Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh is one of the great figures of the age of Elizabeth I. Courtier and statesman, soldier and sailor, scientist and man of letters, he engaged in almost all the main lines of public activity in his time, and was distinguished in them all. One thing that he couldn't do was spell his own name. Until 1583 he usually spelled it Rauley, although in 1578 he signed it once as Rawleyghe. From 1584 until his death in 1618 he tended to sign his name as Ralegh. The spelling we prefer today is one he may never have used

Raleigh was born in 1552, the son of a Devonshire gentleman of property who was connected with many of the distinguished families of the south of England. He was educated at Oxford, and first saw military service in the Huguenot army in France in 1569. It was not until 1578 that he went with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the first of his expeditions against the Spaniards. In 1580, he was back on dry land as the captain of the army in Ireland where he succeeded in suppressing a rebellion. This attracted the attention of the Queen, and he rapidly rose to the somewhat perilous position of her chief favourite. With her approval, he fitted out two expeditions for the colonization of Virginia, neither of which did his royal mistress permit him to lead in person, and neither of which succeeded in establishing a permanent settlement.

After six years of high favour, Raleigh found his position at court endangered by the rivalry of Essex, especially when the Queen found out that he had seduced one of her maids of honour. The lady in question was Bess Throckmorton, and the Queen reacted very badly to the news of Raleigh's attachment to her. The pair were thrown into the Tower for a time (separate cells, of course) until the Queen relented, due to a lot of really obsequious, overly-flattering letters Raleigh sent to her. Raleigh and Bess were released and they duly married, whereupon they retired to Raleigh's estate, which he had, in happier times, extorted from the Bishop of Salisbury by unscrupulous use of the royal influence.

On the death of Elizabeth, Raleigh's misfortunes increased. He was accused of treason against James I, condemned, and sentenced to be hanged, disembowelled, beheaded and quartered. At the last minute he was reprieved and imprisoned for twelve years in the Tower, during which time he wrote his "History of the World" and engaged in scientific researches. In 1616 he was liberated so that he could make another attempt to find the gold mine in Venezuela he had failed to discover on one of his previous excursions. He was no more successful on this second expedition, and on his return in 1618, the King decided to revive the old charge of treason and an appointment was made for him to visit the executioner and inspect the block. His head was embalmed and then presented to his wife. She kept it until her death 29 years later, when it was buried with his body.

Of course, his big claim to fame these days is the story that he once gallantly threw his cloak over a puddle of mud so that Queen Elizabeth wouldn't get her feet dirty. Like most of these stories, it is almost certainly wrong. This anecdote appears to be the work of the English clergyman and writer Thomas Fuller, who was considered one of the most witty authors of the 17th century. By dressing up his factual accounts with details of not necessarily true human interest, Fuller certainly made history more interesting. He was a prolific writer, and many quotable quotes are attributed to him, such aphorisms as "If thou are a master be sometimes blind, if a servant sometimes deaf "and "If we are bound to forgive an enemy we are not bound to trust him".

I was taught, as no doubt you were, that Raleigh brought the first potatoes to England when he returned from America in 1586. Most unlikely. Potatoes were being grown in Italy before then, and though it is possible that they were introduced into England at the time he returned from America, it was all just a coincidence. Likewise tobacco. This had been grown in France for 25 years when Raleigh returned from Virginia, having been brought there by Jean Nicot, whose name gives us 'nicotine'. It was definitely being used in England in 1573. In 1614 it was quoted as being good for diseases of the lungs, amongst other things. There is a story which says that on the day he was beheaded Raleigh was granted a last smoke of tobacco, something that established the tradition of offering a condemned prisoner a last cigarette before execution. Sir Walter's ghost is said to appear at Sherborne Castle (the new one, not the old one) on St. Michael's Eve, when he strolls through the grounds and takes rest under a tree. It was under this tree that, while smoking a pipe of the first tobacco supposedly brought from America, he was 'extinguished' by a terrified servant who doused him with a pitcher of beer. What a waste. Of beer, that is. Not tobacco.

Bill Hutchings