Frank McLynn
Year of the Sea Dog
England and the Spanish Armada: The Necessary Quarrel
By James McDermott
Yale University Press 411pp £20
James McDermott chosen a very specific title for his new book, and he means it, for anything relating to the so-called 'Enterprise of England' in 1588 that does not directly involve Elizabeth I and her advisers has been ruthlessly expunged from his account; this is not the place to go if you want a reader-friendly version of the defeat of the Armada. McDermott’s concern is diplomatic history fairly narrowly conceived, with the result that the first two-thirds of his book are taken up with causes and origins, triggers and precipitants, context and background. But he does explain very clearly how England proceeded from neutrality to non-belligerency and thence to outright war with Spain. For twenty years Elizabeth I resisted the pleas and blandishments of her coreligionists in the Low Countries, who were engaged in the famous revolt of the Netherlands against the Spanish crown. Then, in 1585, England turned aside from the traditional ~policy of ~peaceful coexistence with Spain and set itself on a collision course with the Habsburg monarch Philip II. As James McDermott points out in this careful study, the decisive moment was actually in 1584, when William of Orange, the rebel leader, was assassinated, causing Elizabeth to believe that the final resolution of the Netherlands crisis was at hand. And in the same year an alliance between France and Spain moved all thought that France could be used as a counterweight to Philip's campaign of pacification in the Netherlands.
The year 1585, then, saw the culmination of a process that was intriguingly multi-causal. At least five main factors may be identified that made the outbreak of war 'necessary'. First was the revolt of the Netherlands itself, used by Protestant fanatics like Elizabeth's advisers Cecil and Walsingham to manoeuvre the
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm