Weight of words
A curated archive of speeches that shaped the posture of states, the fate of alliances, and the international order.
Speech is an instrument of state. Monarchs, presidents, revolutionaries, and secretaries-general have used the set-piece address to declare war and to sue for peace, to bind allies and to unsettle them, to claim legitimacy and to deny it to others. This is a curated archive of such speeches, from Elizabeth I at Tilbury to the present day, chosen for their bearing on the posture of states, the shape of alliances, and the international order.
Each is presented from the record: the speaker, the occasion, and the text as delivered or as reliably transcribed. Where a speech was not given in English or French, the original is offered alongside a translation. The Centre supplies context, not commentary, and leaves the words to stand.
9 August 1588
I have the heart and stomach of a king
As the Spanish Armada threatened invasion in 1588, Queen Elizabeth I rode to Tilbury to review the land forces gathered to repel a feared Spanish landing, seeking to steady morale at the height of the crisis. The famous wording survives only through a later account and is regarded as a reconstruction.
My loving 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.
Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and 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 of 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: to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.
I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you on a word of a prince, they shall be duly paid. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over these enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.
Historical record. The Centre neither holds nor claims any copyright in these speeches. They are gathered and reproduced here as a historical record from public and archival sources. A rights holder who wishes a speech removed, or aligned to an authorized source, may request this through our contact page.