by Lee Miller
Motive
Without realizing it, Raleigh has become Walsingham’s worst enemy. His military activity is unpredictable and unrestrained. He wields far too much power and has foiled Walsingham’s bid for Babington’s estate. If Roanoke succeeds, Raleigh stands to be the wealthiest and most powerful man in the realm.23 The easiest way to destroy Raleigh is to deprive him of this. But there is more to it than that: Walsingham wants the Virginia patent… and has had an eye on it since the days of Raleigh’s brother Gilbert.
18 THE GAME
And as we see in experience, that dogs do always bark at those they know not… so it is with the inconsiderate multitude. Who, wanting that virtue which we call honesty in all men, and that special gift of God which we call charity in Christian men; condemn, without hearing; and wound, without offence given: led there by uncertain report only….
Sir Walter Raleigh1
Rastell’s Conspiracy
A similar crime had been committed before. Fernandez’s stalling; his betrayal of John White; his claim that the summer was too far spent; his mutiny: very neatly done, but hardly original. Surely Walsingham, as Secretary of State, had access to the records and knew it had happened before. It was an easy matter to replicate John Rastell’s voyage of 1517.
Rastell had been the first to propose colonizing Newfoundland.2 An expedition was mounted, endorsed by Henry VIII, and partly funded by the Earl of Surrey, then Lord Admiral.3 The Earl offered the services of his man, John Ravyn, as purser. And then he sabotaged the voyage.
Before the fleet left England, Ravyn stalled every step of the way. At Dartmouth, at Plymouth, at Falmouth, he delayed the expedition with flimsy excuses, promising supplies that should have been provided before they set sail. Days wore away. The time available to establish the colony diminished rapidly. In Plymouth, Ravyn drove the ship aground, causing a leak and further loss of time. Finally, having run out of excuses, Ravyn turned Rastell and his company out of the ship and abandoned them on the coast of Ireland, claiming that the summer was too far spent to try for Newfoundland. Did Walsingham coach Fernandez in the exact lines to say? The sailors, under Ravyn’s sway, did as told and sailed away.
When the case came to court, Ravyn was not indicted. The Earl of Surrey protected him.4 Rastell was condemned by posterity — as was John White — for ineffective leadership on a ruined voyage. But we must take careful note of how easily an alibi is established. Surrey was the guilty party. In fact, unlike Walsingham, he openly admitted to having instructed Ravyn to take the ship into his own hand.5 Yet Surrey was a major shareholder in the enterprise! No one could quite believe that he would sabotage his own investment.
It is next to impossible to subvert a mission from the outside. Surrey’s pose as an investor enabled him to position Ravyn on the expedition with enough authority to destroy it. Fernandez — Walsingham’s man — was both an Assistant and Master of John White’s ship. Yet no one at the time, and few since, dared accuse him of any crime more sinister than neglect. His financial investment as an Assistant guaranteed that few questioned his innocence. If a man would cross a business, observed Bacon,… let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort as may foil it.6
Carleill’s Bid
In terms of North America, Walsingham does “pretend to wish it well.” 1574. Sir Richard Grenville — his ships in readiness — finds his license to explore the Pacific coast abruptly revoked. At Walsingham’s urging, Drake revives the plan, receives permission to go, and sails around the world, robbing Grenville of a hero’s accolade.7 Walsingham repeatedly promotes his men to garner lucrative expeditions, most of which were first proposed by Raleigh’s forward-thinking family.
1577. Gilbert submits his Discourse How Her Majesty May Meet with and Annoy the King of Spain. It argues cogently for a base from which to launch a two-pronged attack against Spain’s West Indian fleet and her Newfoundland fishery. 1578. He is given patent to discover and occupy North American lands.8 The monopoly expires in six years if permanent settlement is not established. The first expedition fails.
