Walter Raleigh (other)
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Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion in Ireland, helped defend England against the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
and held political positions under Elizabeth I. Raleigh was born to a
landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...
family of Protestant faith in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne. He was the younger half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and a cousin of Sir
Richard Grenville Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
. Little is known of his early life, though in his late teens he spent some time in France taking part in the religious civil wars. In his 20s he took part in the suppression of rebellion in the colonisation of Ireland; he also participated in the siege of Smerwick. Later, he became a landlord of property in Ireland and mayor of Youghal in east
Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
, where his house still stands in
Myrtle Grove Myrtle Grove can refer to: * Myrtle Grove, Bingley, United Kingdom * Myrtle Grove, Youghal, Republic of Ireland * Myrtle Grove, Florida, U.S. * Myrtle Grove (Easton, Maryland), home on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places * Myrtle Grove, No ...
. He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585. He was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, paving the way for future English settlements. In 1591, he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, without the Queen's permission, for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. After his release, they retired to his estate at Sherborne, Dorset. In 1594, Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed to the legend of "
El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
". After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was again imprisoned in the Tower, this time for being involved in the Main Plot against King James I, who was not favourably disposed towards him. In 1616, he was released to lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado. During the expedition, men led by his top commander ransacked a Spanish outpost, in violation of both the terms of his pardon and the 1604 peace treaty with Spain. Raleigh returned to England and, to appease the Spanish, he was arrested and executed in 1618.


Early life

Little is known about Sir Walter Raleigh's birth but he is believed to have been born on 22 January 1552 (or possibly 1554). He grew up in the house of Hayes Barton (in the parish of
East Budleigh East Budleigh is a small village in East Devon, England. The villages of Yettington, Colaton Raleigh, and Otterton lie to the west, north and east of East Budleigh, with the seaside town of Budleigh Salterton about two miles south. Until ...
), in East Devon. He was the youngest of the five sons of Walter Raleigh (1510–1581) (or Rawleigh) of Fardel Manor (in the parish of Cornwood), in South Devon. Raleigh's family is generally assumed to have been a junior branch of the Raleigh family, 11th-century lords of the manor of Raleigh, Pilton in North Devon, although the two branches are known to have borne entirely dissimilar coats of arms, adopted at the start of the age of
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
(–1215). His mother was Katherine Champernowne, the third wife of Walter Raleigh senior. She was the fourth daughter of Sir Philip Champernowne (1479–1545), lord of the manor of Modbury, Devon, by his wife Catherine Carew, a daughter of Sir Edmund Carew (d. 1513) of Mohuns Ottery (in the parish of Luppitt), Devon,. Katherine was the widow of Otes Gilbert (1513–1546/7) of Greenway (in the parish of
Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fish ...
) and of Compton Castle (in the parish of Marldon), both in Devon. (The coat of arms of Otes Gilbert and Katherine Champernowne survives in a stained glass window in Churston Ferrers Church, near Greenway.) Katherine Champernowne's paternal aunt was Kat Ashley, governess of Queen Elizabeth I, who introduced Raleigh and his brothers to the court. Raleigh's maternal uncle was Sir Arthur Champernowne (–1578), a Member of Parliament, Sheriff of Devon and Admiral of the West. Walter Raleigh junior's immediate family included his full brother Carew Raleigh, and half-brothers John Gilbert, Humphrey Gilbert and Adrian Gilbert. As a consequence of their kinship with the Champernowne family, all of the Raleigh and Gilbert brothers became prominent during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Raleigh's family was highly Protestant in religious orientation and had a number of near escapes during the reign of Roman Catholic Queen
Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
. In the most notable of these, his father had to hide in a tower to avoid execution. As a result, Raleigh developed a hatred of Roman Catholicism during his childhood, and proved himself quick to express it after Protestant Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558. In matters of religion, Elizabeth was more moderate than her half-sister Mary. In 1569, Raleigh went to France to serve with the Huguenots in the French religious civil wars. In 1572, Raleigh was registered as an undergraduate at
Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...
, but he left in 1574 without a degree. Raleigh proceeded to finish his education in the Inns of Court. In 1575, he was admitted to the Middle Temple, having previously been a member of Lyon's Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery. Much of his life is uncertain between 1569 and 1575, but in his ''History of the World'', he claimed to have been an eyewitness at the
Battle of Moncontour The Battle of Moncontour occurred on 3 October 1569 between the Royalist Catholic forces of King Charles IX of France, commanded by Henry, Duke of Anjou, and the Huguenots commanded by Gaspard de Coligny. The battle Weeks before, Coligny had lift ...
(3 October 1569) in France. In 1575 or 1576, Raleigh returned to England. In 1577 and again in 1579 Raleigh made voyages with his half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert in attempts to find a Northwest Passage. They failed to find a passage, but succeeded in raiding Spanish ships.


