Elizabeth versus the Armada!

Today in the year of our Lord 1588, the English navy—under the command of Howard & Drake— defeated the mighty Spanish Armada.

The famous portrait of Queen Bess, painted to commemorate her great victory, recently has been bought for Britain after a nationwide fundraising campaign.

Here is Elizabeth’s speech to the troops in Tilbury on the eve of battle:

My loving people

We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves 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, 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.

More fun for you Tudor fans

Many thanks to EverythingTudorBlog for reblogging this daft little adventure! If you’re a history fan—especially of Great Britain—please visit and say hello.

Thanks also to ReallyCoolPigeons for the reblog!

Gloriana 02

Swordplay! En garde! Thrust! Parry, thrust! Shift-ball-change, shift-ball-change, back-step!

Three boys against one girl hardly seems fair. Let’s see if she’s able to hold her own…

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To enlarge, hold down the control button when you click on the art.

Gloriana 01

The prologue’s finished, thank goodness. What awful people—I thought they’d never leave! So, to cleanse your palate of all that satanic stuff, here’s a teenaged girl in a stable-yard, wielding a brace of rapiers. (Thanks, Licia, for the fancy title treatment!)

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Prologue viii

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Put them all together they spell ‘murther‘!

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Prologue vii

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glor.viiA Glor.viiBa glor.viiBb If you hold down the ‘control’ button and click on an image, you can click on ‘view image’ to see it larger.

Enter Mephistophilis

I’m still working on page iv. Here’s a sixteenth-century woodcut of the scene on page iii. I don’t know who the artist was. I guess they didn’t give artists credit much back then.

Prologue iii

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The players

Even though our story begins in jolly old England, out of consideration for you, dear reader, we’re attaching a prologue. That is, a few pages of introduction to the dark, mysterious forces which will shape the plot.

You can’t get more dark or mysterious than Herr Doktor—always the smartest guy in the room, he’s become bored with life and is looking for something to satisfy his lust for power.

To help him with that search are two sorcerers, Valdes and Cornelius—experts in conjuring, necromancy, wizardry, astrology, fortune-telling, spell-casting, alchemy and Common Core math.

‘Od’s bodkins!

Welcome to Glorianacomic.com! Gloriana is the title of this tale, set in the waning days of King Henry VIII. In the next week we’ll begin rolling out pages here for your amusement. If you like adventure, sword-play, sorcery, sea-battles, treachery, espionage, religious strife, the plague, assassination and adorable kittens—well, we’ll do our best to deliver what you clamor for. Please bookmark this page and tell all your friends to stop by.