SirWalterRaleigh4

===WHO WAS SIR WALTER RALEIGH? WHAT WAS HIS CONNECTION TO ELIZAETH I? WHAT IS HIS CONNECTION TO THE LEGEND OF EL DORADO? WHAT IS HIS LEGACY? Answer prepared by: Neal B ===  Sir Walter Raleigh was a great adventurer in Elizabethan England. He was born in 1552, in Hayes Barton in Devonshire. He was born to Walter Raleigh and Catherine Raleigh. Not much is known about his life until he was part of the Middle Temple, one of four Court of Law Schools. Throughout his lifetime Raleigh was a poet, courtier, privateer and explorer. In 1578, Raleigh sailed to the New World with his half brother Sir Humphery Gilbert. Soon, he become captain of the ship the “Falcon”. In 1580, after helping to put down a Irish rebellion, he was knighted, becoming very wealthy and a favorite of the Queen. The luminarium.org website entitled “The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh”, explains “The rewards showered on him were out of all proportion to his services in Ireland, which had not been more distinguished than those of many others”. Raleigh used some of this wealth to pay for an expedition in 1584 that reached North Carolina's coast. His purpose was to explore, colonize and find gold. He founded a colony located in the land he named Virginia, after the Virgin Queen. In two years, the colonists returned unexpectedly after bad relations with the Native Americans. Two more groups of settlers were sent in 1586 and 1587 to establish a colony, but neither were successful. As luminarium.org states, “In 1589 Raleigh, who represented himself as having spent £40,000 on the venture, resigned his rights to a company of merchants, preserving to himself a rent, and a fifth of whatever gold might be discovered.” His first attempts at colonization and finding gold went unfulfilled.

Sir Walter Raleigh had a turbulent relationship with Queen Elizabeth. One of the most famous stories about Raleigh was he supposedly placed his cloak on top of a puddle to keep the Queen from dirtying her feet. As the elizabethan-era.org.uk stated on the Sir Walter Raleigh web page, “He was noted for his courtly manners and was reputed to have placed his cloak over a puddle in order to prevent Queen Elizabeth I from muddying her shoes. This is not confirmed however a cloak was included in his coat of arms.” In 1592, he was at sea to intercept Spanish trade ships when the Queen had him come back because she was upset with his relationship with one of her ladies in waiting. His marriage to Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies in waiting caused him to immediately fall out of the Queen's favor. The Queen did not allow her ladies in waiting to marry with out her permission and she was “particularly unwilling to give consent when the husband was an old favorite of her own”(luminarium.org). He was placed in to the Tower of London, but was released when one of his expedition ships returned with a huge treasure from the captured Spanish ship,”Madre De Dios.” Unfortunately for Raleigh, the Queen kept most of the treasure. Out of the Queen's favor, he retired from the Court.

Bored with retirement and needing money, Raleigh left England in 1595 for South America to search for Eldorado, or the fabled City of Gold. He reached South America and sailed up the Orinoco river. He discovered some valuable looking rocks that he brought back, but no one was interested in setting up a colony in a tropical region. When he returned, he published an account of his voyage called The Discoverie of Guiana, but no one really believed the story. When the Queen died in 1603, James I became king. During that time, King James I was trying to make peace with Spain and imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower of London, on the basis he was involved in a conspiracy. He convinced King James I that he could find the Eldorado gold without angering the Spanish. The King was in need of money and let him go, but told Raleigh if he stole from the Spanish, he would be executed for piracy. He made the second trip in 1617 but he still found nothing and attacked a Spanish settlement. On his return, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. On October 29, 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded. Sir Walter Raleigh lived a very exciting and adventurous life.