and
_reiters_, the pikemen and cavalry, who, at the command of the best
paymaster, were the most formidable soldiers of the time. But the Spanish
cavaliers were there, leading their native infantry; and there were the
Burgundian lances. The army was commanded by Emanuel Philibert, Duke of
Savoy, who had aspired to the hand of Elizabeth. Philip earnestly
seconded his suit, but Mary, wisely and kindly, would not put a
constraint upon her sister's inclinations. The wary Princess saw that the
crown would probably be hers at no distant day; and she would not risk
the loss of the people's affection by marrying a foreign Catholic. She
had sensible advisers about her, who seconded her own prudence; and thus
she kept safe amid the manifold dangers by which she was surrounded.

The Duke of Savoy, though young, was an experienced soldier, and he
determined to commence the campaign by investing St. Quentin, a frontier
town of Picardy. The defence of this fortress was undertaken by Coligny,
the Admiral of France, afterward so famous for his mournful death.
Montmorency, the Constable, had the command of the French army. The
garrison was almost reduced to extremity--when Montmorency, on August
10th, arrived with his whole force, and halted on the bank of the Somme.
On the opposite bank lay the Spanish, the English, the Flemish, and the
German host. The arrival of the French was a surprise, and the Duke of
Savoy had to take up a new position. He determined on battle. The issue
was the most unfortunate for France since the fatal day of Agincourt.
The French slain amounted, according to some accounts, to six thousand;
and the prisoners were equally numerous. Among them was the veteran
Montmorency.

On August 10th Philip came to the camp. Bold advisers counselled a march
to Paris. The cautious King was satisfied to press on the siege of St.
Quentin. The defence which Coligny made was such as might have been
expected from his firmness and bravery. The place was taken by storm,
amid horrors which belong to such scenes at all times, but which were
doubled by the rapacity of troops who fought even with each other for the
greatest share of the pillage. After a few trifling successes, the army
of Philip was broken up. The German mercenaries; the _lanzknechts_ and
_reiters_, the pikemen and cavalry, who, at the command of the best
paymaster, were the most formidable soldiers of the time. But the Spanish
cavaliers were there, leading their native infantry; and there were the
Burgundian lances. The army was commanded by Emanuel Philibert, Duke of
Savoy, who had aspired to the hand of Elizabeth. Philip earnestly
seconded his suit, but Mary, wisely and kindly, would not put a constraint
upon her sister's inclinations. The wary Princess saw that the crown
would probably be hers at no distant day; and she would not risk the
loss of the people's affection by marrying a foreign Catholic. She had
sensible advisers about her, who seconded her own prudence; and thus she
kept safe amid the manifold dangers by which she was surrounded.

The Duke of Savoy, though young, was an experienced soldier, and he
determined to commence the campaign by investing St. Quentin, a frontier
town of Picardy. The defence of this fortress was undertaken by Coligny,
the Admiral of France, afterward so famous for his mournful death.
Montmorency, the Constable, had the command of the French army. The
garrison was almost reduced to extremity--when Montmorency, on August
10th, arrived with his whole force, and halted on the bank of the Somme.
On the opposite bank lay the Spanish, the English, the Flemish, and the
German host. The arrival of the French was a surprise, and the Duke of
Savoy had to take up a new position. He determined on battle. The issue
was the most unfortunate for France since the fatal day of Agincourt.
The French slain amounted, according to some accounts, to six thousand;
and the prisoners were equally numerous. Among them was the veteran
Montmorency.

On August 10th Philip came to the camp. Bold advisers counselled a march
to Paris. The cautious King was satisfied to press on the siege of St.
Quentin. The defence which Coligny made was such as might have been
expected from his firmness and bravery. The place was taken by storm,
amid horrors which belong to such scenes at all times, but which were
doubled by the rapacity of troops who fought even with each other for
the greatest share of the pillage. After a few trifling successes, the
army of Philip was broken up. The English and Germans were indignant at
the insolence of the Spaniards; and the Germans were more indignant that
their pay was not forthcoming. Philip was glad to permit his English
subjects to take their discontents home. They had found out that they
were not fighting the battle of England.