1581 finds Walsingham backing a curiously similar project with Drake: to occupy Brazil and create a base in the Azores to waylay the Spanish treasure fleet. If successful, what would this have done to Gilbert’s plans? The expedition never gets off the ground.9
1582. Gilbert makes a final desperate attempt on North America before his patent lapses. To raise the necessary capital, he subgrants land to Catholic investors. They petition Walsingham for permission to settle a colony.10 Two circumstances follow which subsequently appear highly suspicious: first, Walsingham, his stepson Christopher Carleill, and Catholic investor Sir George Peckham interrogate David Ingram about the Chesapeake Bay and his travels by foot to Cape Breton. Second, the Spanish ambassador — tipped off by someone — threatens the Catholic investors with death if they persist in their settlement plan. The effect is immediate. Money is not forthcoming and Gerard and his investors drop out entirely. A year later Gilbert drowns at sea and either Peckham or his son — curiously unafraid of the Pope’s threats — publishes a discourse dedicated to Walsingham to attract investors in a new North American voyage.11
November 1582. Hakluyt is in Bristol, drumming up merchant support for Gilbert’s voyage. A last-ditch effort at fund-raising. Mayor Thomas Aldworth pens an eager letter to Walsingham offering Gilbert a ship, all expenses paid. Very generous — but it does not appear that Walsingham ever informs Gilbert.12
February 1583. Gilbert is in despair. Capital is not forthcoming and it is strongly suggested that he relinquish his patent and let someone else try. Gilbert urgently writes to Walsingham, like the fly pleading with the spider, answering objections the government has raised about his competence. He begs permission to leave the country, especially seeing I have her Majesty’s grant and licence under the Great Seal of England for my departure. 13 In a frantic effort to finance his trip, Gilbert sells his own estate.
March 11, 1583. Walsingham responds to the long-neglected offer from the Mayor of Bristol. His delay, he says, was due to certain causes. Aldworth is informed that Gilbert’s ships will depart within ten days and their vessel may accompany him. Preposterously short notice! Walsingham suggests that it follow, then, as soon after as you may.14
That very same day, Walsingham asks Hakluyt to deliver a letter to Aldworth. The Mayor thanks Walsingham for the letters — implying more than one — concerning a voyage to America lying to the Southwest of Cape Breton. So this is the outcome of the David Ingram interview with Peckham and Carleill, but whose voyage is it? The Mayor thanks Walsingham for his disposition for the benefit of Bristol — suggesting favors received — and at a gathering of merchants, caused your letters being directed unto me privately, to be read in public, and after some good light given by M. Hakluyt unto them, every man present unanimously pledged the sum of 1000 marks and upward and offered a ship and a bark to be left in the country under the direction and government of your son-in-law Master Carleil, of whom we have heard much good.15 Carleill, not Gilbert?
April 1583. Carleill publishes a discourse on his intended voyage in the hope of attracting investors from the Muscovy Company, who claim prior monopoly over the same lands covered by Gilbert’s patent. They agree to back Carleill provided he secure their privileges.16 The plan falls through. May 1583. With the expedition faltering, Walsingham’s friend, the Earl of Shrewsbury, subscribes to Carleill's voyage rather than it should fail, for his friend’s sake.11 Yet only Gilbert’s ships depart.
September 1583. Hakluyt, also something of a loose cannon, is sent to Paris by Walsingham as chaplain and secretary to Sir Edward Stafford. He remains there until 1588. Dr. Dee is also hustled out of the way. Before he goes, he reports peculiar nightmares: I had a dream of being naked and my skin all over wrought with work like some kind of tuft mockado, with crosses blue and red. That same night, he dreams of Walsingham.18
Dee may have been a spy.19 In 1583 he and Duke Albert Laski, Prince of Po
land, held divination sessions with a crystal ball rigged with optics to create illusions, including that of a lithe spirit named Madimi. She warned Dee about Walsingham. He and Burghley, she said, are joined together and they hate thee. I heard them when they both said, thou wouldst go mad shortly. Whatever they can do against thee, assure thyself of They will shortly lay a bait for thee, but eschew them. They have determined to search thy house, but they stay until the Duke be gone. Dee was cautioned to trust neither; he was surrounded by spies. See them, and be not seen of them; dost thou understand it?20
Raleigh’s Patent
June 11, 1583. Gilbert’s fleet departs. In September he is reported dead. Hakluyt and Dee are hurried out of the country. And Walsingham, in the interests of his stepson Carleill, makes a bid for Gilbert’s patent. By November it is considered a done deal. CarleilPs friends — Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake — compose poetry in honor of the proposed venture.21 January 1584. A certain M. Steventon is sent around the country gathering subscriptions to finance the expedition.
