KLIZABETU. 



ELIZABETH PETROWNA. 



inenased their terror, and the panic flew entirely through the fleet. 

 The onw* of the different veuels, anxious only for their own preserva- 

 tion, thought of nothing but how to escape from immediate danger. 

 Some weighed their anchor*, whilst other* cut their cables, and 

 aufcrid their ships to drive before the wind. In this confunion many 

 of the abips ran fool of one another, and several of them received such 

 damage aa to be rendered unfit fur future use. 



When daylight returned, Lord Howard had the satisfaction to 

 perceive that his stratagem had produced the desired effect The 

 enemy wat still in extreme disorder, and their ships widely separated 

 and dispersed. His fleet having received a great augmentation by the 

 hips fitted out by the nobility and gentry, as well as by those of Lord 

 Seymour, who had left Justin de Nassau as alone sufficient to guard 

 the coast of Flanders, and bring bravely seconded by Sir Francis 

 Drake and all the other officers, he hastened to improve the advantage 

 which was now presented to him, and attacked the enemy in different 

 quarters at the same time with the utmost impetuosity and ardour. 

 The engagement began at four in the morning of August the 8th, and 

 lasted till six at nLht. The Spaniards in every rencontre displayed 

 the moat intrepid bravery ; but, from the causes already mentioned, 

 did little execution against the English, while many of their own ships 

 were greatly damaged, and ten of the largest were either run aground, 

 sunk, or compelled to surrender. 



The principal galeau, commanded by Moncada, having Manriquez, 

 the inspector-general, on board, with 300 galley-slaves and 400 soldiers, 

 was driven a-hore near Calais. Fifty thousand ducats were found 

 on board of her. One of the capital ships, having been long battered 

 by an English captain of the name of Cross, was sunk during the 

 engagement. A few only of the crew were saved, who related that 

 one of the officer* on board having proposed to surrender, he was killed 

 by another who was enraged at his proposal ; Chat this other wag 

 killed by the brother of the first ; and that it was in the midst of this 

 bloody scene that the ship went to the bottom. The fate of two other 

 of the Spanish galleons is particularly mentioned by contemporary 

 historians, the St. Philip and the St Matthew : after an obstinate en- 

 gagement with the English admiral's ship they were obliged to rtm 

 aahore on the coast of Flanders, where they were taken by the Dutch. 



The Duke de Medina now not only despaired of success, but saw 

 clearly that by a continuance of the combat he should risk the entire 

 destruction of his fleet The bulk of his vessels rendered them unfit 

 not only for fighting, but for navigation in the narrow seas. He 

 therefore determined to abandon the further prosecution of his 

 enterprise; yet even to get back to Spain waa difficult: he resolved 

 therefore to sail northward, and return by making the circuit of the 

 British Isles. Lord Seymour was detached to follow in his rear, but 

 from the bad supply of ammunition which he had received from the 

 public offices, was deterred from renewing an attack which in all 

 probability would have led to the Duke de Medina's surrender. 



A dreadful storm arose after the Spaniards bad rounded the 

 Orkneys, and the whole fleet was dispersed. Horses, mules, and 

 baggage were thrown overboard V> lighten a few of the vessels. Some 

 of the ships were dashed to pieces on the rocks of Norway ; some 

 sunk in the middle of the North Sea; others were thrown upon the 

 coasts of Scotland and the Western Isles the wreck of one being 

 - ; " visible, it is said, at Tobermory, in the Isle of Mull; and more 



still 



than thirty were driven by another storm, which overtook them from 

 the west, on different parts of the coast of Ireland. Port na Spagua, 

 on the coast of Antrim, near the Giants' Causeway, obtained its name 

 from this circumstance. (See ' Trans, of Qeol. Soc.,' voL iii., plate 10.) 

