Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF HABSBURG SPAIN
Spain's war with England had sunk to such a level of futility by 1598 as
to appear pointless to many of Philip III's senior councillors. But two
developments in 1599 seemed to offer both provocation and an oppor-
tunity that the prowar party at the Spanish Court could exploit. Dam-
aging English raids on Spanish territory demanded revenge, and English
rejection of peace proposals from the Irish rebels offered a means of
inflicting it. Philip II had given intermittent support to a series of Irish
opponents of the Elizabethan conquest as far back as the 1570s. A new,
formidable leader had emerged in Ireland when Hugh O'Neill, earl of
Tyrone, launched an insurrection in 1595 and inflicted a series of star-
tling defeats upon the English. When O'Neill's offer of accommodation
in return for the restoration of confiscated property, semi-autonomy for
his country, and freedom of religion for Catholics was rebuffed by Eliza-
beth, he and his fellow lords promised to recognize Philip III as king of
Ireland if Spain would aid in the war of liberation. Attracted by the idea
of afflicting Elizabeth in the same way she had vexed his father by aid-
ing the Dutch rebels, yet fearful of involvement in such a precarious
cause, Philip hesitated. Spanish lay and clerical militants insisted that
he must go to the aid of this Catholic population isolated among the
Protestants of northern Europe. English Jesuits, eager to end their exile
on the Continent, assured him that Ireland would yield him an easy
victory and a stepping stone to the conquest of England. Persuaded at
last, Philip committed his troops, and in the summer of 1601 Don Juan
del Águila and a force of some 5,000 men seized the port of Kinsale on
the southeastern coast of Ireland and attempted a conjunction with the
rebels. The opportunity was lost, however. The Irish were slow to move,
and the English, all too quick. Besieged in Kinsale, del Águila attempted
to break out in December but was forced to withdraw when Tyrone's
army sustained a reverse and retreated back to its stronghold in the
north. After the surrender of the Irish and the death of Elizabeth in
1603, her successor, James I, made an offer of peace that Philip was
quick to accept. For nearly 50 years after the 1604 peace treaty, Spain
and England continued to avoid full-scale war, despite periodic ten-
sions. The religious question remained alive, for James I had soon con-
fiscated the lands of Tyrone and the other Irish leaders, flooding Ulster
with Protestant settlers and guaranteeing perpetual strife in Ireland.
Irish Catholic refugees continued to seek shelter in Spain, providing a
useful source of mercenaries for that country and easing the conscience
of the Spaniards, who would provide sanctuary if not liberation for
their coreligionists.
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