A Kingdom Strange

by James Horn

  1519 Hernán Cortes begins conquest of Mexico.

  1520 Discovery of the Straits of Magellan and route to the Pacific Ocean.

  1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano sails along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

  1531-1535 Conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro.

  1533 Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth is born in September.

  1534 Act of Supremacy confirms Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England and accelerates erosion of papal authority. London emerges as a stronghold of the new reformed religion.

  1536 Anne Boleyn is executed after being found guilty of adultery. Thomas Cromwell, vicar-general of the English church, introduces legislation to undermine Catholic practices and establish Protestantism.

  1538 Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Paul III.

  CA. 1540 Birth of John White.

  1545 Discovery of silver mines in Mexico and Peru.

  1547-1553 English Protestantism advances during reign of the boy king, Edward VI.

  1553 Mary I (Tudor) succeeds Edward VI and reinstates the Catholic Church.

  1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion against Mary is quashed. Princess Elizabeth is sent to the Tower on suspicion of sympathizing with the rebels. Mary marries Philip of Spain in July. Walter Ralegh is born at Hayes Barton, East Budleigh, Devon.

  1558 Elizabeth I ascends the throne and restores the Church of England

  1562 Outbreak of civil war in France between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). Jean Ribault establishes a Huguenot settlement at Charlesfort in Spanish Florida.

  1564-1565 The French move their settlement to Fort Caroline (near present-day Jacksonville, Florida). It is destroyed the following year by the Spanish governor of Florida, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who establishes a string of garrisons along the coast.

  1566 Humphrey Gilbert authors a treatise on the Northwest Passage to Cathay. The Spanish are the first Europeans to explore the Outer Banks of North Carolina. John White marries Thomasine Cooper at St. Martin Ludgate in London.

  1567 Philip II of Spain orders the Duke of Alba to crush opposition to Spanish rule in the Netherlands. Mary, Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favor of her infant son, James VI.

  1568 A fleet of English privateers led by John Hawkins is destroyed at St. Juan de Ulúa, Vera Cruz, Mexico. Mary, Queen of Scots flees to England. Ralegh goes to France to fight for the Huguenots. Eleanor, daughter of John and Thomasine White, is born.

  1570 Pope Pius V issues an injunction encouraging Catholics to depose Elizabeth I. A small group of Jesuits establishes a mission on the Pamunkey (York) River in the Chesapeake Bay with the support of Governor Menéndez; they are killed by Indians the next year

  1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris incites the killing of thousands of Huguenots throughout France.

  1572-73 Francis Drake raids the Spanish Caribbean and Main.

  1575 Elizabeth I is invited to become sovereign of the rebellious Dutch provinces; she refuses.

  1576-1578 Martin Frobisher leads three expeditions to Baffin Island (Meta Incognita) in search of the Northwest Passage and gold. John White accompanies the second voyage.

  1577-1580 Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe and is knighted by the queen.

  1578 Elizabeth I grants Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent to plant a colony in North America. Gilbert fails to reach America.

  1580 Annexation of Portugal by Philip II. Ralegh takes part in the massacre of Italian and Spanish troops at Smerwick on the west coast of Ireland.

  1581 Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands declare Philip II deposed.

  1582 Francis, Duke of Anjou, Elizabeth’s last suitor, leaves England. Ralegh becomes the queen’s favorite and moves into Durham House on the Strand, London, early the following year.

  1583 Death of Sir Humphrey Gilbert at sea in September returning from Newfoundland. In November Francis Throckmorton confesses to a Catholic plot to kill Elizabeth and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne.

  1584 Ralegh dispatches a reconnaissance mission to North America. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow discover Roanoke Island and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Richard Hakluyt the younger writes “Discourse on Western Planting” advocating an English America. William of Orange, leader of the Dutch rebels, is assassinated in July. Amadas and Barlow arrive back in London in September, bringing two Indians, Manteo and Wanchese. The Bond of Association is distributed throughout England.

  1585 Ralegh is knighted. Sir Richard Grenville leaves Plymouth for Roanoke in April with seven ships and 600 men. A garrison of 108 men under the command of Ralph Lane is established in August on Roanoke Island. Grenville and most of the men, including John White, return to England. Elizabeth signs a treaty with the Dutch in August pledging military support. Drake sails with a fleet of twenty-five ships to raid the West Indies and Spanish Main.