 Of these, some afterwards reached home in the most shuttered con- 

 dition, under the Vice-Admiral Kecaldo ; others were shipwrecked 

 among the rocks and shallows ; and of those which reached the shore 

 many of the crews were barbarously murdered, from an apprehension, 

 it waa pretended, that in a country where there were so mauy dis- 

 affected Catholics it would have been dangerous to thow mercy to so 

 great a number of the enemy. Camden says, " They were slain, some 

 of them -by the wild Irinh, and ethers put to the sword by command 

 of the lord-deputy ; for he, fearing lest they would join with the Irish 

 rebels, and seeing that Binghain, governor of Counaught, whom he 

 had once or twice commanded to show rigour towards them as they 

 yielded themselves, had refused to do it, sent Fowl, deputy-marshal, 

 who drew them out of their lurking-holes and hiding-place*, and 

 beheaded about two hundred of them/ 7 



The Duke de Medina, having kept out in the open teas, escaped 

 shipwreck ; and, according to the official accounts, arrived at Santander 

 in the Bay of Biscay about the end of September, " with noe more than 

 sixty sayle oute of his whole fleet*, and those verye much shattered." 



fleet was in the port of that place prepared for the expedition, entitled, 

 ' La Felicissima Armada, que el Rey Don Felipe nuestro Sefior mand6 

 jnntar en el Puerto de la Ciudad de Lisboa, en el Key no da 1'ortugal, 

 el Ano de mil y quinientos y ochenta y ocho ; hecha por Pedro de Pal 

 Sala*,' foL Liab. 1583; por Antonio Alvarez, Iinprrsgor. This c >py in 

 the King's Library was the identical one which was procured at the 

 time of its publication for Lord Burghley, to acquaint him with the 

 true detail of all the preparations ; and he has noted in his own hand, 

 in the margins of different pages, a variety of particulars relating to 

 the defeat In one instance he has noted the change of a commander 

 from one Spanish vessel to another different vessel The following are 

 a few of Lord Burghley's notes : 



" Qaleon S. Phelippe : 'taken at Flubyng, 31 July.' D. Francesco 

 de Toledo : ' this man escaped into Nuport' La Nao Capitana : ' this 

 ahipp was taken by Sir Francis Drake.' El Gran Grifon Capitana : 

 ' this man's ship was drowned, 17 September, in the He of Kur marc, 

 Scotland.' Barcade Amburg : 'she was drowned over ngainst Ireland.' 

 San Pedro Mayor : ' wrecked in October, in Devonshire, neare I'lim- 

 mouthe.' La Galeaca Capitana nombrada S. Lorenzo : ' this was 

 drowned afor Callys.' " 



The following entries perhaps afford an explanation of the lord- 

 deputy's barbarous conduct in Ireland. Members of some Irish 

 families were on board the Spanish fleet : 



" Admundio Estacio : ' brother to James Eustace, Vi-conut B I'.ty- 

 glass.' Don Carlos Oconore : ' of Offolly, annn to old Oconore.' Tristan 

 Vinglade : ' Wynsland.' Kicardo Berecy, Roberto Laseo, Christoval 

 Lonbardo : ' of Mounster.' " 



The copy of thia work in the Royal Library, from which a few 

 particulars in the earlier part of tho preceding account have been 

 taken, is accompanied by twelve charts of the coast of England, showing 

 the different situations of the Spanish Armada and the English fleet 

 through the whole of the contest This also, which is a separate work, 

 is of very rare occurrence, entitled 'Expeilitionis HUpanorum in 

 Angliam Vera Deacriptio, Anno Do. MDLXXXVIII., published by 

 Robert Adam, and engraved by Augustin Ryther.' The different 

 actions and positions represented in these charts are minutely explained 

 in a quarto tract, printed by A. Hatfield in 1590, and sold at Augustin 

 Rytber's shop, entitled ' A Discourse concerning the Spanish Fleet 

 invading England in the yeere 1688' a copy of which is also preserved 

 in the library of the liriti-h Museum. 



