Phillip III, following the failure of the…

Phillip III, following the failure of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the dispersal by storms of two more during the last years of Philip II, has decided to provide direct support (material support has been sent for years) to the Irish rebels fighting England.

Spanish aid is offered to the Irish rebels in the expectation that tying the English down in this country might draw even more of their resources away from their allies in the Netherlands, the Dutch Estates—which are engaged in a long rebellion against Spanish rule—and provide another base for privateers, such as the Dunkirkers, to disrupt English and Dutch shipping.

Phillip sends Don Juan del Águila and Don Diego Brochero to Ireland with six thousand men, and a significant amount of arms and ammunition.