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Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

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Chapter 17<br />

The Armada--Its Build<strong>in</strong>g<br />

WHILE Mary Stuart lived <strong>the</strong> hopes and<br />

projects <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Catholic Powers centered <strong>in</strong> her. But<br />

Mary Stuart lived no longer. The ax <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

headsman <strong>in</strong> Fo<strong>the</strong>r<strong>in</strong>gay Castle had struck <strong>the</strong><br />

center out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> great Popish plot: it had not,<br />

however, brought it to an end. The decree<br />

enjo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> extirpation <strong>of</strong> <strong>Protestantism</strong> on all<br />

Christian pr<strong>in</strong>ces still stood recorded among <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>fallible canons <strong>of</strong> Trent, and was still<br />

acknowledged by <strong>the</strong> k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Popish world. The<br />

plot now took a new shape, and this <strong>in</strong>troduces us<br />

to <strong>the</strong> story <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Inv<strong>in</strong>cible "Armada."<br />

The year <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Armada (1588) had been<br />

looked forward to with dread long before it came,<br />

see<strong>in</strong>g it had been foretold that it would be a year<br />

<strong>of</strong> prodigies and disasters.[1] It was just possible,<br />

so had it been said, that <strong>the</strong> world would this year<br />

end; at <strong>the</strong> least, dur<strong>in</strong>g its fatal currency thrones<br />

would be shaken, empires overturned, and dire<br />

364

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