THE SPANISH ARMADA

1.This is an extract from a letter to the English government which gives details about the progress of the Armada.

 -How useful do you think this information would be to the English government?

     I believe this information is really useful because it gives what seems to me as crucial information       because it tells about the number of soldiers and leaders giving English army the opportunity to           prepare for a determined amount of men.

 -Why there more soldiers than sailors?

     Because they needed more people to fight than just to sail and leave the ship there.

2.This is a report from lord Howard of Effingham, the Admiranl of the Eglish fleet. 

 -How do you think the news that the Spanish Armada had been sighted was able to reach Lord Howard so quickly when he was at Plymouth, over hundred miles away?

It was important because as soon as they knew how and when attack, the better.

-Why do you think Howard complained to Walsingham about the wind?

I think it was because they consider it as the ``help´´ spanish had to reach the coast faster.

-Howard says that the Spanish fleet was `soe strong´. What made it strong?

Because of the quantity and the quality of the ships.

4.An extract from a Spanish captain´s account of the events. He had survived after being shipwrecked on the Irish coast and was then interrogated by the English, but eventually returned home to Spain.

-The Spanish Armada fought the English fleet for two days without losing any ships What happened next that changed this?

The mast of a ship was broken because of a shot so they lost it.

-Why was it a good thing that the Spanish plans were stopped?
Because they were losing no ships and England attacked, they fouhgt fiercely and Spanish were forced to return home, Spain. However, a great storm surprised them near to Norway, taking with it the lifes of some soldiers. This way, English weren´t invaded.

-If you could change one thing to give the Spanish a better chance of winning what would it be and why?

In my opinion, I think they should have stayed, or at least hadn´t gone that early in order to evict the storm, by doing this it was more likely for Spanish to conquer England.

-The English celebrated their victory with a medal saying `God blew and they were scattered´- how would the Spanish have explained their defeat?

They probably led the responsability to the poor organization of their superiors but mainly to the horrible climatological conditions.

6.Explain in a short paragraph why many people thought that God had helped the English defeat the Spanish Armada.

As it has something to do with religion changes, people thought that the wind that moved Spanish fleet northwards was God job whose intention was leading English army to victory.

INTERVIEW WITH A MORISCO

1-Hi, my name is Alejandra and I´m going to be your interviewer today, what´s your name?
 Hello, my name is Aribah and I am 27 years old.

2-Tell us something about your previous life.
Well, firstly, I have a husband called Kamil, and two little kids whose names are Munir and Suud; they are 7 and 9 years each.

3-Where did you lived and how did you earned money?
I lived in Valencia like most of the moriscos including myself and a lot of generations before me, my husband worked as a doctor but I didn't, I was dedicated to take care of our children, going to the market, keep our home decent etc. We survived with Kamil´s earnings, then he had to change of job because christians decided to disolve some guilds and he started to work in the countryside.

4-How long have you been living in Spain?
That´s easy to answer, I have been living here since I was born as well as my husband, moreover my family has been also living here for several generations. That is one of the causes why we are so bewildered.

5-What were your feelings with the Christians before they expelled you?
It depends, for example, since I have lived in Spain my whole life I have met very different people, I even had Christian friends but there were also people that made fun of my faith or despised me just by looking at me, it was really uncomfortable.
I felt dissapointed as they were my neighbours and they had lived with me for many years. They repeated that it was impossible for us to become ``good and faithful´´ and the previous months before the ejection the tension was notorious.

6-Did you asumed Christianism? 
That´s a very difficult question, well, I could say that I asumed it completely but it wouldn´t be true. Instead, I´m  going to say the reality for most of us: we openly adapted to Christianism and some of us changed our names to others more acceptable (I hate to say that) but in the privacy of our homes we still did some of our muslim traditions.




7-What ways the Christian used to expelled you?
Firstly they tried to convert us to Christianism, then they thought they failed and because the didn´t want to admit it, they said we won´t be ever good enough believers. Finally as an excuse they said that we wanted to align with Ottoman forces so they dropped us in North-African beaches.

8-Where are you going?
My family and I are moving to Morocco where Kamil has some friends that may take in us into their house for an undefined time.
           

9-What do you expect to happen in your way to Morocco?

To be honest, I´m scared, a lot of rumors have passed through me and all were horrible. Moriscs have been robbed, raped or even murdered in their travel by vandals. Some boats have drown in the middle of the sea, killing whole families that still felt Spaniards and didn´t understand the expulsion.
Overall I hope to finish the trip with my children and husband but I´m very sad to live the place
where I have always lived by force.

10-How do you feel about the expulsion?
I think Philip has committed a huge mistake and I hope he meditates enough to stop this insane process. I believe the expulsion will bring economic problems for Spain and we all feel upset and terrified, they are expelling us from home!

THE BURIAL OF THE COUNT OF ORGAZ BY EL GRECO