Fourth Spanish Armada

The Fourth Spanish Armada, also known as the Last Armada, was a military expedition sent to Ireland that took place between August 1601 and March 1602 towards the end of Anglo-Spanish war. The armada – the fourth and smallest of its type, was sent on orders from the Spanish king Philip III to southwestern Ireland to assist the Irish rebels led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who were fighting to rid Ireland of Queen Elizabeth I of England's rule. Don Juan del Águila and Don Diego Brochero commanded the expedition that consisted of 36 ships and 4,500 soldiers, and a significant amount of arms and ammunition. The Spanish were also planning to establish a base at Cork from which to strike at England.

Bad weather separated the ships and some had to turn back but the remaining 1,800 men under Águila disembarked at Kinsale on 22 September. Further reinforcements the following month brought the total to 3,500. Admiral Pedro de Zubiaur landed another 700 men in early December at Castlehaven, and sent part of that force commanded by Alonso de Ocampo to Baltimore occupying the castles in the area, Dunboy, Dunasead and Dúnalong (Sherkin Island). The English led by Charles Blount, the Earl of Mountjoy and George Carew, responded in force and were able to besiege Kinsale on 2 October. A small fleet led by Richard Leveson were able to blockade the Spanish at Kinsale by late November. The Irish under Tyrone and clan chief Hugh Roe O'Donnell made their way to Kinsale in a 300-mile march and were joined with 200 Spanish under Alonso de Ocampo.

Leveson went out to Castlehaven and defeated Zubiaur's small fleet, leaving the Spanish stranded there, and unable to help Águila. On 24 December, the Irish arrived at Kinsale, and a pitched battle during a storm was fought. Águila was however unable to intervene, and the English defeated Tyrone's forces. The English resumed the siege and Águila was forced to seek terms, and surrendered Kinsale in January 1602. The other garrisons at Dunboy, Castlehaven, Dunasead and Dúnalong also surrendered as part of the terms. This resulted in bitter recriminations in Spain, especially for Águila. This was to be the last Spanish armada sent, and the last major campaign against the British Isles during the war. The defeat thus weakened Spanish resolve in the war against England which subsequently led to peace negotiations that terminated with the Treaty of London in 1604.

In 1595, Gaelic lord Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone joined his confederates in open rebellion against the English crown in Ireland. A conflict had been brewing as a result of the advance of the English state in Ireland, from control over the Pale to ruling the whole island. In resisting this advance, Tyrone managed to rally other Irish septs notably Florence MacCarthy who were dissatisfied with the English government, and some Catholics such as Owen McEgan who opposed the spread of Protestantism in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth I had sent in crown forces to restore order, but were struggling to take back control. Many of the clans also sought help from Catholic Spain.

Ireland had featured in Spanish plans to invade England in 1588 when the Spanish Armada was forced to make landfall there, following a perilous route home through heavy storms after its defeat in the English Channel. The concept of using Ireland as 'the King of Spain's bridge into England' had been proposed during the war. A prophecy predicted that 'he that England will win, through Ireland must come in'. Irish expatriates, Owen McEgan and James Archer and Spanish clericals such as Franciscan Mateo de Oviedo had convinced King Philip II of Spain that he had a realistic chance of ousting the English from their first colony. Oviedo had made several trips there and had forged close contacts with the insurgent leaders.

Philip eventually offered aid to the Irish rebels in the expectation that tying the English down in Ireland might draw English resources away from the Low Countries. English troops were fighting with their Protestant ally the Dutch Estates who had been engaged in a long rebellion against Spanish rule. Philip thus sent the Second Spanish Armada aimed at supporting the Irish rebels, but this was a costly failure - the fleet was driven off course by storms off Cape Finisterre in October 1596 with many ships sunk. Undeterred, the ill and dying Philip sent the Third Spanish Armada the following year, but storms and ill planning drove many ships back to Spain, with the English fleet picking off the remnants.

After the Peace of Vervins which ended the war between France and Spain in 1598, the latter was free to concentrate her efforts against the English and the Dutch. The Spanish did however lose its strategic coastal bastions along the French coast, and with it any potential for a quick strike against England. Spain looked for an ideal replacement, with one such being Ireland that could also be used as a coastal base for privateers, like the Dunkirkers, to disrupt English and Dutch shipping.

In August 1598, Irish rebels had defeated the English at the Yellow Ford in Armagh, which buoyed Spanish overtures to the Irish. After Philip II's death that year the new King Philip III continued to provide direct support to the Irish rebels, but in a less demanding manner. The Spanish court was now dominated by the Duke of Lerma whose general policy was one of disengagement. There were peace talks at the Boulogne conference in 1600, but this failed, and Spain was looking for a decisive knockout blow against both Holland and England. The following year, Spanish forces mounted a huge effort to take the Anglo-Dutch held port of Ostend on the Flanders coast, and an expedition to Ireland was organised.