The war between England and France produced hostilities between England
and Scotland. Mary of Guise, the Queen Dowager and Regent of Scotland,
was incited by the French king to invade England. The disposition to
hostilities was accompanied by a furious outbreak of the Scottish
borderers. They were driven back. But the desire of the Queen Dowager
that England should be invaded was resisted by the chief nobles, who
declared themselves ready to act on the defensive, but who would not
plunge into war during their sovereign's minority. The alliance of
France and Scotland was, however, completed, in the autumn of 1558, by
the marriage between the Dauphin and the young Queen Mary, which was
solemnized at Paris, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The Duke of Guise, the uncle of the Queen of Scots, at the beginning of
1558, was at the head of a powerful army to avenge the misfortune of St.
Quentin. The project committed to his execution was a bold and patriotic
one--to drive the English from their last stronghold in France. Calais,
over whose walls a foreign flag had been waving for two centuries, was
to France an opprobrium and to England a trophy. But it was considered
by the English government as an indispensable key to the Continent--a
possession that it would not only be a disgrace to lose, but a national
calamity. The importance of Calais was thus described by Micheli, the
Venetian ambassador, only one year before it finally passed from the
English power:

"Another frontier, besides that of Scotland, and of no less importance
for the security of the kingdom, though it be separated, is that which
the English occupy on the other side of the sea, by means of two
fortresses, Calais and Guines, guarded by them (and justly) with
jealousy, especially Calais, for this is the key and principal entrance
to their dominions, without which the English would have no outlet from
their own, nor access to other countries, at least none so easy, so
short, and so secure; so much so that if they were deprived of it they
would not only be shut out from the Continent, but also from the
commerce and intercourse of the world. They would consequently lose what
is essentially necessary for the existence of a country, and become
dependent upon the will and pleasure of other sovereigns, in availing
themselves of their ports, besides having to encounter a more distant,
more hazardous, and more expensive passage; whereas, by way of Calais,
which is directly opposite to the harbor of Dover, distant only about
thirty miles, they can, at any time, without hinderance, even in spite
of contrary winds, at their pleasure, enter or leave the harbor--such is
the experience and boldness of their sailors--and carry over either
troops or anything else for warfare, offensive and defensive, without
giving rise to jealousy and suspicion; and thus they are enabled, as
Calais is not more than ten miles from Ardres, the frontier of the
French, nor farther from Gravelines, the frontier of the imperialists,
to join either the one or the other, as they please, and to add their
strength to him with whom they are at amity, in prejudice of an enemy.

"For these reasons, therefore, it is not to be wondered at that, besides
the inhabitants of the place, who are esteemed men of most unshaken
fidelity, being the descendants of an English colony settled there
shortly after the first conquest, it should also be guarded by one of
the most trusty barons which the King has, bearing the title of deputy,
with a force of five hundred of the best soldiers, besides a troop of
fifty horsemen. It is considered by everyone as an impregnable fortress,
on account of the inundation with which it may be surrounded, although
there are persons skilled in the art of fortification who doubt that it
would prove so if put to the test. For the same reason Guines is also
reckoned impregnable, situated about three miles more inland, on the
French frontier, and guarded with the same degree of care, though, being
a smaller place, only by a hundred fifty men, under a chief governor.
The same is done with regard to a third place, called Hammes, situated
between the two former, and thought to be of equal importance, the
waters which inundate the country being collected around."

Ninety years later Calais was regarded in a very different light: "Now
it is gone, let it go. It was but a beggarly town, which cost England
ten times yearly more than it was worth in keeping thereof, as by the
accounts in the exchequer doth plainly appear."

The expedition against Calais was undertaken upon a report of the
dilapidated condition of the works and the smallness of its garrison. It
was not "an impregnable fortress," as Micheli says it was considered.
The Duke of Guise commenced his attack on January 2d, when he stormed
and took the castle of Ruysbank, which commanded the approach by water.
On the 3d he carried the castle of Newenham bridge, which commanded the
approach by land. He then commenced a cannonade of the citadel, which
surrendered on the 6th. On the 7th the town capitulated. Lord Wentworth,
the Governor, and fifty others remained as prisoners. The English
inhabitants, about four thousand, were ejected from the home which they
had so long colonized, but without any exercise of cruelty. "The
Frenchmen," say the chroniclers, "entered and possessed the town; and
forthwith all the men, women, and children were commanded to leave their
houses and to go to certain places appointed for them to remain in, till
order might be taken for their sending away.

"The places thus appointed for them to remain in were chiefly four, the
two churches of Our Lady and St. Nicholas, the deputy's house, and the
stable, where they rested a great part of that day and one whole night
and the next day till three o'clock at afternoon, without either meat or
drink. And while they were thus in the churches and those other places
the Duke of Guise, in the name of the French King, in their hearing made
a proclamation charging all and every person that were inhabitants of
the town of Calais, having about them any money, plate, or jewels to the
value of one groat, to bring the same forthwith, and lay it down upon
the high altars of the said churches, upon pain of death; bearing them
in hand also that they should be searched. By reason of which
proclamation there was made a great and sorrowful offertory.

