Sir Walter Raleigh

An enthralling biography of the most exciting and charismatic adventurer in the history of the English-speaking world.

 

"This massive work provides a cogent look at Elizabethan England as Trevelyan suspends Walter Raleigh's life in the tensions of the time. . . . This thorough and accomplished work is the new standard for Raleighana." —Booklist


Tall, dark, handsome, and damnably proud, Sir Walter Raleigh was one of history's most romantic characters. An explorer, soldier, courtier, pirate, and poet, Raleigh risked his life by trifling with the Virgin Queen's affections. To his enemies—and there were many—he was an arrogant liar and traitor, deserving of every one of his thirteen years in the Tower of London.

Regardless of means, his accomplishments are legion: he founded the first American colony, gave the Irish the potato, and defeated Spain. He was also a brilliant operator in the shark pool of Elizabethan court politics, until he married a court beauty, without Elizabeth's permission, and later challenged her capricious successor, James I.

Raleigh Trevelyan has traveled to each of the principal places where Raleigh adventured—Ireland, the Azores, Roanoke Islands, and the legendary El Dorado (Orinoco)—and uncovered new insights into Raleigh's extraordinary life. New information from the Spanish archives give a freshness and immediacy to this detailed and convincing portrait of one of the most compelling figures of the Elizabethan era.

"Trevelyan's meticulously researched narrative will be informative for anyone looking to learn more about Elizabethan England and one of its most influential characters." —Publishers Weekly