Carla Rahn Phillips - The Struggle for the South Atlantic: The Armada of the Strait, 1581-1584

THE ARMADA OF THE STRAIT,
15811584

Edited by
CARLA RAHN PHILLIPS

Published by
Routledge
for
THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY
LONDON
2016

First published 2016 for the Hakluyt Society by
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ISBN: 978-1-908145-15-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-40614-5 (ebk)

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The Armada of the Strait first interested me in a general way long before I decided to focus on it as a topic of research. The James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota holds a copy of a minor epic poem written about the expedition in 1584. In the course of other research, I read the poem and wondered why the armada was so little known. Years later, when the Huntington Library in southern California purchased Pedro de Radas Relacin, Bill Frank, then Curator of Hispanic, Cartographic, and Western Historical Manuscripts at the library, wrote a detailed synopsis of it in the Huntington Spectator (Fall, 1999). That reawakened my interest. I spent some time with Radas manuscript during my next visit to the Huntington and decided to write a book about the armada, using Radas Relacin as one of the sources but not as the books focus. Thereafter, I made several other visits to the library, both for research and to teach summer seminars in Spanish palaeography, sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Huntington Library is unique in featuring a world-class art collection and botanical garden in addition to a world-class archive and library, all in a gorgeous 100-acre setting near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Researchers as well as casual visitors appreciate the unparalleled environment of the Huntington. I appreciate it more than most, as my ancestors settled in the area in the late eighteenth century, and it has always felt like home to me. I was able to spend the academic year 20056 at the Huntington as the Fletcher C. Jones Foundation Distinguished Senior Fellow, devoting my time to Radas manuscript and its historical context. A sabbatical from the University of Minnesota for the academic year 20089, with additional support from the Bush Foundation, gave me more time to focus on the Armada of the Strait. The more I learned, the more I was struck by the discrepancies between Radas account and virtually every published mention of the armada. To set the record straight, Radas previously unknown manuscript deserved to be better known. In 2010 I approached the Hakluyt Society as an ideal venue for its publication. Fortunately, the Hakluyt Society Council agreed and its series editors were patient while I finished my research.