Sir Walter Raleigh: Being a True and Vivid Account of the Life and Times of the Explorer, Soldier, Scholar, Poet, and Courtier--The Controversial Hero of the Elizabethan Age

Book Description

"Engaging and thorough . . . the best modern biography of the man. Why isn't there a great movie about Sir Walter Raleigh? His life had everything."
-Los Angeles Times

Tall, dark, handsome, and damnably proud, Sir Walter Raleigh was one of history's most romantic characters. He founded the first American colony, gave the Irish the potato, even trifled with the Virgin Queen's affections. To his enemies, he was an arrogant liar, deserving of every one of his thirteen years in the Tower of London. Regardless of means, Raleigh's accomplishments are unquestionable: he was the epitome of the English Renaissance man.

Raleigh Trevelyan has traveled to each of the principal places where Raleigh adventured-Ireland, the Azores, Roanoke, and the Orinoco-finding new insights into Raleigh's extraordinary life. His research gives a freshness and immediacy to this detailed, convincing portrait of one of the most compelling figures from the Elizabethan era.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book for Elizabethan fans.......2004-11-17

This book has compelled me to write my first ever review. I've rarely read a more enjoyable biography. Although long and very dense, it is well cross-referenced, and well structured.

The depth of research is astounding, and I was particularly impressed that the author had actually traveled to all the key locations, offering a level of colour and feel not otherwise possible.

There is also a great detail of content outside of Sir Walter's own life that is immensely valuable for providing context (so important when reading about another time and place). For this amateur Elizabethan student, the opportunity to read about my favourite characters and the key events of the age from a different perspective was truly enjoyable.

At times the book shows the author's bias, but he carefully lets us know when it's his opinion, and I for one welcomed it based on his depth of knowledge.

Bravo to the author, and to those considering reading this book, a big word of encouragement. Enjoy!

New insight - legend or fop?.......2004-09-21

It is recognized that the author as a descendant of Raleigh would be somewhat biased in his assessment of his subject. With this in mind the portrayal is more balanced than one would think from the preconception and the views of others on this book. The conception most often associated with Raleigh for those unaware of his breadth of activities is that of a dandily dressed (Vincent Price) fop who laid down his cape for the queen. If one delves a little farther into common knowledge we know that he had something to do with the failed Roanoke colony. The gift of Trevelyan's biography is to fill out these clothes. To put flesh upon the man who inhabits the foppish attire. By the time the book takes us to Raleigh's second stay in the Tower, and Trevelyan tells us that people often came to see "the legend" on his daily walks upon the wall, we believe that indeed he was exactly that - a legend. The true measure of biography is that it gives the faults and failings, yet lets one follow the maturing person. Raleigh, indeed had many failings, but he nonetheless comes across in Trevelyan's telling as a compelling and interesting individual. If the Queen, Cecil (Wm.), Walsingham, and Drake are the gods of that era, then certainly the Raleigh of Trevelyan's telling is a giant. The mark of good non-fiction is that it encourages further exploration into the era in which it is set. Trevelyan's book is a must read for those with any interest in this period of English history, particularly that touching on the rise of empire and the role of maritime successes.

Sir Walter the great.......2004-02-08

Sir Walter Raleigh was a little of everything. I read this book along with the new Benjamin Frankin: An American Life, and have determined that there's more to these guys than the scant information we were all given in school. What an eye-opener this book was. Well written, well researched, and well . . . just an overall entertaining good read. Highly recommended.

Book Description

1601, or Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the time of the Tudors is a hilarious ribald send-up of Elizabethan England in which Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Sir Walter Raleigh, and other luminaries of the period are pictured sitting about the fireplace amusing one
another with risque tales. During a visit to West Point in 1881, Twain met Lieutenant Charles Erskine Scott Wood, adjutant to the commanding general. As Leslie Fiedler notes in his afterword, "he discovered not only that Wood, like him, was a freethinker, but that he had at his disposal a
well-equipped printing plant." He asked Wood to publish the piece, and it is the West Point edition--complete with the Old English-style type Wood selected--that is printed here.
If "in 1601 Twain both parodied and paid homage to Shakespeare's liberating bawdry," Erica Jong observes in her introduction, in "Is Shakespeare Dead? he tried to come to terms with his conflicting responses to Shakespeare as mentor and muse." Jong suggests that Twain's real concern in this book
may well be his own "place in literary history."

