Raleigh’s New World: Hunting Sir Walter among the alligators
Above: How Native Americans coped with alligators 400 years ago
Florida
in August… Disneyland and beaches, hurricanes and alligators.
Maybe
it wasn’t the best time to visit the Sunshine State. It was humid and very,
very hot. But the family wedding I attended, in between the devastations of hurricanes Harvey
a
There’s a close season for hurricanes but alligators
are a year-round hazard in Florida. An unexpected meeting with of one of the
creatures in a pond at Kanapaha State Park outside Gainesville reminded me of how
they were tackled by the indigenous population four centuries ago. This celebrated engraving
comes from a book published in 1590. It was entitled 'A briefe and true report
of the new found land of Virginia’, written by Thomas Harriot, and published in
four languages with illustrations by the Flemish engraver and publisher Theodore
de Bry.
Harriot – more of him later – was a friend
of Sir Walter Raleigh, and the book was part of Raleigh's effort to persuade
his fellow-countrymen to invest in his colonising efforts in the New
World. (The spelling of his surname is as variable as Raleigh's).
I hadn’t expected to find much
of relevance. After all, it’s hundreds of miles away in North Carolina that you
find the most obvious connections with the Great Devonian, notably the city of
Raleigh itself.
And
of course Roanoke Island, in that part of America originally named Virginia in
homage to Queen Elizabeth I, has been made famous because of the mysterious
disappearance of 115 English settlers. They had come ashore in August 1587, in
an expedition sponsored by Raleigh.
The principal characters of The Lost Colony outdoor drama from the 2008 production Image credit: Walter Gresham & The Roanoke Island Historical Association, producers of The Lost Colony
Each
year Sir Walter and his fellow-Elizabethans are remembered in the spectacular
Lost Colony show which you can read about at
http://thelostcolony.org/ I wonder whether anyone in our own county of
Devon has ever tried to stage something so ambitious.
A
section of the Florida museum describing the life of Native Americans before
the arrival of English and Spanish colonists looked interesting.
A section of the Ralegh Room at Fairlynch Museum
After
all, one of the thought-provoking sections in the Sir Walter Ralegh Room at
Fairlynch is a collection of Native Americans’ stone tools. On loan from Bristol
Museum and Art Gallery, these very special artefacts date from the time of
English explorers’ encounters with the New World and its peoples.
And
many East Budleigh residents have a strong view about this 16th century bench end in All Saints’
Church, the church where young Walter Raleigh and his family worshipped.
They believe that it depicts exactly one of the original inhabitants of the New World, with
what they see as his feathered head-dress. Others believe differently, as
you can read here.
The
history of how America’s original inhabitants were treated by successive
generations of European settlers is not a happy one. At the Gainesville museum
it’s well told with graphic displays illustrating the impact of Spanish
invaders on the Calusa tribe. The tribe, the most powerful in South Florida at
the time of Columbus’ voyage, had been alarmed as early as 1510 by stories of
Cuban Indians massacred by the Europeans.
A panel from the Florida Natural History
Museum showing a Jesuit priest attempting to convert a Calusa tribesman to
Christianity
I wondered whether the relationship between English settlers and New World tribes further north in Virginia had been any happier.
Queen Elizabeth I, 'The Ermine Portrait' attributed to William Segar, 1585
In 1584 Queen Elizabeth had granted Letters Patent to ‘our trusty and well beloved servant Walter Ralegh Esquire (...) to discover, search, find out and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people.’
In spite of the
failure of the 1587 Roanoke Lost Colony, it’s clear that the royal approval and
Raleigh’s efforts prove, as North Carolina historian David Stick put it, that
‘the history of English-speaking America began four hundred years ago, not at
Jamestown or Plymouth Rock, as so many
are led to believe, but at Roanoke Island.’
Raleigh
himself was apparently keen that his English settlers should differ from the brutal
modes of colonisation favoured by earlier generations. Contrary to what many
believe, he never set foot in North America. But he did lead two expeditions to
Guiana in South America, in 1595 and 1618.
This 100 Dollar Gold Coin, issued by the Republic of Guyana in 1976, commemorates Raleigh's 1596 book about the country, and 10 years of independence from British rule
Image credit: Berlin-George
In
his Discoverie of the large, rich and
beautiful Empire of Guiana, published a year after the first of the two visits,
he condemned the Spanish for their treatment of the native population, claiming
that they ‘took the wives and daughters and used them for the satisfying of
their own lusts, especially such as they took in this manner by strength.’