Ireland

''See
Plantations of Ireland Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The Crown saw the plantations as a means of controlling, angl ...
'' From 1579 to late 1580, Raleigh took part in the suppression of the Desmond Rebellions. He was present at the siege of Smerwick, where he led the party that beheaded some 600 Spanish and Italian soldiers. In September 1584, Queen Elizabeth I had the land surveyed to be divided amongst her "Undertakers"(People she appointed to undertake supervision of colonization of the region) to colonize. In 1585, Raleigh received (approximately 0.2% of Ireland) in the Munster Plantation, including the coastal walled town of Youghal and, further up the Blackwater River, the village of Lismore. Raleigh made the town of Youghal in Ireland his occasional home during his 17 years as an Irish landlord, frequently being domiciled at Killua Castle, Clonmellon,
County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...
. He was mayor there from 1588 to 1589. Raleigh encouraged veterans of the earlier attempts of the
Roanoke Colony The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...
settle in Ireland, including Thomas Hariot and John White from the 1585 trip. (He was the governor of the 1587 trip, but returned with the delivery ship to acquire additional supplies.) Raleigh is credited with introducing potatoes to England and Ireland. though potatoes are more likely to have arrived through the Irish trade with Spain; they were known as ''An Spáinneach Geal'' (the bright Spaniard) before his time, A potato crop failure in the 1800s would lead to the Great Famine when they were the only crop not exported in bulk to Britain from 1840 to 1852, a time when potatoes across the continent were destroyed by a gigantic outbreak of blight known as the European Potato Failure. Amongst Raleigh's acquaintances in Munster was another Englishman who had been granted land in the Irish colonies, poet
Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
. Raleigh's management of his Irish estates ran into difficulties which contributed to a decline in his fortunes. In 1602, he sold the lands to Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, who subsequently prospered under kings James I and Charles I.