Customer Reviews:

Little-known Twain.......2005-12-27

This book consists of two parts, the brief 1601 and the longer "Is Shakespeare Dead?" (ISD)

1601 is eleven pages of dense faux-Elizabethan dialog. Between Twain's misleading spelling and the remarkable typography, it takes a while to realize that you're reading the most literate piece of potty humor in the English langauge. During the discourse that discovers the donor of that "most desolating breath," Twain unleashes bawdy that would surprise any school-marm who thinks of Twain only for Puddinhead Wilson and that cohort.

By far the longer piece, ISD starts out as a Shakespeare vs. Bacon argument. Twain largely cites other sources in the debate over who really wrote the works attributed to Wm. S; in the end, he comes down on the side of the brontosaur (go read it yourself to see what that means). His native wit comes through in the end of the piece. From any other writer, it would have been an ad hominem attack against the side Twain opposes - both of them, really. In his case, however, it's merely an observation on human traits of mind that tend to muddle both the facts and the use of them.

1601 is brilliant, if ISD drags a bit. They're both worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend either as an introduction to Twain.

//wiredweird

Probably the funniest thing ever written........2000-05-13

Yes, this IS a fart joke. In fact, rumor has it that Twain's poker buddies were its first readers. The then Sec'y of the Army had West Point Press publish it.The transcendant skill and humor raises this to greatness, despite the subject. In fact, Twain probably took this as a huge challenge.Keep it from the youngest until they can appreciate it, but read it aloud alone together every Valentine's day.

1601 very lewd and very funny.......1999-11-19

1601 recounts a naughty fireside chat between Shakespeare and other noteworthy english figures. Twain writes the entire text in a basterdized version of middle english spelled phoneticly. It is quite funny but difficult to read and rather course. In the second half of the book Twain argues that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. It is a prime example of Twain`s wit and one long gentlemanly slight against Shakespeare.

A perhaps deservedly forgotten work.......1998-10-16

There are two unrelated pieces by Mark Twain in this volume, both of them fallen into (or perhaps, never rose from) obscurity, and deservedly so. "1601" is an lewd & raunchy imaginary conversation at the court of Elizabeth I. The narrator is disgusted by what he has heard -- the author partly shares the disgust and partly is fascinated with the fact that raunchy talk was not always taboo. This story has value as a look into Victorian sensibilities and into Twain's personality, but I did not enjoy reading it. I found it tedious, like Chaucer's Miller's Tale.

"Is Shakespeare Dead?" is a wonderful but misleading title. Actually this piece is about the old controversy of whether Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him, with Twain jousting for the Baconian cause. He admits at the outset that he originally developed his Baconian prejudice merely for the sake of argument with an ardent Avonian. This work adds nothing useful to the Baconian position, and would be of interest only to the most ardent collectors of Twainiana.

Wonderfully Irreverent.......1998-02-12

This book is fantastic! Twain tells it from the point of view of the Cup Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I, a man who is totally disgusted to see Her Majesty sitting around speaking crudities with such personages as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.

Book Description

Well before the Jamestown settlers first sighted the Chesapeake Bay or the Mayflower reached the coast of Massachusetts, the first English colony in America was established on Roanoke Island. David Stick tells the story of that fascinating period in North Carolina's past, from the first expedition sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to the mysterious disappearance of what has become known as the lost colony.

Included in the colorful cast of characters are the renowned Elizabethans Sir Francis Drake and Sir Richard Grenville; the Indian Manteo, who received the first Protestant baptism in the New World; and Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. Roanoke Island narrates the daily affairs as well as the perils that the colonists experienced, including their relationships with the Roanoacs, Croatoans, and the other Indian tribes. Stick shows that the Indians living in northeastern North Carolina—so often described by the colonists as savages—had actually developed very well organized social patterns.

The fate of the colonists left on Roanoke Island by John White in 1587 is a mystery that continues to haunt historians. A relief ship sent in 1590 found that the settlers had vanished. Stick makes available all of the evidence on which historians over the centuries have based their conjectures. Methodically reconstructing the facts—and exposing the hoaxes—he invites readers to draw their own conclusions concerning what happened.

Exploring the significance of that first English settlement in the New World, Stick concludes that speculation over the fate of the lost colony has overshadowed the more important fact that the Roanoke Island colonization effort helped prepare for the successful settlement of Jamestown two decades later. "Had it been otherwise," he contends, " those of us living here today might well be speaking Spanish instead of English."

The four hundredth anniversary of the exploration and settlement of what came to be called North Carolina occurred in 1984. For that occasion, America's Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee commissioned this factual and readable history.

