Synopsis

1580.

Nelan Michaels docks at Plymouth after sailing around the world aboard The Golden Hind. He seeks only to master his mystical powers – the mark of the salamander, that mysterious spirit of fire – and reunite with his beloved Eleanor.

After delivering a message to Francis Walsingham, he’s recruited into the service of the Queen’s spymaster, where his astral abilities help him to predict and thwart future plots against the realm.

But in 1588, the Spanish Armada threatened England’s shores.

So, how could the fledgling navy of a small, misty isle on the edge of mainland Europe repulse the greatest fleet in the world?

Was the Queen right when she claimed it was divine intervention, saying, ‘He blew with His winds, and they were scattered!’?

Or was it an entirely different intervention – the extraordinary conjunction of coincidences that Nelan’s astral powers brought to bear on that fateful Midnight of Eights?

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Guest Post

This guest post relates to the historical background of my novel, The Midnight of Eights. The genesis of any single historical event is always multiple, a compound combine of different influences, some obvious, some subtle. In this short space, the best I can do is paint some broad brush strokes.

The novel culminates in the repulse of the Spanish Armada, but what led up to King Philip of Spain’s fatal decision to build and despatch a fleet of 130 warships to invade England in 1588 AD?

Let’s start in 1556. That was when Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, abdicated and passed his territories to his son, Philip, who inherited the Netherlands. The Dutch were mostly Protestant, but were now under the control of a Catholic monarch. Philip sent the Duke of Alba to suppress any revolt and impose Catholic rule.

In England in 1570, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth suppressed the Catholic-inspired Northern rebellion and for her troubles was excommunicated Pope Pius V. In a Papal Bull entitled Regnans in Excelsis, he declared her to be a heretic and “the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime.” Significantly for English Catholics, the Pope released all of her subjects from any allegiance to her and excommunicated any that obeyed her.

In December 1585, Elizabeth and the Privy Council finally responded to the Dutch call for help, and the Queen sent English troops and vessels to support their resistance.

The Papal Bull persuaded many English Catholics to plot against Elizabeth. One was Sir Francis Throckmorton, a Catholic noble. He planned to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary, the Queen’s cousin, was Catholic, and a distant heir to the English throne. Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s spymaster, with the help of Nelan Michaels, the hero of the novel The Midnight of Eights, uncovered his plot and had Throckmorton executed at Tyburn in London in July 1584. The Tyburn Tree, a nickname for the gallows at Tyburn, was a prominent site for public executions in London and was given the chilling epithet, ‘the tree that was never green.’

Anthony Babington was the next English Catholic noble to attempt to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. But when her letters to Babington were intercepted by Walsingham’s spies, proving her involvement to depose Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of Scots, was tried and executed in 1587. For King Philip, Mary’s death was the tipping point. He decided to despatch the Armada and bring England and its heretic Queen to heel once and for all.

During the fleet preparations in Cadiz, Philip ordered his admirals to search for women on board the ships and remove them, in order that God’s will prevailed.

In April 1588, the Pope blessed the Armada emblem, the Madonna, and all the Spanish mariners watched in holy awe as it fluttered high on the masts of the galleons, galleasses and supply ships.

The Armada was not just a fleet of ships. As far as the Spanish were concerned, it was primarily a holy instrument to remove evil from the world.

Justin Newland

Photo #1: Pope Pius V, courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo #2: The Tyburn Tree, courtesy of Wikipedia

About the Author

Justin Newland writes secret history thrillers, history with a supernatural twist.

His six novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.

Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin enjoys giving historical talks and radio interviews.

A Ph.D. in Mathematics, he lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.

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