‘Dear Bess’: Sir Walter Raleigh, Lady Elizabeth, and a Letter of Love

Detail from "The Love Letter," 17th century, by Jacob Ochtervelt. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Public Domain

Sir Walter Raleigh (circa 1552–1618) sat for 48 portraits in his lifetime, a figure that reveals both a flourishing ego and a patience uncharacteristic of the man. Yet whenever Raleigh comes to mind, I don’t think of those paintings but of the actor Errol Flynn. Star of such movies as “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “The Sea Hawk,” and “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,” Flynn brought to his characters gallantry, daring, wit, and dash. Put him in front of a camera, and the effect was electric. Throughout his life, both in and out of the English court, Raleigh displayed this same vibrancy.

"Sir Walter Raleigh," 1598, by William Segar. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. Public Domain

Raleigh is the quintessential example of the Renaissance man. His poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” still appears in anthologies, and while imprisoned in the Tower of London he wrote “History of the World,” which sold well throughout the century after his death. He directed ships and companies that explored Virginia, which he named after the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. In his time, he was also a soldier, a statesman, an entrepreneur, a favorite at Elizabeth’s court, and a prisoner in the Tower of London on three separate occasions, the last of which ended with his execution. In the bargain, he was physically attractive and charming.

Raleigh also gained a reputation for being a social climber, conceited, full of himself, and sometimes insincere. In his “Brief Lives,” published later in the 17th century, John Aubrey wrote, “He was a tall, handsome, and bold man, but his (blemish) was that he was damnably proud.” That arrogance produced political missteps and a host of enemies.

In one realm, however, Raleigh reigned as a prince of sincerity. His love and respect for his wife never faltered.

‘My Dear Wife’

Portrait of Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton, 1595, by William Segar. Oil on panel. Weiss Gallery, London. Public Domain

Like her future husband, Elizabeth “Bess” Throckmorton (1565–1647) was born into a family with connections to the royal court. When she was 19, Bess became a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, one of the ladies who personally attended to the queen. Around 1587, she entered into a romance with Raleigh and became pregnant.

Mutual affection led to a secret marriage before the child was born—a wedding with dire consequences, as Elizabeth demanded modesty and prudence in her attendants. When the queen discovered that Bess and Raleigh had married without her permission and refused to beg her forgiveness, she ordered both of them imprisoned for a brief time in the Tower.

After their release, Raleigh worked his charm and eventually regained the queen’s friendship, while Bess, who was never again welcomed in court, lived as mistress of Sherborne Castle and Durham House, Raleigh’s two principal properties. She oversaw the operations of these households and organized charitable works for the poor. Though their first son had died in infancy, their second, Walter, was educated under Bess’s direction. She befriended literary luminaries like Ben Jonson and John Donne, and earned a reputation for her forthrightness and intelligence.

"The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I," circa 1588, by unknown artist. Oil on panel. Royal Museums Greenwich, London. Public Domain

In 1603, shortly after James I replaced Elizabeth as monarch, Raleigh was falsely accused of treason and was imprisoned once again in the Tower while awaiting execution. In December of that year, believing that he would die the next day, he took up a quill and paper, and wrote a letter to Bess that has survived and remains a testament to his love and care for her.

‘My Love I Send You’

"The Love Letter," 17th century, by Jacob Ochtervelt. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain

Addressing her as “my dear wife” and “dear Bess,” Raleigh begins his letter by expressing his regrets for any sadness she feels about his death and urges her to allow his own sorrows to “go to the grave with [him] and be buried in the dust.” He adds a bit later that “thy mourning cannot avail me, I am but dust.” In short, he calls on her to watch over herself and their son. He thanks her for the love she has shown him, “for your many travails, and care taken for me,” and apologizes for the poor financial estate he is leaving her.

Raleigh also brings up his wishes as to his burial and takes pains to go over certain practical matters such as debts owed to him and “the arrearages of wine,” which constituted part of his income. He reminds Bess that some men, believing him to have possessed great riches, will approach her seeking money. “But take heed of the pretences of men, and their affections,” Raleigh tells her, lest she “become a prey, and afterwards to be despised.”

Though Raleigh practiced skepticism, a hallmark of intellectuals of his age—he was falsely accused by some of atheism—here he makes repeated references to God. At times, the deity is brought up in passing, a convention as in “God knows” and “God is my witness.” Otherwise, his invocation of his religious beliefs are much more profound. He urges Bess to “love God, and begin betimes to repose your self upon him, and therein shall you find true and lasting riches, and endless comfort.” In the same paragraph, he tells her to “teach your son also to love and fear God whilst he is yet young” and adds that “the same God will be a husband to you, and a father to him.” Near the end of the letter, he asks “that almighty God, who is goodness it self, the true life and true light keep thee and thine. Have mercy on me, and teach me to forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom.”

Binding together all these thoughts and wishes, however, are Raleigh’s deep and abundant appreciation and love for Bess. He begins by directly declaring himself, “My love I send you, that you may keep it when I am dead.” He describes himself as the man “who chose you, and loved you in his happiest times.” Despite his warnings about unworthy men, he tells her “I speak not this (God knows) to dissuade you from marriage, for it will be best for you, both in respect of the world and of God.” And as he began this missive with a declaration of love, so he concludes:

My dear wife farewell. Bless my poor boy. Pray for me, and let my good God hold you both in his arms. Written with the dying hand of sometimes thy husband, but now alas overthrown.

Yours that was, but now not my own.

WR

Failure and Execution

James I's royal warrant pardoning Sir Walter Raleigh in 1617. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington. Public Domain

Sir Walter Raleigh was not executed the next day. King James suspended his sentence of death but he was not pardoned. For more than a decade, Raleigh remained confined in the Tower in two rooms overlooking the gardens, relatively spacious accommodations reserved for prisoners of his status. Throughout that time, Bess lived with him much of the time, bearing another son, Carew, and displaying the unwavering loyalty and affections that marked the entirety of their marriage.

"Sir Walter Raleigh in the Tower," 1856, by Henry Wallis. Oil on panel. Private collection. Public Domain

In 1616, Raleigh was released from the Tower, but with his sentence remaining in place. Having secured the king’s permission to sail to Venezuela and seek gold to bring back to England, and under orders not to offend the Spanish in that region, Raleigh led an expedition to South America. His men burned a village under Spanish control—Raleigh’s oldest surviving son died during this fight—and on his return to England, at the behest of Spain, Sir Walter was again made a prisoner of the crown. This time there was no reprieve. He was swiftly beheaded.

A Love Worthy of the Letter

A northwest view of the Tower of London, 1770. The New York Public Library. Public Domain

A scene nearly as grisly followed that execution. Raleigh’s body found a grave, but his head was immediately delivered to Bess. She had the head embalmed, placed it in a velvet bag, and kept it in her possession for the rest of her life. Some years after her death, her son Carew had his father’s head buried along with three of his children who had died during the plague. Later, a skull was found in that grave when another member of the family was buried.

Both before and after Raleigh’s death, Bess fought to restore her husband’s reputation. While he was still alive, she begged for clemency for him. She also fought to keep her husband’s estates and for the rights of her sons.

Through all their travails—their joint imprisonment on command of Queen Elizabeth, their long separations when Raleigh went to sea, his long stint in the Tower, the financial and social difficulties she faced in the wake of his death—Bess remained Raleigh’s helpmate, chief supporter, and the love of his life.

In “Hamlet,” Shakespeare, a contemporary of Raleigh and Bess, wrote:

Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.

Whether Bess knew those lines we cannot know. But we know from Raleigh’s letter and from her own history, she lived them.

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