Capture of Cadiz

Capture of Cadiz
Part of the Anglo–Spanish War
Map of the Bay of Cadiz, 17th Century
Date 30 June - 15 July 1596[1] Location Bay of Cádiz Result English victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire	England  United Provinces
Commanders
Pérez de Guzmán	Charles Howard, Robert Devereux
Strength
40 ships, 5,000 men	150 ships, 14,000 men

v • d • e Anglo-Spanish War San Juan de Ulúa – 1st Cádiz - Gravelines – Coruña – Lisbon – Blaye – Cornwall – San Juan – 2nd Cádiz – Azores – Kinsale

The Capture of Cadiz occurred in 1596 as part of the Anglo-Spanish War, when English troops under Robert Devereux and a large English fleet under Charles Howard, with support from the Dutch United Provinces, seized the Spanish city of Cádiz.

The Spanish forces' lack of foresight and organisation meant they put up little resistance, resulting in a rapid English victory. After burning and destroying the Spanish fleet anchored in the Bay of Cadiz, the English land forces disembarked, captured, sacked and burned the city and took hostage several of the city's prominent citizens, who were taken back to England in waiting of their ransom.

The economic losses caused during the sacking were numerous: the city was burned, as was the fleet, in what was one of the principle English victories in the course of the war. Spain declared itself bankrupt the following year.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Casus Belli (Cause for War) 1.2 The War 2 Attack on Cádiz 2.1 Preparations 2.2 Arrival in Cádiz 2.3 The Landing of the English 2.4 The Sacking of Cádiz 2.5 Portugal 3 Consequences 4 Miscellany 5 Notes

Background

Casus Belli (Cause for War)

At the end of the XVI century, Imperial Spain—which in 1580 had annexed Imperial Portugal—was the greatest world power.^[2] It was constantly expanding in the West Indies, and counted on the support of the Hapsburgs in Germany and that of the Italian princes.

England and Spain had been amicable until 1570, when they began to turn due to a series of economic, political, and religious circumstances.

English Protestantism offended Spanish Catholicism. Elizabeth I of England had been excommunicated by Pope Pius V in 1570, and Philip II of Spain had signed in 1584 the Treaty of Joinville with the French Catholic League in order to combat Protestantism.

Constant expeditions by English privateers (or pirates) against Spanish territories in the West Indies and against the Spanish treasure fleet, laden with riches destined to enhance the finances of the nation, comprised a threat to Spain's economic interests.

England also supported the Dutch United Provinces, Spain's enemies in the Dutch Revolt. The support was embodied in the Treaty of Nonsuch signed in 1585, formalizing an Anglo-Dutch military alliance against Spain.

Finally, England's support of Dom António, pretender to the Portuguese throne, was another source of dispute between England and Spain.

The War

In 1585, tensions between the two countries resulted in the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). From the war's inception, Philip II intended to invade England and depose Elizabeth I, and prepared the Spanish Armada for this very thing. Francis Drake's 1587 expedition, in which the Spanish fleet in Cadiz was destroyed, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, were grave blows for the Spanish in the development of the war. Nevertheless, the Spanish king did not give up.

The death of John Hawkins in 1595, and that of Francis Drake in 1596, deprived England of two of its most effective privateers. Spanish support of the Irish rebels, who at this time were conducting against England the Nine Years' War (Ireland), was another threat to the English crown. In April 1596, Spanish regiments took from French Huguenots the city of Calais, from which geographic proximity they were easily able to undertake the invasion of the British Isles. Before the dawn of the imminent Spanish invasion, however, Elizabeth I ordered the attack on the Spanish fleet anchored at Cádiz.^[3]

Attack on Cádiz

Preparations

ON 13 June 1596^[1] the English fleet set sail from Plymouth. The fleet comprised 150 English ships, 17 of which belonged to the Royal Navy, divided into four squads with 6,360 private soldiers, 1,000 English volunteers, and 6,772 sailors.^[4]

Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham was the admiral commanding the English fleet, while the landing forces were under the command of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Lord Thomas Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Vere each commanding a squad. Anthony Ashley was the Secretary of War.^[5] Cristóvão and Manuel of Portugal, sons of António of Portugal, and supposedly Antonio Pérez, were also on board, although without command.^[6] These forces were joined by another 20 ships from the United Provinces, with 2,000 men on board, who under the command of Admiral John de Duyvenvoorde, Lord of Warmond, were put under English orders.^[7]

Arrival in Cádiz

The city of Cádiz, with approximately 6,000 inhabitants,^[8] was one of the principle Spanish ports and point of departure for the Spanish treasure fleet for New Spain.^[9] On Saturday, the 29th of June, there arrived in Cádiz news coming from Lagos, Portugal in the Algarve, advising of the presence of an English fleet. At that moment there were in the Bay of Cádiz some 40 Spanish warships, ranging from galleys to galleons,^[6] as well as 16 other vessel from the Spanish treasure fleet, which were disarmed and ready to depart for the West Indies. These unarmed vessels immediately fled to Puerto Real for refuge.

Juan Portocarrero and the Marquis of Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán weighed anchor in front of the Spanish galleys, intending to prevent the English fleet from passing into the interior of the bay.