New World

On March 25, 1584, Queen Elizabeth granted Raleigh a royal charter authorising him to explore, colonise and rule any "remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince or inhabited by Christian People", in return for one-fifth of all the gold and silver that might be mined there. This charter specified that Raleigh had seven years in which to establish a settlement, or else lose his right to do so. Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should provide riches from the New World and a base from which to send privateers on raids against the treasure fleets of Spain. The charter was originally given to Sir Humphrey Gilbert who pitched the idea to Queen Elizabeth I and died at sea while attempting to accomplish it. On April 27, 1584, the Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe expedition set sail from England on an exploratory mission to determine what resources were available in North America. They returned with two of the local inhabitants, Manteo and Wanchese, in August 1584, and reported of their findings. The region (the majority of the east coast) received the name "Virginia" for the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, which is the origin of the name of the modern day state. In 1585, he sent a militarized group to North America to set up a fort to raid Spanish ships and become the first English colony in North America. The voyage was led by Sir Richard Grenville and the colony on
Roanoke Island Roanoke Island () is an island in Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke (tribe), Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the ar ...
was governed by Ralph Lane. The colony ran out of food after clashes with the local inhabitants and eventually left with Sir Francis Drake in June 1586 after resupply attempts failed. Sir Richard Grenvile arrived shortly after the Lane colony left with Drake. He left supplies and 15 men on Roanoke Island and returned to England. They were never seen again. On July 22, 1587, Raleigh attempted a second expedition, again establishing a settlement on Roanoke Island. This time, a more diverse group of settlers was sent, including some entire families, under the governance of John White. After a short while in America, White returned to England to obtain more supplies for the colony, planning to return in a year. Unfortunately for the colonists at Roanoke, one year became three. The first delay came when Queen Elizabeth I ordered all vessels to remain at port for potential use against the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
. After England's 1588 victory over the Spanish Armada, the ships were given permission to sail. The second delay came after White's small fleet set sail for Roanoke and his crew insisted on sailing first towards Cuba in hopes of capturing treasure-laden Spanish merchant ships. Enormous riches described by their pilot, an experienced Portuguese navigator hired by Raleigh, outweighed White's objections to the delay. When the supply ship arrived in Roanoke, three years later than planned, the colonists had disappeared. The only clue to their fate was the word "CROATOAN" and the letters "CRO" carved into tree trunks. White had arranged with the settlers that if they should move, the name of their destination be carved into a tree or corner post. This suggested the possibility that they had moved to Croatoan Island, but a hurricane prevented John White from investigating the island for survivors. Other speculation includes their having starved, or been swept away or lost at sea during the stormy weather of 1588. No further attempts at contact were recorded for some years. Whatever the fate of the settlers, the settlement is now remembered as the "
Roanoke Colony The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...
" later known as the "Lost Colony". Raleigh himself never visited North America, although he led expeditions in 1595 and 1617 to the
Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
river basin in South America in search of the golden city of
El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
. These expeditions were funded primarily by Raleigh and his friends but never provided the steady stream of revenue necessary to maintain a colony in America.


1580s

In 1580 Raleigh went to fight in Ireland against the 2nd Desmond Rebellion. In December 1581, he returned to England. He took part in court life and became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I because of his efforts at increasing the Protestant Church in Ireland. In 1585, Raleigh was knighted and was appointed warden of the stannaries, that is of the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon,
Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Since 1742, all the Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Cornwall. *John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1554 *John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath 1556–? ...
and vice-admiral of the two counties. He was a member of parliament for Devonshire in 1585 and 1586. He was also granted the right to colonise America. Raleigh commissioned shipbuilder R. Chapman of Deptford to build a ship for him. She was originally called ''Ark'' but became '' Ark Raleigh'', following the convention at the time by which the ship bore the name of her owner. The Crown (in the person of Queen Elizabeth I) purchased the ship from Raleigh in January 1587 for £5,000 (£ million in 2015). This took the form of a reduction in the sum that Sir Walter owed the queen; he received Exchequer tallies but no money. As a result, the ship was renamed ''
Ark Royal Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Ark Royal'': * , the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588 * , planned as freighter, built as seaplane carrier during the First World War, renamed ''Pega ...
''. In 1586 one of Raleigh's expeditions caught Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. Raleigh held Gamboa prisoner in his house and had long conversations with him. Gamboa passed messages to the Spanish ambassador who forwarded them to King Philip II. Raleigh wanted to defect to Spain and sell his ship the ''Ark.'' Philip refused to buy the ship, but encouraged the passing of information from Raleigh. In 1588, Raleigh had some involvement with defence against the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
at Devon. The ship that he had built, offered to sell to Spain, and later sold to the crown, the ''Ark Royal'', was Lord High Admiral
Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
's flagship.


