Want To Know How England Defeated The Spanish Armada? Then Forget Everything You Learned At School

From Elizabeth I’s rousing speech at tilbury to that famous game of bowls, much of what we think we know about the events of 1588 is the product of four centuries of spin, argues lucy worsley

TWO NAVIES COLLIDE

The plucky English navy humbles an ‘invincible’ Spanish fleet, as shown in a 16th-century painting. But when it comes to the events of 1588, all is not what it seems.

In a world where thousands of opinions are competing for our attention, we like to think of history books speaking with one clear voice to tell us the definitive truth about the past. But it’s not like that at all. In the latest series of History’s Biggest Fibs, airing on BBC Four this month, we explore some of the past’s best-known stories to see just how they have been spun over the centuries.

One of the stopping-off points in the usual story of England’s journey towards becoming a global superpower with a world-class navy is the so-called defeat of the ‘invincible’ Spanish Armada in 1588.

The quotation marks are used advisedly, for all is not as it seems.

The schoolgirl version of the story is that Philip II of Spain, deadly foe of Elizabeth I of England, sent his huge Armada of ships to invade England and return it to the Catholic faith, only to be defeated by the plucky little English navy, whose courageous captains included Sir Francis Drake.