Was Sir Walter Raleigh convicted by King James and beheaded convicted of the wrong crime?

He was convicted of treason for political reasons on trumped-up charges and the decision of the court was unpopular in England then and is condemned by history as unjust. But he did another thing too. He popularized tobacco smoking in England.

Asked by edfoug 52 months ago Similar questions: Sir Walter Raleigh convicted King James beheaded wrong crime Society > story.

Similar questions: Sir Walter Raleigh convicted King James beheaded wrong crime.

You may be on to something! Actually, if he hadn't done it, someone else undoubtedly would have.As for whether he should have been convicted of treason, well, of course not! S beheading was a travesty and an outrage, and the direct result of those who were jealous of Raleigh's favor with Queen Elizabeth I.

When she became ill, they lost no time in turning James against him.It was harder, I think, for Raleigh to sway James because his "charm" would not carry him far with a monarch of the same sex -- putting his cloak over a mud pudle for James would not be chivalrous, it would be strange. Raleigh was clearly a pirate, but he was a pirate for his country so it was forgiven. I also think he was a man of honor.

Case in point: he was under a death sentence when he convinced James to let him go seek riches (a gold mine, I think it was). He failed, yet returned to face his beheading rather than running away. So, while I realize you were being facetious about his other "crime" (or were you?), I actually find his execution to be a sad, deplorable event in British history.

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Of course he was! It was all politics then as it is mostly politics now. Sir Walter Raleigh was a scalawag, an adventurer, a ladies man, an explorer, a courtier, an historian, a risk-taker, and today I have no doubt he would be diagnosed as suffering from ADD, impulsively doing whatever pleased him at the time even if it angered others.

Elizabeth I liked him immensely except when he betrayed her with other women or when she was enamored of the Earl of Essex, and as long as he brought back useful bits like money and tobacco, folks, even those who disliked him or were jealous of him, had to tolerate him. Anyone who "had the ear" of a monarch back then had incredible power. Whether one used it to help themselves and their buddies, or refused to use it to help someone in particular, one was unavoidably going to be the subject of jealousy, dislike, and downright hatred.

Once Elizabeth was gone and succeeded by James, old Walt had to watch his step very, very carefully, a task that proved impossible. Too many others were jealous of the favor shown him by Elizabeth. So when one of his many adventures failed to result in big bucks, his enemies were able to get him convicted on false charges.

I doubt very much he ever conspired against the Crown. I believe he was doing what he always did, seeking to maximize adrenalin and garner positive attention for it. Its just that when things didn’t work out, Liz wasn’t there to save him.In addition to introducing the European world to tobbacco, he reputedly also started the tradition of one last cigarette for the condemed man in that supposedly they let him smoke before beheading him.

S executioners were most kind and sent his preserved head back to his wife - How thoughtful of them! (not). I suppose she could claim he was still the head of the household even after death.

I rather like the following account, including what he thought would be his last letter to his wife (they fooled him and actually let him live in the Tower for an additional 15 years, plus let him go look for gold for them one last time): Born in 1552, Walter Raleigh achieved early fame as a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, as the classic type of courtier, as historian, explorer, and foreign adventurer. He is known partly in legend and partly in history for his gallantry and for his colonial exploits, which led to the introduction of tobacco to the civilized world. He was supplanted in the Queen’s favor by the Earl of Essex, went to Ireland, and was finally restored to favor until the Queen discovered his intrigue with Elizabeth Throgmorton.

After his rise and fall, his many powerful enemies at court took advantage of one of his unsuccessful colonial expeditions to South America and had him brought to trial at Winchester, on a charge of conspiring against the crown. On his conviction, he was sent to the Tower of London in 8.003, under James I. During his stay there, he wrote the famous which contains his oft-quoted apostrophe to death.

It is quoted here because it is relevant to the theme of his letter: "It is therefore death alone that can suddenly make man to know himself. He tells the proud and insolent, that they are but abjects, and humbles them at the instant; makes them cry, complain, and repent; yea, even to hate their fore-passed happiness."He takes the account of the rich, and proves him a beggar; a naked beggar, which hath interest in nothing, but in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and rottenness; and they acknowledge it.

"O eloquent, just, and mighty death! Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised: thou hast drawn together all the farstretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, " ". .

I am but dust. " 8.003 You shall now receive (my deare wife) my last words in these last lines. My love I send you that you may keep it when I am dead, and my councell that you may remember it when I am no more.

