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PEC-Spanish Armada

Mundos Anglófonos en Perspectiva Histórica y Cultural (UNED)

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MUNDOS ANGLÓFONOS EN PERSPECTIVA HISTÓRICA Y CULTURAL

2018-19

Text: Elizabeth I. Against the Spanish Armada. 1588

This speech is a political text, delivered by Queen Elizabeth I. During the Spanish
Armada invasion, the Queen travelled to Tilbury, in Essex, to encourage the troops
assembled to defend the Thames Estuary. Her words, delivered on 9 August 1588, have
survived until now. The speech was addressed to the troops, but its content suggests that
Elizabeth was speaking also to the whole nation. Many clues in the text indicate that the
Queen used the speech to strengthen her power in a difficult moment for England, when
the country had been invaded by sea by Spain and English forces were apparently weaker
than the Spanish ones. Indeed, King Philip II of Spain had sent an enormous fleet to
England (the Armada, also called Invincible Armada) consisting in 130 ships and possibly
more than 19.000 soldiers.

The main reason claimed by Philip II to invade England was the defence of the
Catholic Church against the Protestantism established in England by Elizabeth I. To
understand properly the underlying religious conflict, it is important to remember some
basic facts. Some years before, in 1534, Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, broke away from
Pope’s obedience and founded the English Church, after Rome had decided not to grant
him the divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. The Catholicism was restored
in England after Henry’s death, during Mary Tudor’s realm. Mary, married to Philip II of
Spain, was the daughter of Henry and Catherine. She was crowned Queen after the brief
realm of her half-brother Edward VI, the only Henry’s son. Mary died prematurely and
was succeeded in 1558 by Elizabeth, her half-sister. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry
VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who Henry ordered execute in 1536, indicted of
treason. Elizabeth, Protestant as her mother, restored in 1559 the royal supremacy over
the Church of England and established in 1571 its Protestant status. Catholic attempted
for years to overthrow Elizabeth and return to the previous situation, supported by Rome
and Spain. Pope Pius V declared Elizabeth a heretic and released her subjects from their
allegiance to her. Then, several plots tried to place in the throne the Catholic Mary Stuart,
Queen of Scots and Elizabeth’s cousin. In 1587, after evidence of Mary’s involvement in

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the plots, Elizabeth signed her death warrant. The regicide was considered an outrage by
Catholics and Philip II used it as an excuse to invade England. Nonetheless, the King of
Spain had also other reasons to send the Armada to England. Philip II itself had a claim
to this throne because of his previous marriage to Mary Tudor, and the permissive English
policies face to Francis Drake and other “sea dogs” and the English position in the
Netherlands were harmful for Spanish interests.

Certainly, the situation was difficult for England, but also for the Queen: she had
to struggle not only with the military invasion, but also with some critical voices in
England, that were against her. Some thought that Elizabeth should have never inherit the
throne, because her father had declared her illegitimacy when Anne Boleyn’s marriage
was annulled. That always spotted the legitimacy of Elizabeth, although some years later
she was restored and made third in the line to the throne, after Edward and Mary. On the
other hand, Elizabeth was a woman in a world dominated by men, and she refused to
marry and to have children, as it was expected from a woman. No doubt, that complicated
the succession to the throne and some reckoned irresponsible this decision.

Elizabeth was conscious of the difficulties of that situation, and took advantage
from her trip to Tilbury in order to strengthen her prestige and her power. She prepared
very carefully both her physical appearance and the speech’s contents. She left her
bodyguard in Tilburn and went amongst the troops with an escort of only six men,
meaning she trusted her subjects. She wore a steel cuirass, presenting herself as a military
leader, and a white gown, sign of virginity. These symbols of trust, military power and
femininity are reinforced by the content of the speech, as we analyse below.

