Sir Walter Raleigh in 1588 painted by ‘H’, National Portrait Gallery
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Ralegh’s name was spelt in various ways even during his lifetime and several recent scholars have preferred Ralegh without an ‘i’ so that’s the version we generally use at the Fairlynch. In the run-up to the 400th anniversary of Ralegh’s execution in November 1618, Fairlynch commemorated him with the opening of the Sir Walter Ralegh Room at the head of the stairs.
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Also in the Ralegh Room you can see a pewter chalice, a replica of a silver vessel made in Exeter for use in East Budleigh church in 1570. Ralegh’s family were Protestants, in fact his father Walter Ralegh senior, churchwarden at East Budleigh, had protested against Catholic religious practices continuing locally after the Reformation. There were many passionate Catholics remaining in the West Country and they were outraged when King Edward VI introduced worship in the English language rather than Latin. Rebels of Cornwall and Devon came together in the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, were met by Government forces and were defeated in bloody battles locally on Woodbury Common and at Clyst St Mary.
The original silver chalice held the sacramental wine during the service of Holy Communion at All Saints Church in East Budleigh and was probably used by young Walter Ralegh. The chalice is neither ornate, such as a Catholic chalice might have been, nor entirely plain: its decoration is an elegant compromise and represents Queen Elizabeth’s pragmatic policy of a less extreme Protestantism than her brother Edward VI had earlier advocated. |
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A further reference in the exhibition to the Ralegh family’s involvement in religious matters concerns the Protestant martyr Agnes Prest, burned at the stake in Southernhay, Exeter on 15 August 1557. A panel in the Sir Walter Ralegh Room mentions the episode, recorded in John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563), when Walter’s mother Katherine visited the prisoner the night before her death. She was struck by the way in which Agnes Prest ‘did talk so godly and so earnestly’.
You can see the memorial to this Protestant martyr, with the plaque pictured here, at the junction of Denmark Road and Barnfield Road in Exeter. In the right hand cabinet there are objects on loan from Bristol Museums and Art Gallery including arrowheads, a spearhead, axe heads and a hatchet used by Native Americans on the eastern seaboard of North America. The axe heads date from before 1607. Ralegh was responsible for organising a reconnaissance mission to North America in 1584 and following its successful return with promising cargo and two members of the Algonquin tribe, Ralegh named the new territory ‘Virginia’ after his queen and planned his expedition to found an English colony in 1585. The colony at Roanoke did not prosper however and many of the settlers were evacuated home to England by Sir Francis Drake, who was just passing. The remaining settlers vanished. |
Sir Walter Raleigh and his son Wat’ by an unknown artist, 1602
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RALEGH’S SAD END
Walter Ralegh was knighted in 1585 and with his promotion in 1587 to Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard he became responsible for the Queen’s safety. He was a firm favourite with her and was amassing wealth through various patronages and appointments. On Elizabeth’s death however King James I stripped him of his monopolies and property. Ralegh was implicated in a plot to replace James I with Lady Arbella Stuart, convicted of treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. His death sentence was commuted however and he then lived from 1603 until 1616 in the Tower of London, writing and studying.
In 1617 King James, short of money, was persuaded to let Ralegh out on license to seek the legendary golden city of El Dorado in South America, where fabulous riches might be discovered and brought back to fill the country’s coffers. Ralegh set sail in the Destiny with his son Wat, landed in Guiana and sent an expedition up the Orinoco River. He had strict orders from James not to antagonise or engage with the Spanish, who were already dominant in the region. He himself was ill with fever and stayed with his fleet in case of attack from Spanish ships. There is a tragic undertone in Fairlynch’s copy of this painting by an unknown artist of Sir Walter and his son Wat in 1602. Fifteen years later the boy was fatally shot during the expedition to find El Dorado when a detachment of Ralegh's men under the command of his long-time friend Lawrence Keymis attacked the Spanish outpost of Santo Tomé de Guayana. This was in violation of peace treaties with Spain, and against Ralegh's orders. Keymis informed Ralegh of his son's death and begged for forgiveness, but did not receive it, and at once committed suicide.
On Ralegh's return to England, an outraged Spanish ambassador demanded that Sir Walter’s death sentence be reinstated by King James. Ralegh was beheaded on 29th October 1618, after smoking a pipe of tobacco. It is said that at his the death the axeman exclaimed to the crowd, “Behold the head of a traitor” and an answering voice in the crowd replied, “We have not another such head to be cut off.” |
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