  1586 Lane sends an exploratory party north from Roanoke Island to Chesapeake Bay. In March the English learn of a possible attack being planned by local Indians and send an expedition against the Chowanocs. Lane hears of the distant province of “Chaunis Temoatan” and of a powerful Indian chief to the north, possibly Wahunsonacock (Powhatan). The English attack the town of Dasemunkepeuc in June and kill the Secotan chief Wingina (Pemisapan). After plundering the West Indies and destroying the Spanish garrison at San Augustine, Florida, Drake arrives off Hatarask and removes Lane’s men back to England. Grenville arrives with six ships and 200 colonists in July, but finding Roanoke Island deserted, departs after establishing a small garrison of fifteen to eighteen men. A Catholic plot to assassinate Elizabeth is foiled. Mary, Queen of Scots is implicated in the conspiracy. During the fall and winter Ralegh develops plans for a civilian colony to be led by John White. The queen grants Ralegh lands in England and 12,000 acres in Munster, southern Ireland.

  1587 White and Grenville recruit settlers for a new colony to be founded on the Chesapeake Bay. Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on February 19, setting off an international crisis with Spain. White leaves Plymouth in April with three ships and 118 men, women, and children. They arrive at Roanoke Island in July and are deposited there by the master pilot, Simon Fernandes, who refuses to go on to the Chesapeake. In August White returns to England with Fernandes to seek aid for the colonists. The queen grants Ralegh 42,000 acres in County Cork, centered on Youghal and Lismore.

  1588 A general stay of shipping in March prevents a large expedition commanded by Grenville from returning to Roanoke to reinforce the colonists. The following month White leaves with two privateers but fails to reach the colony. In July Captain Vicente Gonzales discovers the English had settled on Roanoke Island but finds no trace of the settlers. The Spanish Armada descends on England and is defeated off the Flanders coast in early August. Elizabeth celebrates victory and the thirtieth year of her reign.

  1589 White is unable to mount an expedition to relieve the colonists. Ralegh grants trading privileges with the colony to

  a syndicate of merchants and others, including White, in return for their involvement in financing another voyage to reinforce the settlers.

  1590 White leaves Plymouth in March with three privateers bound for the West Indies and Roanoke. He arrives at Roanoke Island in August and finds the settlement abandoned. A mesage carved on a post by the colonists suggests they might be at Croatoan Island, but persistent bad weather prevents White from reaching them. He returns to England.

  1591 Ralegh secretly marries Elizabeth (Bess) Throckmorton. His son is born the following year.

  1592 Ralegh is sent by the queen to the Tower in disgrace and then exiled to his country estate at Sherborne, Dorset. He begins planning an expedition to the Orinoco River to discover El Dorado.

  1593 John White resides on Ralegh’s estates at Newtown, County Cork. He writes to Richard Hakluyt in February.

  1595 Ralegh explores the Orinoco River but does not find El Dorado. His Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana fails
to stimulate support for further expeditions.

  1597 Ralegh is restored to the court and Elizabeth I’s favor.

  1602 Samuel Mace is sent by Ralegh to the Outer Banks but does not make contact with the lost colonists.

  1603 Ralegh dispatches Bartholomew Gilbert to the Chesapeake Bay. Gilbert is killed by Indians on the Eastern Shore. Death of the queen in March and the accession of James I lead to Ralegh’s fall from power. He is convicted of treason and sent to the Tower.

  1604 James I negotiates a peace treaty with Spain that ends the privateering war.

  1606 The Virginia Company of London is established in the spring. Three ships carrying 105 settlers are dispatched in December to found a colony on the Chesapeake Bay.

  1607 The English arrive at the Chesapeake Bay and establish Jamestown on the James River. The Powhatans possibly launch a large-scale attack on the Tuscaroras, Chowanocs, and Chesapeakes. Captain John Smith hears of the existence of survivors of the lost colony south of Jamestown. By winter, Jamestown is on the brink of collapse.

  1608 Smith sends an expedition to look for the lost colonists. The English search for mines in the interior beyond the fall of the James River and for news of a passage to the South Sea.

