Sir Walter Raleigh, The History of the World, Vol. I
Walter Raleigh (c.1554-1618), the great explorer and Elizabethan courtier, really needs no introduction. He is chiefly remembered as the man who introduced the potato to Europe — though scholars doubt this tradition — and for making smoking fashionable. What is less widely-known is Raleigh’s ignominious later career and death, during which he began the bold project of writing the history of the world, from his cell at the Tower of London. Alas, he lost his head before he could complete the task, but what he wrote became hugely popular (despite being immediately banned), and provides a fitting epitaph for this energetic buccaneer.
Born a gentleman in Devon, England, we know little of Raleigh’s life between 1569 and 1575, after he dropped out of Oriel College, Oxford, and went to fight with the Huguenots in France. He made his name in Ireland, where he was involved in brutally quashing the Desmond Rebellions, at the peak of which he led the party which beheaded 600 Spanish and Italian soldiers at the Siege of Smerwick. He was handsomely rewarded for his cruelty, and came to the notice of Elizabeth I, who in 1584 gave him a Royal Charter to colonise and rule remote, non-Christian countries.
Raleigh headed for the New World, searching for El Dorado in the Orinoco Basin and sending others to settle at Roanoke Island. His exuberant personality and strong Protestant faith made him a court favourite of Elizabeth, and he added to his romantic persona by helping to see off the Spanish Armada in 1588. However, in 1591, he secretly married one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, and Elizabeth imprisoned the couple in fury. After less than 2 months, he was released, and remained in favour following a series of daring raids on Spanish colonies and galleons until Elizabeth died in 1603.
Almost immediately, Raleigh was scandalously accused of a plot against her successor, James I, and imprisoned in the Tower of London after being found guilty. Amassing a library of 500 books and several research assistants, Raleigh set about writing The History of the World. He spent 7 of his 13 years’ imprisonment writing the first volume, which begins in Ancient Greece and finishes abruptly in 146BC. The text allows Raleigh to impart his wisdom: ‘whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself.’
It was originally intended for Henry, Prince of Wales, but the boy’s death in 1612 led to the abandonment of the project. In its incomplete state, The History contains nearly a million words of beautiful prose, and testifies to Raleigh’s learning and familiarity with continental scholarship. The critique of tyrannical leaders, however, led to James I banning it shortly after publication in 1614. Raleigh was released in 1616 to search for a goldmine he claimed to have found in Guyana, but ended up raiding Spanish colonies again, and under diplomatic pressure from Spain James had Raleigh executed in 1618.