The
English were blameless in this respect, he asserted. ‘I protest before the
majesty of the living God, that I neither know nor believe, that any of our
company, by violence or otherwise, ever knew any of their women, and yet we saw
many hundreds, and had many in our power, and of those very young, and
excellently favoured, which came among us without deceit stark naked.’
Not all the men under his command were as well behaved
as they should have been towards their hosts, admits Raleigh. ‘I confess it was a very impatient work to
keep the meaner sort from spoil and stealing when we came to their houses;
which because in all I could not prevent, I caused my Indian interpreter at
every place when we departed, to know of the loss or wrong done, and if aught
were stolen or taken by violence, either the same was restored, and the party
punished in their sight, or else was paid for to their uttermost demand.
The monument commemorating the Smerwick Harbour
massacre at the Field of the Heads (Gort na gCrann) near Dun an Oir. It reminds
us of the massacre of around 600 Irish, Spanish and Italian men and women by
English troops commanded by Lord Grey of Wilton in 1580, in which Raleigh
played a prominent role. It is said that the victims were decapitated and their
heads buried here. The monument dates from 1980; the seaward side bears a cross
and a Gaelic inscription 'igcuimhne dhun an oir samhain 1580'
Hmm…
too good to be true? For those who know of Raleigh’s treatment of the Irish
some 15 years earlier this account of himself as the perfect guest in a foreign
land sounds like hypocrisy or convenient forgetfulness. The excuse that he gave
for his role in the Smerwick massacre was that he was carrying out orders.
Strangely
Raleigh is seen as a hero in some parts of Ireland: there is even a Raleigh
Quarter in the town of Youghal, where he was Mayor. You can read about this here.
The
glorious period of the Renaissance was in any case a violent age of atrocity
and counter-atrocity. And I’m sure Raleigh
hoped that Native Americans would prove to be useful allies against the
Spanish.
Or
he may simply have matured with age, with a genuine interest in the culture of
the New World. There were, after all, contemporary writers who condemned the
violence of their times.
Initially,
at any rate, the first explorers sent by Raleigh to Virginia gave a glowing
impression of the locals. Arthur Barlow, one of the captains of the two ships
which sailed from Plymouth on 27 April 1584 reported that they were ‘most
gentle, loving and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as lived
after the manner of the golden age.’
Two
Native Americans, Manteo and Wanchese described by Barlow as ‘lustie men’, were
persuaded to accompany their English visitors on the return journey and were presented
to Queen Elizabeth herself.
A 1602 portrait reputedly of Thomas Harriot which hangs in Trinity College, Oxford
If
Raleigh did indeed share with some of his fellow-explorers such admiration for
the New World’s inhabitants, possible evidence may be found in the writings of
the mathematician and scientist Thomas Harriot who became one of his most loyal
friends.
After studies at Oxford University, Harriot had written a treatise on navigation. He was hired by Raleigh as a mathematics tutor and provided the necessary knowledge of astronomy and engineering to provide navigational expertise, help design Raleigh’s ships, and serve as his accountant. Harriot’s role as interpreter during the 1585 Virginia expedition was vital.
It was he who made efforts to communicate with Manteo and Wanchese, devising a phonetic alphabet to transcribe their Carolina Algonquian language.
After studies at Oxford University, Harriot had written a treatise on navigation. He was hired by Raleigh as a mathematics tutor and provided the necessary knowledge of astronomy and engineering to provide navigational expertise, help design Raleigh’s ships, and serve as his accountant. Harriot’s role as interpreter during the 1585 Virginia expedition was vital.
It was he who made efforts to communicate with Manteo and Wanchese, devising a phonetic alphabet to transcribe their Carolina Algonquian language.
