Three "Protestant Winds"
The Relief of Leyden, 1574:
Siege of Leiden - Wikipedia: [T]he dyke of Greenway halted the water, but this was seized and cut. But as the water spread over the countryside, it also grew shallower.... Soon, the water was so shallow that most of the Dutch ships ran aground. Meanwhile, in the city, the inhabitants clamoured for surrender when they saw that their countrymen had run aground. But Mayor van der Werff inspired his citizens to hold on by offering his arm as food. Thousands of inhabitants died of starvation. They held on because they knew that the Spanish would kill them all to set an example, as had happened in Naarden and Haarlem. Only on October 1[, 1574] did the wind, which previously blown from the east pushing the water out of the countryside, shift to the west which blew the sea water into the countryside. Then the rebel fleet was afloat again and they advanced.... [O]n the night of October 2/3, the Spanish retreated from their fort and lifted the siege....[T]he relieving rebels arrived at the city, feeding the citizens with herring and white bread. The people also feasted on 'Hutspot' (carrot and onion stew) in the evening. According to legend, a little orphan boy named Cornelis Joppenszoon found a cooking pot full with 'Hutspot' that the Spaniards had had to leave behind when they left their camp, the Lammenschans, in a hurry to escape from the rising waters...
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588:
Flavit Jehovah et Dissipati Sunt: Jehovah blew with His winds, and they were scattered is a famous phrase on the aftermath of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, when the Spanish fleet was broken up by a storm...
The "Glorious Revolution" Overthrow of King James II Stuart by William III Orange, 1688:
Glorious Revolution: [O]n 8 October... the expedition was... openly approved by the States of Holland; the same day James issued a proclamation to the English nation that it should prepare for a Dutch invasion to ward off conquest. On 30 September/10 October (Julian/Gregorian calendars) William issued the Declaration of The Hague.... William declared:
It is both certain and evident to all men, that the public peace and happiness of any state or kingdom cannot be preserved, where the Laws, Liberties, and Customs, established by the lawful authority in it, are openly transgressed and annulled; more especially where the alteration of Religion is endeavoured, and that a religion, which is contrary to law, is endeavoured to be introduced; upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws, Liberties and customs, and, above all, the Religion and Worship of God, that is established among them; and to take such an effectual care, that the inhabitants of the said state or kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion, nor of their Civil Rights.
William went on to condemn James's advisers for overturning the religion, laws, and liberties of England, Scotland, and Ireland by the use of the suspending and dispensing power; the establishment of the "manifestly illegal" commission for ecclesiastical causes; and its use to suspend the Bishop of London and to remove the Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford.... James's attempt to pack Parliament was in danger of removing "the last and great remedy for all those evils". "Therefore", William continued, "we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry over with us a force sufficient, by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those evil Counsellors...this our Expedition is intended for no other design, but to have, a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible."...
For three weeks the invasion fleet was prevented by adverse south-westerly gales from departing from the naval port of Hellevoetsluis, and Catholics all over the Netherlands and the British kingdoms held prayer sessions that this "popish wind" might endure. However, on 14/24 October it became the famous "Protestant Wind" by turning to the east...