  1609 The Virginia Company is thoroughly reformed, and 500 settlers are sent to the colony. The company urges establishing settlements in North Carolina as well as Virginia. Captain Francisco Fernández de Écija coasts the Outer Banks. Another expedition to find the lost colonists is dispatched early in the year. War with the Powhatans erupts in the fall. John Smith returns to England.

  1616 Large-scale tobacco production develops along the James River Valley. Ralegh is released from the Tower in the spring to lead another expedition to the Orinoco River.

  1618 Ralegh is executed following the disastrous outcome of the expedition.

  1622 John Pory sets off from Jamestown to explore the Chowan River.

  1650 Edward Bland leads a small group of explorers from Fort Henry on the Appomattox River through the interior of North Carolina to the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers.

  1650S The English begin to settle the Roanoke and Chowan River areas.

  1653 A small English expedition visits Roanoke Island and discovers the ruins of Lane’s fort.

  1701 John Lawson encounters a group of Hattaras Indians from Roanoke Island and nearby who tell him stories about their English ancestors.

  The Settlers of 1587

  The Governor, the Assistants, and Their Families/Kin

  John White (Governor)

  Roger Bailey (Assistant)

  Ananias Dare (Assistant)

  Eleanor (White) Dare

  Christopher Cooper (Assistant)

  Dyonis Harvey (Assistant)

  Margery Harvey (Wife)

  George Howe (Assistant)

  George Howe (Boy)

  Roger Pratt (Assistant)

  John Pratt (Boy)

  John Sampson (Assistant)

  John Sampson (Boy)

  Thomas Stevens (Assistant)

  The Settlers

  Morris Allen

  Arnold Archard

  Joyce Archard (Wife)

  Thomas Archard (Infant)

  Richard Arthur

  Mark Bennet

  William Berde

  Henry Berrye

  Richard Berrye

  Michael Bishop

  John Borden

  John Bridger

  John Bright

  John Brooke

  Henry Browne

  William Browne

  John Burden

  Thomas Butler

  Anthony Cage

  Dennis Carroll

  John Chapman

  Alice Chapman (Wife?)

  John Cheven

  Thomas Chevan (or Pheven)

  William Clement

  Thomas Colman

  ——Colman (Female)

  John Cotsmur

  Richard Darige

  Henry Dorrell

  William Dutton

  John Earnest

  Robert Ellis (Boy)

  Thomas Ellis

  Edmond English

  John Farre

  Charles Flurrie (Flory)

  Thomas Gramme (Graham)

  John Gibbes

  Darby Glande (Glavin)

  Elizabeth Glande (Glavin) (Wife?)

  Thomas Harris

  Thomas Harris (Different person from above)

  John Hemmington

  Thomas Hewet

  Thomas Humphrey (Boy)

  James Hynde

  Henry Johnson

  Nicholas Johnson

  Jane Jones (Wife?)

  John Jones

  Griffen Jones

  Richard Kemme

  James Lasie (Lacey)

  Margaret Lawrence

  Robert Little

  Peter Little

  William Lucas

  Jane Mannering (Mainwaring)

  George Martyn

  Emme Merrimoth

  Michael Myllet (Millett)

  Henry Milton

  Humphrey Newton

  William Nichols

  Hugh Patterson

  Henry Payne

  Rose Payne (Wife)

  Joan Peers (Pierce/Pearce)

  Edward Powell

  Winifred Powell (Wife)

  Henry Rufoote

  Thomas Scot

  Richard Shaberdge

  Thomas Smart (Boy)

  Thomas Smith

  William Sole

  John Spendlove

  John Starte

  John Stilman

  Martyn Sutton

  Thomas Tappan

  Audry Tappan (Wife)

  Richard Taverner

  Clement Taylor

  Hugh Taylor

  Richard Tomkins

  John Tydway

  Ambrose Viccars

  Elizabeth Viccars (Wife)

  Ambrose Viccars (Infant)

  Thomas Warner

  Joan Warren (Warner?) (Wife?)