Photo credit: Brendan Blake
Thomas Harriot’s achievements as a scientist have only recently been acknowledged. A plaque, unveiled by Lord Egremont, was erected in July 2009 in the grounds of Syon House, West London. This was the home of Raleigh’s friend Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland – known during his time as ‘The Wizard Earl’ – who later became Harriot’s patron. The plaque commemorates the 400th anniversary of Harriot's drawings of the moon using a telescope. This is generally considered to be the first astronomical use of the telescope. An annual Thomas Harriot Lecture has been given at Oriel College, Oxford, since 1990. See
Thomas Harriot’s achievements as a scientist have only recently been acknowledged. A plaque, unveiled by Lord Egremont, was erected in July 2009 in the grounds of Syon House, West London. This was the home of Raleigh’s friend Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland – known during his time as ‘The Wizard Earl’ – who later became Harriot’s patron. The plaque commemorates the 400th anniversary of Harriot's drawings of the moon using a telescope. This is generally considered to be the first astronomical use of the telescope. An annual Thomas Harriot Lecture has been given at Oriel College, Oxford, since 1990. See
Harriot’s
book A Briefe and True
Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia, published in 1588, was undoubtedly part of Raleigh's effort to
persuade his fellow-countrymen to invest in his colonising efforts in the New
World. But it seems that there’s a genuine note of sincerity in the author’s
admiration for the different way of life enjoyed by its inhabitants. In their
diet, for example, he describes how Native Americans are ‘moderate in their
eating whereby they avoid sickness.’
They
are ‘consequently very long lived because they do not oppress nature,’ he
explains, expressing disgust at what he sees as the debauchery of Elizabethans.
‘I would to god we would follow their example. For we should be free from many
kinds of diseases which we fall into by sumptous and unseasonable banquets,
continually devising new sauces, and provocation of gluttony to satisfy our
insatiable appetite.’ Yes, we know
exactly what he means.
On the other hand it’s a commonplace that the New
World came to represent for Renaissance colonialists a nostalgic idealized view
of how the Old World may once have been.
The
Age of Elizabeth was drawing to a close, to be succeeded by the 17th
century with its Pilgrim Fathers seeking a Promised Land, and a Civil War
aiming to build a fairer and more idealistic society in England. In the much-quoted words of the poet Andrew
Marvell’s biographer Nigel Smith, ‘The image of Eden, and the possibility of
its recuperation, was the most powerful, idealistic and utopian image in the
century.’
It was typical of Raleigh’s nemesis, King James I, that
he should see New World’s inhabitants in a totally different light. Resentful of the prestige that Raleigh had
enjoyed as a favourite of his predecessor, the new monarch was disgusted by
what he saw as ‘the barbarous and beastly maners of the wilde,
godlesse, and slavish Indians’ and especially by their ‘filthie custome’ of smoking tobacco.
At
the Gainesville museum this image of Native Americans with the burnt-out
interior of a tree trunk to illustrate how Florida’s Calusa tribe made boats
seemed familiar. The caption described it as a scene from Virginia: it is in
fact one of the illustrations from Harriot’s book.
‘The
Manner of Makinge their Boates’ is based on one of the celebrated drawings by a
second person who could be seen as expressing Raleigh’s own admiration for the
simpler ‘golden age’ enjoyed by inhabitants of the New World. This was the artist John White, employed by
Raleigh as a mapmaker for the Virginia expedition.
White’s
watercolours are among the treasures of the British Museum collection. The only surviving visual record of the land and peoples
encountered by England’s first settlers in America, they are rarely on display,
needing to be kept away from the damaging effects of light. A major public exhibition of
the images took them to the USA in 2008. The British Museum has no plans to
exhibit them for Raleigh’s 400th anniversary.
Here is a selection to give you an idea of the impact
that they would have had on people for whom the New World would have been like
a distant galaxy, had we been in their place today.
Virginea Pars map, drawn by John
White during his initial visit in 1585. Roanoke is the small pink island in the
middle right of the map.
A Roanoke village
Dancing Secotan Indians.
Ceremony of Secotan warriors
‘The town of Pomeoc and some of their houses’
‘A cheife Herowans wyfe of Pomeoc and her daughter of the age of 8 or 10 years’
‘Come to this place where everything is neat and tidy and
there is food everywhere!’ is the message of John White’s watercolours
according to the American author and science historian Deborah Harkness.
The title page of the Latin version of Harriot’s
account of Virginia published by Theodor de Bry in 1590. It acknowledges both
the author and Raleigh himself as responsible for organizing the expedition.
White’s
images were used by the publisher Theodor de Bry in a new, illustrated 1590
edition of A Briefe and True Report of
the New Found Land of Virginia. They added to an already intense interest
in the New World.
The
book sold well, and the next year de Bry published a new one about the first
French attempts to colonize Florida: Fort Caroline, founded by Jean Ribault and
René de Laudonnière. It featured 43 illustrations based on paintings of Jacques
Le Moyne de Morgues, one of the few survivors of Fort Caroline. The engraving of alligator hunting by native Americans which I used at the
beginning of this post was based on a painting of Le Moyne, now lost.