I would not by my will present you with sorrowes (dear Besse) let them go to the grave with me and be buried in the dust. And seeing that it is not Gods will that I should see you any more in this life, beare it patiently, and with a heart like thy selfe. First, I send you all the thankes which my heart can conceive, or my words can rehearse for your many travailes, and care taken for me, which though they have not taken effect as you wished, yet my debt to you is not the lesse: but pay it I never shall in this world.

Secondly, I beseech you for the love you beare me living, do not hide your selfe many dayes, but by your travailes seeke to helpe your miserable fortunes and the right of your poor childe. Thy mourning cannot availe me, I am but dust. Thirdly, you shall understand, that my land was conveyed bona fide to my childe: the writings were drawne at midsummer was twelve months, my honest cosen Brett can testify so much, and Dolberry too, can remember somewhat therein.

And I trust my blood will quench their malice that have cruelly murthered me: and that they will not seek also to kill thee and thine with extreame poverty. To what friend to direct thee I know not, for all mine have left me in the true time of tryall. And I perceive that my death was determined from the first day.

Most sorry I am God knowes that being thus surprised with death I can leave you in no better estate. God is my witnesse I meant you all my office of wines or all that I could have purchased by selling it, halfe of my stuffe, and all my jewels, but some one for the boy, but God hath prevented all my resolutions. That great God that ruleth all in all, but if you live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is but vanity.

Love God, and begin betimes to repose your selfe upon him, and therein shall you finde true and lasting riches, and endlesse comfort: for the rest when you have travailed and wearied your thoughts over all sorts of worldly cogitations, you shall but sit downe by sorrowe in the end. Teach your son also to love and feare God whilst he is yet young, that the feare of God may grow with him, and then God will be a husband to you, and a father to him; a husband and a father which cannot be taken from you. Baily oweth me 200 pounds, and Adrian Gilbert 600.In Jersey I also have much owing me besides.

The arrearages of the wines will pay my debts. And howsoever you do, for my soules sake, pay all poore men. When I am gone, no doubt you shall be sought for by many, for the world thinkes that I was very rich.

But take heed of the pretences of men, and their affections, for they last not but in honest and worthy men, and no greater misery can befall you in this life, than to become a prey, and afterwards to be despised. I speake not this (God knowes) to dissuade you from marriage, for it will be best for you, both in respect of the world and of God.As for me, I am no more yours, nor you mine, death hath cut us asunder: and God hath divided me from the world, and you from me. Remember your poor childe for his father’s sake, who chose you, and loved you in his happiest times.

Get those letters (if it be possible) which I writ to the Lords, wherein I sued for my life: God is my witnesse it was for you and yours that I desired life, but it is true that I disdained my self for begging of it: for know it (my deare wife) that your son is the son of a true man, and one who in his owne respect despiseth death and all his misshapen & ugly formes. I cannot write much, God he knows how hardly I steale this time while others sleep, and it is also time that I should separate my thoughts from the world. Begg my dead body which living was denied thee; and either lay it at Sherburne (and if the land continue) or in Exeter-Church, by my Father and Mother; I can say no more, time and death call me away.

The everlasting God, powerfull, infinite, and omnipotent God, That Almighty God, who is goodnesse it selfe, the true life and true light keep thee and thine: have mercy on me, and teach me to forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious Kingdome.My deare wife farewell. Blesse my poore boy. Pray for me, and let my good God hold you both in his armes.

Written with the dying hand of sometimes thy Husband, but now alasse overthrowne. Yours that was, but now not my own. Walter Rawleigh Many critics have pointed out that this dramatic letter is marked by a "Shakespearian eloquence."

It was written with what Raleigh believed was his dying hand, as he expected to be executed the following morning. ACTUALLY, Sir Walter Raleigh was not executed the following morning, but was confined in the Tower of London with his wife until 1616, when he was allowed to undertake an expedition to the Orinoco in search of gold. But this proved only a reprieve, and he was finally executed in 8.007, in the same courtyard of the Tower where he had once witnessed the execution of his bitter and far more popular rival, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Sorry for the oddities in font - this is due to the vagaries of cut and paste. Sources: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/raleghfarewell.htm darwin™'s Recommendations I Love Sir Walter Raleigh Mug I Love Sir Walter Raleigh Sweatshirt I Love Sir Walter Raleigh Long Sleeve T-shirt Sir Walter Raleigh: Being a True and Vivid Account of the Life and Times of the Explorer, Soldier, Scholar, Poet, and Courtier--The Controversial Hero of the Elizabethan Age Amazon List Price: $18.00 Used from: $8.003 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America Amazon List Price: $18.003 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) That Great Lucifer: A Potrait of Sir Walter Raleigh Amazon List Price: $16.95 Used from: $6.93 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) The Poems of Sir Walter Raleigh Collected and Authenticated with Those of Sir Henry Wotton and Other Courtly Poets from 8.007 to 1650: Edited with an introduction and notes by J. Hannah D.C.L Amazon List Price: $18.003 Used from: $18.003 The Creature in the Map: A Journey to El Dorado Amazon List Price: $28.007 Used from: $8.007 Sir Walter Raleigh Selections from s s Letters Amazon List Price: $78.003 Used from: $48.007 If you haven't read The Creature in the Map you really should.