Camden, speaking of this great victory, says : "Whereupon several 

 monies were coined, some in memory of the victory, with a fleet flying 

 with full sails, and this inscription, ' Venit, viilit, fugit,' ' It came, it 

 saw, it fled ;' others in honour of the queen, with fire-ships and a fleet 

 all in confusion, inscribed, ' Dux fuouiiua facti," that is, ' A woman waa 

 conductor of the exploit' " The medals and jettons however, which 

 were struck on this occasion, were entirely Dutch : none were struck 

 in England. The most remarkable, of considerable size, is that which 

 represents the Spanish fleet upon the obverse, with the words ' Flavit 

 Jehovah et diaaipati aunt, 1588,' 'Jehovah blew, and they were 

 scattered.' Reverse, a church on a rock, beaten by the waves, ' Allidor 

 non lao lor.' These, and one or two more, will be found in the ' Hiatoire 

 MeMallique dea Pay lias, tome i., pp. 883-386; and in Pinkertou's 

 ' Medallic History of England,' pi. viU.,Jno. 7, 8 ; pi. ix., no. 1, 6. 



Philip IL published two jettons, with the inscription, ' Immenai 

 Tremor Oceani,' 1587 and 1588. 



ELIZABETH PETKOWNA, daughter of Peter the Great and of 

 Catharine I., was born in 1709. After the death of her nephew, 

 Peter II., in 1730, she was urged to assert her claims to the cro.vn, 

 but she declined to do so through indolence or timidity, and her 

 cousin Anna, duchess of Courland, was raised to the throne. After 

 the death of Anna in 1740, Iwan, the infant son of the Duke of 

 Brunswick and of Ann, niece to the late empress, was proclaimed 

 emperor under the tutelage of his mother, in conformity to the will 

 of the defunct sovereign. A conspiracy however was soon after hutched 

 by some of Elizabeth s attendants, especially a surgeon of the name of 

 Lestoq, who found great difficulty in conquering her irresolution : the 

 officers of the guards were drawn into the plot, and a military insur- 

 rection followed in 1741, when Elizabeth was proclaimed empress, and 

 Ann and her husband, the Duke of Brunswick, and the child Iwan, 

 were put into confinement Several noblemen were sent into Siberia. 

 Bestucheff, who had been minister under the Empress Anna, waa 

 retained in office and appointed chancellor. Elizabeth took an active 

 part in the war of the Austrian succession, and sent troops to the 

 assistance of Maria Theresa, and she afterwards concurred in the peaco 



, - ~ verye much shattered. 



I" hb ' Annals,' reckons the Spanish loss upon the coast of 

 BoflaBd to have amounted to 15 ships and above 10,000 men, besides 

 hipe and 6804 men sunk, drowned, and taken upon the coast of 



Inland. 



Theatatemmte however published at the time, apparently upon 

 "ortty, say :-' In July and August, ships 18, men 4781 ; sunk, Ac., 

 h 'P, 6894 men;' making a total of 32 



j ?T?h of IrelMia 

 shin and 10,186 men. 



_??? *" '7 ourio1 " work "Uling to the Spanish Armada pro- 

 serwd in the Kings Library at the British Museum-a volume of 

 extra* rarity, which was finished at Lisbon, May 9, 1588, while the 



of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. During the Seven Years' War, Elizabeth 

 took part against Frederick of Prussia, it was said, from personal 

 pique at some sarcastic reflections of the Prussian king. The Russian 

 army invaded Prussia, won the bard-fought battle of Kunnerfdorf, 

 crossed the Oder, entered Berlin, and reduced Frederick to the verge 

 of ruin and despair. But the illness and death of Klizibeth noon 

 retrieved his fortunes. She died in December 1761, after a reign of 

 twenty years, and was succeeded by the Duke of llobtein Gottorp, 

 son of her sitter Anna Petruwna, duchess of Holstein, who assumed 

 the title of Peter 111. 



The government of Elizabeth was directed in great measure by 

 favourites, who succeeded one another. The empress herself was 

 good-natuwd and even amiable to thoe who pleased her, but indolent 