The
later history of the relationship between Native Americans and the English is
an unhappy one, full of sad episodes of mistrust, betrayal, violence and
murders in which two of Raleigh’s commanders, Sir Richard Grenville and Sir
Ralph Lane, played critical roles.
Governor John White and his men discover in 1590
the word CROATOAN carved on a tree - the only trace of the 1597 colony of 115
settlers which included White's granddaughter (19th century illustration)
John White was different. He was, in David Stick’s view, ‘without question, a compassionate man, and, unlike Lane, an individual with a reverence for all God’s earthly creations, including even the natives of America, whom he had depicted in his drawings as people both gentle and proud.’
The
New World drawings of John White and Thomas Harriot’s descriptions of Virginia remain
as testimony to the ideal envisaged by Raleigh and his fellow-explorers. In Sir
Walter’s History of the World,
composed when the author was a prisoner in the Tower of London and published in
1614, later writers such as the novelist John Buchan have seen Raleigh as
foreseeing the rise of the British Empire – or at least its benevolent aspects.
A 1610 portrait of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, (1594–1612), by Robert Peake
It
seems that Raleigh wrote his History
as a lesson in government for King James I’s son Prince Henry, to teach the
young prince the qualities of a good king. ‘Under such a king,’ he wrote, ‘it
is likely, by God’s blessing, that a land shall flourish with increase of trade
in countries before unknown; that civility and religion shall be propagated
into barbarous and heathen countries; and that the happiness of his subjects
shall cause the nations far off removed, to wish him their sovereign.’
But
sadly, Prince Henry died unexpectedly in 1612, and James I, considering the History
as ‘too saucy in the censuring of princes’ later revoked the publishing
rights.
And
the history of the settlement of distant lands by Europeans has not been as
glorious as Raleigh would have liked.
Governments
seem to have tried to make amends from time to time, as in the case of New
Zealand’s Taranaki Wars. Conflict had come about in the 1860s after disputes
between Maoris and English settlers over the purchase of land in the Taranaki
region of the North Island. In 1904 the town of Raleigh reverted to its original
Maori name of Waitara. It had been named in honour of Sir Walter in 1867.
A plaque to commemorate the first Indigenous person, Manteo, who was converted to Christianity at the Roanoke Colony. Image credit: Sarah Stierch
Much closer geographically to the Raleigh story is Dare County in North Carolina. It includes Roanoke Island where The Lost Colony show takes place. The county seat is Manteo, named after the Native American who was befriended by Thomas Harriot and John White.
Manteo was presented at the English Court to Queen Elizabeth and eventually christened and given the name Baron of Roanoke and Dasamongueponke, making him the first American Indian to receive a title of nobility. Dare County itself was named after Virginia Dare, John White’s granddaughter and the first child born in the Americas to English parents.
A booklet was published by the Dare County Rotary Club in
the late 1940s. Dedicated to ‘the Service Men and Women of Dare County World War II 1941-45’, it had the worthy aim
of listing all those combatants who had fought to preserve our freedom.
I’d found the booklet online, purely by chance after
googling Raleigh for the millionth time. This sentence in the Preface caught my
eye: ‘But for the heroic explorations made possible here by Sir Walter Raleigh
and his associates, the story of the founding and freeing of our land from the
Indians and wilderness, would have been quite different.’
‘Freeing of our land from the Indians?’
Thousands of Americans had just made the ultimate
sacrifice to free Europe from domination by the barbaric Nazis.
Freedom clearly means different things to different
people, at different times.
You can find the booklet at
So it was good, and reassuring, to see the interesting,
vivid and respectful displays of Indian culture at Florida’s Museum of Natural History
Panel from Gainesville Florida Natural History
Museum showing a Calusa fishing village
Panel from Gainesville Florida Natural History
Museum showing Seminole and Miccosukee ceremonies
Panel from Gainesville Florida Natural History
Museum showing Seminole and Miccosukee language and legends
Panel from Gainesville Florida Natural History Museum showing Seminole and Miccosukee medicine
Panel from Gainesville Florida Natural History Museum showing Seminole and Miccosukee traditional costumes
Did you know that the Seminole tribe of Florida bought
the Hard Rock Café chain in 2007.
A Florida alligator
Image credit: Clément Bardot
And I was glad to learn that alligators are now a protected species in the USA - even this ugly-looking creature.
You can now read a growing mass of material about Sir Walter's 400th anniversary at http://raleigh400.blogspot.co.uk/
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