Singeing the king of Spain's beard
Encyclopedia
Drake's 1587 expedition took place in the Bay of Cádiz, in April and May 1587. The English privateer, Francis Drake, led a military expedition against the Spanish naval forces assembling at Cádiz. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and substantial supplies were destroyed or captured. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish plans to invade England by more than a year. This incident, known to the Spanish as Drake's raid on Cádiz 1587, is known to the English by Drake's phrase “Singeing the beard of the King of Spain”.

Background

In the second half of the 16th century a series of economic, political and religious circumstances occurred that created tensions in the relations between England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Protestant England was brought into direct confrontation with Catholic Spain; Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 had been excommunicated by Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...

 in 1570 whilst in 1584 Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 had signed the Treaty of Joinville
Treaty of Joinville
The Treaty of Joinville was signed in secret in December 31, 1584 by the French Catholic League, led by France's first family of Catholic nobles, the Guises, and Habsburg Spain. In this treaty, Philip II, King of Spain, agreed to finance the Catholic League...

 with the French Catholic League
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...

, with the aim of eradicating Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

.

The constant raids by English privateers
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

 against Spanish territories in the Indies and against the Spanish treasure fleet, which carried the wealth which augmented the finances of Madrid, were considered by the Spanish as a threat to their economic interests. The support of the English for the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

, who were at this time engaged in the Eighty Year's War against Spain, with the intention of gaining their independence, was sealed by the Treaty of Nonsuch
Treaty of Nonsuch
The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Netherlands on 10 August 1585 at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey.-Background:The treaty was provoked by the signing of the Treaty of Joinville in 1584 between Philip II of Spain and the Catholic League in France in which Philip II promised...

 in 1585, whereby it was agreed to form an Anglo-Dutch military alliance against Spain. The English support for the pretender to the Portuguese throne, Dom António
António, Prior of Crato
António, Prior of Crato , was a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal, claimant of the Portuguese throne during the 1580 dynastic crisis, who was King of Portugal as António I of Portugal during 33 days in the continent in 1580, and, after the crowning of Philip II of Spain as King of Portugal,...

, was another source of contention.

The increasing power of the Spanish Empire
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

, which in 1580 had entered in a dynastic union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...

 with the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

 under Philip of Spain, was expanding in the Americas and had the support of the German Habsburgs as well as the Italian princes, was regarded by the English as a major threat to their security.

In 1585 the tension existing between the two countries erupted into the Anglo-Spanish war of 1585-1604
Anglo-Spanish War (1585)
The Anglo–Spanish War was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in...

. Philip II ordered the arming of a great military fleet, which was to be come known as the Invincible Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

, and it was hastily assembled in the Spanish port of Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 and in the Portuguese port of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 with the objective of invading England.

Preparations

Elizabeth I gave the English privateer, Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...

, an outstanding leader of previous naval expeditions, the command of a fleet whose mission was to inspect the Spanish military preparations, intercept their supplies, attack the fleet and if possible the Spanish ports. To that end, the Queen put at Drake's disposal four Royal Naval galleons: the Elizabeth Bonaventure
HMS Bonaventure (1567)
Bonaventure was a 47-gun galleon purchased by the Royal Navy in 1567. She was the third vessel to bear the name...

, which was under Drake's own command; the Golden Lion
HMS Lion (1557)
Golden Lion The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the Eighteenth Century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a ship of the English Royal Navy, launched in 1557. She was rebuilt for the first time in 1582.By the time of her second rebuild, in 1609, she was known as Lion...

, captained by William Burroughs; the Rainbow
HMS Rainbow (1586)
RainbowThe 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a galleon of the English Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by Peter Pett , and launched in 1586...

, under captain Bellingham; and the Dreadnought
HMS Dreadnought (1573)
DreadnoughtThe 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a 41-gun galleon of the English Navy Royal, built by Mathew Baker and launched in 1573. Like HMS Dreadnought of 1906, she was a radical innovation over contemporary ships...

 under Captain Thomas Fenner. A further twenty merchantmen
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 and armed pinnace
Pinnace (ship's boat)
As a ship's boat the pinnace is a light boat, propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a "tender" for guiding merchant and war vessels. In modern parlance, pinnace has come to mean a boat associated with some kind of larger vessel, that doesn't fit under the launch or lifeboat definitions...

s joined forces with the expedition. The cost of these boats was met by a group of London merchants, whose profits were to be calculated in the same proportions as their investment in the fleet; the Queen, as owner of the four Royal Naval vessels, was to receive 50% of the profits.
On the 12 April 1587 the English fleet set sail from Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

. Seven days after their departure, the Queen sent a counter-command to Drake with instructions not to commence hostilities against the Spanish Fleet or ports. Drake never received this order as the boat carrying it was forced back into port by opposing winds, before it was able to reach him.

Raid on Cadiz

Off the coast of Galicia the fleet was dispersed by a storm that lasted seven days, during which one of the pinnaces foundered. After the fleet regrouped, they met two Dutch ships from Middelburg
Middelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...

, Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

, who informed them that plans were in readiness to sail a huge Spanish war fleet from Cádiz to Lisbon

At dusk on 29 April the English fleet entered the Bay of Cádiz
Bay of Cádiz
The Bay of Cádiz is a body of water adjacent to the southwestern coast of Spain. It touches the following municipalities in the province of Cádiz: Cádiz, San Fernando, Puerto Real, El Puerto de Santa Maria, and Rota...

. There were at that precise moment sixty carracks
Carrack
A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...