The first idea transmitted by Elizabeth is her closeness to people. The Queen
addresses her words to her “loving people” and immediately, she adds that she trusts
people (“we have been persuaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed
how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I
do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people”). These words help to create
a good relationship between the Queen and her subjects, meaning that she doesn’t believe
that ordinary people has taken part in the plots for replacing her in the throne. The Queen’s
closeness to people can be also appreciated in the parts of the speech in which Elizabeth
compares herself to her subjects (for instance, when she states “I am come amongst you”
or “being resolved (…) to live or die amongst you all”).

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Elizabeth was a popular Queen among her subjects and it seems that people were
very devoted to her. She liked to demonstrate how she loved people and she linked this
idea to her refusal to marriage. She had many marriage proposals, but she rejected all of
them and started to present herself as the as the “Virgin Queen”, married to the nation and
sacrificing her personal happiness for the common wellness. Her speeches were a good
place to manifest her love to people, and we can find other example of this in the famous
Golden speech, that Elizabeth delivered in 1601 to the Members of the Commons, where
she “do assure you there is no prince that loves his subjects better” and states that “there
is no jewel, be it of never so rich a price, which I set before this jewel: I mean your love”.

The speech is not only used by the Queen to show her closeness to people, but
also to present herself as a powerful sovereign, what was important to strengthen her
power after the plots that had tried to overthrow her. Several clues in the speech transmit
this idea. First of all, formally, she uses several times the royal plural (“being careful of
our safety”, “we do assure you, on the word of a prince”). Furthermore, the Queen
declares to be “under God”, implying that only God is above her. That strengthens the
legitimacy of Elizabeth and presents her as a sovereign: at the time, the hierarchical
structure of the Great Chain of Beings placed the King as the highest-ranking human
being, after God and the Angelic Beings. Moreover, that suggests that Elizabeth’s
authority derives from God, according to the theory of divine right. It is worth to remark
also that Elizabeth mentions two times “my God”, suggesting she has a special connection
with the Creator, as head of the Church of England.

Other way she uses to present herself as an absolute Monarch is to remember that
every power belongs to her: she declares “I myself will be your general, judge, and
rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field (…)”. These words point out that she is
a leader (a general) and she owns as well the judiciary power and the capacity to reward
troops. To show that she is a leader, as indicated above, she wore her battle armour when
she went to Tilbury. She insists in her military capacity when she proclaims that she is
resolved “in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die” and assure that “I (…) myself
will take up arms; I myself will be your general”. Nonetheless, she delegates in her
lieutenant general, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, very close to her. She asks troops to
obey her lieutenant, who “shall be in my stead” and she states that she didn’t doubt “your
obedience to my general”. It is worth to note that the Queen gave the speech when she
was 55 and even if she had been a man, at this age, nobody would have expected she took

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the arms. Finally, to persuade the troops, in her role of a general, Elizabeth promises to
reward the fighters and invokes the sacred “word of a prince” that was seen as a binding:
“on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you”.

It is very interesting to note that the Queen present herself as a leader in a world
in which women did not intervene in politics and were excluded from the power. Let’s
remember that Henry VIII married so many wives to ensure the succession to the throne
with a male heir. Moreover, precedent women that had govern England (Mary Tudor and
Empress Matilda) had failed. Therefore, Elizabeth had to prove that she was able to
govern in spite of being a woman, and she had to prove that to the troops, in which women
were not all accepted. With this objective, Elizabeth pronounce the probably most famous
words of the speech: “I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have
the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too”. In this sentence, the Queen is
acknowledging she has a feminine physical appearance, but she is stating also that there
is a sovereign inside her. Then, even if she is a feeble woman, she is able to govern and
to protect the country. Not only is that message for the troops, but also for the Parliament.
When Elizabeth I presents herself as a Queen and King, she is implying that she doesn’t
need a man to govern or to defend the country. The metaphor used in the sentence (the
body of a woman and the heart of a King) is linked with the theory of the sovereign’s two
bodies, created at the Middle Age, and popular at Elizabeth’s time. The theory states that
the monarch has two bodies: a body natural that is temporary, fallible and frail; and a
body politic that is eternal, infallible and enduring. In this case, the body natural would
be the woman’s body and the body political, the heart of a king. Elizabeth had already
used the theory of two bodies in her first speech, delivered at Hatfield on the 20th
November 1558, some days after she was crowned. There, she stated “I am but one body,
naturally considered, though by his permission a Body Politic to govern", justifying her
power in God’s will (“his permission”).

