Raleigh or Ralegh, Sir Walter (both: rŏl`ē, răl`ē), 1554?–1618, English soldier, explorer, courtier, and man of letters.

Early Life

As a youth Raleigh served (1569) as a volunteer in the Huguenot army in France. In 1572 he was listed as an undergraduate at Oxford, where he may have studied before going to France, and his name appears in the registry of the Middle Temple in 1575. In 1578, Raleigh and his brother Carew joined their half brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 1537?–1583, English soldier, navigator, and explorer; half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Knighted (1570) for his service in the campaigns in Ireland, he later (1572) served in the Netherlands.
..... Click the link for more information. in outfitting a heavily armed fleet, ostensibly for a "voyage of discovery." Storms and desertions soon ended the project. In 1580, Raleigh served in Ireland, suppressing the rebels in Munster.

Courtier, Poet, and Adventurer

When he returned to England in 1581, Raleigh immediately went to court and soon became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Whether he placed his cloak in the mud for Queen Elizabeth I or not, it seems fairly certain that his personal charm had much to do with his friendship with her. As an important courtier he was granted (1583) a wine monopoly, was knighted (1585), and was given vast estates in Ireland. Made warden of the stanneries (the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon) in 1585, Raleigh exhibited a genuine talent for administration, but he had already alienated too many important people to achieve real political power. He was appointed captain of the queen's guard in 1587, an office significant because it required constant attendance on Elizabeth.

Raleigh conceived and organized the colonizing expeditions to America that ended tragically with the "lost colony" expeditions on Roanoke Island Roanoke Island, 12 mi (19 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, NE N.C., off the Atlantic coast between Croatan (W) and Roanoke (E) sounds in the Outer Banks. Manteo is the chief town, and tourism and fishing are the principal industries.
..... Click the link for more information. , N.C. He was later named a member of the commission for the defense against Spain, but it is doubtful that he participated in the naval operations against the Spanish Armada (1588). Probably because of his conflict with Robert Devereux, 2d earl of Essex Essex, Robert Devereux, 2d earl of , 1567–1601, English courtier and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I.
..... Click the link for more information. , Elizabeth's new favorite, Raleigh left court in 1589. At Kilcolman Castle, Ireland, he became a close friend of Edmund Spenser Spenser, Edmund, 1552?–1599, English poet, b. London. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Gabriel Harvey, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Robert Sidney, earl of Leicester.
..... Click the link for more information. , whose Faerie Queene, begun under the aegis of Sir Philip Sidney, was continued under Raleigh's patronage.

After the queen's quarrel with Essex over the earl's marriage, Raleigh returned to prominence at court and was granted (1592) an estate at Sherborne. Later that year he set out on a privateering expedition, but he was recalled by Elizabeth and imprisoned in the Tower of London when she learned of his secret marriage to Elizabeth Throckmorton, a maid of honor at court. Late in 1592, Raleigh's expedition returned to England with a richly loaded Portuguese carrack. Disputes broke out over the division of the spoils, and Raleigh was released to quell the disturbance, thereby winning his freedom.

Barred from the court, Raleigh sat in Parliament. He achieved great notoriety for his connection with the poetic group known as the "school of night." Led by Thomas Harriot Harriot, Thomas , 1560–1621, English mathematician and astronomer. He was tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh, who sent him in 1585 to Virginia as surveyor with Sir Richard Grenville.
..... Click the link for more information. and including Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman, the group's skeptical attitude and critical interpretation of Scripture won them a reputation for atheism.

In 1595, Raleigh embarked on an expedition with the adventurer-scholar Laurence Kemys to find the fabled city of El Dorado El Dorado [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the Chibcha people of Colombia who each year anointed a chieftain and rolled him in gold, which he then
..... Click the link for more information. . They penetrated 300 mi (480 km) up the Orinoco River into the interior of Guiana, bringing home specimens containing gold. Raleigh published his Discovery of Guiana the following year. In 1596 he commanded a squadron in the English expedition against Cádiz.

Downfall

Raleigh was made governor of Jersey in 1600, but his fortunes ebbed when he drifted apart from his former ally Robert Cecil (later earl of Salisbury) in the political tempest over Essex's treason and death. He met his downfall upon the accession (1603) of James I, who had been convinced by Raleigh's enemies that Raleigh was opposed to his succession. Many of Raleigh's offices and monopolies were taken away, and, on somewhat insufficient evidence, he was found guilty of intrigues with Spain against England and of participation in a plot to kill the king and enthrone Arabella Stuart. Saved from the block by a reprieve, Raleigh settled down in the Tower and devoted himself to literature and science. There he began his incomplete History of the World.

Raleigh was released in 1616 to make another voyage to the Orinoco in search of gold, but he was warned not to molest Spanish possessions or ships on pain of his life. The expedition failed, but Laurence Kemys captured a Spanish town. Raleigh returned to England, where the Spanish ambassador demanded his punishment. Failing in an attempt to escape to France, he was executed under the original sentence of treason passed many years before.

