Aftermath & Impact
Over the following weeks, 67 of Medina Sedonia’s ships straggled into port, many badly damaged with starving crews. In the course of the campaign, the Spanish lost approximately 50 ships and over 5,000 men, though most of the ships sunk were converted merchantmen and not ships from the Spanish Navy. The English suffered around 50-100 killed and around 400 wounded. Long considered one of England’s greatest victories, the defeat of the Armada temporarily ended the threat of invasion as well as aided in securing the English Reformation and allowed Elizabeth to continue supporting the Dutch in their struggle against the Spanish. The Anglo-Spanish War would continue until 1603, with the Spanish generally getting the better of the English, but never again attempting to mount an invasion of England.
Elizabeth at Tilbury
The campaign of the Spanish Armada provided Elizabeth with the opportunity to deliver what is considered one of the finest speeches of her long reign. On August 8, as her fleet was sailing into battle at Gravelines, Elizabeth addressed Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester’s troops at their camp on the Thames estuary at West Tilbury:
I have come amongst you as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved in the midst and heat of battle to live and die amongst you all, to lay down for my God and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too. And think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm!