 (naus) and various smaller boats in the port . Further sightings revealed twenty French ships present in the bay, and other smaller vessels were seeking refuge in Port Royal
Puerto Real
Puerto Real is a seaport in southern Spain, in the province of Cádiz and the autonomous region of Andalusia. , it had a population 40,667....

 and Port Saint Mary
El Puerto de Santa María
El Puerto de Santa María is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Spain. , the city has a population of c...

, which were protected by sand banks that the larger carracks could not cross. Juan de Vega, Mayor of Cádiz, sent word to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, who arrived from Sanlúcar
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River opposite the Doñana National Park, 52 km from the provincial capital Cádiz and...

 that night to take over the defence of the main square. The Spanish galleons, who in the absence of the Governor of Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...

 were under the command of Pedro de Acuña
Pedro Bravo de Acuña
Pedro Bravo de Acuña was a Spanish military officer and colonial official in the New World and the Philippines. From 1602 to 1606 he was governor of the Philippines.-Early career and arrival in the Philippines:...

, sailed out to meet the English fleet but were forced to retire back to Cádiz before the superiority of the English. Gun positions on the shore opened fire, shelling the English fleet from the coast with little effect, but they managed to repulse an attempted landing by launches at El Puntal. During the night of the 29th and all the following day and night the battle raged in the bay. At dawn on the 1st May the English retreated having destroyed between 23 and 33 Spanish ships, with a combined weight of 10,000 tons. Furthermore, they had captured four other ships, laden with provisions.

Portugal

After leaving Cadiz, Drake's fleet set course along the south-west coast of Spain and Portugal, destroying all the shipping they encountered, including fishing vessels. On the 14 May, 1,000 men disembarked at Lagos
Lagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....

 in the Algarve and stormed the fortresses of Sagres
Sagres, Portugal
Sagres is a town located in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, Algarve, Portugal. It has a surface of 34,28 km² and a population of 1 939 . Sagres Point, historically connected to the Portuguese Age of Discovery, is located there....

, Baleeira, Beliche and Cape St. Vincent
Cape St. Vincent
Cape St. Vincent , next to the Sagres Point, on the so-called Costa Vicentina , is a headland in the municipality of Sagres, in the Algarve, southern Portugal.- Description :This cape is the southwesternmost point in Portugal...

. From there they sailed towards Lisbon where Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz
Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz
Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz de Mudela , was a Spanish admiral.-Biography:Álvaro de Bazán was born in Granada....

 was supervising the preparations of the fleet that was to join the Cádiz fleet for the invasion of England. The English fleet stopped in Cascais
Cascais
Cascais is a coastal town in Cascais Municipality in Portugal, 30 kilometres west of Lisbon, with about 35,000 residents. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of the Portuguese capital and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal. The former fishing village gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal...

, from where they proposed to Alvaro de Bazán an exchange of prisoners. Bazán responded that he was neither holding any English subject nor was he preparing for any action against England. Both Drake and Bazán refused to engage in combat merely an exchange of artillery fire between the English fleet and the Hispanic-Portuguese shore batteries, which produced no casualties. Drake gave the order to weigh anchor and return to Sagres, where the English troops were supplied with water, whilst confronting the Spanish caravels
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...

 that had pursued them from Cádiz. On 2 June the English sick and wounded were evacuated back to England. That same night a storm broke which prevented further sailing for three days.

Second in command Captain William Burroughs considered the decision to land in the Algarve as dangerous and unnecessary. Drake's plans to sail to the Isle of Terceira
Terceira Island
Referred to as the “Ilha Lilás” , Terceira is an island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 56,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 396.75 km²...

, drove Burroughs to contradict Drake's orders, prompting Drake to relieve him of his command and place him under arrest. Burroughs would be sent back to England, leaving Drake with only nine ships.

The Azores

On 8th June, Drake's fleet sighted the Portuguese carrack, the São Filipe twenty leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...

 from the Island of San Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...

, returning from the Indies laden with treasure, and which after a brief exchange of fire was captured (it was the first ship to be captured on the return run from the Indies). After capturing the São Filipe and its enormous fortune of gold, spices and silk valued at £108,000 (of which 10% was to go to Drake), the fleet returned to England, arriving on the 6th of July.

Conclusion

The expedition led by Francis Drake was a resounding military success: over 100 Spanish vessels of different tonnages were destroyed or captured during the expedition. Economic and material losses caused to the Spanish fleet by the English attack ensured that Spanish plans for the invasion of England had to be postponed for over a year. It was not until August 1588 that the Armada was ready to leave for the British Isles.

Documents seized by the English with the São Filipe, which had details of the East Indies maritime traffic and the lucrative trade in the area, would years later be used as the basis for the founding of the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

.

Explanation of Drake's phrase

The phrase, "to singe one's beard", was understood at the time to mean to inflict delay, though not crippling damage, upon an enemy. At the time, the best-known use of the phrase was by the Vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....

 of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. In 1571, an alliance of Christian nations led by Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 had destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto
Battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto normally refers to the 1571 Holy League victory over the Ottoman fleet. There were also three earlier battles fought in the vicinity of Lepanto:*Battle of Naupactus in 429 BC, an Athenian victory during the Peleoponnesian War...

. The Ottomans had rebuilt their fleet, and later captured the island of Cyprus from the Venetians, forcing them to sue for peace. The Vizier remarked to the Venetian envoys, "You come to see how we bear our misfortune. But I would have you know the difference between your loss and ours. In wresting Cyprus from you, we deprived you of an arm; in defeating our fleet, you have only shaved our beard. An arm when cut off cannot grow again; but a shorn beard will grow all the better for the razor."
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