Sir

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer,

poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy, and explorer and
cousin to Sir Richard Grenville. He is also well known for
popularising tobacco in England.
Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon,
the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne.
Little is known of his early life, though he spent some
time in Ireland, in Killua Castle, Clonmellon, County
Westmeath, taking part in the suppression of rebellions
and participating in the Siege of Smerwick. Later, he
became a landlord of property confiscated from the
native Irish. He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen
Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585. Instrumental in the English colonisation of
North America, Raleigh was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, which paved
the way for future English settlements. In 1591, he secretly married Elizabeth
Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, without the Queen's
permission, for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. After his
release, they retired to his estate at Sherborne, Dorset.
In 1594, Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find
it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed
to the legend of "El Dorado". After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was again
imprisoned in the Tower, this time for being involved in the Main Plot against King
James I, who was not favourably disposed toward him. In 1616, he was released to
lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado. This was unsuccessful, and men
under his command ransacked a Spanish outpost. He returned to England and, to
appease the Spanish, was arrested and executed in 1618.
Raleigh was beheaded in the Old Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster on
29 October 1618. "Let us dispatch", he said to his executioner. "At this hour my
ague comes upon me. I would not have my enemies think I quaked from fear." After
he was allowed to see the axe that would behead him, he mused: "This is a sharp
Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries." According to many
biographers for instance, Raleigh Trevelyan in Sir Walter Raleigh (2002)
Raleigh's final words (as he lay ready for the axe to fall) were: "Strike, man, strike!"
Having been one of the people to popularise tobacco smoking in England, he
left a small tobacco pouch, found in his cell shortly after his execution. Engraved
upon the pouch was a Latin inscription: Comes meus fuit in illo miserrimo tempore
("It was my companion at that most miserable time").
Raleigh's head was embalmed and presented to his wife. His body was to be
buried in the local church in Beddington, Surrey, the home of Lady Raleigh, but was
finally laid to rest in St. Margaret's, Westminster, where his tomb may still be
visited today. "The Lords", she wrote, "have given me his dead body, though they
have denied me his life. God hold me in my wits." It has been said that Lady
Raleigh kept her husband's head in a velvet bag until her death. After his wife's

death 29 years later, Raleigh's head was returned to his tomb and interred at St.
Margaret's Church.
Although Raleigh's popularity had waned considerably since his Elizabethan
heyday, his execution was seen by many, both at the time and since, as
unnecessary and unjust, as for many years his involvement in the Main Plot
seemed to have been limited to a meeting with Lord Cobham. One of the judges at
his trial later said: "The justice of England has never been so degraded and injured
as by the condemnation of the honourable Sir Walter Raleigh." This view has been
less widely held since the discovery of some of the 1603 tribunal's paperwork in
the Bodleian Library in 1994, which strongly supports the case against Raleigh.

MED
IEVAL

Swords.

A sword is a long, edged piece of forged metal, used in many civilizations

throughout the world, primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon and occasionally
for clubbing. The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, from a ProtoIndo-European root *swer- "to wound, to cut". A sword fundamentally consists of a
blade and a hilt, typically with one or two edges for striking and cutting, and a
point for thrusting. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship have remained
fairly constant through the centuries, but the actual techniques vary among
cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose.
Unlike the bow or spear, the sword is a purely military weapon, and this has made
it symbolic of warfare or naked state power in many cultures. The names given to
many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the
weapon.
Daggers and Knives
A dagger is a double-edged blade used for stabbing or thrusting. Daggers often
fulfill the role of a secondary defence weapon in close combat. In most cases, a
tang extends into the handle along the centreline of the blade.Daggers may be
differentiated from knives in that daggers are intended primarily for stabbing
whereas knives are usually single-edged and intended mostly for cutting. This
distinction is confused by the fact that many knives and daggers are capable of
either stabbing or cutting.Historically, knives and daggers were always considered
secondary or even tertiary weapons. Most cultures mainly fought with pole
weapons, swords, and axes at arm's length if not already utilizing bows, spears,
slings, or other long-range weapons.From the year 1250 onward, gravestones and
other contemporary images show knights with a dagger or combat knife at their
side. Hilt and blade shapes began to resemble smaller versions of swords and led
to a fashion of ornamented sheaths and hilts in the late 15th century. This is also a
symbol of the church because the dagger look much like a cross.With the advent of
protective plate armour during the Middle Ages, the dagger became increasingly
useful as a good close in weapon for stabbing through the gaps in armour. Books
offering instruction on the use of weapons described the dagger being held in the
hand with the blade pointing from the heel of the hand and used to make
downward jabs. Straight jabs from a normal hammer grip were also used, though
icepick style jabs are more commonly depicted in manuals. The dagger was a

common murder weapon, used by commoners or vengeful aristocrats who wished

to remain anonymous.With the development of firearms, the dagger lost more and
more of its usefulness in military combat; multipurpose knives and handguns
replaced them.
Morning star
The morningstar is a medieval weapon consisting of a spiked club resembling a
mace, usually with a long spike extending straight from the top and many smaller
spikes around the particle of the head.The spikes distinguish it from a mace, which
can have, at most, flanges or small knobs. It was used by both infantry and cavalry;
the horseman's weapon had a shorter shaft. The mace, a traditional knightly
weapon, developed independently, became all-metal with heads of various forms,
while the morningstar retained its characteristic spikes, with a usually wooden
shaft, often found in longer two-handed forms measuring up to six feet or more,
was popular among troops.The morningstar first came into widespread use around
the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the term is often applied to the
military flail which consists of a wooden shaft joined by a length of chain to one or
more iron balls or an iron shod wooden bar, in either case with or without spikes
(heavy sword pommels have also been used as weights).