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Sir Walter Raleigh
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Engraving by J. Pofselwhite of Walter Raleigh wearing an ornate, patterned doublet, ruffled collar, and feathered hat, with one hand on his hip.
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Engraving by J. Pofselwhite of Walter Raleigh wearing an ornate, patterned doublet, ruffled collar, and feathered hat, with one hand on his hip.
Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh.

Sir Walter Raleigh

English explorer
Also known as: Sir Walter Ralegh
Written by
Agnes M.C. Latham
Former Reader in English, Bedford College, University of London. Editor of The Poems of Sir Walter Ralegh and others.
Agnes M.C. Latham
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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Sir Walter Raleigh (born 1554?, Hayes Barton, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England—died October 29, 1618, London) was an English adventurer and writer, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who knighted him in 1585. Accused of treason by Elizabeth’s successor, James I, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually put to death. Raleigh was a younger son of Walter Raleigh (d. 1581) of Fardell in Devon, by his third wife, Katherine Gilbert (née...

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