The founding of the first colonies

Table of Contents

1 Brief Introduction into Elizabethan England: the importance of nation, society and religion

2 Raleigh’s life in the hands of royal arbitrariness
2.1 Raleigh’s exceptional relationship with Queen Elizabeth I
2.2 Raleigh as a writer during King James’s reign

3 Exporting the English Nation – Founding the first colonies
3.1 Virginia – the first English colony dedicated to the Queen
3.2 Defeat of the ‘Invincible’ Spanish Armada
3.3 Raleigh’s American Dream: Longing for El Dorado and Guiana

5 Conclusion

6 Works Cited

7 Erklärung der Studierenden

“Any fool (…) can make history,

But only a wise man can write it” (Williamson 215).

1 Brief Introduction into Elizabethan England: the importance of nation, society and religion

The reign of Queen Elizabeth I is probably the most powerful period within Tudor times. During her reign, the English nation arose to a worldwide renowned empire due to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the first English circumnavigation of the globe by Sir Francis Drake, the chartering of the first companies for overseas trade in India and the founding of the first colony, Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh.

During that period of time, all this has been documented in maps, letters and literature, e.g. poems and early travel novels that give us an impression of the English nation formation and the first attempts of colonisation at that time, although it might include fiction. One central figure who had not only the dream of exporting the English nation to America and of promoting its greatness worldwide, but was also a soldier, a sailor, a Member of Parliament, a courtier, a contemporary writer and a poet, was Sir Walter Raleigh. In his writings – basically poems and letters to befriended writers of his time such as Edmund Spenser or Christopher Marlowe – he mainly dealt with four topics: love, time, the beauty of Cynthia^[1] and his depressed state of mind.

Sir Walter Raleigh grew up with a hatred of the Catholic Church that was grounded on the fact that Queen Mary had approximately 288 persons burnt at the stake for their adhesion to the Protestant faith. Raleigh himself only narrowly escaped prosecution and death by hiding in a church tower. When Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, he was open to express his opposition against the Catholic Church (cf. Batten 2).

Later he founded the ‘School of Night’ with his friends and co-writers Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman and Thomas Hariot among others. It is alleged that these men studied science, philosophy and religion, and were suspected of confessing to atheism “for the quest for knowledge was also a quest for power” (Williamson 77). Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have been generous with his time and money and cared little about his reputation whenever his interests were involved. Anybody who proved intellectually unusual was sure of a hearing and possible support by Raleigh (cf. Wallace 83). However, atheism at that time was considered treason, and it was thus very dangerous to confess publicly to it during a time in which religion was a tool of the king’s or queen’s power struggle. Since the monarch was also the head of the church and the representative of God on earth, being an atheist meant opposing the monarch. Thus, during the 16th century men were burned at the stake for confessing to atheism.

2 Raleigh’s life in the hands of royal arbitrariness

2.1 Raleigh’s exceptional relationship with Queen Elizabeth I

Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have admired Queen Elizabeth I not only for political reasons. Although much of his poetry was dedicated to the Queen in her public character, Raleigh also addressed her personally and privately as his poetic reputation was confined only to a select circle (cf. Latham 8). Sometimes, he addressed her rather indirectly by naming her for example Cynthia or Diana in his poetry. Since he never gave his poems to the public, he could write quite openly about his admiration of Queen Elizabeth.

In 1581, he became the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Although almost all literary sources mention it, there is little evidence to confirm the famous legend of how Raleigh spread his cloak across a puddle so that the Queen could walk over it. But somehow similar the unheard-of son of a landowner must have attracted the Queen’s attention. As long as he pleased her, she gave him the freedom he needed to live a prosperous life. As an important courtier he was granted a wine monopoly (1583), was knighted (1585), and was given vast estates in Ireland.

Raleigh organized the colonising expeditions to America that ended tragically with the ‘lost colony’ expeditions on Roanoke Island, N.C. He was later named a Member of the ‘Commission for the Defence against Spain’, but there is no written evidence of the fact that he personally participated in the naval operations against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Probably because of his constant conflict with Robert Devereux, 2d Earl of Essex, Elizabeth’s later favourite, Raleigh left court in 1589. In Ireland, he then became a close friend of Edmund Spenser, whose ‘Faerie Queene’ was continued under Raleigh’s patronage. After the Queen’s quarrel with Essex over the Earl’s marriage, Raleigh took advantage of the favourable situation and returned once more to prominence at court (cf. Raleigh 1).

