Europe framed the Armada battle as a judicial duel with God as judge

Evidence

When the Spanish Armada challenged the ancient lords of the English Channel on their own grounds the impending conflict took on the aspect of a judicial duel in which, as was expected in such duels, God would defend the right. … So, when the two fleets approached their appointed battleground, all Europe watched. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 897

Categorization

• FICTION: The judicial-duel framing gives the reader’s narrative the spectators’ interpretive stakes — whole continent watching a divine verdict.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 897
• XREF: connects to: The 1588 Armada war was an ideological total war across all Christendom. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 22; The men of 1588 saw the Armada clash as a total ideological war. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 22; Philip rebuked presumption of knowing God’s will as blasphemy — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 884 (+2 more)