Customer Reviews:

Job Well Done!.......2006-05-05

It is often thought that the Jamestown settlement was the beginning of English America, and in some ways, this may be correct. However, more than twenty years before Jamestown, Roanoke was established by Sir Walter Raleigh for England. In an intriguing story, David Stick narrates the accounts of the early settlers in a way that pulls us into the experiences as readers.

From the beginning of the book, Stick acknowledges the question of why England was so delayed in exploring the Americas. In his long-winded introduction, he provides a concise history of the European encounters with America which ultimately concludes in the lack of understanding in the world geography.

Based largely off of the accounts of Thomas Hariot, and later, John White, who eventually became Governor, one can see how the early English settlers interacted among themselves as well as the Indians. Mystery appears to surround the different expeditions, with the first retreating from Indians leaving three men behind. When Grenville journeys to Roanoke shortly after, one of the men is found dead while the other two's fate remains a mystery. Grenville then leaves even more men behind on the island, most of which also end up mysteriously vanishing with the exception of two who get killed by Indians. In the manner that this is written, one can see how, in some ways, there are more members to the "Lost Colony."

A possible shortcoming is the lack of connection with the "characters." One may find it quite easy to identify with John White, for instance, but men like Ferndinando, Grenville, and Lane lack personality. Admittingly, this is a difficult task because personal narratives from these men are not available. As a result, at times, it may have been easy to accidentally confuse these adventurers with the wrong voyages.

Credit must be given, however, to Stick because he took the approach of using personal narratives. Alan Taylor, author of "American Colonies," wrote a brief history of Roanoke in his book, but went out of his way to cast these early explorers in negative light. Taylor criticizes their selection of land as well as their alleged laziness that culminated in bad relations with Indians. Mistakes, obviously, were made but David Stick's method helped the reader sympathize with the difficulties of these men without pointing fingers.

Both the Spaniards and the Indians appeared to evoke fear from these English colonists. This somewhat thematic aspect plays throughout the book. However, relations with the Indians were more ambiguous and Stick shows the use of two Indians, Wanchese and Manteo, who help the English build relations with certain tribes. He then goes beyond his mild tentativeness to show that friendly Indians offered the idea of being given something to wear for the English to identify them with, which was refused. Stick has trouble understanding the logic and presents an instance of confusion following this proposal that mistakes friendly Indians for enemies.

The most outstanding feature of this book is his chapters that follow the story. Because Roanoke is notorious for the "Lost Colony," David Stick presents the readers with clues and theories about the Lost Colony ranging from enslavement by the Spanish to the possibility that Roanoke was mistaken for another island and that the descendants of this colony live there today. While he rules these two conclusions out, he provides the readers with points that three experts agreed upon but does not make any conclusion himself. As a result, the reader will be fascinated to be left to speculate about what may have become of the colonists.

A flotilla of substance.......2005-09-18

Sir Walter Raleigh landed in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, in 1584. Until 1587 there was a steady stream of shipping from England. Sir Francis Drake and Sir Richard Grenville took part. The area was named Virginia in honor of Queen Elizabeth. A colony arrived at Roanoke Island in 1587 and permanent residency seemed assured, but for the next three years efforts to provide releif for the settlement were thwarted by the war with Spain. An expedition arrived in 1590 and found everyone had disappeared. Subsequently it became known as the Lost Colony.

England made a late start in exploring and settling the New World. Irish Monks sailed north and west as far as Iceland in the 5th and 6th centuries. Norsemen probably came to North America a thousand years ago. Eric the Red established a settlement in Greenland. The exact place on the mainland of Vineland, the settlement of Lief Eriksson, has been the subject of speculation.

Eventually the attempts at colonization were given up and nearly five hundred years later Christopher Columbus discovered America. Columbus wanted to go west to be in the east to trade. He made four voyages between 1492 and 1506. Ferdinand Magellan was killed circumnavigating the globe in 1521. Hernando de Soto led an expedition on the mainland of the American continent. He landed on the west coast of Florida in 1539.

The leaders of the Raleigh expedition were given information about Roanoke and Ocracoke and other areas of the Outer Banks by the Indians Wanchese and Manteo. White, an artist, and Hariot, a scientist, reported on the Lost Colony. Hariot's contribution included navigation skills and linguistics. The missing colonists-- the palisaded settlement was deserted when the Englishmen arrived August 18, 1590-- may have intermingled with the Chesapeake Indians living near present day Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

A note on sources, glossary, and index appear at the back of the book. The author presents an excellent survey of a half century of recent efforts to determine the fate of the inhabitants of the Lost Colony. A very comprehensive background to the undertaking by the English to settle America is also provided.