1590–1594

In 1592, Raleigh was given many rewards by the Queen, including Durham House in the Strand and the estate of Sherborne, Dorset. He was appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. However, he had not been given any of the great offices of state. In 1591, Raleigh secretly married Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton (or Throgmorton). She was one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, 11 years his junior, and was pregnant at the time. She gave birth to a son, believed to be named Damerei, who was given to a wet nurse at Durham House, and died of plague in October 1592. Bess resumed her duties to the queen. The following year, the unauthorised marriage was discovered and the Queen ordered Raleigh to be imprisoned and Bess dismissed from court. Both were imprisoned in the Tower of London in June 1592. He was released from prison in August 1592 to manage a recently returned expedition and attack on the Spanish coast. The fleet was recalled by the Queen, but not before it captured an incredibly rich prize—a merchant ship (carrack) named ''
Madre de Deus ''Madre de Deus'' (''Mother of God''; also called ''Mãe de Deus'' and ''Madre de Dios'') was a Portuguese ocean-going Carrack, renowned for her capacious cargo and provisions for long voyages. She was returning from her second voyage East u ...
'' (Mother of God) off
Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...
. Raleigh was sent to organise and divide the spoils of the ship. He was sent back to the Tower, but by early 1593 had been released and become a member of Parliament. It was several years before Raleigh returned to favour, and he travelled extensively in this time. Raleigh and his wife remained devoted to each other. They had two more sons, Walter (known as Wat) in 1593 and Carew in 1605. Raleigh was elected a burgess of Mitchell, Cornwall, in the parliament of 1593. He retired to his estate at Sherborne, where he built a new house, completed in 1594, known then as Sherborne Lodge. Since extended, it is now known as Sherborne New Castle. He made friends with the local gentry, such as Sir Ralph Horsey of Clifton Maybank and Charles Thynne of Longleat. During this period at a dinner party at Horsey's, Raleigh had a heated discussion about religion with Reverend Ralph Ironsides. The argument later gave rise to charges of
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
against Raleigh, though the charges were dismissed. He was elected to Parliament, speaking on religious and naval matters.


First voyage to Guiana

In 1594, he came into possession of a Spanish account of a great golden city at the headwaters of the Caroní River. A year later, he explored what is now
Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
and eastern Venezuela in search of Lake Parime and Manoa, the legendary city. Once back in England, he published '' The Discovery of Guiana'' (1596), an account of his voyage which made exaggerated claims as to what had been discovered. The book can be seen as a contribution to the
El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
legend. Venezuela has gold deposits, but no evidence indicates that Raleigh found any mines. He is sometimes said to have discovered Angel Falls, but these claims are considered far-fetched.


1596–1603

In 1596, Raleigh took part in the capture of Cádiz, where he was wounded. He also served as the rear admiral (a principal command) of the Islands Voyage to the Azores in 1597. On his return from the Azores, Raleigh helped England defend itself against the major threat of the
3rd Spanish Armada The 3rd Spanish Armada, also known as the Spanish Armada of 1597, was a major naval event that took place between October and November 1597 as part of the Anglo–Spanish War.Graham pp. 212–213 The armada, which was the third attempt by Spain ...
during the autumn of 1597. The Armada was dispersed in the Channel and later was devastated by a storm off Ireland. Lord Howard of Effingham and Raleigh were able to organise a fleet that resulted in the capture of a Spanish ship in retreat carrying vital information regarding the Spanish plans. In 1597 Raleigh was chosen as member of parliament for Dorset and in 1601 for Cornwall. He was unique in the Elizabethan period in sitting for three counties. From 1600 to 1603, as governor of the
Channel Island The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
of Jersey, Raleigh modernised its defences. This included the construction of a new fort protecting the approaches to Saint Helier, Fort Isabella Bellissima, or Elizabeth Castle.


Trial and imprisonment

Royal favour with Queen Elizabeth had been restored by this time, but his good fortune did not last; the Queen died on 24 March 1603. Raleigh was arrested on 19 July 1603 at what is now the Old Exeter Inn in Ashburton, charged with treason for his involvement in the Main Plot against Elizabeth's successor, James I, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Raleigh's trial began on 17 November in the converted
Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
of Winchester Castle. Raleigh conducted his own defence. The chief evidence against him was the signed and sworn confession of his friend Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham. Raleigh repeatedly requested that Cobham be called to testify. " etmy acuser come face to face, and be deposed. Were the case but for a small copyhold, you would have witnesses or good proof to lead the jury to a verdict; and I am here for my life!" Raleigh argued that the evidence against him was " hearsay", but the tribunal refused to allow Cobham to testify and be
cross-examined In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...
. Raleigh's trial has been regularly cited as influential in establishing a common law right to confront accusers in court. Raleigh was convicted, but King James spared his life. While imprisoned in the Tower, Raleigh wrote his incomplete '' The History of the World''. Using a wide array of sources in six languages, Raleigh was fully abreast of the latest continental scholarship. He wrote not about England, but of the ancient world with a heavy emphasis on geography. Despite his intention of providing current advice to the King of England, King James I complained that it was "too sawcie in censuring Princes". Raleigh remained imprisoned in the Tower until 1616. His son, Carew, was conceived and born (in 1604 or 1605) while Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower.


