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Elizabeth I

3 stories mention Elizabeth I on DeadlyCurious.

The Footnote June 27, 2026 · Deptford, London

The Devon Privateer Who Sailed Around the World in 1577-1580, Captured a Spanish Treasure Ship Off Peru, and Was Knighted Aboard His Own Vessel by Elizabeth I

Francis Drake left Plymouth on 13 December 1577 with five ships. He returned alone in the Golden Hind on 26 September 1580 with about £400,000 of captured Spanish silver from his Pacific raid — about half the English government's annual revenue. He was the first English captain to complete a circumnavigation. Elizabeth I knighted him aboard the Golden Hind at Deptford on 4 April 1581.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Mortlake, London

The Elizabethan Mathematician Astrologer Who May Have Coined 'British Empire' and Definitely Talked to Angels

John Dee was the senior English mathematician of the late 16th century, court astrologer to Elizabeth I, scientific adviser to the substantial early English exploration ventures, and possibly the first English-language writer to use the phrase 'British Empire.' He also believed he was communicating with angels through a polished obsidian mirror.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Gravelines, France

The Catholic Spanish Fleet of 130 Ships That Sailed for England in May 1588 and Was Wrecked Around Scotland and Ireland by the Following October

Philip II of Spain dispatched 130 ships under the Duke of Medina Sidonia in May 1588 to invade England, depose Elizabeth I, and reverse the English Reformation. The English fleet defeated the Armada at Gravelines on 8 August 1588. The surviving Spanish ships were driven north around Scotland by storms; many wrecked on the western Irish coast. Approximately 11,000 Spanish sailors died, against fewer than 100 English casualties in combat.

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