Sir Walter Raleigh

Explorer / Scalawag

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the grand scalawags of the Elizabethan Age. He made a name for himself fighting the Irish at Munster; later he was introduced at court and became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Known for his wit and womanizing, Raleigh was in and out of Elizabeth's favor. (According to a famous legend he once laid his plush and expensive cloak over a mud puddle so that the Queen's feet would not be dirtied; the legend has long been disputed, but it may actually be true.) He also organized expeditions to the new world, popularized tobacco, and found time to write poetry on the side. Raleigh was not a favorite of Elizabeth's successor, James I, who kept Sir Walter imprisoned in the Tower of London for years and finally had him beheaded in 1618.

Extra credit: After Raleigh's execution, his head was embalmed and returned to his wife... Some sources say on the day he was beheaded Raleigh was granted a last smoke of tobacco -- establishing the tradition of giving a prisoner a last cigarette before execution.

Other leading figures of Raleigh's era include author William Shakespeare, sea captain Sir Francis Drake and astronomer Johannes Kepler... Other beheaded English citizens include Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Sir Thomas More.

Raleigh joins John the Baptist in the loop Heads With a Life of Their Own.