Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Cornwall, in 1595. This was part of the ongoing war with Spain that saw the invasion attempt of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Seven years later, Spanish troops would set foot in England. Under the control of Carlos de Amesquita, three companies totaling about 400 men in four galleys sailed from Brittany at the end of July. They sank a French ship manned by an English crew with cargo headed for England, and then landed in Cornwall.
Amesquita had with him an English Catholic, Richard Burley of Weymouth. The local militias fled, and only the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall along with 12 soldiers put up any kind of resistance. In two days, the Spanish burned Penzance, and three other villages, and took cannons from forts in the area to remount on their fleet.
Then they said a traditional Catholic mass (because of course you pray after burning villages), and then left. The Spanish commander promised to come back and build a Catholic church on the site once he conquered England, then left his prisoners ashore and managed to escape a fleet sent after him under Francis Drake and john Hawkins. Later Amesquita would meet 46 Dutch ships and sink two of them, stopped for repairs, and went back to Brittany. It had been a successful few weeks for him.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com
Suggested link:
Battle of Cornwall
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.