  William Waters

  Cuthbert White

  Robert Wilkinson

  Brian Willes (Wyles)

  John Willes (Wyles)

  William Willes (Wyles)

  Agnes Wood

  Lewis Wotton

  John Wright

  Richard Wylde

  William Wythers (Boy)

  Notes

  Prologue: John White’s Last Letter

  1 White wrote the letter to Richard Hakluyt from his house in Newtown (called Ballynoe today) in February 1593, but the scene portrayed is imaginary. The entire letter is reproduced in David Beers Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-1590, 2 vols. (London, 1955), vol. 2, 712-716. Kim Sloan, A New World: England’s First View of America (Chapel Hill, NC, 2007), 46-48.

  1. To “Annoy the King of Spain”

  1 David Beers Quinn, ed., The Voyages and Colonizing Enterprises of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 2 vols. (London, 1940), 1: 53-90; 2: 419-420.

  2 Ralegh’s father first married Joan Drake, a relative of Francis Drake and daughter of an important trader in Exmouth. Their two sons, George and John (who had left home by the time young Walter was born), took up privateering, sometimes in partnership with the Drakes. More distant relatives included the Grenvilles, Carews, and Sandersons, all of whom would later play important roles in Ralegh’s overseas ventures. Raleigh Trevelyan, Sir Walter Raleigh (New York, 2002), 1-8; Robert Lacey, Sir Walter Ralegh (New York, 1974), 3-12; and Joyce Youings, “Raleigh’s Devon,” in Raleigh and Quinn: The Explorer and His Boswell, ed. H. G. Jones, 69-72 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1987).

  3 Quinn, Voyages and Colonizing Enterprises, 1: 102-117, 129-165 (the map follows page 164). Gilbert may have first become interested in western voyaging when serving in France in 1562-1563 with an army of occupation. Seeing little action in plague-ridden Le Havre, a Huguenot (French Protestant) stronghold, he had plenty of time to talk to local merchants and mariners about French raids on Spanish shipping in the West Indies. Perhaps he met Jean Ribault
, recently returned from North America. See John T. McGrath, The French in Early Florida: In the Eye of the Hurricane (Gainesville, FL, 2000), 50- 95; and David B. Quinn, North America from Earliest Discovery to First Settlements: The Norse Voyages to 1612 (New York, 1975), 240-243.

  4 A group of London merchants and financiers led by Michael Lok took up the search for a Northwest Passage in 1576. Gilbert was aware of their plan and gave it his blessing but did not participate. He displayed unusual judgment, because after three voyages to Baffin Island (off the northeast coast of Canada) between 1576 and 1578, led by Martin Frobisher, the venture collapsed in acrimony and debt. See James McDermott, Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer (New Haven, 2001), 103-256. Privateers were commissioned by government authorities to plunder enemy ships. Pirates were uncommissioned and might attack any ship, friend or foe.

  5 Ralegh registered first at Lyons Inn in 1575 before moving to the Middle Temple. John Stow, The Survey of London (New York, 1956), 70-71; and David Beers Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584-1606 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1985), 4-5.

  6 For advocates of American ventures, see David B. Quinn, ed., New American World: A Documentary History of North America to 1612, vol. 3, English Plans for North America. The Roanoke Voyages. New England Ventures (New York, 1979), 27-34 (Christopher Carleill), 49-53 (Sir George Peckham), and 61-123 (the two Richard Hakluyts). Others of Gilbert’s London circle included his brother, Adrian, Sir George Peckham (a prominent Catholic), the influential and wealthy merchant “Customer” Sir Thomas Smythe, and John Dee. Benjamin Woolley, The Queen’s Conjuror: The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Adviser to Queen Elizabeth I (New York, 2001), 117-122.

  7 E. G. R. Taylor, ed., The Original Writings and Correspondence of the Two Richard Hakluyts, 2 vols. (London, 1935), 1: 5-7, 12-13; and Peter C. Mancall, Hakluyt’s Promise: An Elizabethan’s Obsession for an English America (New Haven, 2007), 19-23.

  8 J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716, (Harmondsworth, UK, 1970. Pelican edition), 230-233; J. H. Elliott, Spain and Its World, 1500-1700: Selected Essays (New Haven and London, 1989), 7-24; Geoffrey Parker, The Grand Strategy of Philip II (New Haven and London, 1998), 3-6; Penryn Williams, The Later Tudors, England 1547-1603 (Oxford, 1995), 258; and Susan Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603 (New York, 2000), 159-162, 210-211.