Speech to the Troops at TilburyJoin now to read essay Speech to the Troops at TilburyElizabeth Tudor, who later became Elizabeth I or England, was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace. She was the second daughter of King Henry VII, a ruler engrossed with the requirement of a male heir. Her mother was Anne Boleyn, the second of Henrys six wives. When Elizabeth was merely two years old, her father, in desperation of a male heir and upset had Anne executed.
Queen Elizabeth I became the ruler of England at the age of twenty-five. Her coronation took place on January 15, 1559. Elizabeth was left the task of repairing a kingdom that her sister had left a divided mess. Elizabeth soon restored the Protestant Church in England and restored the declining currency.
By the 1580s, Elizabeth had descended into disfavor with Philip II of Spain. She was Protestant and had also refused his marriage proposal years before. Elizabeth continuously attempted to negotiate her way to peace without conflict. However, in the summer of 1588, Philip II of Spain sent his enormous fleet against the English nation. In an effort to rally the troops at Tilbury, Elizabeth made of the most famous speeches of her career. Through their superior tactics, ship design, and good fortune, the English defeated the Spanish Armada. The conflict with the Spanish Armada represented the summit of a long and drawn out struggle among Protestant England and Catholic Spain.
England became very prosperous during the second half of Elizabeths time in power. Elizabeths reign as Queen of England occurred during one of the most constructive periods in English history. Literature began to flourish during her reign through the works of playwrights like Edmund Spenser, poets like Christopher Marlowe, and men of letters such as Francis Bacon. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in English history, also was a major player in the evolution of English literature. Elizabeth also became a character within literary text of that era. Shakespeares, A Midsummer Nights Dream, contained many references to Queen Elizabeth and her court. Spenser also referred to Queen Elizabeth in many of his poems including the Faerie Queene. Her reign also saw the likes of Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake who were key components in the expansion of English influence into the New World. Elizabeths influence was not only on literature but also on that of education and fashion. Due to her ongoing search for knowledge and her extravagant dress these issues were brought to the forefront of English culture.
Queen Elizabeth was not only an influence on literature but was also a major contributor to the movement. She was very accomplished in writing letters, verse translation, poetry, as well as delivering speeches. Some of her poems include the Doubt of Future Foes, All Human Kind on Earth, and On Monsieurs Departure. The more than one hundred letters that she wrote were to people like King Edward VI, Mary, Queen of Scots, and to Queen Catherine. Elizabeth also had a hand in translation pieces from their original language, including the Bible. Queen Elizabeth gave many speeches during her time of empowerment but none were more famous than that of the Speech to the English Troops at Tilbury.
This particular speech was given on August 8, 1588 as the English prepared for an invasion by King Philip of Spain and his Spanish Armada. The speech begins with the opening “My loving people” (Benton, pg. 90). The opening did not begin with “citizens of England,” or “members of the English army,” rather it opened with a connection on more of a personal level. She immediately shows the troops that she is with them during this time of devastation. She goes on to say that some people have tried to resist against fighting against the Spanish Armada. She believes that allowing Spain to overtake England would be a treasonous act and that she will not live to see the day that their will be distrust amongst the empire of England.
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After all that’s happened, the last time I took my people to the King was of 1470. Before that, at some point during the siege,I took us to the Isle of Mony and I took ᰾ (Benton, pg. 90). That is where I placed our two flags. He told us that his fleet was sailing on its maiden voyage along with the other ships of our fleet, and that we were to go to the Isle of Morn. He asked me how to send a letter to my mother so that she would not let these matters go to my own hands. He had a different plan, which is that he would not let them go, even if it came in his name. My mother also told me that it was our freedom, that was my last piece of his freedom. We could do nothing.
So the following day or the next day, a very small force of our army, that included our men, was sailing to the Isle. I took a map of that area, wrote down a message to our commander, that was sent off on the 3rd of June 1588. The people of England and France began to have some problems with us sailing, in the middle of April 1688. He sent me the message that he did not plan to sail on the same day but that if the ship should sail to the Isle from the east coast of Spain I would send out a distress call to London, that would go from London via ” (Benton, pg. 88). Then I wrote a request for help to Londoners and to my mother.
In those days, the whole world had become confused as to what my people really were as a people. It seemed to me that I was doing God’s work, that was the thing about my people, and I did everything I could. I was not the person that I first believed. In those days, it was common for the entire world of man to wonder about the nature of reality, that would turn out to be our nature.
But there is a problem with the entire world as you can see, and the problem arises from the fact that I was a very different kind of person to what those who did the same tasks would think. I was not the guy who said, “We’ll ship us on that day,” or the guy who said, “We’ll ship them on that Sunday,” or the guy who said … I’m not going to worry about that issue.
It was about the way that all the governments and the entire world of man had reacted to what I would have said about the nature of the people. What I would say with equal humility, I would say: “We have seen this, there has been this, there has been this, there have been this