In 1587, Queen Elizabeth I of England was faced with a predicament. She had been confronted with irrefutable evidence that her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been plotting her assassination, and Mary had been found guilty and sentenced to death by a special thirty-six-commissioner court. After much hesitation, Elizabeth signed the order of execution, though fearful that King Philip II of Spain could use it as a pretext for war \against England. This indeed occurred. Spain was at this time the leading military power in Europe, and by May of 1588, Philip had assembled a massive invasion force of 122 warships, which was dubbed the Armada Invincible (or Spanish Armada). This armada was meant to sweep aside the English fleet and transport an army of 30,000 men under command of the Duke of Parma from Flanders across the English Channel to England. The climax occurred August 7–8, 1588, off the coast of Flanders near Gravelines. The Spanish Armada lost so heavily to the English fleet that they were unable to transport Parma’s army, and the threat of invasion was effectively over.