Anglo-Spanish War, 1585-1604

found: Britannica online, Dec. 15, 2010:Elizabeth I (in August 1585 Elizabeth sent over an army of 6,000 under the command of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Reluctantly, Philip [of Spain] decided on war against England as the only way of exterminating heresy and disciplining his subjects in the Netherlands; protracted conflict ensued)

found: Encyclopedia Americana, 2005:England: Elizabeth I (From 1585 war with Spain was becoming high probable, and in 1587, Elizabeth was forced to sacrifice Mary, Queen of Scots; war with Spain broke out in 1588; England's victory over the Spanish armada did not end that war, but really began it; the rest of Elizabeth's reign [until 1603] was passed under the shadow of war, which never went well again)

found: Wikipedia, Dec. 15, 2010(Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604): an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in support of the resistance of the States General to Habsburg rule. The war became deadlocked around the turn of the 17th century during campaigns in Brittany and Ireland. The war was brought to an end with the Treaty of London, negotiated in 1604 between representatives of Philip III and the new Scottish king of England, James I)

found: History Buff WWW site, Dec. 15, 2010:Spanish Armada of 1588 (The Spanish Armada is the term conventionally applied to a massive fleet dispatched against England by Spain's Catholic King Philip II in 1588, leading to an early and important confrontation in the nearly 20-year Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 (the "Twenty Years' War"))