I got it because of its accounts of "Jungle Rudy" aka Rudy Truffino, who was the guide that led us on our trip to Angel Falls, but it is very well written and quite interesting.

Well . . .... So popularizing tobacco smoking should be a capital crime, eh?

I can see the point (sort of), in that popularizing tobacco also introduced a lethal substance to society--and how many thousands of deaths over the centuries are directly attributable to smoking? But surely some intent must exist before a crime has been committed, however. Well, no: there is, after all, such a crime as involuntary manslaughter.So, with 20/20 hindsight, was Raleigh guilty of thousands of cases of involuntary manslaughter?

Maybe. But the mere idea makes me uncomfortable. What would someone want to convict me of in the centuries to come?

I cringe at the thought. Pam_I_Am's Recommendations No Smoking Amazon List Price: $49.95 Used from: $12.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 4 reviews) No-Nag, No-Guilt, Do-It-Your-Own-Way Guide to Quitting Smoking Amazon List Price: $9.950 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 6 reviews) The No Smoking Diet: How to Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight Amazon List Price: $12.95 Used from: $0.50 "N" is for NO SMOKING...please (Our Kidspak) Amazon List Price: $9.950 Used from: $9.951 No Smoking: The Ethical Issues Amazon List Price: $19.952 Used from: $9.950 Smoking Stinks!(Substance Free Kids Series , No 1) Amazon List Price: $19.951 Used from: $9.952 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) But then, perhaps Raleigh should actually be PRAISED, for he also indirectly spawned a whole quit-smoking industry!.

Raleigh was convicted of treason, but released prior to being re-arrested and beheaded Raleigh may have been beheaded, not because of his implication in the plot against King James I (a spanish plot), but because he destroyed a spanish outpost on his last expiditionReally, people were happy about the Tobacco thing - then, anyway. Sources: My answer - several sources .

Ultimately, he lost his head for ticking off Spain at the wrong time. Spain used its influence to have him beheaded. Here is what Wikipedia says about the final year's of Raleigh's life: From 1600 to 1603, Raleigh was the Governor of the Channel Island of Jersey, and he was responsible for modernizing the defenses of the island.

He named the new fortress protecting the approaches to Saint Helier Fort Isabella Bellissima — or, in the less ebullient English version, Elizabeth Castle. Raleigh's "cell", Bloody Tower, Tower of London Though royal favour with Elizabeth had been restored by this time, it did not last. Elizabeth died in 1603, and Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 19 July.

Later that year, on 17 November, Raleigh was tried in the converted Great Hall of Winchester Castle for treason due to his supposed involvement in the Main Plot against King James. Raleigh conducted his defense with great skill, which may, in part, explain why King James spared his life, despite the guilty verdict. He was left to languish in the Tower of London until 1616.

While imprisoned, he wrote many treatises and the first volume of The about the ancient history of Greece and Rome. In 1616, Sir Walter was released from the Tower of London in order to conduct a second expedition to Venezuela in search of El Dorado. In the course of the expedition, Raleigh's men, under the command of Lawrence Keymis, sacked the Spanish outpost of San Thome on the Orinoco.

During the initial attack on the settlement, Raleigh's son Walter was struck by a bullet and killed. On Raleigh's return to England, the outraged Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, the Spanish ambassador, demanded that King James reinstate Raleigh's death sentence. Edit Death The Spanish ambassador's demand was granted.

Raleigh was beheaded with an axe at Whitehall on 29 October 1618. "Let us dispatch," he asked his executioner. "At this hour my ague comes upon me.

