Short History Of... - Walter Raleigh

Episode Date: October 13, 2024

Walter Raleigh remains one of the most famous figures of the late-Tudor and early-Stuart period. His life epitomised Elizabethan energy and ambition - though many of his grand schemes ended in failure. Raleigh was a soldier, sailor, courtier, writer, politician, explorer, and colonist. Depending on who you ask, he was also a pirate and traitor, or a patriot and hero. So how did this perplexing figure rise from comparatively humble beginnings to become one of Queen Elizabeth’s favourites? Did he embark on overseas adventures for the sake of his nation, or for his own gain? And should we consider him an enlightened imperialist, or a man who oppressed and exploited indigenous communities? This is a Short History Of….Walter Raleigh. A Noiser Production, written by Dan Smith. With thanks to Dr Anna Beer, author of Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Raleigh. Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noisier.com/subscriptions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's April 1595, on the mighty Orinoco River in South America. Under a sky filled with the cries of exotic birds, a small fleet of rowing boats, or wherries, cruises along, carrying dozens of pale Englishmen. It's a sweltering evening. The expedition leader pulls at his collar, sweating profusely. His crew are exhausted and tempers are fraying. He angrily swats at a fat mosquito buzzing about his head. Although it is hot now, just a few hours ago they were caught in a tempest. With little protection from the elements, the rapid transitions from pelting rain to baking sun are sapping their energy.

These conditions are worse than anything you'd find in an English prison. And he ought to know. The challenge is to keep focus on the job at hand. The search for Manoa, or as the Spanish conquistadors call it, El Dorado, the City of Gold, a fabled metropolis dripping with wealth. As the sailors wearily gulp down their rum rations, the wind starts whipping up again.

The men squabble over whose turn it is to take the oars, and though they cannot yet see it, they can hear the thumping cascade of a waterfall somewhere up ahead. Still their leader urges them on. Overhanging branches and vines start to crowd the boats, so he stands, grabbing his sword to cut a swathe through the knots. But then the rugged riverside terrain gives way to beautiful green plains. In the dusky evening light, he can make out deer gambling through a copse and the stunning colors of the birds swooping high above, a blur of crimson, orange, green, purple, and blue. But it's getting late. He scans the bank for somewhere to moor up for the night by the light of the huge, rising moon. Up above, he notices the misty spray of that great waterfall. It will soon block their progress.

Then suddenly, he holds up a hand, sniffing the air. A little way inland is a fire, sending smoke swirling into the sky and the sound of barking. A gang of dogs races down to the water, followed by a posse of men in indigenous dress and further back a couple of women. Beautiful women, he notices, but as per his orders, entirely off-limits to the English. It pays to make nice with the locals. The adventurers have stumbled upon a village, and their reception committee seems friendly. The Englishmen steer their wherries into the shallows, leaping onto the muddy banks and heaving the vessels ashore.

The villagers gesture for them to follow, leading them to a feast cooking on the fire. A few hours of refueling and rest await the travelers before they resume their quest tomorrow. As he eats by firelight, the explorer does not know if he'll find El Dorado. But perhaps that doesn't matter. He is leading his nation in a long overdue exploration of the new world, bringing glory to his country and its queen, Elizabeth I. bringing glory to his country and its queen, Elizabeth I. Vitally, he is challenging the dominance of the great enemy, Spain, in these parts too.

If he plays this right, it can only add luster to his own name, that of Sir Walter Raleigh remains one of the most famous figures of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. Many know him as the man who brought the potato and tobacco to Europe, though it's now known that these claims are false. Others may remember the story of him laying his cape across a puddle in service to his beloved queen. Except this too is likely a mere legend. Such mythology detracts from the extraordinary narrative of his actual life. Raleigh was variously a soldier, sailor, courtier, writer, politician, explorer, and colonialist.

Depending on your opinion, he was perhaps a pirate and traitor too, or else a patriot and hero. Although virtually all his grand schemes ultimately ended in failure, he emerged as a symbol of Elizabethan energy and ambition. of Elizabethan energy and ambition. So how did this perplexing figure rise from comparatively humble beginnings to become one of Elizabeth's favorites? Did he embark on his perilous overseas adventures for the sake of his nation or his own gain?