There are several legends about the exceptional relationship between Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I. Raleigh is said to have written the verse

“Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall”

in a glass window obvious to the Queen’s eye. As an answer she is said to have under-written his line with

“If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all”.

Her reply shows that she was a woman who dedicated her whole life to the throne and the wealth of the English nation rather than giving in to her private emotions. The narrative of this verse exchange serves to foreground the dialogic nature of poetic practice in the Renaissance. Poetry served a primarily communicative function. Like the exchange between Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I, verse production was neither neutral nor consensual, but dependent upon the successful execution of provocative verse, written in order to elicit a response (cf. Fuller and Freeman 716).

Only when Queen Elizabeth I found out that Raleigh had impregnated and married one of her Maids of Honour her favour towards him turned into irrevocable disappointment. In order to punish him, the Queen had him locked up in the Tower of London. However, although he was no longer in favour, he still owned Durham House and Sherborne Castle and benefited from his monopolies. He had been shamed, but not ruined completely.

Raleigh was finally released after one of his ships brought back a huge treasure of the captured Spanish ship ‘Madre De Dios’ (cf. Batten 2). Although Raleigh was an influential person during his time, he was always dependent on the Queen’s goodwill.

2.2 Raleigh as a writer during King James’s reign

Sir Walter Raleigh’s life depictures the downfall of him being the first favourite of Queen Elizabeth I to becoming the victim of Stuart tyranny. During King James’s reign Raleigh’s anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic attitude was highly problematic and thus interpreted as being anti-royalist as well. In spite of Queen Elizabeth I, King James I tried to make peace with Spain^[2] – for Raleigh, who still imagined things in the Elizabethan way, this royal change of direction was hard to adapt to. Consequently, when Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, Raleigh was framed as a member of a plot against the throne and sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.

Back in the Tower of London, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote the ‘War with Spain’, his ‘Instructions to His Son’ and ‘The History of the World’ that was first printed in 1614. Yet again Raleigh was released temporarily in order to lead another expedition to the ‘New World’. For on the one hand, King James I wanted the gold that seemed to be waiting for his men to be collected in America, on the other hand he wanted to keep the Spanish friendship he had just restored. The King’s plan was simple: he sent Raleigh on a trip to Guiana to gather gold for the English, but if he was discovered by the Spanish, he would put the blame on Raleigh alone.

Eventually, the King had changed his mind and had given full details of the expedition to the Spanish Ambassador. Although he still wanted the treasure of the goldmines, he did not want to go behind the Spaniards’ back. Thus Raleigh and his fleet were awaited in Guiana by the Spanish (cf. Trease 161). Consequently, the newly regained influence of the Spanish at court managed to have Raleigh re-arrested on his previous charge of betraying the English nation and its King and Raleigh was finally sentenced to death. At his execution in 1618 he is supposed to have said:

“But in this I speak now, what have I to do with kings? I have nothing to do with them, neither do I fear them. I have now to do with God; therefore, as I hope to be saved at the last day, I never spoke dishonourably, disloyally, nor dishonestly of the king” (Bryan and Halsey).

However, especially Raleigh’s reference on King Henry VIII, that “if all the pictures and patterns of merciless princes were lost in the world, they might all again be painted to life out of the story of this king” caused King James I to ban his works. This shows that he wrote ‘The History of the World’ in spite of his knowledge that it would not please the King and consequently threatened his own life. During that time the freedom of opinion did not exist and writers were dependent upon the King’s mercy. ‘The History of the World’ was banned by King James I soon after its publication, because it was alleged that Raleigh followed too closely the ‘heels of truth’. Already in his preface of ‘The History of the World’ he wrote “Whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may haply strike out his teeth” (Raleigh and EEBO 146). Although Raleigh had known better, he did not follow his own advice:

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^[1] Cynthia = Queen Elizabeth I.

^[2] King James I was a Catholic reign who tried to establish peace with the arch-Catholic Spain.