March 1584. Surprise. Sir Walter Raleigh, the one variable outside Walsingham’s control, receives Gilbert’s coveted patent from the Queen, eclipsing CarleilPs efforts. Despite profound shock over your brother’s death, John Hooker praises Raleigh, you have levelled your line for the good of your country and did not give over.22 Carleill can do little more than accompany the first Roanoke expedition.
1585. The story is not yet over. Walsingham submits a curious plagiarism to the Queen under the familiar title of A Plot for the Annoying of the King of SpainP It poses Gilbert’s argument for an attack against the Spanish fishing fleet in Newfoundland. Raleigh’s supply ships, intended for Lane’s fort and which might have saved it from evacuation, are diverted for the job.24 Drake’s ships, sent to the Caribbean and the Outer Banks where Raleigh’s should have been, bring Ralph Lane home. Meanwhile, Lane’s defamatory libel against Grenville reaches Walsingham’s hands. As we have seen, Grenville captures a Spanish carrack, the Santa Maria, and reports its value at forty thousand ducats. An anonymous letter to the Queen assesses its worth at more than a million, charging Grenville with embezzlement. The lines are clearly drawn. The English, it is said, will stomach a matter vehemently, and a long time lodge an inward grudge in their hearts. Walsingham, in particular, will cherish a plot for some years together. … his spies waited on some men every hour for three years.15
1586. A costly secret service, Babington’s Conspiracy, and Sidney’s debts cast Walsingham into financial ruin.26 December 1586. He is turned down for the Duchy of Lancaster. He leaves the Court in anger and stays away until February — ample time to work out the details of the Roanoke sabotage.
March 1587. The final straw. Walsingham, returned to Court, urges Drake to invade Portugal on behalf of Don Antonio to ignite a rebellion against Spain. It has taken three months to obtain the Privy Council’s permission. Drake is ready to sail when his entire crew deserts. Scared away, Spanish ambassador Mendoza claimed, by Raleigh. He is very cold about these naval preparations, and is secretly trying to dissuade the Queen from them.21 Drake finally sails in April as White’s colonists depart. Raleigh will never again step in Walsingham’s way.
Raleigh and Leicester
1587. The political configuration is changing. The long-standing Leicester-Walsingham alliance dissolves and Walsingham moves closer to Burghley.28 Within the year, his daughter rallies from Sidney’s death to marry Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.29 Twenty years old, of aristocratic birth, Essex was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, under the tutelage of John Whitgift, the future archbishop. He is intrepid, he is spoiled … and he is Leicester’s stepson. Leicester may have suspected Walsingham of arranging the marriage as a means of siphoning off his money to repay Sidney’s debts. He may have been right. In any case, Leicester cannot have been happy. His relationship with Essex is notoriously poor.
Walsingham is fitting pieces into place. During the summer, while the Roanoke sabotage is in progress, he is busy at home setting Raleigh up for a fall. Essex is now at court, and Walsingham slyly informs his agent that Raleigh is opposed to Leicester on account of the mislike of E. brought in, as he supposeth, by L.30
July 26, 1587. Leicester is commanding the Queen’s forces in the Netherlands. The city of Sluys falls to Spanish troops, and Walsingham attributes this to Leicester’s arrogance. His agent suggests that Leicester should be removed from duty. Walsingham immediately notifies Leicester that the Queen is angry, the result of enemy slander. I find there is some dealing underhand against your L., which proceedeth from the younger sort of our courtiers that take upon them to censure the greatest causes and persons that are treated in council or serve her Majesty. Raleigh is a younger sort of courtier.31 He has a history of criticizing his superiors. William Herllie informs Leicester that the ringleader is Raleigh, acting either of his ill-nature or out of jealousy.32
November. Leicester returns to England just as Raleigh is called away to attend to his Vice-Admiral’s duties in the West Country. In men’s absence from Court, Walsingham cautions, envy oftentimes doth work most malicious effects?3 Who made it necessary for Raleigh to leave? Leicester is back, and even Sir Walter Raleigh, it is reported, did not escape suspicion of ill done to the Earl, from which cause grew his sudden departure to the west country the day before the Earl came to court.34
Smear Campaign
With a wedge driven between Raleigh and Leicester, a smear campaign is launched. The first target is Roanoke. When Lane arrived home in the autumn of 1586, he did so singing the praises of Virginia and its rich mines. Yet strangely, despite such testimony, a new sort of rumor emerges. Roanoke is barren, it says, not worthy of investor interest. It promises only misery.35 Do not let the envenomed shafts of your enemies and rivals trouble you…, Hakluyt consoles Raleigh. Go on, I say, follow the path on which you have already set foot, seize Fortune’s lucky jowl, spurn not the immortal fame which is here offered you.36 The damage done by false report is only the beginning.
