In 1588 King Phillip used his Spanish Armada to invade and take over England. Spain was much stronger and wealthier than the smaller weaker England so in most cases he would have won. England's cunning is what drove the Spanish Armada to defeat. But why did King Phillip want to invade England when they had done nothing to him? In fact England had been attacking the ships that were going to Span from the Americas but it was not just that. King Phillip had previously been married to Queen Mary who had the Catholic Reformation in England, when she died Queen Elizabeth 1 took the crown and started the Protestant Reformation that her father had started. King Phillip was angered by this because he was for Catholicism and felt England should be the way his late wife left it. While married to her he wanted her to give birth so that when she died England would be Catholic. Before dying Mary made Elizabeth promise that she would keep England close with Rome and she would have to promise if she wanted to be next in line. Elizabeth broke her promise and this is another thing that sparked King Phillip's anger towards England. Elizabeth's Act of Supremacy in 1559 started England on the way away from Rome. "An acte restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spritual and abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same" Is the phrase that starts The Act. Another event in 1559 was that Phillip offered to marry Elizabeth and she refused this was a poltical blow.
citation: "BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Spanish Armada." BBC - Homepage. Web. 13 May 2010. .
"Elizabeth I - Act of Supremacy, 1559." The Gunpowder Plot Society. Web. 13 May 2010. .
Schools History. Web. 13 May 2010. .
"The Spanish Armada." UK Travel and Heritage - Britain Express UK Travel Guide. Web. 13 May 2010. .
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