I would not have my enemies think I quaked from fear. " After he was allowed to see the axe that would behead him, he mused: "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries". According to many biographers — Raleigh Trevelyan in his book Sir Walter Raleigh (2003) for instance — Sir Walter's final words (as he lay ready for the axe to fall) were: "Strike man, strike!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Walter_Raleigh Another version of the same events: The death of the queen and the accession of James I were ruinous to Ralegh. James, who looked upon Essex as his partisan, had been prejudiced, and Ralegh's avowed desire for the prolongation of the war with Spain was utterly against the peace policy of the king. Ralegh was embarrassed for money, and had been compelled to sell his Irish estates to Richard Boyle, afterwards 1st earl of Cork, in 1602.

He was expelled from Durham House, which was reclaimed by the bishop, dismissed from the captaincy of the Guard, deprived of his monopolies, which the king abolished, and of the government of Jersey. In his anger and despair he unquestionably took some part in the complication of conspiracies which arose in the first months of James's reign, and was committed to the Tower on the 19th of July 1603. Here he made what appears to have been an insincere attempt to stab himself, but only inflicted a small wound.

November 1603, was conducted with such outrageous unfairness as to shock the opinion of the time, and his gallant bearing in face of the brutality of the Attorney-General, Sir Edward Coke, turned public opinion in his favour. It is now impossible to reach the truth, but on the whole it appears probable that Ralegh was cognizant of the conspiracies, though the evidence produced against him was insufficient to prove his guilt. Much was kept back by the council, and the jury was influenced by knowing that the council thought him guilty.

The sentence of death passed on Ralegh, and others tried at about the same time, was in most cases not carried out. Ralegh was sent to the Tower, where he remained till the 9th of March 1616. Which he had transferred to his son, was taken by the king, who availed himself of a technical irregularity in the transfer.

A sum of 8000 offered in compensation was only paid in part. Ralegh's confinement was easy, and he applied himself to chemical experiments and literature. He had been known as one of the most poetical of the minor lyric poets of an age of poetry from his youth.In prison he composed many treatises, and the only volume of his vast story of the World published.

He also invented an elixir which appears to have been a very formidable quack stimulant. Hope of release and of a renewal of activity never deserted him, and he strove to reach the ear of the king by appealing to successive ministers and favourites.At last he secured his freedom in a way discreditable to all concerned. He promised the king to find a gold mine in Guiana without trenching on a Spanish possession.

It must have been notorious to everybody that this was impossible, and the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, warned the king that the Spaniards had settlements on the coast. The king, who was in need of money, replied that if Ralegh was guilty of piracy he should be executed on his return. Ralegh gave promises he obviously knew he could not keep, and sailed on the 17th of March 1617, relying on the chapter of accidents, and on vague intrigues he had entered into in Savoy and France.

The expedition, on which the wreck of his fortune was spent, was ill-appointed and ill-manned.It reached the mouth of the Orinoco on the last day of 1617. Ralegh was ill with fever, and remained at Trinidad. He sent five small vessels up the Orinoco under his most trusted captain, Lawrence Keymis, with whom went his son Walter and a nephew.

The expedition found a Spanish settlement on the way to the supposed mine, and a fight ensued in which Sir Walter's son and several Spaniards were killed. After some days of bush fighting with the Spaniards, and of useless search for the mine, Keymis returned to Sir Walter with the news of his son's death and his own utter ruin. Stung by Ralegh's reproach Keymis killed himself, and then after a miserable scene of recriminations, hesitations and mutiny, the expedition returned home.

Ralegh was arrested, and in pursuance of the king's promise to Gondomar was executed under his old sentence on the 29th of October 1618. During his confinement he descended to some unworthy supplications and devices, but when he knew his end to be inevitable he died with serenity and dignity. http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/raleghbio.htm I can hardly condemn Raleigh for introducing tobacco to England, when it learned minds in the US and Britain were still debating the issue in the 1960s.

Sources: reference above Snow_Leopard's Recommendations The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century Amazon List Price: $16.00 Used from: $9.52 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 43 reviews) Sir Walter Raleigh: Being a True and Vivid Account of the Life and Times of the Explorer, Soldier, Scholar, Poet, and Courtier--The Controversial Hero of the Elizabethan Age Amazon List Price: $18.00 Used from: $5.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado Amazon List Price: $20.00 Used from: $0.19 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) The Lady Tasting Tea is a book on the history of Statistics, written for non-mathematicians. If has an excellent discussion of the great controversy over whether the data used to "prove" the ill effects of smoking actually "proved" anything. The book is a fun read!.

Clive Owen in Elizabeth: The Golden Years as Sir Walter Raleigh.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.