"While they were at this offertory within the churches, the Frenchmen
entered into their houses and rifled the same, where were found
inestimable riches and treasures; but especially of ordnance, armor, and
other munitions. Thus dealt the French with the English in lieu and
recompense of the like usage to the French when the forces of King
Philip prevailed at St. Quentin; where, not content with the honor of
victory, the English in sacking the town sought nothing more than the
satisfying of their greedy vein of covetousness, with an extreme neglect
of all moderation."

Within the marches of Calais the English held the two small fortresses
of Guines and Hammes. Guines was defended with obstinate courage by Lord
Grey, and did not surrender till January 20th. His loss amounted to
eight hundred men. From Hammes the English garrison made their escape by
night.




REIGN OF ELIZABETH

A.D. 1558-1603

HENRY R. CLEVELAND


Elizabeth's reign has been regarded by many writers as the most
glorious period of England's career. There were no great land
battles fought by English troops; but at sea those famous
rovers, half pirates, Drake, Raleigh, and their like, definitely
established that maritime supremacy which has ever since been
their country's proudest boast. Moreover, the intellectual
awakening of England which had taken place in the time of Henry
VII and Henry VIII now bore fruit in a glorious literary outburst,
which has made the Elizabethan Age the envy and despair of more
recent literary periods.

There were clearly marked causes for this brilliant and patriotic
era. The indiscriminate marriages of Henry VIII had thrown more
than a shadow of doubt upon the legitimacy of every one of his
children. On his death he was succeeded, without serious dispute,
by his only son, Edward VI. Edward did not live to manhood, but
during his short reign his guardians pushed the land far in the
direction of Protestantism. Unfortunately they plundered the
common people cruelly and persecuted, though only in two cases to
the point of burning, both Catholics and the more extreme
Protestants.

The early death of Edward left no male heir to the royal house.
For the first time in English history there were none but women to
claim the crown. Moreover, of these at least four had some show of
right. They were Mary, the Catholic daughter of King Henry's first
wife, and Elizabeth, his Protestant daughter by Anne Boleyn. Or,
if both these were to be considered illegitimate, then came their
cousins, Mary Stuart, descended from one of Henry's sisters, and
Lady Jane Grey, from another. The friends of Lady Jane tried to
raise her to the throne, but only succeeded in bringing her to the
scaffold. The Catholic, Mary, was declared the rightful queen and
ruled England for five years, during most of which she kept her
half-sister Elizabeth in prison.

Queen Mary was devoted to her religion. The fires which had burned
in Henry's time were kindled again, but now for the torture of
Protestants, bishops, and men of mark. Mary wedded the Catholic
king and cruel fanatic Philip II of Spain, the most powerful
monarch of Europe; so that only to her death and the reign of the
persecuted Elizabeth could Protestant Englishmen look for relief.
Thus the accession of the learned and coquettish Elizabeth brought
far more than a mere promise of youth and pleasure; it was a
bursting of the fetters of fear.


The age of Elizabeth was preeminently distinguished by the operation of
just principles, of generous sentiments, of elevated objects, and of
profound piety. Elizabeth, it is true, was vindictive, arbitrary, and
cruel. Two prevailing sentiments filled her mind and chiefly influenced
her conduct throughout life. The first of these was the idea of
prerogative. Any assumption of rights, any freedom of debate, any
theological discussion or profession of sentiments which seemed to
infringe on the sacred limits of royalty was sure to be visited with her
severest wrath. She detested the Puritans, from whom she had suffered
nothing, but whose republican spirit appeared to her at war with royalty
in the abstract, far more than the papists, by whom her life had been
made a life of danger and suffering, but who respected forms and
ceremonies, and whose system encouraged reverence for the powers that be
and loyal sentiment toward the person whom they regarded as the lawful
sovereign. Nothing but the earnest entreaties of Cecil and the imminent
danger of a French invasion could induce her to give assistance to the
Scottish Protestants when they were persecuted by the Queen Regent. And
even her hatred of Mary could not prevent her taking sides with that
ill-fated Princess when the "Congregation" claimed the right of trying
their sovereign for alleged crimes, after having deposed and imprisoned
her.

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