Singeing the King of Spain's Beard

For other battles in the same place, see Battle of Cádiz.

Singeing the King of Spain's Beard
Part of the Anglo–Spanish War

Drake's map of his attack on Cádiz.
Date12 April – 6 July 1587[1]
Location
Bay of Cádiz, Algarve, Lisbon and the Azores
36°32′06″N 06°17′51″W / 36.53500°N 6.29750°W / 36.53500; -6.29750
Result English victory
Belligerents

Habsburg Spain

Elizabethan England
Commanders and leaders
 Francis Drake
Casualties and losses
  • 1 carrack captured
  • 4 ships captured
  • 27 ships destroyed or burnt
  • c. 100 smaller vessels lost[2]
 Unknown number to disease

Singeing the King of Spain's Beard is the derisive name given[3][4][5][6] to a series of attacks by the English privateer Francis Drake against the Spanish in the summer of 1587, beginning in April with a raid on Cádiz. This was an attack on the Spanish naval forces assembling in the Bay of Cádiz in preparation for the planned expedition against England. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and substantial supplies were destroyed or captured. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish preparations for the Armada by at least a year. beard

  1. ^ New Style, Gregorian calendar. English sources often give dates from the old style Julian calendar, which was ten days behind in the 16th century; England (and its successor Great Britain) retained the old calendar until 1752, whereas Spain had already adopted the new calendar five years earlier in 1582.
  2. ^ Bicheno, Hugh (2012). Elizabeth's Sea Dogs: How England's Mariners Became the Scourge of the Seas. Conway. pp. 222–23. ISBN 978-1-84486-174-3. Drake ravaged the Iberian peninsula coast for a month destroying perhaps a hundred small vessels
  3. ^ Barrow, John (1844). The Life, Voyages, and Exploits of Sir Francis Drake: With Numerous Original Letters From Him and the Lord High Admiral to the Queen and Great Officers of State (2nd ed.). John Murray. p. 113.
  4. ^ Konstam, Angus (2000). Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560–1605. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781841760155.
  5. ^ Graham, Winston (2013). The Spanish Armadas. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781447256847.
  6. ^ Whitfield, Peter (2004). Sir Francis Drake. British Library. ISBN 9780712348607.