And should we consider him an enlightened imperialist or a man who simply used alternative means to oppress and exploit indigenous communities? I'm John Hopkins from the Noisen Network. This is a short history of Walter Raleigh. Though the date is uncertain, Raleigh is born in the early 1550s. The son of a Devonshire gentleman, also called Walter Raleigh, little Walter's family is reasonably wealthy, with connections to the famous Drake and Gilbert seafaring families. connections to the famous Drake and Gilbert seafaring families. Strongly Protestant in faith, Walter Senior had been at risk of execution for his religion under Mary's reign, but the family fortunes have improved since Queen Elizabeth took the

throne in 1558. Nonetheless, young Walter's prospects are uncertain. Dr. Anna Beer has written extensively about the family, including a biography of Walter Raleigh. In the 1550s, 1560s, when Raleigh's a child, he is a long way from centres of power. He's the fifth son of a Devon gentleman. Again, he's in a society where fifth sons

really, really are insignificant, shouldn't do anything with their life apart from possibly inherit a farm. But then comes his chance to make a name for himself on the continent. In 1569, the teenager heads to France and wins his military spurs in the wars of religion, fighting for the Protestant Huguenots, long persecuted in Catholic regions of the continent. Serving under the command of one of his cousins, he is engaged in a strategic retreat. Better that than face annihilation at enemy hands. It is a valuable lesson in Realpolitik, the art of being guided by pragmatism over ideology. He returns to England in 1570, and a couple of years later begins studying at Oxford University's

Oriel College. But he never completes his degree, and little is known about his activities in this decade. After a brief spell in London, by 1578 he's going off to sea alongside his half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert. They're headed for what Europeans refer to as the New World, the Americas, where Christopher Columbus landed less than a century ago. The siblings also raid several Spanish ships en route. Elizabeth's reign has seen relations between Protestant England and Catholic Spain grow more and more fraught. To Spain, Raleigh is nothing but a pirate, but the British crown is happy to turn a blind eye to this sort of privateering, raiding enemy nations' ships

as a proxy for war. Records of Raleigh's life are tantalizingly scarce in this period, but by 1580 he is back in London. He seems to be a hell-raiser, facing three charges of brawling. But another picture emerges of a young man scrambling up the social ranks. Soon he receives his first appointment at Elizabeth's court. He is only a minor personal attendant, but he is on the ladder. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's Irish realm is increasingly restive, descending into open rebellion with backing from both Spain and Papal Italy. Elizabeth reinforces the English military presence.

That's exactly where young Captain Raleigh learns how to be a soldier, learns how to command people. The fighting is brutal, and Raleigh quickly realizes the importance of making sure his company is properly looked after. When basic supplies are short, he pays for them out of his own pocket, and stories spread of how he has risked his own safety to save a servant whose foundering horse left him at the mercy of attackers. Raleigh can ask a lot more of men who recognize his reciprocal loyalty and commitment to them. Cooly calculating, he acts with ruthless decisiveness as he sees fit. Never more so than at the siege of Smerwick, when his soldiers are prominent in the controversial massacre of several hundred Spanish and Italian troops supporting the Irish rebels.

and Italian troops supporting the Irish rebels. Raleigh cuts his teeth as a young man and then later in life as a kind of hawk with a conscience, a military hawk with a conscience. Throughout his life, he defended swift, kind of Blitzkrieg-style war. He said, the problem with war, it goes on too long. It always goes on too long. And if you can finish a war quickly, you know, go in, go hard, get out, that's effective war. He sends dispatches from Ireland

to Elizabeth's formidable intelligence chief, Sir Francis Walsingham. A master communicator, Raleigh's opinions on the progress of the conflict are highly regarded. How does he, as Captain Raleigh, come to the attention of Queen Elizabeth I, as he did in the early 1580s? He does it through, in effect, war reporting. He writes honestly, frankly, and without grovelling to the people in charge, Walsingham in particular. He tells it as it is. He shows himself to be a superb leader of men. And that kind of truth-telling, that speaking truth to power, is very useful to a government.

And it was also very attractive to Queen Elizabeth I. But by 1581, he is tired of the awful conditions in Ireland. He would much rather be back in London. By December, Raleigh's wish is granted. Back on home soil, he cuts a dashing figure at court. Six feet tall, he has thick, dark hair, a well-coiffed beard, an impossibly handsome face, and a pearl earring dropping coquettishly from his lobe. A fashionista, and to cap it all, a poet too. A sure way to get noticed if you're any good at it. And he is. Elizabeth is not the only eye he catches, but it's hers that matters. The Queen's longtime chief advisor, Lord Burley, even calls on him to intercede with her

when his son-in-law gets mixed up in a Catholic plot against her. Raleigh starts to feel the material benefits of his rising star. In 1583, he is granted a license giving him a monopoly over the wine trade, and wins similar dispensation for the export of broadcloth, a sturdy cotton fabric used for clothing. He also becomes warden of Cornwall's lucrative tin mines, before the Queen secures him a lease on Durham House, a prime piece of London real estate. A year later, Elizabeth grants him the right to explore the New World to establish a colony which he may run in return for a payment to the Crown. Raleigh is convinced that if England is not to become a European backwater, it must take

on Spain, and that the best chance to do so lies in challenging its dominance of the Americas, whose gold funds Spanish war efforts in Europe. By gaining its own foothold, England will have a base not only to similarly exploit mineral reserves, but also to waylay Spanish treasure galleons. For Elizabeth, the scheme promises riches and a stronger international presence. Though he himself stays home, Rowley personally sponsors a reconnaissance voyage

to Roanoke Island of the North American Atlantic. Then, in April 1585, an expedition sets off to establish the first permanent English settlement on the continent. The wider region in which Roanoke sits is destined to be named, quite possibly at Raleigh's prompting, Virginia, in honour of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. She, after all, has just knighted him. He wants to go to Virginia. He wants to lead the expedition.

Elizabeth does not let him. And quite why? A very, very old-fashioned sentimental view would be, you know, she had the hots for him, she loved him, she didn't want him to die. Elizabeth, I think, is too canny for that. I wonder if she truly trusted him. There was this problem that Elizabeth relied on men

to go and fight her wars for her. And once out in the field, they were in charge. There was nothing she could do. And Raleigh, from time to time, showed that his personal ambition blinded him. And those ambitions are on full display in the charts he commissions. Raleigh in Virginia, I see it as canvas

on which he could write, as it were, or envision his own glory. He paid good money to get good mapping, but look at that map, and on it is a complete fantasy called the City of Raleigh. Didn't exist. He just wanted there to be a city of Raleigh. And at the top of the map are his coat of arms. So even though the land was going to be called Virginia

after the Virgin Queen, you've got these very strong indications that for the same reasons that Elizabeth couldn't control her military or naval commanders out at sea, if Raleigh got a foothold there, he would be king, in effect. The settlers have a tough time, struggling with lack of supplies and poor relations with indigenous communities.

A second wave arrives in 1587 to find what was left of their predecessors disappeared, some presumed dead, others to have evacuated for unknown pastures. Back in England, Raleigh is on the up. Elizabeth has recently gifted him 42,000 acres of Munster territory, about the size of Liechtenstein today, as reward for his earlier service in Ireland. Additionally, he receives money and land confiscated from the traitors involved in the so-called Babington Plot, a scheme to kill Elizabeth that results in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in February.

He is also named Captain of the Queen's Guard. She showered him with money, with jewels, with houses, with prestige, status. She made him her personal bodyguard, Captain of the Guard. And in a personal monarchy, that matters. He could be physically in the room with the queen at any time, night or day. And access is everything. Getting into that room is everything. But none of this gets the help the Roanoke colonizers need. Elizabeth's focus is on her struggles with Spain,

which have intensified since she promised military support to the Dutch against the Spanish a couple of years ago. Back home, on this side of the Atlantic, Elizabeth was still fighting a war. And often it was a war involving state-sanctioned piracy, basically. If you had a boat, the Queen would give a strong hint that perhaps that boat could get out of the channel and harry a few Spanish boats. In the midst of that, Raleigh is saying, I need boats, I need supplies, I need somebody to get out to the colony and take them food and take them building things. And they need more people. And that message wasn't getting through. They need more people, and that message wasn't getting through.

Instead, Raleigh is put in charge of the naval defences of Devon and Cornwall in preparation for the predicted attack of the Spanish Armada. When the English see off the Armada in the summer of 1588, the encounter quickly gains legendary status. But Raleigh is, in truth, little more than a bit player. But Raleigh is, in truth, little more than a bit player By the time an expedition finally returns to Roanoke in 1590 Still without Raleigh in person And not before a detour for a little treasure fleet raiding It discovers the colony entirely abandoned

The fate of its settlers a mystery It ends Raleigh's dream of his own Virginian empire. Despite the blow, Raleigh's success at court, achieved without the sort of inherited social networks that other big names can call upon, enrages his rivals. Chief among them is Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, a man with whom he is regularly battling for the Queen's attention and for courtly offices. Raleigh's elite noble contemporaries hated him. He was described as the best hated man in England. Again and again he was attacked for his pride, his ambition, and all points in between. and all points in between.

His outspokenness and refusal, or perhaps inability to self-edit, has so far served him well with Elizabeth, keen for a reliable truth-teller in her inner circle. But his disregard for social niceties offends others. There are murmurings that his relationship with Elizabeth has a sexual element too, although there is no direct evidence for such scurrilous rumors. But there is undoubtedly a notable level of intimacy between them.

When he writes poems extolling her glory, she responds in playfully patronizing terms, calling him her silly pug. Personal affection aside, he is politically useful to her. In particular, he is a gifted communicator and a brilliant propagandist. In 1591, for example, the English fleet suffers its only lost ship, the Revenge, during Elizabeth's war with the Spanish. Spying an opportunity, Raleigh writes an account of the battle, the last fight of the revenge. Winning a large audience, it turns what might have been a bitter blow to English morale into a celebration of English valour.

He is somebody who can sell a military failure and make it sound great. He is somebody who can defend the indefensible, and he does it again and again and again. But that year, he puts everything he has at risk. Among Elizabeth's closest attendants is a woman in her mid-twenties, Elizabeth Throckmorton, known as Bess. Her official title is Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, and, like Raleigh, she acts as a gatekeeper to the Queen. Bess comes from an old family, more prestigious than Raleigh's, with close blood ties to the royal line. With wide, flat cheekbones, a long nose, and slightly protruding bottom lip, she is not considered a classical beauty. A long nose and slightly protruding bottom lip, she is not considered a classical beauty.

But she is headstrong, determined, tireless, ambitious. A combination of traits that makes her utterly captivating to Raleigh. Oh my goodness, what a story. She is, I mean, one word, formidable. And in both senses of the kind of the very English formidable, but also in the French sense of glorious, formidable, you know, just an amazing woman. The couple begin an affair, and Bess falls pregnant. In the autumn of 1591, they secretly marry,

shortly before Walter sets off on another new world adventure. Bess remains at court, hoping beyond hope that the Queen doesn't notice her pregnancy. But it's only a matter of time. In a culture in which Elizabeth controlled marriages, not because she was sexually jealous, but simply as a society that worked through arranged marriages, strategic marriages. The idea of a love marriage is quite alien in the 1580s, 1590s, in any part of English society. So they go behind Elizabeth's back, they marry, and then Riley doesn't even double down, he triples down. He starts actively lying about the relationship.

And so does Bess. She stays at court until she's eight months pregnant. I do not know how she did it. until she's eight months pregnant. I do not know how she did it. In early 1592, Elizabeth grants Raleigh the Sherbourne estate in Dorset, a property he has long hankered after. Evidence, it seems, of the Queen's ignorance of the developments in his personal life. At last, Bess goes into hiding at Mile End in London. She gives birth to a son, Damarai, a name chosen in recognition of what Raleigh believes are his links to the old ruling dynasty of the Plantagenets through an obscure family connection. And though it's only been a few years

since Raleigh was on the brink of dueling with his long-standing rival, the Earl of Essex, he is chosen as the boy's godfather. With the child cared for elsewhere, Bess returns to court within four weeks, still keeping her secrets. But the game is almost up. Raleigh is about to set sail once more when he is recalled to court amid investigations into the affair. He is placed under house arrest, while Bess is whisked off for questioning. Exactly what crimes they might be guilty of is unclear, but they have put Elizabeth's nose out of joint. The child's provocative name, referencing old royal connections,

and the choice of Essex as godfather, can both be interpreted as a nod to succession planning. The childless Elizabeth is, after all, not getting any younger. Are the Raleigh's setting up their own future bid for the throne? I personally think that this is a tip of an iceberg of Elizabeth's younger courtiers getting frustrated and looking to the future and thinking, you know, we're going to work together and when Elizabeth goes, we are going to take power. Forget about conventional succession. I probably would struggle to prove that, but that's what I think was going on.

In August, Walter and Bess are imprisoned on Elizabeth's orders. They're both put in the Tower of London. They've betrayed their queen on a political level, a social level, and an emotional level, actually. It's an awful time to be in London. Soaring temperatures parch the River Thames, and plague is spreading. But Raleigh spies an opportunity to get himself free. One of his ships has returned from a trip to Panama, during which it has raided a Spanish galleon carrying half a million pounds worth of treasure.

But the distribution of the booty is chaotic, the riches disappearing into the ether. Raleigh strikes a deal. If he is freed to oversee the process, he will guarantee the crown 80,000 pounds, close to 14 million pounds today. In mid-September, he is waved off from the tower, even as Bess remains inside. A month later, Damarai is dead, likely struck down by the plague.

It is only in the heart of deep winter that the grieving Bess is freed to join her husband at Sherborne. They may have their freedom, but they are far removed from the life they have known. They may have their freedom, but they are far removed from the life they have known. The whole affair is ammunition for Raleigh's enemies. Without direct access to the Queen, his power is much reduced. Now, rumours spread about goings-on at Durham House, the London home where he wines and dines an extraordinary array of guests. His foes portray it as a school of atheism. Christopher Marlowe, the leading playwright of the age alongside Shakespeare, is among those in Raleigh's circle under investigation

for what are framed as extreme religious beliefs. On the 30th of May 1593, he is found murdered. Raleigh, some mischievously suggest, is well served by the death, silencing a voice that might implicate him too. He eventually manages to fight off separate charges, but he is called the Godhead into question. called the Godhead into question. Meanwhile, Bess gives birth to a second child, a son known as Watt, in the autumn of 1593. With a growing family to support, Raleigh is determined to regain the Queen's favor. He formulates a plan to sail to South America, to the Empire of Guyana, in search of El Dorado, the golden city of conquistador legend. What it allowed him to do was almost reinvent himself as the visionary,

as the person who has the insight into how the English are going to beat Spain. And how they're going to beat Spain is by intercepting what makes Spain powerful or getting what makes Spain powerful, which is gold. A successful expedition will secure wealth and prestige for the English crown. But maybe, too, it's a chance to resurrect the idea of his own overseas realm. Sailing with royal approval, Raleigh and his expeditionary fleet reached Trinidad in March 1595. They launch an attack on the Spanish settlement of San Jose and kidnap the governor to interrogate him about his knowledge of El Dorado.

The mission down the Orinoco begins in mid-April, but although it strikes hundreds of miles inland, El Dorado remains elusive. By late August, Raleigh is back in England, attempting to explain to his backers why there is so little return for their investment. He tells them that if he can return with a better equipped fleet, he'll fill a thousand ships with booty. Instead, he has to make do with sending a tiny private fleet a few months later, which achieves even less than the original one. Even so, Raleigh writes up his South American adventures with characteristic panache.

He writes the stunningly fascinating discovery of the large, rich and beautiful empire of Guyana, which is full of beautiful passages about the landscape, long conversations with the native chiefs, this fascination with different ways of living. You know, he eats an armadillo. He enjoys the tropical fruits. It becomes a bestseller and bolsters his credentials as an enlightened explorer and emancipator in comparison to the brutal conquistadors. Raleigh is interesting because when he finally gets to Central South America and goes searching for gold, he is a shining example of somebody who really does try to work with the people

who are living there and have been successfully living there for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Raleigh does create this idea of the decent English man going to foreign parts and winning hearts and minds rather than simply conquering. And then you start to dig a bit deep and you realize, well, all he said is that my men didn't rape the women. And you're thinking,

the bar is very, very low to find a 16th or 17th century writer, you know, sensitivity, respect. It's a very low bar. It's all about getting hold of the land. And that just becomes more and more what the English colonial and then imperial project becomes. But for future generations looking for a way to make that a little bit more comfortable, Raleigh gave them the words. And that's what he does. He just writes brilliantly. Despite the failure to find El Dorado, he does have his toe back in court. Fearing Spain is preparing a new armada, Elizabeth orders an attack on Cádiz, Spain's southwestern port city and

home to its treasure fleet. Raleigh is given command of a vessel, his naval expertise too valuable to ignore. A perfect opportunity for him to prove his worth to his queen again. It's a little before sunrise, one day in June 1596, and a combined fleet of more than a hundred British and Dutch ships is gliding towards Cadiz's bay. Raleigh barks commands to his 300-strong crew aboard the war spite, the wind gusting through its mighty sails. The Spanish naval force is dwarfed by that of the attackers. As they come into range, a volley of artillery shatters the dawn peace. Raleigh feels the water swelling beneath him in the exchange of thunderous fire. Cannonballs fly through the sky,

some plummeting harmlessly into the waves, others hitting their marks. But it is the underpowered and underprepared Spanish who are suffering worse. He watches as one of their galleons is pummeled into submission, ablaze and listing in the water. Its sailors leap into the fiery waves below,

their screams for mercy penetrating through the clamor of battle. Another Spanish ship is approached by the English, and soon platoons of Elizabeth's soldiers spring onto the enemy vessel. They overpower their opponents with blades and musket fire, the first captures of the engagement. On board the Warspite, Raleigh pursues some of the Spanish fleet retreating for the relative safety of Cardiz's inner harbor. But then a cannonball arcs through the air, set on a collision course with his ship. It strikes his timbers with a devastating crunch, puncturing a gaping hole.

Dagger-like wooden shards cascade through the air as Raleigh crashes to the listing deck, his leg giving way beneath him. He has been hit, but it's no more than a flesh wound. And besides, Raleigh is in his element. The salty sea breeze blowing on his skin, the Spanish on the run, the promise of booty to come, and glory in his queen's name. Over the coming days, the English pillage Cadiz and set it ablaze. The Spanish scupper their own treasure fleet, rather than see it fall into Elizabeth's hands. Ultimately, then, the expedition is only partially successful.

But it is a staging post in Raleigh's royal rehabilitation. From imprisonment in the tower, he has pulled off a remarkable comeback. He isn't on quite the same close terms with Elizabeth, but nonetheless remains important to her. He is once more Captain of the Queen's Guard and holds an impressive portfolio of property in England and Ireland. An important player in military and naval matters, at the turn of the century he receives one final royal honour, the governorship of Jersey in the Channel Islands. But change is in the air. Elizabeth is well into her sixties, and members of her court are jockeying for position ahead of the succession. By 1602, Raleigh's old rival Essex is off the scene, executed amid allegations of treason. Now the main man at court is Robert Cecil,

Earl of Salisbury. He backs James VI of Scotland to eventually succeed Elizabeth. Raleigh, on the other hand, supports Arbella Stuart, a great-great-granddaughter of Henry VII, with a strong English Protestant background. Experience tells him that he has a knack of working better with powerful women than men. But it's a big gamble. It's early one March morning in 1603 that Elizabeth, who is just short of her 70th birthday, draws her last breath. By 10 a.m., the Privy Council announces James as the new king.

Raleigh is on the back foot, not least because Cecil and his allies have been briefing James that he has many enemies in England and that Raleigh is chief among them. When Raleigh tries to race from London to intercept the king on his procession down from Scotland to offer his loyal service, Cecil has him stopped and sent back to London. Worse still, James has so far supported war with Spain, but is now advocating a more peaceful path. Raleigh, though, argues to continue the fight. As he has believed since his days in Ireland, it is Catholic Spain that most inhibits the advance of Protestant England. A change of monarch doesn't change that.

And then, as he tended to do, he made it a lot worse for himself by being outspoken. Exactly the qualities of outspokenness, telling truth to power, that had won him his position in the first place, James I loathes. So it's partly just a complete political mismatch. In short order, Raleigh is stripped of his captaincy of the guard, his wine monopolies, and his lease on Durham House. But it's just the start of his problems. In July 1603, he is implicated in a failed plot against James I.

His acquaintance, Lord Cobham, admits to scheming to replace James with Arbella Stewart and names Raleigh as an accomplice. Raleigh is whisked back to the Tower of London, despite Cobham immediately retracting his confession and the lack of any other evidence against him. Raleigh falls into despondency. He apparently makes a suicide bid, stabbing himself with a table knife, though he causes only minor injuries. His trial date is set for the 17th of November at Winchester, 70 miles away, where the law courts have relocated after the plague returned to London. As well as treason, Rowley is accused of working for the promotion of Catholicism and encouraging foreign enemies, namely the

Spanish, to invade. Extraordinary charges, given his history of ferociously fighting both. He faces the seasoned prosecutor Edward Coke, who resorts to personal insults in the absence of real evidence. The defendant is, Coke says, a monster, a rankist traitor in all of England, and a spider of hell. His accusers expect a cakewalk of a trial, but Raleigh defends himself with fortitude, common sense, and good humor. But though he points out the absence of evidence, save for Cobham's retracted statement,

the jury finds him guilty. Seemingly, they believe Raleigh inveigled him into a conspiracy one night while walking through Greenwich. Yet even if he perhaps has spoken some heated words about the new king in a private conversation, it is a vast leap to suggest this amounts to an attempted coup. But I also increasingly believe that James comes in and he needs a show trial. And Raleigh is low hanging fruit. It's so easy to get him on a charge of treason because the man was an idiot in some ways. He was naive, the kind of conversations he had. He had no off-button,

you know, this sort of sense of, don't say that out loud. Somebody will hear it and somebody will report back. Raleigh is sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. His estate forfeited to the crown and his blood decreed corrupted, so that his descendants may inherit nothing. He sends James a personal plea for mercy. Because Raleigh is now declared legally dead, a non-person with no legal rights, he introduces the correspondence as the first letter whichever your majesty received from a dead man. But the king is unmoved. Then, just before his scheduled execution date of the 12th of December, his sentence is commuted to imprisonment.

Despite his conviction, his performance in the dock wins him a wave of public support. But Raleigh's time in the Tower is turbulent. Contact with his wife is permitted, and there is good news in February 1605, when Bess gives birth to their son, Carrow. But Raleigh's health declines, and he suffers a possible stroke. Later that year, he and Bess come under groundless suspicion of involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, the conspiracy to blow up the King and his Parliament, and his mental health again comes under strain. Having talked with people who know about this stuff,

he shows very strong signs of being bipolar, huge periods of manic behaviour, two suicide attempts that we know of, periods of intense darkness, about which he can and does write so powerfully. Yet he is nothing if not resilient and begins to bounce back, buoyed up, as always, by his extraordinary wife. I'm reminded of men who retire and suddenly realize

that the wife has been the powerhouse for the last 30 years in the relationship. They just hadn't quite noticed it. And suddenly it's Bess who's the figure in the outside, trying to do all the financial deals, the legal struggles, the kids, literally the kids. She's doing everything for herself. And she never cracks. everything for herself. And she never cracks. Raleigh now undertakes the greatest literary work of his life, a vast history of the world. Drawing on the library he is allowed to keep at the Tower, he constructs his vision of the global story, complete with commentary on the nature of government and rule. Writing any history is a political risk given the potential to offend the powerful, but

it gives him back a voice. By 1616, he's been in prison for thirteen long years, and the political sands have shifted again. By now, the king's favorite, and likely his lover too, is George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. For years, Raleigh has been pushing to be freed to make another search for El Dorado. Villiers, who shares Raleigh's hatred of the Spanish, now promotes the scheme to the king as a way of getting one up on them.

Spanish now promotes the scheme to the king as a way of getting one up on them. In March 1616, Raleigh is released, although unpardoned and still legally dead. But salvation is possible if he achieves his mission, uncovering the city of gold 20 years after his first attempt. years after his first attempt. Despite being in his 60s, he retains enormous energy. After setbacks and delays, his expedition fleet of 10 vessels and 600 to 700 men leaves Plymouth in June 1617. It's a troubled voyage across the Atlantic, marked by terrible weather, outbreaks of illness, lost ships, crew deaths, and renewed allegations of piracy against Raleigh. But by November, he is back at the mouth of Orinoco. However, a fever prevents him from going any further. Instead, he sends an onward party, including his son, Watt. But weeks of searching yield nothing.

including his son, Watt. But weeks of searching yield nothing. They do, though, set upon the Spanish outpost of St. Tom, raising it to the ground in direct contravention of King James's orders not to attack any Spanish possessions. To compound the offense, Watt is killed in the assault. impound the offense, Watt is killed in the assault. For a while, the grief-stricken Raleigh harbors hopes of rekindling the expedition. But it is over. On his way back home, most of his fleet deserts him. His ship is impounded as soon as it lands back in Plymouth, as the king searches for evidence of criminality against him. Raleigh persists in defending the whole disastrous enterprise. Did Sir Walter Raleigh believe that there was the gold of El Dorado up the Orinoco?

And some days I think he really did believe. And it's true, there is gold there. So did he say he believed it? And convincingly enough to take other people with him? In other words, was he a man who believed his own propaganda? Did he believe his own lies? And I sometimes think, no, he didn't. He didn't believe a single word of it. Escorted back to London in August 1618, he is permitted to stay with Bess rather than return to the tower. But an attempt to escape to France is given away, and he is arrested at Gravesend in Kent, disguised in a cloak and broad-brimmed hat, as he prepares to board a ship across the Channel.

James has a problem. Spain wants justice, but the king doesn't want to look like the junior partner in the relationship by extraditing Raleigh. He could execute him himself, but given that Raleigh was convicted of conspiring with the Spanish in 1603, condemning him now for attacks against them would be troublesome. And a criminal trial to establish the facts is impossible since legally he is already dead. A compromise is reached. On the 22nd of October, he is called before the Privy Council, where he is accused of engineering war with Spain through the attack on St. Tom. Two days later, the Council confirms he is to be executed.

On the 28th, he is moved from the tower to the gatehouse prison in Westminster, where he is told he will be granted death by beheading, rather than being hanged, drawn, and quartered, a concession usually reserved for members of the nobility. That night he sees Bess for the last time, his calmness in contrast to her torment. It's the 29th of October, 1618, a little after seven in the morning at Old Palace Yard in Westminster. The crisp autumnal weather has not deterred a crowd from assembling, among whom the atmosphere is mostly convivial amid jostling for the best viewing spots. Listening to the growing clamour from a cell nearby is the condemned man himself. Raleigh

has already taken communion with the prison dean and is finishing a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs. As he brushes crumbs from his beard, footsteps sound in the corridor. The guards hear to take him to his place of death. Elegantly dressed in silk stockings, taffeta breeches, a doublet, waistcoat, and black silk gown, he lights his pipe and begins to puff away. The heavy door is unlocked and he rises, accompanying his captors outside. Making his way amid the throng of guards towards the scaffold, he spies a bald well-wisher in the crowd

and hands him his hat to the fellow's delight. Rowley smiles broadly, cracking a joke or two with the crowd. There are some familiar faces from the court, too, and he takes his time saluting and embracing them before completing his journey. Up on the scaffold, the executioner prepares his tools to one side, his block an ominous symbol of what is to come. Raleigh climbs onto the wooden platform and begins to address the spectators. Not just a few final words, but a prolonged oration.

A retrospective of the ups and downs of his life, in which he admits his sinfulness, but markedly not his guilt of any of the crimes of which he's been convicted. Nor does King James get a single named mention. He has come, he tells his rapt audience, neither to fear nor flatter kings. Now he prays one last time, like a good Protestant. to fear nor flatter kings. Now he prays one last time, like a good Protestant. The attitude of those among the crowd who came to decry the convict is changing. His eloquence and bravery as he faces his end, persuading some that he is not the villain they have been told he is.

Raleigh turns to the executioner and asks to inspect the axe, running his finger along its blade, kissing it and setting it down. Refusing a blindfold, he kneels, finding the most comfortable position to rest on the block. He lifts his hand to indicate his readiness. The executioner's axe comes down once, twice. The spectators gasp. It is done. Amid mutterings of his great bravery, his body is covered with a gown and his head put inside a red leather bag.

And it is now that his rehabilitation truly begins, a mission that Bess takes on with gusto for the rest of her life. She works tirelessly for ten years, bribing people, having private conversations with very powerful people, and finally, finally, finally she does it. And it's in the next king's reign, in Charles I's reign, ten years after Sir Walter has been executed, and he is restored in blood.

And it's a huge victory for her. In other words, Raleigh's son, Carrow, is granted the right to his father's inheritance that had been confiscated by the Crown. It is by no means a pardon, but it removes a stain from the family name. History begins to write Raleigh as a cipher for Elizabethan England, a patriot with a pioneer spirit and compassionate approach to imperial expansion that informs the nation's image of itself for centuries to come. There is no doubt that he was an extraordinary figure,

possessing an array of qualities. A remarkable adventurer and charismatic politician, he would claim to have always worked in the interests of queen and country. But to his enemies, he was a feckless, self-serving schemer whose compassion for others only extended as far as it served his goals. His rollercoaster life gives us insights into many of the prevailing issues of the age, for better and worse. But in appraising a life shrouded in myth and rumor, and molded by propaganda, caution perhaps ought to be the watchword.

This is a man who divided opinion in his own lifetime, can and should divide opinion now. He writes again and again that truth is up for grabs. He's a remarkable man who, as I write, lived more lives than most. And to live with that intensity on so many fronts, as soldier, as sailor, as writer, as lover, as courtier, as politician, as philosopher, as traveler, he is remarkable. But that doesn't mean we should just say everything he did was great. And we should definitely not believe everything that he says, and we definitely shouldn't set him up as some kind of simplistic hero of English nationalism, because he was very far from that.

Next time on Short History, we'll bring you a short history of Marie Curie. Next time on Short History, we'll bring you a short history of Marie Curie. She would want to be awarded and remembered for her work, her discoveries, and certainly not for her private life. It's helpful for all of us to understand how human she was, how deeply caring she was in her personal life. That might not be the legacy she would choose to highlight, but I think it's one that's important for all of us to understand as we women, in particular, attempt to have lives away from home and lives of love and caring at home.

And she did both those things. That's next time. home. And she did both those things. That's next time.