The first English colony in America.......2005-08-18

This is a history of the first English settlement in America - the Roanoke Island settlement in North Carolina, organized and sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584. After most of the colonists returned to England after the first year, it was years before a relief party returned; by then the settlement had become The Lost Colony. What happened? No one knows for sure, and many have expressed different opinions. Probably they simply mixed with the local Indians around Chesapeake Bay. Stick recounts what's known about the story of the Roanoke Island settlement in a straightforward fashion, but without much flair. A good introductory study.

Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado

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not too bad...
an excellent introduction to the ugly but fascinating world of politics
Outstanding look at a fascinating individual

Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado
Marc Aronson
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 039584827X

Book Description

In this extraordinarily well researched and insightful biography, Marc Aronson explores the amazing accomplishments and dismal failures of one of the most flamboyant figures of the Elizabethan age. Best remembered for laying his coat in a muddy puddle so that Queen Elizabeth I could walk across it, Sir Walter Ralegh committed himself to pleasing his monarch and obtaining power in her court. He heroically risked his life in battle time and again, chasing after glory to win her favor. His notoriously ill-fated quest for the mythological golden city of El Dorado was perhaps his grandest attempt, but it also was his undoing, and Ralegh ultimately paid for his mistakes with his life. Despite his shortcomings, he was not only charismatic and brave, he was brilliant as well, and his contributions to the New World and to western culture as a whole were vast and enduring. MAPS, ENDNOTES and BIBLIOGRAPHY, TIMELINE, INDEX.

Customer Reviews:

not too bad..........2007-06-07

did not realize when i bought this book that is basically for children, probably up to the age of 12 or so. for this grade level, it was fine. but this is certainly not a book for adults. it's too simple.

an excellent introduction to the ugly but fascinating world of politics.......2007-05-18

This book reads like an entertaining adventure novel but it is so much more. The court intrigues of Elizabethan England and not so different from the politics of today, both in government and corporations. The author has made a lifelong study of Sir Walter Ralegh and his passion shows. Ralegh's strengths, weaknesses and luck, both good and bad made him who he was and changed the world.The Mechanical Age: The Industrial Revolution in England (World History Library)Colonial Living.

Outstanding look at a fascinating individual.......2000-06-05

Sir Walter Ralegh (the way he spelled it) was so much more than a promoter of tobacco--although he certainly did promote tobacco. He was so much more than a man who lay down his cloak so Queen Elizabeth I would not get her feet wet--a story which may or may not be true. He was a man from a poor background who rose almost as high as one could in Elizabethan England--and then fell about as low. Stunningly researched, brilliantly written, full of fascinating facts (did you know there were no maps of England that showed ROADS until the 1590s), this is young adult writing at its finest.

That Great Lucifer: A Potrait of Sir Walter Raleigh

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The last great Elizabethan

That Great Lucifer: A Potrait of Sir Walter Raleigh
Margaret Irwin
Manufacturer: Allison & Busby LTD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Product Description

No lover of history can fail to recognize in the man who cast his cape gracefully across a puddle to protect the feet of his queen, the symbol of the Elizabethan Age. For Sir Walther Raleigh was more, much more than the courtier portrayed in the painting. He was truly the Elizabethan incarnate - soldier, sailor, captain of the Queen's guard, explorer and colonizer of the New World, poet, scientist, military engineer and literary patron. In an age both cruel and romantic, the figure of Sir Walter Raleigh stands high above the contemporaries who eventually cast him down. He it was who devised the plan that brought about the destruction of the Armada, who sailed into Cadiz harbor to grapple with Philip of Spain's war fleet and who, before he laid his head on the block, called to the headsman to let him feel the edge of the axe. Margaret Irwin was a noted authority on the Elizabethan Age. In this biography she brings all her skills as a historian and novelist in telling the story of this most remarkable Englishman.

Customer Reviews:

The last great Elizabethan.......2003-01-05

Everyone knows Sir Walter Ralegh as the gallant courtier who spread his cloak across a puddle so that his queen might pass dry-shod. A commoner who never lost his thick Cornish accent, Ralegh was nevertheless precisely the sort of man likely to catch Elizabeth's eye: handsome, intelligent, witty, well-spoken, and possessed of enough pride and independence to speak his mind, even to his queen. The term "Renaissance man" seems coined with Ralegh in mind: He was a poet, soldier, privateer, explorer, scientist, historian.

