This primary source, is a historical text, a transcription of a speech by Elizabeth I, Queen of England. In fact, there are at least two main versions of this important speech. To understand the importance of the speech we must remember that at that time England and Spain had intermittent conflicts. At this period Spain, was ruled by Philip II and England was ruled by Elizabeth I. The relations between Elizabeth I and Philip II had always been tough, with a lot of disagreements: political, economic and religious. Philip had even prepared the invasion of England since the beginning of his reign. We know that by 1574 he had already prepared a fleet, under Pedro Menendez de Avilés, composed by 300 boats and around 30.000 men in Santander, …show more content…
There are no eyewitnesses of what she really said or she wore, either if she wrote her speech herself or just recited, but based on what we know, Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) known as the virgin queen and as a ruler of England was a productive writer. Before becoming queen, she wrote verses and prayers while she was imprisoned and she kept on doing it through her 45 years of her long reign, when she continued writing, but more to specific political situations, nevertheless, this speech is one of her most famous. As the first news arrived of the Armada Elizabeth I visited her troops at Tilbury […]. In an article, Susan Frye, from the University of Wyoming, describes what she calls the “The myth of Elizabeth at Tilbury”. And she quotes some writers who had studied Elizabeth 's biography. 'A steel corselet was found for her to wear and a helmet with white plumes was given to a page to carry. Bareheaded, the Queen mounted the white horse. The Earl of Ormonde carried the sword of state before her, Leicester walked at the horse 's bridle, and the page with the helmet came behind, ' writes Elizabeth Jenkins in a biography of the 1950s. 'She rode through their ranks on a huge white warhorse, armed like a queen out of antique mythology in a silver cuirass and silver truncheon. Her gown was white velvet, and there were plumes in her hair like those that waved from the helmets of the mounted soldiers. ' (Carolly Erickson 's version of