On Sunday, June 30 at 2 o'clock in the morning, the English fleet could be seen from Cádiz, but it could not enter the bay due to bad weather.Relato del capitán Price</ref> At 5 o'clock in the morning, both sides commenced an intense artillery barrage. After two hours, the Spanish fleet, outnumbering the English, had to retreat to the interior of the bay. In the fray, the Spanish galleons San Andrés and San Mateo were captured, while the San Felipe and Santo Tomás sank, set fire by their captains in the face of possible capture by the English. The English entered the bay at 8 o'clock in the morning.^[10]

By midday, reinforcements sent by the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán arrived in Cádiz from Vejer de la Frontera, Jerez, Arcos, Medina-Sidonia, Puerto Real, and Chiclana. For the most part, the soldiers were new and poorly armed. These reinforcements were joined by 5,000 men deployed from Santa Catalina and San Felipe.

The Landing of the English

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, no more than 200 Englishmen disembarked on El Puntal, bringing under fire the Spanish forces charged with its defense. The forces had been sent into battle with nobody in command. Before 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the English advance force took control of the city with scarce resistance, while another part of the army advanced toward Point Zuazo in San Fernando, which was defended by Spanish forces. In the skirmishes in front of the city, each side lost approximately 25 men.^[7] The fort of San Felipe surrendered the next day.

The poor state of the artillery and scarce ammunition; poor preparation of the Spanish forces, poorly armed and provisioned;^[6] and the lack of organization by Spanish authorities all motivated the scant resistance against attacking forces. The defensive strategy ended up being improvised by Captain Pedro de Guía, the Mayor of Cádiz-Antonio Girón, and the Duke of Medina-Sidonia in Jerez: "...the disorder had been, after the will of the Lord, the cause of the loss of this city, because all were heads of command and none were feet that would follow, and that is how they lost, for not having either feet or head."^[10]

The Sacking of Cádiz

Already in possession, the English troops dedicated themselves to sacking the city. Temples and houses people were the object of pillaging, although the troops did respect the integrity of the people themselves: "They treated very well the people and in particular the women, not offending them in any way."(Lope de Valenzuela)^[6]

Before it was possible for the English forces to capture the Spanish fleet taking refuge in Puerto Real, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno y Zúñiga, the duke of Medina-Sidonia, ordered its destruction. 32 ships, including the armada's galleys and the vessels from the treasure fleet, were burned.^[7]

The next day, 3 July, the city's civil and ecclesiastical authorities made a pact with the English troops allowing the citizens of Cádiz to leave in exchange for a ransom of 120,000 ducats and the freedom of 51 English prisoners captured in past campaigns. The gaditanos (citizens of Cádiz) left the city for Point Zuazo with nothing more than they could carry. In guarantee of payment of the agreed-on ransom, various prominent citizens of the city were kept as hostages, including the president of the Casa de Contratación, the mayor, council members, and religious figures.

The Earl of Essex, Francis, Vere, and the Dutch commanders demonstrated support for keeping the city in Anglo-Dutch hands, provisioning and garrisoning it for use as a base of operations. This seems to be contrary to the wishes of Admiral Howard and the rest of the English officials, who considered it to be a hazardous enterprise and against the orderes of the English queen, frustrating plans for occupying the city.^[7] On 14 July, the English burned Cádiz and the next day they left the bay, taking with them the hostages since the Spanish authorities had not been able to pay the ransom.

Portugal

On its return trip to England, the fleet disembarked at and burned Faro, Portugal. On the heights of Lisbon, they received news of the imminent arrival of the treasure fleet in the Azores. The Earl of Essex proposed to capture the fleet, but Admiral Howard opposed him, saying that it would be contrary to orders. With that, the fleet resumed its journey to Plymouth, where they arrived a few days later.

Consequences

The sacking of Cádiz in 1596 was one of the worst Spanish defeats in the course of the war, together with the attack on Cádiz of 1587 and the loss of the Invincible Armada in 1588. The economic losses produced by the Earl of Essex's expedition against the city and the anchored fleet in the port, estimated at 5 million ducats,^[10] contributed to the bankruptcy of the royal treasury that same year. Nevertheless, the recuperative capacity of the Spanish Armada was proven with the organization of a fleet that in October of 1596 and September of 1597, under the command of Martín de Padilla, set sail against the English coasts.

The city of Cádiz remained devastated; in addition to the churches and hospitals, 290 out of a total of 1,303 houses burned.^[6] After the departure of the English, the Spanish authorities considered the possibility of fortifying the city or dismantlinging it and relocating it to Puerto de Santa María. The military engineers Luis Bravo de Laguna, Tuburzio Spannocchi, Peleazzo Fratín, and Cristóbal de Rojas all presented plans for these options.^[10] Finally, they decided to follow the plans laid out by Cristóbal de Rojas, who began construction of the fortifications in 1598. Philip II gave the city a ten-year extension on the payment of taxes.

The hostages would not be freed until July 1603,^[11] after the death of Elizabeth I and her succession by James I of England. The next year, Spain and England ended the war with the signing of the Treaty of London (1604).

Miscellany

• Some pretend to see in the prophecies of Nostradamus the signs of the sacking of Cádiz by the English:^[12]

Ante el lago donde el más querido fue arrojado
En siete meses y su hueste desconfiada
Serán Hispanos por Albaneses derrotados,
Por retraso parte dará el conflicto.^[13]

• The story of the 1596 expedition to Cádiz, recounted by the English historian Richard Hakluyt in his book The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, was suppressed in the first editions by order of Elizabeth I, supposedly because of tensions between the queen and the Earl of Essex.^[14]

• The attack on Cádiz, in the course of which the English troops confiscated an important quantity of sherry (vino de Jerez), contributed to the popularization in England of the consumption of this drink, giving rise to the legend that the attacking troops sacked the city in order to secure the wine.

• Miguel de Cervantes dedicated a satirical sonnet to the troops that the Duke of Medina-Sidonia and Captain Becerra led to Cádiz after the English troops' departure.^[15]

Notes