The next to come under attack is Raleigh himself. Walsingham, assisted by Essex, projects Raleigh as an upstart with far too much power.37 They say he has an ill nature, that he secretly plots Leicester’s ruin. He disrupts the tranquillity of the Court. He is without family name. The Queen is too easily swayed by him. During an entertainment, her comedian Richard Tarleton revels in the gossip, loudly proclaiming: the knave commands the Queen/38 Suddenly Raleigh, whom the whole court doth follow in 1583, is now the best-hated man of the world, in Court, city, and country?9
Walsingham has done a thorough job. He could, it is claimed, overthrow any matter by undertaking it, and move it so as it must fall.40 He has cast suspicion upon Grenville and played upon the aristocrats’ envy of Raleigh. The mighty Leicester, who might have defended him, now doubts his loyalty. The Queen herself is criticized for entertaining such a low-born courtier. Essex gathers his friends into a faction, gaining strength for a final overthrow. White’s colonists are marooned on Roanoke; Raleigh’s North American plans will fail.
Yet if Walsingham ordered the sabotage of John White’s colonists, he would have had to ensure two things. First, that they would never be rescued. Second, that the Queen would not take Raleigh’s side. In both cases, Walsingham succeeded.
19 THE FALL
For what we sometimes were, we are no more; Fortune hath changed our shape, and destiny Defaced the very form we had before.
Sir Walter Raleigh1
John White’s Return
It was hopeless. White’s colonists — who had enemies, who may have been Separatists — left England in 1587 to very little fanfare to settle along the Chesapeake Bay. Raleigh prepared them well before they departed. Fernandez, an expert pilot, offered himself as one of the Assistants. The colonists were safely loaded aboard ships with children, belongings, and supplies, and sailed away from Plymouth to a new world.
Imagine Raleigh’s surprise, then, when John White reappears in England in November. On
the twentieth, they meet in London. White discloses the awful news that the colony is marooned on Roanoke and delivers letters and other advertisements concerning the state of the planters. Raleigh’s reaction is immediate: whereupon he forthwith appointed a pinnace to be sent to Roanoke with supplies. With the invincible Armada mobilizing, Raleigh’s duties in the West Country as Vice-Admiral are pressing. Nevertheless, putting all other matters aside, he also wrote his letters unto them, says White, wherein among other matters he comforted them with promise, that with all convenient speed he would prepare a good supply of shipping and men with sufficiency of all things needful which he intended, God willing, should be with them the summer following.1
There is no record that the pinnace bearing Raleigh’s letters and emergency provisions ever went to Roanoke. Perhaps it did get away after all, though there had been an order for a general stay of shipping since October 9. The official reason for this was the Armada, though England had known of Spain’s preparations for more than a year and a half.3 In fact, that spring Drake had sailed into Cadiz harbor and crippled the assembling fleet, wrecking Spain’s invasion plans for 1587.4 In October, then, the threat was far less than it had been for months. So why the order?
October 18. Fernandez was in England, having beaten White back by three weeks. Stafford was in London even earlier. Both men knew that White would arrive shortly. Both men, and their employer, knew what he would tell Raleigh. A rescue team sent to Roanoke was easily anticipated. Who controlled the special Council of Shipping and Mariners that ordered the stay? Was their October resolution to detain all vessels merely a coincidence?