29 October: Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh died on this date in 1618. Here are some things you might not know about him:

1. He was born in Devon around 1554. The exact date isn’t known. His parents were Catherine Champermowne and Walter Raleigh.

2. He studied at Oxford University's Oriel College, but became a soldier while still in his teens.

3. He became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I after serving during an uprising in Ireland. He was also tall and handsome, which may have helped. There is a story in which he lays his cloak over a puddle so the queen would not get her feet wet, and there are speculations the two of them might have had an affair.

4. He was sent to prison for getting married without asking the queen’s permission. While this could be seen as evidence of the queen being jealous, it was a requirement of courtiers at the time to get royal approval to wed. He and his wife, Elizabeth “Bess” Throckmorton, one of the queen’s ladies in waiting, were sent to the Tower of London in 1592, but were released so that Raleigh could recover booty from a captured Portuguese ship.

5. Several of his adventures were connected with a quest to find El Dorado, a mythical city of riches in the New World. Raleigh believed El Dorado was somewhere in Guiana (present-day Venezuela). He didn’t find it, but plundered the area anyway.

6. He might have got Elizabeth I into smoking. He is credited with introducing Tobacco to Europe, although historians say tobacco was present in Europe before his time.

7. He’s also credited with introducing Potatoes to Britain and Ireland, and presenting the queen with a potato as a gift. However, historians dispute this one as well, claiming he didn’t visit any places where potatoes were indigenous.

8. He wrote romantic poetry. His poems included “The Ocean’s Love to Cynthia” and "Nature, That Washed Her Hands in Milk." There’s speculation that “Cynthia” was a pseudonym for Queen Elizabeth I.

9. Raleigh may have been a favourite of Elizabeth I, but her successor, King James I, wasn’t a fan and accused him of plotting to overthrow him. The sentence for this should have been death, but the king commuted his sentence to imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he had comfortable accommodation and an extensive library. He spent his time there reading and writing until he was released in order to have another shot at finding El Dorado.

10. During the trip, Raleigh’s men attacked a Spanish colony, which violated of the terms of Raleigh’s release from prison. The Spanish ambassador prevailed upon King James to reinstate Raleigh’s death sentence. He was beheaded on October 29, 1618, at the Old Palace Yard in Westminster. His severed head was given to his wife Bess, who had it embalmed and kept it in a red bag until she died.

Character birthday

Molly Pozzi, a member of the Pozzi gangster family based in New York City. As a girl, she would follow her older brothers and cousins when they went off on Gang related business. This annoyed them at first, as her lack of experience made her a liability and they were resistant to a woman being part of the gang. However, she practised long and hard at shooting and combat skills. As time went on, she frequently got her brothers and cousins out of sticky situations and they realised they couldn't work without her.