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#1 The Tudor dynasty maintained friendly relations with Spain, but when Henry VIII divorced his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon, and in defiance of the pope established the Church of England with himself as its head, relations between England and Spain became strained.

#2 The relationship between England and Spain grew cooler during the half-hearted proposals that Philip marry Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. However, the situation changed gradually.

#3 By the 1560s, Philip II was ruler of a vast empire, including Spain, Naples, Sicily, the East Indies, possessions in the Americas and the Netherlands. The Spanish economy was increasingly dependent on the resources of her New World settlements, particularly their gold and silver.

#4 The attack on Hawkins was a major embarrassment for Elizabeth, and she had to respond. The subsequent uproar in England forced her to retaliate. She seized Spanish ships carrying 160,000 ducats, intended as pay for the Spanish Army of Flanders, and gave some indirect aid to the Dutch by seizing their ships.

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