Philip Sidney's death from a wound at the Battle of Zutphen in October 1586 transformed him from a frustrated courtier into a Protestant martyr, and his spectacular funeral created exactly the heroic propaganda moment England needed as war with Spain became inevitable.
Sidney was wounded by a musket ball at the Battle of Zutphen in September 1586 and died six weeks later on October 17 at age 31. Though he died lamenting his life as 'vain, vain, vain,' his uncle Leicester ensured a grand, slow funeral procession from Arnhem to London, culminating in a ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral attended by hundreds. In death, Sidney became the Protestant hero he had always yearned to be in life — at the precise moment England needed such a symbol as war loomed. ✦ AI generated
Tom Holland / Dominic Sandbrook · The Rest Is History · 2026-08-10 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 52:58
On the 22nd of September, there's a big battle. There are lots of kind of heroic cavalry charges. The English acquit themselves very well. However, they are unable to stop the Spanish from entering Zutphen. And Sydney is hit above his left knee by a musk ball. And as Lester wrote in appalled tones later, it was a very dangerous wound, the bone being broke in pieces. On the afternoon of the 17th of October 1586, Sir Philip Sydney died at the tender age of 31. In his dying hours, Sir Philip Sydney mourned that all things in my former life have been vain, vain, vain. But this is not how his uncle, the Earl of Leicester, sees it. And Lester may have been irascible, incompetent, arrogant. But one thing he does know is how to create a martyr. And so Lester ensures that Sydney's funeral cortege is very slow, very somber, very stately. And it processes from Arnhem to the sea and then to London. In London, his coffin is carried to St. Paul's Cathedral by 14 men. He's accompanied by the Lord Mayor, by 300 Londoners in full armor, and by a page riding Sydney's horse trailing a broken lance. And in death, Sydney becomes what he had yearned to be all his life, a hero to every English Protestant and indeed to every Protestant in Christendom.
verbatim transcript · starts at 52:58
52:38to me because I've always thought of Sir Phillip Sydney um as this tremendous hero. you know, schools are named after him, uh, institutions are named after him. This, you know, his his name is written into the kind of annals of English patriotic legend. If they're just all squabbbling with each other and behaving badly, why is he so admired? Because I think as with Byron, um, as with Chavara,
53:02he's going to die young and he's going to serve as a martr for his cause. >> Okay? And that essentially is why Sydney becomes a kind of superstar to Protestant Europe. And so how does this happen? So in September 1586, Lester finally goes on the attack and he besieges and captures a Spanish-held town called Deysburg on the eastern flank of rebel held territory. And if you're a fan of Dutch geography, um it's
53:30in the province of Gelderland, which is to the southeast of the Zida. [gasps] And Sydney rides out with Lester, you know, hooray, brilliant. He's got the kind of feathers in his helmet. He's got beautiful armor. He's having a brilliant time. War at last. It seems to be going well. And Lester is boyed by his um the sense that things are going his way. And so he moves on to his next target, which
53:53is a town called Zutan. So um the South Fen. And Palmer is very anxious to relieve this um this town. And so he sends a force of 5,000 men to its rescue. On the 22nd of September, there's a big battle. There are lots of um kind of heroic cavalry charges. The English acquit themselves very well. However, they are unable to stop the Spanish from entering Zutan. And that
54:18basically is that's the end of that. So it's a battle that I think no one would remember had Sir Phillip Sydney not sustained a very serious wound in the course of it. Now I said that there are these kind of dramatic cavalry charges. Sydney had written in all of them. There were three in all. So the first time he'd, you know, drawn his sword, charged harrah, gone through the Spanish lines
54:40and then returned. The second time his horse had been shot from under him. He got another horse. Again, very gallant, very heroic. The third time again he'd ridden through the enemy lines, but then when he's turning to ride back to the English positions, he gets hit above his left knee by a musk ball. And as Lester wrote in appalled tones later, it was a very dangerous wound, the bone being
55:03broke in pieces. So Lester is very anxious for his nephew and his heir, of course, puts him in a barge, has him carried down the river to Arnum, um, 20 mi south of Zuken. And in Arnum, surgeons operate on the wound. But unfortunately, their attempt to extract the bullet only makes things worse. and Gangarine sets in and to quote, "So Phillip presently gave this severe doom upon himself that it was inward
55:31mortification and a welcome messenger of death. And sure enough, on the afternoon of the 17th of October 1586, Sir Phillip Sydney died at the tender age of 31. And it's a wretched unhappy end rather like Byron's end was wretched and unhappy. And in his dying hours, Sir Philip Sydney mourned that all things in my former life have been vain, vain, vain. But this is not how his uncle, the Earl