The Spanish Armada was a giant flotilla of Spanish warships sent by the Spanish Catholic king Philip II in 1588. This flotilla was sent to take revenge against the 'England for supporting the piracy and terror of Spanish ships in the Atlantic and for supporting the Netherlands in their revolt against Spain. Philip's decision to send the Armada was ultimately the result of Queen Elizabeth I's behavior towards Spain and the influence of the Church which declared Elizabeth illegitimate and therefore unfit to rule. The Armada was ultimately defeated, resulting in a short-term defeat for Spain, but ultimately a long-term triumph over the next decade. Background and Context of Events Leading to the Spanish Armada Philip II was co-monarch of England from 1554 until the death of his wife, Queen Mary I of England in 1558. Philip had married Mary to gain authority as ruler of two world powers. After Mary's death, Philip proposed to Elizabeth I, Mary's Protestant half-sister, in an attempt to maintain his rule in England, but Elizabeth refused. During Philip's marriage to Mary, the English were very wary of the Spanish-English alliance. They felt they had been treated with contempt and disrespect by Philip. In 1554, King Philip passed the Treason Act of 1554, which deemed anyone who denied Philip's royal authority to be high treason. It became a crime punishable by death “to buy or imagine to deprive the King's majesty of having with the Queen the royal style, honor and name, or to destroy the King, or to wage war within this kingdom against the King or Queen. ” (Stephens and Adams 1920) The English feared that Spanish influences, particularly the Spanish Inquisition, would spread to England (Lathbury 1840)....... middle of paper ......oughton-Mifflin Company , 1959.Stephens, H. Morse and Burton George Adams. "Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain (1554)." Selected Papers of English Constitutional History, translated by Anyusha Devendra. New York and London. 1920. Stevens, William Oliver and Alan Westcott. History of Maritime Power. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1822. . The life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith, Kt.DCL, principal secretary of state to King Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth. London: Clarendon Press, 1820.Unwin, Rayner. The defeat of John Hawkins: a biography of his third voyage slavery. NY: Macmillan Publishing, 1961. Wernham, Richard Bruce. Before the Armada: the growth of English foreign policy 1485–1588. Boss, 1996.