The True Story of the Spanish Armada

The new film about Elizabeth: the Golden Years makes you wish to delve into the intricate and detailed history of the invincible armada. What effort did it take to launch such a huge enterprise? What about victuals? Armament? Life onboard?

One of the best introductions and overviews are of course presented in the catalogue from 1988, which unfortunately is not on sale any more. But a number of new books have once more searched the archives in order to giver their readers a sense of what life onboard was like. Two shall be mentioned here (in no particular order)

The first is by James McDermott, an independent scholar, who has written several books about the lives and times of the privateers of the 16th century. In 2005 he published a major new book on the history of the Armada with the subtitle: The necessary Quarrel. In this book he outlines what an important role the Armada came to play in the formation of the new national identity of Britain. But the reader also gets a detailed and interesting review of the major events in 1588.

The second is by Neil Hanson who has written about the Armada using private papers and chronicles to present the history of the Armada from a more personal and thus less technical perspective. Here are the memorable tales about the key players and anonymous soldiers on both sides.

James McDermott: England and the Spanish Armada: The Necessary Quarrel. Yale University Press 2005.

Neil Hanson: The Confident Hope of A Miracle: The True History of the Spanish Armada. Corgi Adult 2004.