Simancas: August 1585 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas), Volume 3, 1580-1586. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1896.

Citation:

'Simancas: August 1585', in Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas), Volume 3, 1580-1586, ed. Martin A S Hume( London, 1896), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol3/pp543-544 [accessed 30 November 2024].

August 1585



Aug.? Paris Archives, K. 1564. 17.	402. Unsigned Advices from England. Letters from England dated 17th report that on the 13th Colonel Norris was at Gravesend making ready the ships that were to carry over his 4,000 men to Zeeland ; whilst Drake was lying at anchor off the Isle of Wight with 24 well armed ships, although his intentions were unknown. Some people were saying that he was awaiting advices from the French huguenots and others, who had told the Queen that a fleet was being fitted out in Spain ; whereupon Her Majesty had ordered Drake not to sail until further instructions, so that her coast might not be bereft of ships. The earl of Arundel was said to be mad in consequence of poison having been administered to him which, instead of killing him as was intended, had the effect of sending him out of his mind. His wife had died in child-birth in consequence of the distress it had caused her. She was a truly righteous christian and a woman of great worth. The Spaniards who had been brought from Bilbao were lodged in pairs in the houses of Englishmen. One of them had been sent to Bilboa by way of Rye and Nantes.
Aug.? Paris Archives, K. 1564. 18.	403. Document headed "News from England." The Queen is daily despatching troops to Holland taken from the dregs of the people. In the city of London 4,000 men were collected in a day and a night, all of whom were forcibly shipped for Holland without any of the things necessary for war. (fn. 1) The councillors have proposed a plan for the condemnation of all the priests that may be captured, so that they may employ them in the galleys. This decision is very like the tyranny of the Turk. The dearness of grain is very great all over the country, and as a consequence of this, a ship which was lying in the Severn loaded with grain for Holland was hacked to pieces by 500 men, who had risen with that object. If it had not been for the recent arrival of six ships from Denmark with cargoes of grain there would have been a famine in the land. The clergy of England had taken upon themselves the burden and cost of 2,000 horsemen ready for service in the Netherlands. It is said that during to last few weeks five million head of cattle had died of the plague in England.
17 Aug. Paris Archives, K. 1448. 29.	404. The King to Bernardino De Mendoza. [Extract.] Warn the duke of Guise against making any agreement with his enemies, and open his eyes with regard to the English enterprise. Point out to him the danger he runs if he allows himself to be cajoled into leaving his home and country before he has humbled his rivals, and converted or expelled the heretics, and how deceived he might find himself when he wished to return. I have little to add to the contents of my despatch of the 9th instant, telling you what you were to say to the King about England. Doubtless we shall soon have a letter from you giving us an account of your efforts to get the King to open out about the proposed enterprise, and his ideas for carrying it into effect. Note.—In the margin of the draft of the above letter the King has written :—"With regard to England they (the French) may be told first to put an end to the heretics in their own country, and afterwards we can look after them elsewhere. I suspect the proposal comes from the Queen-mother, in order to relax towards the heretics (in France), but it is more important to us to finish first the heretics who are near us, than those afar off, although I quite believe that they are not able to finish them in France."