Spain with Tudor England, 1501-1588
The exhibition Yngalaterra, Escoçia, Yrlanda starts and ends with two periods of generally peaceful coexistence between Spain and the British Isles: the Middle Ages and the end of the Thirty Years War. The two, however, embrace 150 years during which Spain held a nearly incessant conflict with Tudor and Stuart England. During that time, only her continuous, yet rather inconsistent, alliance with Catholic Scotland and Ireland seemed to hold.
This second part of the exhibition is called Spain with Tudor England and concentrates on the Anglo-Spanish political relations between 1501 and 1588. Starting with Catherine of Aragon's first marriage to Arthur, following on the trail of Anglo-Castilian dynastic unions since the 1100s, it concentrates on the long-term consequences that the breach of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon signified. The failed union of Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain in 1544 propitiated tension, within and without England. The peace maintained with Elizabeth I during the first years of her rule failed to prevent confrontation. For years, Philip II of Spain had resisted pressure from papal power inciting an attack on England. By 1588 the continued grievances inflicted upon, not just the Roman Catholic religion, but Spanish possessions and commerce, only enforced the argument that waging a 'just and defensive war' against the island was imperative.
A broken marriage alliance
The divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon swerved the course taken by Anglo-Castilian dynastic alliances since the twelfth century. In this work, the papal historian Paolo Giovio, a contemporary, describes the geography of England and recounts its history down to the Anglican schism. Here is a relation of the political events surrounding the break-up with Rome: from Catherine's marriage to Prince Arthur (1501) to the dissolution of her marriage to King Henry (1533), going through the birth of Mary.
Cabrera de Córdoba
The long reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) turned out to be a source of humiliation and outrage for Spain: the persecution of Catholics, the promotion of rebellion in the Netherlands, the detention of hteir treasure ships, the fall of the Armada. this print, which serves as the book's title page, presents Philip II dressed in armour, defender of true religion against heretic nations.