Elizabeth presents herself not only as a King, but as a King of England. That
implies that Elizabeth is an heir from precedent Kings of England, what is a good way to
strengthen her legitimacy in the context of a hereditary monarchy. The words suggest also
that a King of England is more important than a King and make the people of England
feel superior to other countries: it is a useful appeal to the troops patriotism. Actually, the
whole speech is encouraging patriotism, as we can appreciate when Elizabeth refers to
“my kingdom” and “my people” and even “my God” and promises “a famous victory

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over the enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people”. These enemies have
been previously named in the speech: they are Spain (Philip II) or Parma (The Duke of
Parma). She is probably referring to both when she says “Let’s tyrants fear”, establishing
the difference between her enemies and herself, who trusts her people. Let’s take into
account that these words were addressed to a quite xenophobe society. The English did
not forget that England lost Calais when Philip II, married at the time with Mary Tudor,
involved England in war with France. The connection between England and Elizabeth
suggests also that protecting the Queen is to protect England, and therefore, she has
“placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my
subjects”.

The final sentence of the speech is positive and forceful: “We shall shortly have a
famous victory over the enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people”. This
wish was fulfilled and the Spanish Armada was defeated, what was a great achievement
for English troops. When the Armada sailed out from Spain, Spanish forces were thought
to be stronger than the English ones. Nevertheless, at the moment when the Queen
pronounced the speech, England had already won the decisive battle of Gravelines and
an English victory could be reasonably expected. The English had set fire to eight ships
and sent them against the Armada. That broke the Spanish formation and the English
attacked the disorganised Spanish ships and several of them were lost. Spanish fleet had
to return home and many ships were sunk by storms; indeed, only 87 of them arrived to
Spain.

In my opinion, this speech remains in the history for several reasons. First of all,
there is a speech delivered at the battlefield by a woman, in a world of men. And
surprisingly, England, a little nation, achieved to defeat the greatest power in the world.
That was an important propaganda for Elizabeth, in England and abroad, and the
England’s mastery of the seas started. Thanks to that, besides other Elizabeth’s
achievements, the kingdom’s economy flourished and the English develop an idea of
national identity. The text shows that Elizabeth I was a clever woman, able to take
advantage of a difficult situation.

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Bibliography

Cunliffe, Barry, et al. The Penguin illustrated History of Britain and Ireland: from
earliest times to the present day. Penguin Books, 2004

De la Concha Muñoz, Ángeles and Cerezo Moreno, Marta. Ejes de la Literatura inglesa
medieval y renacentista. Ramón Areces, 2014

Kamminga-Peck, H. “Gender and the King’s Two Bodies: Interpreting Female Characters
in Select Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama”. Theatre and Dance Graduate Theses &
Dissertations. No. 35, 2015. In https://scholar.colorado.edu/thtr_gradetds/35

Oakland, John. British Civilization. An introduction. 8th ed. Routledge, 2016, 8th ed.

Internet websites

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/tudors/armada.htm.

http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon45.html.

https://britannica.com/topic/Armada-Spanish-naval-fleet

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/Elizabethmonarchy/elizabeths-
first-speech/

https://tudorblogger.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/analysis-of-elizabeth-is-speech-at-
tilbury-before-the-spanish-armada-1588/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Speech

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England#Marriage_to_Anne_Boleyn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_V#Elizabeth_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_to_the_Troops_at_Tilbury

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