Walter Raleigh’s Quest for El Dorado

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sir Walter Raleigh remains one of the most famous men of the Elizabethan era. He was a true Renaissance man - a statesman, soldier, writer, explorer and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1594, Raleigh heard about the legendary golden city of El Dorado and, the following year, explored what is now Guyana and eastern Venezuela in search of it. In his account of the expedition, Raleigh made exaggerated claims as to what had been discovered, contributing to the enduring El Dorado legend, and his own celebrity.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, first released in May 2022, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to writer and historian Mathew Lyons about Raleigh, his dream of finding El Dorado, and the epic scale of his failure.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm holding in my hands a rather lovely little book.
0:08.0	Published by the Folio Society, it's called Impossible journeys. It's a book of impossible journeys because it tells tales of attempted voyages to places that did not in fact exist.
0:20.0	It's a collection of cartographical and historical cul-de-sacs. It tells us fables that were believed to be true.
0:28.0	Like a modern day Chaucer, it features stories, the friars tale, the Drunkards Tale, the Cannibals Tale, and among
0:36.2	them the courtier's tale, with the subtitle Sir Walterale goes upriver in search of
0:42.3	El Dorado.
0:44.0	So Wood Raleigh is one of the most famous names of the Elizabethan era.
0:48.0	An unusually tall, dark-haired and handsome man,
0:51.0	Raleigh had a checkered career. His first mission for Elizabeth I was to Ireland
0:56.0	where he still remembered as the perpetrator of the Smurwick Massacre, in which 600 people were
1:01.5	killed. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of that, his rise
1:06.1	under Elizabeth was swift. He had her favour. He might have been successful but for his secret marriage to Bess Throck Morton, one of the Queen's
1:15.9	maids of honour, which led to both husband and wife being sent to the Tower and then banished
1:21.3	from court. And it's at this point that Raleigh went in search of Eveltorado.
1:27.0	The author of Impossible journeys and my guest today is someone who has appeared on this
1:32.1	podcast before. Matthew Lyons, he's a
1:35.1	fellow of the Royal Historical Society and also the author of The Favorite, which
1:39.7	explores the love affair between Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh.
1:44.0	Matthew and I discuss the lure of fame, the obsessive attraction of this city of untold wealth,
1:51.0	and the search for an earthly paradise.
1:54.0	Matthew it's always lovely to talk with you.
2:01.0	So many of us might know about this gallant night, Waterrale going
	...

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