Second voyage to Guiana

In 1617, Raleigh was pardoned by the King and granted permission to conduct a second expedition to Venezuela in search of El Dorado. During the expedition, a detachment of Raleigh's men under the command of his long-time friend
Lawrence Kemys Lawrence Kemys or Keymis ( 1562–1618) was a seaman and companion of Sir Walter Raleigh in his expeditions to Guiana in 1595 and 1617–18. First voyage to Guiana Raleigh's 1595 voyage to Trinidad and Guiana consisted of four vessels, with Kemy ...
attacked the Spanish outpost of
Santo Tomé de Guayana Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo ...
on the
Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
river, in violation of peace treaties with Spain and against Raleigh's orders. A condition of Raleigh's pardon was avoidance of any hostility against Spanish colonies or shipping. In the initial attack on the settlement, Raleigh's son, Walter, was fatally shot. Kemys informed Raleigh of his son's death and begged for forgiveness, but did not receive it, and at once committed suicide. On Raleigh's return to England, an outraged
Count Gondomar Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
, the Spanish ambassador, demanded that Raleigh's death sentence be reinstated by King James, who had little choice but to do so. Raleigh was brought to London from
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
by Sir Lewis Stukley, where he passed up numerous opportunities to make an effective escape.


Execution and aftermath

Raleigh was beheaded in the Old Palace Yard at the
Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
on 29 October 1618. "Let us dispatch", he said to his executioner. "At this hour my
ague Ague may refer to: * Fever * Malaria * Agué, Benin * Duck ague, a hunting term See also * Kan Ague, a residential area of Patikul, Sulu Patikul, officially the Municipality of Patikul ( Tausūg: ''Kawman sin Patikul''; tl, Bayan ng Patikul ...
comes upon me. I would not have my enemies think I quaked from fear." After he was allowed to see the axe that would be used to behead him, he mused: "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries." According to biographers, Raleigh's last words, spoken to the hesitating executioner, were: "What dost thou fear? Strike, man, strike!" Having been one of the people to popularise tobacco smoking in England, he left a small
tobacco pouch A tobacco pouch is a pouch used to hold tobacco. They are often made out of leather, and once were made of sealskin. Rolling and pipe tobacco is often sold in a plastic pouch. The person who purchases the tobacco, if they own a tobacco pouch, will ...
, found in his cell shortly after his execution. Engraved upon the pouch was a Latin inscription: ''Comes meus fuit in illo miserrimo tempore'' ("It was my companion at that most miserable time"). Raleigh's head was embalmed and presented to his wife. His body was to be buried in the local church in Beddington,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, the home of Lady Raleigh, but was finally laid to rest in St. Margaret's, Westminster, where his tomb is located. "The Lords", she wrote, "have given me his dead body, though they have denied me his life. God hold me in my wits." It has been said that Lady Raleigh kept her husband's head in a velvet bag until her death. After Raleigh's wife's death 29 years later, his head was removed to his tomb and interred at St. Margaret's Church. Although Raleigh's popularity had waned considerably since his Elizabethan heyday, his execution was seen by many, both at the time and since, as unnecessary and unjust, as for many years his involvement in the Main Plot seemed to have been limited to a meeting with Lord Cobham. One of the judges at his trial later said: "The justice of England has never been so degraded and injured as by the condemnation of the honourable Sir Walter Raleigh."


