Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh

His Life

Born in 1552 in Hayes Barton in Devonshire and died in 1618

During a time when his father leased Hayes Barton from the Duke family of Otterton. He was half brother to Sir Humphrey and Sir John Gilbert, from his mother's first marriage. He had a brother, Carew, and sister, Margaret.

Death by execution, because he committed treason against England, after an attempted suicide in the tower, because he was helping the Spanish after the Death of Queen Elizabeth.

Who He Was

He was an English Explorer

He was a member of the Middle Temple

in 1575

Sir Walter Raleigh was a true man of the

renaissance and a brilliant poet

It was policy of Queen Elizabeth to have

several favorites at once and Raleigh was

one of them.

What He Did

North Carolina’s state capital was named

Raleigh, named after Sir Walter Raleigh.

He’s famous for the discovery of Guiana and

he established the Virginia colony of Roanoke

Island in 1584.

During his early life, from 1553 to

1558, Queen Mary I was on the throne.

What he did (Growing up)

During his early life, from 1553 to 1558, Queen

Mary I was on the throne.

This was a time when the Roman Catholic

church was in favour. Although a large part of

the population had previously become

Protestants, those who were most open about it

were persecuted

In 1581, after seeing action on a number of

occasions, he became a favourite of Queen

Elizabeth the first. There is little to confirm the

famous story of how he spread his cloak across a

puddle so that the Queen could walk over

it, except for the cloak included in his coat of

More about his background

Considering the Queen's evident affection for him, it was not unexpected that she should be displeased with his love affair with one of her Maids of Honour, Bessie , the Queen threw Sir Walter Raleigh in the Tower of London.

He was released after one of his ships brought back a huge treasure on the captured Spanish Ship “Madre De Dios.”

He married Bessie and retired to his manor at Sherborne, Dorset. Here he built Sherborne Castle in 1594.

Sir Walter Raleigh in Prison?

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth the first died

and James the first took the throne.

Raleigh was then framed as a member of

a plot against the throne and sentenced to

life imprisonment

Whilst in the Bloody Tower he wrote the

"History of the World" ( excerpt ) which was

first printed in 1614. It was composed of five

volumes but only reached as far as the second

Macedonian War in 130 BC.

How he died

In the Preface to the book Raleigh says "How unfit, and how unworthy a choice I have made of my selfe to undertake a worke of this mixture." He goes on to refer to those who put him in the Tower as "ungentle and uncourteous Readers" and thanks them for putting him there "For had it been otherwise, I should hardly have had the leisure, to have made myself a foole in print".

Yet again he was released but was then involved in another expedition against the Spanish. Their influence at court managed to have him re-arrested on his previous charge and he was finally sentenced to be beheaded

How he died

At his execution in 1618 he asked to see the axe and said "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all Diseases."

As was common at the time, his head was embalmed and presented to his wife. She apparently carried it with her at all times until she died 29 years later at the age of 82.

The head was finally buried with their son (Carew - like Sir Walter, a one-time Governor of Jersey) alongside the body of Sir Walter to the South side of the alter at St. Margaret's Church. This is just next to Westminster Abbey. It was founded in the 12th century and is the parish church of the House of Parliament

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A

Farewell

to

False Love

Farewell, false love, the oracle of lies,

A mortal foe and enemy to rest,

An envious boy, from whom all cares arise,

A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,

A way of error, a temple full of treason,

In all effects contrary unto reason.

A poisoned serpent covered all with flowers,

Mother of sighs, and murderer of repose,

A sea of sorrows whence are drawn such showers

As moisture lend to every grief that grows;

A school of guile, a net of deep deceit,

A gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.

.

A fortress foiled, which reason did defend, A siren song, a fever of the mind,

A maze wherein affection finds no end, A raging cloud that runs before the wind, A substance like the shadow of the sun, A goal of grief for which the wisest run

A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear, A path that leads to peril and mishap, A true retreat of sorrow and despair,

An idle boy that sleeps in pleasure's lap, A deep mistrust of that which certain seems, A hope of that which reason doubtful deems.

Sith then thy trains my younger years betrayed,

And for my faith ingratitude I find;

And sith repentance hath my wrongs betrayed,

Whose course was ever contrary to kind:

False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu.

Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew.