Budleigh Salterton

Of these and such like things he must have heard his elders talk, but we know nothing of the immediate influences which affected his boyhood.

He was born at the manor house of Hayes near Budleigh in the east of Devon in the year 1552.

Part of the house still stands and is now used as a farmhouse, a picturesque old place.

with three gables heavily mullioned windows and a thatched roof with deep eaves surrounded by tall hedges and wooded hills the raleighs were a good old family but neither very rich nor very powerful walter's father also called walter had been thrice married walter was the second son of the third wife catherine champernoun she had been married before and her sons humphrey and adrian gilbert walter raleigh's half-brothers were in after years his associates in his schemes of adventure and discovery their names are remembered amongst the bravest of english seamen in the days of elizabeth devon produced most of the bold sailors of those times and its ports were filled with shipping and crowded with mariners returning from distant voyages ready to tell long tales of their wondrous adventures this cannot have been without influence upon the young walter for his home was not far distant from the sea we can picture him as a boy watching with delight the busy stir of the seaport towns and listening with breathless interest to the sailors' talk some time in fifteen sixty six when he was fourteen years old raleigh went to oxford to study at oriel college under henry the eighth much had been done for the improvement of oxford and the spirit of the new learning had given its studies fresh life erasmus and colette had introduced the study of greek and wolsey's magnificent foundation of the great college of christ church had given a fresh encouragement to learning under mary however learning had again decayed to be once more revived in the burst of new life and energy which greeted the accession of elizabeth elizabeth herself was a fairly good scholar and watched over the universities with fostering care just before raleigh went to oriel elizabeth had visited oxford in state and we are told that her visit stirred up the scholars to follow their studies with new zeal she was met outside the city gates by the chancellor and doctors of the university and was greeted by a flood of speeches in greek and latin to one of these made in greek she answered after a show of bashfulness in the same tongue the next day was sunday and after going to church in the afternoon a latin play called marcus gaminus was acted before her puritan feeling was not yet strong enough to make such an amusement appear a profanation of the sabbath for four days the queen stayed at oxford and spent her time in visiting the colleges listening to speeches talking kindly to the students and advising them as to their work in the evenings the scholars acted before her and greatly pleased the queen and her courtiers raleigh himself came to oxford just too late to see the queen but no doubt he found the students still talking of her gracious behaviour and of the kind words with which she had bidden them to vote themselves to their studies he seems to have distinguished himself by the eagerness with which he studied and the rapid progress he made we know as few particulars of his college life as we do of his early youth lord bacon tells us one story about him he writes there was in oxford a cowardly fellow that was a very good archer he was grossly abused by another and moaned himself to sir walter raleigh then a scholar and asked his advice what he should do to repair the wrong that had been offered him raleigh answered why challenge him to a match of shooting raleigh left oxford without taking a degree and went in fifteen sixty nine to france that he might serve his apprenticeship in arms by this time protestantism had become a real power in europe the question which each nation had to decide in the midst of its internal struggles was which side it should take as a nation in the great conflict between protestantism and catholicism in france the first struggles between the huguenot as the protestants were there called and the catholics had been brought to a close by the edict of amboise march nineteenth fifteen sixty three but in fifteen sixty seven the huguenot rose again they were alarmed by the successes which alva the general of philip the second king of spain the most bigoted champion of catholicism in europe had gained over their protestant brethren in the netherlands their first attempt was a failure and for a time there was again peace but in fifteen sixty eight alva offered to help the french king to put down the huguenot and war begun once more the huguenot were aided in the struggle by the protestants in the netherlands and in germany and queen elizabeth sent them money elizabeth would not just then venture an open war her own position was not strong enough for that in france and the netherlands for the time catholicism was triumphant at home elizabeth was hampered by the presence of mary queen of scots who had in may of fifteen sixty eight fled over the border to seek safety in england from her own subjects elizabeth stood alone as the champion of protestantism and her first care necessarily was not to endanger her own position still she was willing to help the protestants as far as she could she allowed her subjects on their own responsibility to fit out ships to attack philip the second in his own waters plunder his vessels and even his colonies and bring home from the spanish main great store of booty she did not interfere to prevent bands of english volunteers joining the huguenot forces in france raleigh went to france with one of these bands of gentlemen volunteers he was present at the disastrous defeat of the huguenot at montcantour and must have seen much hard fighting both then and afterwards when the huguenot in spite of defeats continued their stubborn resistance They gained no successes, but they showed that they were too strong to be crushed and got good terms from the king at the Peace of Saint-Germain, 1570.

Of these and such like things, he must have heard his elders talk, but we know nothing of the immediate influences which affected his boyhood.

He was born at the manor house of Hayes near Budleigh in the east of Devon in the year 1552.

Part of the house still stands and is now used as a farmhouse, a picturesque old place with three gables, heavily mullioned windows, and a thatched roof with deep eaves surrounded by tall hedges and wooded hills.

The Raleighs were a good old family, but neither very rich nor very powerful.

Of these and such like things he must have heard his elders talk, but we know nothing of the immediate influences which affected his boyhood.

He was born at the manor house of Hayes near Budleigh in the east of Devon in the year 1552.

Part of the house still stands and is now used as a farmhouse, a picturesque old place with three gables, heavily mullioned windows, and a thatched roof with deep eaves surrounded by tall hedges and wooded hills.

The Raleighs were a good old family, but neither very rich nor very powerful.

The weather was great.

Uh, we were there last Sunday in Budleigh Salterton, Mark, and it was absolutely stormy.

The waves were crashing in.

I don't know where you were at that point.