Works

* *


Poetry

Raleigh's poetry is written in the relatively straightforward, unornamented mode known as the plain style. C. S. Lewis considered Raleigh one of the era's "silver poets", a group of writers who resisted the Italian Renaissance influence of dense classical reference and elaborate poetic devices. His writing contains strong personal treatments of themes such as love, loss, beauty, and time. Most of his poems are short lyrics that were inspired by actual events. In poems such as "What is Our Life" and " The Lie", Raleigh expresses a '' contemptus mundi'' (contempt of the world) attitude more characteristic of the Middle Ages than of the dawning era of humanistic optimism. But his lesser-known long poem "The Ocean's Love to Cynthia" combines this vein with the more elaborate conceits associated with his contemporaries
Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
and
John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
, expressing a melancholy sense of history. The poem was written during his imprisonment in the Tower of London. Raleigh wrote a poetic response to
Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
's " The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" of 1592, entitled " The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd". Both were written in the style of traditional pastoral poetry and follow the structure of six four-line stanzas employing a rhyme scheme of AABB, with Raleigh's an almost line-for-line refutation of Marlowe's sentiments. Years later, the 20th-century poet William Carlos Williams would join the poetic "argument" with his " Raleigh Was Right".


List of poems

All finished, and some unfinished, poems written by Raleigh or plausibly attributed to him: * "The Advice" * "Another of the Same" * "Conceit begotten by the Eyes" * "Epitaph on Sir Philip Sidney" * "Epitaph on the Earl of Leicester" * "Even such is Time" * "The Excuse" * "False Love" * "Farewell to the Court" * "His Petition to Queen Anne of Denmark" * "If Cynthia be a Queen" * "In Commendation of George Gascoigne's Steel Glass" * " The Lie" * "Like Hermit Poor" * "Lines from Catullus" * "Love and Time" * "My Body in the Walls captive" * " The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" * "Of Spenser's Faery Queen" * "On the Snuff of a Candle" * "The Ocean's Love to Cynthia" * "A Poem entreating of Sorrow" * "A Poem put into my Lady Laiton's Pocket" * "The Pilgrimage" * "A Prognistication upon Cards and Dice" * "The Shepherd's Praise of Diana" * "Sweet Unsure" * "To His Mistress" * "To the Translator of Lucan's Pharsalia" * "What is Our Life?" * "The Wood, the Weed, the Wag"


Writing Shakespeare

In 1845, Shakespeare scholar Delia Bacon first proposed that a group of authors had actually written the plays later attributed to William Shakespeare, the main writer being Walter Raleigh. Later, George S. Caldwell asserted that Raleigh was actually the sole author. These claims have been supported by other scholars throughout subsequent years, including Albert J. Beveridge and Henry Pemberton, but are rejected by the majority of Shakespearean scholars today.


