travel with the great explorers Explore with Sir Walter Raleigh Ruth Daly Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com
Meet the Boss Walter Raleigh was born in the west of England in around 1554 but no one is sure of the exact date He spent his childhood by the sea Later he became a favorite of the Tudor ruler Queen Elizabeth I Did you know Although the Raleighs were not a noble family they were prominent in public life Walter’s half brothers John Humphrey and Adrian Gilbert and his brother Carew Raleigh were advisors UNKNOWN CHILDHOOD Seafaring father Religious family Walter Raleigh right was the youngest of five sons His father also called Walter was a ship’s captain and the family lived near the coast in Hayes Barton in Devon Little is known about Raleigh’s childhood He did not go to school but was probably educated at home As a young man he studied for a short time at college in Oxford He then went to fight with the French Protestants or Huguenots against the Catholics in France in the Wars of Religion 1562 1598 RALEIGH IN IRELAND A soldier in the English army Receives land as a reward 4 TRAVEL WITH THE GREAT EXPLORERS to the British court In his early 20s Raleigh served as a soldier in Ireland The Irish who were mostly Catholic were rebelling against the rule of the Protestant queen Elizabeth Raleigh commanded his own company and fought to put down rebellions against the English Raleigh gained a reputation for bravery He also met the queen when he visited the court in London to report on the progress of the military campaign Raleigh was rewarded for his work with estates taken from the Irish rebels
A FAVORITE Raleigh meets the queen Becomes a knight Queen Elizabeth liked Raleigh’s outgoing personality and made him one of her favorites in 1582 She gave him lands that made him rich and a knighthood in 1585 But some of the queen’s other courtiers disliked him They were jealous of him and thought he was proud and over-confident A SECRET MARRIAGE Falls in love Tragic loss of first child In 1591 Raleigh secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton right known as Bess who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth By then Raleigh was famous for starting an English colony in North America However it was illegal for a courtier to marry without permission from the queen and Elizabeth was angry when she found out Raleigh and Bess had a son the following year named Damerei but the baby died from the plague BANISHED TO THE TOWER Poet and Prisoner In June 1592 Elizabeth sent Raleigh and his wife to prison in the Tower of London left as punishment for marrying without her consent Raleigh spent some of his time in prison writing poetry Raleigh and Bess were released after two months when one of Raleigh's ships returned to England with treasure from a captured Spanish ship EXPLORE WITH SIR WALTER RALEIGH 5 Famous Poet Raleigh wrote poems using simple direct language His poems were usually short and about personal matters His most popular poems included The Lie and A Farewell to False Love