He could also be stunningly naive, and surprisingly inept at the art of courting favor. His first meeting with James I, Elizabeth's successor, was a disaster. Accustomed to priviledge, Ralegh approached James unannounced, even though the king heartily disliked such surprises. When James observed that he might have had to fight for the throne, Ralegh's response was, "Would to God you had! Then Your Majestry would have known your friends from your foes." An honest sentiment and possibly a shrewd one, it not the sort of observation likely to endear him to the new king. James already had reason to be wary of Ralegh, for some of Ralegh's enemies had been plying James for months with negative reports. Ralegh's recent behavior seemed to support these dark hints: he was one of the few dignitaries who did not bother to contact James after Elizabeth's death to assure the new sovereign of his loyalty. Worse, Ralegh presented the peace-loving king with a proposal for seizing the West Indies from Spain. James had been told that Ralegh was a warmonger and possibly a traitor. With his own eyes he perceived another, more subtle threat: this handsome, powerful, and persuasive man was a living reminder of Elizabethan glories.

Ralegh's fall from power during the reign of James I was as swift and spectacular as his rise under Elizabeth had been. His enemies rejoiced, as did the common folk who then and now love to see the mighty brought low. Ralegh's greatest triumph, perhaps, was the courage and wit he exhibited through his trial, imprisonment, and execution. In a last interview with a friend, he advised him to come to the beheading early if he wished to get a place. "As for me, my place is assured," he quipped. His last words, spoken to the hesitant executioner, were, "What dost fear? Strike, man, strike!"

Margaret Irwin is a novelist as well as a historian, and this comes through in the tone and quality of her writing. This biography is far more entertaining than most fictorical fiction I've read. It's full of telling anecdotes, vivid descriptions, and dead-on characterizations. Considering the complexity of her subjects and the paradoxical nature of Ralegh himself, this is a remarkable achievement.

One minor disappointment was the lack of a bioliography; there were several incidents and anecdotes that I would have liked to explore in more depth. Even so, it's an entertaining story, as well as a window into a fascinating time.

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Sir Walter Raleigh: Founding the Virginia Colony (In the Footsteps of Explorers)
Nancy Ward , and Baron Bedesky
Manufacturer: Crabtree Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0778724603

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Half a book is better than none

The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-1590: Documents to Illustrate the English Voyages to North America Under the Patent Granted to Walter Raleigh in 1584 (Works Issued By the Haklut Society, 2nd Ser., No. 104.)

Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
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Binding: Paperback

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Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony

ASIN: 0486265129

Customer Reviews:

Half a book is better than none.......2003-04-01

The original publication by David Beers Quinn is regarded as one of the more scholarly works on the subject. It therefore is a pity that the present offering comprises only Volume 2. The page numbering starts on 497 and runs to 1004 and a great deal is clearly missing. The promised map "Raleigh's Virginia 1584-90 In pocket at end" is missing and there is no 'pocket at end'. I await the production of Volume 1 with great interest.

1601, or, Conversations at the social fireside as it was in the time of the Tudors

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1601, or, Conversations at the social fireside as it was in the time of the Tudors
Mark Twain
Manufacturer: [Earl H. Emmons?]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Sir Walter Raleigh (Profiles in American History) (Profiles in American History)

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Sir Walter Raleigh (Profiles in American History) (Profiles in American History)
Earle, Jr. Rice
Manufacturer: Mitchell Lane Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1584154527
Release Date: 2006-12-18

Product Description

Sir Walter Raleigh streaked across the Elizabethan heavens like a bright, shining star. Often regarded as a true Renaissance man that is, a man gifted with many talents and abilities he lived life to the fullest. Born to adventure, Raleigh parlayed a sharp mind and a yen for prestige and power into enough living for a dozen lesser men. As soldier, swashbuckler, writer, historian, poet, explorer, businessman, and more, he rose in favor at the court of Elizabeth I England's Good Queen Bess and made history as he wrote it. Raleigh fought courageously for England in France, Ireland, and elsewhere at sea. He founded the first American colony at Roanoke Island in the New World, introduced tobacco and the potato to Ireland, and searched for the golden city of El Dorado in South America. At the peak of his fame some say infamy he knelt down as a commoner and arose as a knight. When fortune failed him, and his star fizzled out, he showed brave men how to die.

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