Legacy

In 2002, Raleigh was featured in the BBC poll of the
100 Greatest Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included in ...
. A galliard was composed in honour of Raleigh by either
Francis Cutting Francis Cutting (c.1550–1595/6) was an English lutenist and composer of the Renaissance period. He is best known for " Packington's Pound" and a variation of "Greensleeves" called "Divisions on Greensleeves", both pieces originally intended for ...
or Richard Allison. The state capital of North Carolina, its second-largest city, was named Raleigh in 1792, after Sir Walter, sponsor of the
Roanoke Colony The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...
. In the city, a bronze statue, which has been moved around different locations within the city, was cast in honour of the city's namesake. The "Lost Colony" is commemorated at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on
Roanoke Island Roanoke Island () is an island in Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke (tribe), Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the ar ...
, North Carolina.
Raleigh County, West Virginia Raleigh County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,591. Its county seat is Beckley. The county was founded in 1850 and is named for Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh County is included in the ...
, is named after him.
Mount Raleigh Mount Raleigh, elevation , is one of the principal summits of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of southern British Columbia in Canada. It is located just southeast of the confluence of the Southgate and Bishop Rivers, northeast of the head ...
in the Pacific Ranges of the
Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...
in British Columbia, Canada, was named for him, with related features the Raleigh Glacier and Raleigh Creek named in association with the mountain. Mount Gilbert, just to Mount Raleigh's south, was named for his half-brother, Sir Humphrey. Raleigh has been widely speculated to be responsible for introducing the potato to Europe, and was a key figure in bringing it to Ireland. However, modern historians dispute this claim, suggesting it would have been impossible for Raleigh to have discovered the potato in the places he visited. Due to Raleigh's role in the popularisation of
smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
, John Lennon humorously referred to him as "such a stupid get" in the song " I'm So Tired" on the "White Album" '' The Beatles'' (1968). Various colourful stories are told about him, such as laying his cloak over a puddle for the Queen, but they are probably apocryphal. Naunton, Robert ''Fragmenta Regalia'' 1694, reprinted 1824. The story of Raleigh's trial is included in
John George Phillimore John George Phillimore (1808–1865) was an English barrister, known as a jurist and Liberal Party politician. Life The eldest son of Joseph Phillimore, he was born on 5 January 1808, and was educated at Westminster School. On 28 May 1824 he m ...
's 1850 book ''The History and Principles of Evidence'', and his commentary on the story is included in many law school textbooks on evidence in common law countries. The author George Garrett's historical fiction novel ''
Death of the Fox ''Death of the Fox'' is a 1971 historical fiction novel written by George Garrett, the first of three books set within the historical context of Elizabethan England. the novel explores the relationship between Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth ...
'' explores Raleigh's relationships with Elizabeth I and her successor James I.


Raleigh's descendants

Many people claim descent from Sir Walter Raleigh, but nearly all have no basis in fact. The only authentic lines of descent are as follows: Raleigh's only surviving child, Carew Raleigh, had three surviving children—Walter (d. 1660), Anne (d. 1708) and Philip (d. 1705). The elder son, Walter Raleigh, was knighted in June 1660, but died two months later. He was buried at West Horsley. He left three surviving childrenElizabeth, Philippa and Anne. Philippa (who married Oliver Weekes, of Tortingdon, Sussex) and Anne (who married William Knight, of Barrells, Warwickshire) left descendants. It was Philippa Weekes' daughter, Elizabeth Elwes, who seems to have owned the main store of Raleigh memorabilia and was consulted by William Oldys in 1735 when he was writing his ''Life of Raleigh'' Anne Raleigh married Sir Peter Tyrrell, Bt. of Castlethorpe, Bucks. Their son Thomas Tyrrell, 2nd Bt. left two daughters – Christobella, who married as her third husband, Richard Fiennes, 6th Viscount Saye & Sele, but died without surviving issue in 1789. The younger daughter, Harriet, married Francis Mann, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and died in 1785, having had a daughter, Harriet, who married Capt. Joseph Mead and died in 1784, leaving issue. Philip Raleigh championed his grandfather's cause, publishing several of his hitherto unpublished papers. He had a family of four sons and three daughters. The youngest son, Carew Raleigh, page of honour to William III, was serving as a captain's servant on when he died of fever in the West Indies in 1697, aged seventeen. The second son, Lieut. Brudenell Raleigh, was also serving in the navy in the West Indies when he died of fever in June 1698, aged 22. The eldest son, Captain Walter Raleigh, Grenadier Guards, was page of honour to Queen Mary, and was killed at the siege of Schellenberg in 1704, aged 31. He was unmarried. After Walter's death, his father was granted a pension by the crown, 'in consideration of his 3 sons being slain in the late and present war'. The third son, Captain-Lieutenant Grenville Raleigh, served in the Duke of Marlborough's army throughout the War of the Spanish Succession and died of fever in 1717, while guarding the prisoners at Chester after the 1715 Jacobite rising. He had married and had two sons and a daughter, Mary. On the death of his daughter in Bath in 1783, it was noted that she was 'the only surviving descendant in the direct line of Sir Walter Raleigh'. Of Philip Raleigh's daughters, Anne and Elizabeth both died unmarried.Anne was unmarried when William Oldys published his life of Raleigh in 1736, when she would have been in her 60s. She died in 1743. There is a memorial to Elizabeth Raleigh in the church at Cheriton, Kent – her sister, Frances Honywood, lived at nearby Enbrook Manor. Elizabeth died in 1716, aged 42. The eldest daughter, Frances, married William Honywood, eldest son of Sir William Honywood, of Evington Place, Elmsted, Kent and died in 1730. Her many descendants include the present
Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...
and the actor Hugh Grant.


See also

* List of colonial governors of Virginia *
Sir Walter Sir Walter (foaled 1890 in California) was an outstanding American Thoroughbred racehorse known for his gritty determination which saw him win a number of races by a matter of inches. Background Sir Walter was bred by James Ben Ali Haggin at hi ...
, a race horse *
The Armada Service The Armada Service (''alias'' Tudor Service) is a set of more than 31 gilded silver dishes, dated between 1581 and 1601, formerly owned by Sir Christopher Harris (c. 1553–1625), MP, of Radford House in the parish of Plymstock in Devon, Engl ...


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Raleigh as a writer and poet. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Adamson, J.H. and Folland, H. F. ''Shepherd of the Ocean'', 1969. * Beer, Anna. ''Sir Walter Raleigh and his readers in the Seventeenth Century'' (Springer, 1997). * Beer, Anna. ''Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Ralegh'' (Oneworld, 2018). * Bevan, Bryan. ''The Great Seamen of Elizabeth I'' (Robert Hale, 1971). * Hiscock, Andrew. "Walter Ralegh and the Arts of Memory." ''Literature Compass'' 4.4 (2007): 1030–1058. * Dwyer, Jack. ''Dorset Pioneers'' The History Press, 2009. * Gallay, Alan. ''Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire'' (2019), a major scholarly biograph
excerpt
* Holmes, John. "The Guiana Projects: Imperial and Colonial Ideologies in Ralegh and Purchas." ''Literature & History'' 14.2 (2005): 1–13. * Lawson-Peebles, Robert. "The many faces of Sir Walter Ralegh" ''History Today'' 48.3 (1998): 17+. * Lewis, C. S. ''English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama,'' (1954). * Lyons, Mathew. ''The Favourite: Ralegh and His Queen'' (Hachette UK, 2011). * Lyons, Mathew. "Cloaked in Mystery." ''History Today'' (2012) 62.7 pp 72–72 * Pemberton, Henry (Author); Carroll Smyth (Editor), Susan L. Pemberton (Contributor) ''Shakespeare And Sir Walter Raleigh: Including Also Several Essays Previously Published In The New Shakspeareana'', Kessinger Publishing, LLC; 264 pages, 2007. * Ralegh, Sir Walter, and Michael Rudick. "The Poems of Sir Walter Ralegh: A Historical Edition." (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies/Renaissance English Text Society, 1999). * Stebbing, William: ''Sir Walter Ralegh'' Oxford, 189
Project Gutenberg eText
*


External links

* The Sir Walter Raleigh Collection in Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica *Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia * Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada *Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

Sir Walter Raleigh's Grave







Story of Raleigh's last years and his beheading



Searching for the Lost Colony Blog

Robert Viking O'Brien & Stephen Kent O'Brien, ''Discovery of Guiana'' essay, ''Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature''


at luminarium.org * * *
''The History of the World''
at Hathi Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Raleigh, Walter 1550s births 1618 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Burials at St Margaret's, Westminster English courtiers English explorers of North America English knights English male poets English MPs 1584–1585 English MPs 1586–1587 English MPs 1597–1598 English MPs 1601 English people of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) English politicians convicted of crimes English sailors Executed people from Devon Executed writers Explorers of South America Governors of Jersey Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Knights Bachelor Lord-lieutenants of Cornwall Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Cornwall Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Devon People executed by Stuart England by decapitation People executed under the Stuarts for treason against England People from East Devon District People of Elizabethan Ireland People of the Elizabethan era People of the Roanoke Colony Prisoners in the Tower of London English army officers Court of Elizabeth I People of the Second Desmond Rebellion Walter People from Youghal