Raleigh, Sir Walter

b. circa 1552; d. 1618

English courtier, soldier, explorer, poet, and historian, born at Hayes Barton Farm, Budleigh, Devonshire. Raleigh went to Oriel College about 1568 and later fought as a gentleman volunteer in the Huguenot army at the battles of Jarna and Montcontour. In 1557 he served under the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, in 1578 he joined Sir Humphrey Gilbert in the latter's unsuccessful expedition under a royal patent to plant settlements in North America, and in 1580 he served in Ireland. It was on his return from Ireland that Leicester, his patron, gave him a chance to appear at court.

The story of Raleigh's gallantry to Queen Elizabeth in throwing his cloak to the ground for her to walk over is probably apocryphal; his first introduction to court is rather to be ascribed to Leicester. In the course of a few years he was knighted, made lord warden of the Stannaries, captain of the guard, and lieutenant-general of the County of Cornwall (1587). He also received the forfeited lands of the earls of Desmond and a lucrative patent for wine-vendor's licences. These favours naturally exposed his to envy at court. In 1584 Raleigh drew up a plan for colonising what is now Virginia and Carolina (he named Virginia in honour of the Virgin Queen) and laid it before the Queen and her council. On 25 May 1584 the Queen granted him letters patent 'to discover, search, find out and view such remote heathen and barbarous lands … not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people'. On 7 April two vessels, fitted out at the cost of Raleigh and his associates, sailed round the West Indies and Carolina, and their report induced Raleigh vigorously to prosecute his design of planting a colony in Virginia. A fleet under Raleigh's cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, planted a settlement at the island of Roanoak, but mismanagement led to great distress among the settlers. In 1588 Raleigh assigned his patent to a company of merchants, reserving to himself a fifth part of the gold and silver ore raised. Raleigh also joined in the enterprise to find the North-West Passage, which resulted in the discovery of Davis Strait. A successful privateering expedition to the Azores in 1568 was carried out in pinnaces fitted out at Raleigh's expense.

Raleigh's fame now extended beyond England; he was known not only as the promoter of maritime discovery and the founder of colonies, but also as a patron of science in general. Probably Raleigh took no direct part in the fight against the Spanish Armada in 1588: he was, however, a member of the council of was and helped to draw up the final plan of defence. Raleigh then suggested attacking the Spaniards in the West Indies by an interception of the Spanish Plate fleet. He was given a commission as general of the fleet which was to conduct this operation. In 1592 he sailed, but was overtaken by Frobisher with letters from the Queen recalling him. He continued on his course, but after a storm off Cape Finisterre, which scattered the fleet, he returned to England and was briefly sent to the Tower by Elizabeth for his misbehaviour with the beautiful Elizabeth Throckmorton, who eventually became his wife.

During his exile from court he nurtured a project for a voyage to Guiana. Probably he believed that the discovery and conquest of a second empire of the Incas would not only bring him personal glory and wealth, but also restore him to favour at court. In 1595 he therefore went in search of El Dorado or Manoa. The expedition was a failure but his account of it, Discoverie of Guiana, remains a fascinating and persuasive work. On his return Raleigh played a leading part in Essex's expedition against Cádiz in 1596 and was restored to royal favour. In 1597 he was with Essex in an attack on the Azores: his behaviour there created permanent enmity between the two men. From 1600 to 1603 he was governor of New Jersey.

The death of Elizabeth I totally changed Raleigh's fortunes. The new sovereign and his old enemies combined against him. In his secret correspondence with James VI of Scotland before his accession to the English throne, Cecil had succeeded in poisoning James's mind against Raleigh. He persuaded him that Raleigh opposed the Scottish succession and was intriguing against it. James had already been prejudiced against Raleigh by Essex, while his own suspicious, mean character could find little attractive and much to fear in the arrogant flamboyance of Raleigh. Raleigh was consequently dismissed from his post as captain of the guard and absurdly charged with complicity in a plot to place Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne, with Spanish help. Raleigh was tried for high treason, found guilty after a mockery of a trial, and sentenced to death. He was reprieved and spent the next 13 years in the Tower, occupying himself with writing and scientific experiments. Raleigh was released in 1616 to undertake a second voyage to El Dorado, but like the first it was a failure and Raleigh was involved in a battle with the Spaniards at the time when James was negotiating a Spanish marriage for his son and thus wanted peace at all costs.

Raleigh returned to England in 1616, a broken and dying man: he had lost what remained of his money and his eldest son, Walter, had been killed at Santo Thomé. The Spanish ambassador demanded that he be punished for his outrage, James agreed without demur, and Raleigh was beheaded in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, on 29 October 1618.

Raleigh typified the spirit of the age and his career is a vivid illustration of the different aspects of the Elizabethan court. He was primarily a courtier and a royal favourite, his voyages, less important than those of the Cabots, Willoughby, and Chancellor, made possible by royal favour. He was an intellectual giant, a gifted poet and historian. He was fiercely independent of mind, warmhearted, generous, and magnificent. His breadth of vision was remarkable, ideas came to him fantastic, brilliant, and daring. At the same time he was greedy, ambitious for power, and unscrupulous. He could be bitterly sarcastic and made many enemies. There was a fatal gap between the conception and execution of his grand designs. Raleigh never acquired political power and ultimately lost his life because in the fiercely competitive atmosphere of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts, he could not compromise or enter in the game of faction and hence, when he lost the favour of the monarch he was absolutely alone. Elizabeth enjoyed his company and found his piracy useful in her struggle with Spain. James felt threatened by him and correctly considered him a danger to his policy of peace with Spain.

His literary accomplishments were considerable. The pure and nervous style in which The Discoverie of Guiana (1596) is written gives it an enduring charm. The History of the World, planned and begun during Raleigh's imprisonment in the Tower, is one of the finest specimens of Elizabethan prose. Raleigh's poems, the authenticity of some of which has been questioned, are largely of a philosophic type. One of the finest is that beginning 'Go, Soul, the Body's Guest', another is the poem known as 'His Pilgrimage' and 'If all the World and Love were Young' is widely known. Among his other prose works are A Report of the Truth of the Fight about the Isles of the Azores and his Journal of his second voyage to Guiana.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

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