Bibliography

Raleigh was the author of a number of political essays and philosophical treatises, and of a body of poetry that was highly praised by his contemporaries. See his poems, ed. by A. Latham (1951). See also biographies by A. L. Rowse (1962, repr. 1975), S. J. Greenblatt (1973), R. Lacey (1974), and R. Trevelyan (2004); M. C. Bradbrook, The School of Night (1936, repr. 1965); J. Racin, Sir Walter Raleigh as Historian (1974).

Raleigh, Sir Walter

(born 1554?, Hayes Barton, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, Eng.—died Oct. 29, 1618, London) English adventurer and favourite of Elizabeth I. He joined his half brother Humphrey Gilbert on a piratical expedition against the Spanish (1578) then fought against the Irish rebels in Munster (1580). His outspoken views on English policy in Ireland caught the attention of Elizabeth I, who made him her favourite at court. In 1584 he sent an expedition to explore the coast north of Florida, which he named Virginia, and to establish an unsuccessful colony at Roanoke Island. He was knighted by Elizabeth in 1585. Out of favour at court from c. 1592, he led an unsuccessful expedition up the Orinoco River in search of gold, which he described in The Discoverie of Guiana (1596). When Elizabeth died (1603), he was accused of plotting to depose James I and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Released in 1616, he led another unsuccessful expedition to search for gold in Guyana. When his men burned a Spanish settlement, he was rearrested by James and executed, at the demand of the Spanish ambassador, under Raleigh's original sentence for treason.

Raleigh, Sir Walter

drops his cloak over a puddle to save Queen Elizabeth from wetting her feet. [Br. Lit.: Scott Kenilworth in Magill I, 469]

See : Chivalry

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No references found			9781906359188 Sir Walter Ralegh in Ireland, (reprint, 1883) Hennessy, Sir John Pope. Sir Walter Ralegh in Ireland, (reprint, 1883) by Reference & Research Book News Whitehead continues his work on the German traveler Hans Staden, comparing his narrative of South America with that of Walter Ralegh. Borders and Travellers in Early Modern Europe by Aune, M.G. / Renaissance Quarterly 6) Affinities might have relatively clear links to religious or other beliefs--as is the case with groups of reforming Kentish gentry in the 1530s, or northern Catholic landowners in the 1560s (7)--but they might also be tied together chiefly by a loose set of economic interests, or by a set of traditional privileges, like the groups of tin-miners whose interests Sir Walter Ralegh sought, in his capacity of Warden of the Stanneries, to defend against local Justices of the Peace. Reading Tudor writing politically: the case of 2 Henry IV by Burrow, Colin / Yearbook of English Studies			Walter Arnold Walter Benjamin Walter Bradford Cannon Walter Brattain Walter Citrine Walter Cunningham Walter Dehmel Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park Walter engine Walter Eucken Walter Felsenstein Walter Friedrich Walter Gropius Walter Hasenclever Walter Heitler Walter Hempel Walter Herman Bucher Walter Holbrook Gaskell Walter Macken Walter Markov Walter Model Walter Nash Walter Norman Haworth Walter of Henley Walter Porzig Walter Ralegh Walter Raleigh Walter Reed Army Medical Center Walter Reuther Walter Richard Sickert Walter Ruben Walter Rudolf Hess Walter Sans Avoir Walter Savage Landor Walter Scheel Walter Scott Walter Ulbricht Walter von Molo Walter Von Reichenau Walter Von Wartburg Walter Wilhelm Canaris Walter Womacka Walter Zimmermann Walter, Bruno Walter, Francis Walter, Hubert Walter, John Walter, Lucy Walter, Thomas U. Walter, Thomas Ustick Walter, William Grey			Walter Light Hall Walter Lippman Walter Lippmann Walter Macken Walter Map Walter Markov Walter Matthau Walter Mitty Walter Mittys Walter Model Walter Mondale Walter Nash Walter Norman Haworth Walter of Henley Walter or Walt Whitman Walter or Walt Whitman Walter P. Reuther Walter Payton Walter Payton Cancer Fund Walter Payton College Prep Walter Philip Reuther Walter Piston Walter Porzig Walter Post Theological College Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc. Walter Ralegh Walter Raleigh Walter Raleigh Walter Rathenau Walter Reade Theater Walter Reed Walter Reed Walter Reed (Physician) Walter Reed Army Hospital Walter Reed Army Hospital Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Walter Reed Army Medical Center Walter Reed Army Medical Center Walter Reed Biosytematics Unit Walter Reed Health Care System Walter Reed Hospital Walter Reed Institute of Research Walter Reed Johns Hopkins Cameroon Program Walter Reed Medical Center Walter Reed Medical Center Walter Reed Middle School Walter Reed National Army Medical Center Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Walter Reed scandal Walter Reed staging system Walter Reed, District of Columbia Walter Reid Cultural Centre Walter Reuther Walter Richard Sickert

Raleigh, Sir Walter (redirected from Walter Ralegh)

Early Life

Courtier, Poet, and Adventurer

Downfall

Bibliography

Raleigh, Sir Walter

Raleigh, Sir Walter
(redirected from Walter Ralegh)