Ask people about Walter Raleigh and they’ll probably think, if not of a bicycle, of Clive Owen in Elizabethan garb, throwing his cloak over a puddle to spare Queen Elizabeth’s (Cate Blanchett’s) royal toes, or handing out grubby potatoes to be nibbled at by her sheepish advisors. Sadly, as a new biography of Raleigh points out, it’s possible that neither of these things actually ever happened.
Such vignettes (and Clive’s immortal 2007 portrayal) do, however, capture something of the enduring volatility of the reputation Sir Walter left behind – a reputation set in motion by an event that definitely did occur, four hundred years ago on 29 October this year: his execution.
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