Queen Elizabeth’s Speech Before her Troops – Flashcards

1558, when she was barely out of her teens

when Philip I of Spain sent an Armada to invade England

he was a Spanish aristocrat who sailed with the Armada. Because he was high-born, he was allowed to live, and his eye-witness account provides a valuable record of this major historical event

In 1533, King Henry VIII divorced the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn, which led to England splitting from the Roman Catholic Church, making England a protestant nation. Spain, being a champion for Roman Catholicism, and being a rival to England for New World Colonization, was very motivated to attack England. It didn't help that Henry's daughter, Mary, had married Philip II and was extremely catholic, tried to convert England back to Catholicism, which put personal matters into the mix. She even imprisoned Elizabeth until she died to prevent uprisings.

People have warned her not to trust he soldiers, but she has pure faith in her people. Distrust is for tyrants. She has resolved to live or die with her soldiers, despite being a, "weak and feeble woman." She will be their general. She acknoledges that the soldiers have already earned rewards, still in the midst of battle, and promises that they will be paid.