Editing Walter Raleigh (section)

==Early life==
[[File:John Everett Millais (1829-1896) - The Boyhood of Raleigh - N01691 - National Gallery.jpg|left|thumb|''[[The Boyhood of Raleigh]]'' by [[John Everett Millais]], 1871]]
Little is known about Sir Walter Raleigh's birth{{sfn|Black et al.|2011|p=724}} but he is believed to have been born on 22 January 1552 (or possibly 1554{{sfn|Nicholls|Williams|2004}}). He grew up in the house of Hayes [[Barton (demesne)|Barton]]{{sfn|Batten|2020}} (in the parish of [[East Budleigh]]), in East [[Devon]]. He was the youngest of the five sons of Walter Raleigh (1510–1581) (or Rawleigh) of [[Fardel Manor]] (in the parish of [[Cornwood]]),{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2004|p=288}} in South Devon. His mother, Katherine (Catherine) Champernon (Champernowne), was born before 1518 and died on April 19, 1594. Her mother's maiden name was Carew.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FamilySearch.org |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LH25-51K/lady-catherine-champernowne-1519-1594#:~:text=Brief%20Life%20History%20of%20Catherine,Devon,%20England,%20United%20Kingdom. |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=ancestors.familysearch.org}}</ref> Raleigh's family is generally assumed to have been a junior branch of the Raleigh family, 11th-century lords of the [[manor of Raleigh, Pilton]]{{sfn|Vivian|1895|p=638}} in North Devon, although the two branches are known to have borne entirely dissimilar coats of arms,{{efn|Raleigh of Pilton: ''Gules crusilly or, a bend vair''; arms of Raleigh of Fardell: ''Gules, five fusils conjoined in bend argent''{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} }} adopted at the start of the age of [[heraldry]] ({{circa|1200}}–1215).

[[File:GilbertImpalingChampernowne YardeHeraldicWindow ChurstonFerrersChurch.xcf|thumb|Arms of Katherine Champernowne, mother of Sir Walter Raleigh, impaled by the arms of her first husband, Otes Gilbert. [[Churston Ferrers]] Church]]

His mother was Katherine Champernowne, the third wife of Walter Raleigh senior.  She was the fourth daughter of Sir Philip Champernowne (1479–1545), [[lord of the manor]] of [[Modbury]], Devon, by his wife Catherine Carew, a daughter of Sir Edmund Carew (d. 1513) of [[Mohuns Ottery]] (in the parish of [[Luppitt]]), Devon,.{{sfn|Vivian|1895|pp=639, 405, 162}}   Katherine was the widow of Otes Gilbert (1513–1546/7) of [[Greenway Estate|Greenway]] (in the parish of [[Brixham]]) and of [[Compton Castle]] (in the parish of [[Marldon]]), both in Devon. (The coat of arms of Otes Gilbert and Katherine Champernowne survives in a stained glass window in [[Churston Ferrers]] Church, near Greenway.)

Katherine Champernowne's paternal aunt was [[Katherine Champernowne|Kat Ashley]], governess of Queen Elizabeth I, who introduced Raleigh and his brothers to the court.{{sfn|Ronald|2007|p=249}}  Raleigh's maternal uncle was Sir [[Arthur Champernowne]] ({{circa|1524}}–1578), a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]], [[Sheriff of Devon]] and [[Vice-Admiral of the West|Admiral of the West]].

Walter Raleigh junior's immediate family included his full brother [[Carew Raleigh]], and half-brothers John Gilbert, [[Humphrey Gilbert]] and Adrian Gilbert. As a consequence of their kinship with the Champernowne family, all of the Raleigh and Gilbert brothers became prominent during the reigns of [[Elizabeth I]] and [[James VI and I|James I]].

Raleigh's family was highly [[Protestant]] in religious orientation and had a number of near escapes during the reign of [[Roman Catholic]] Queen [[Mary I of England]]. In the most notable of these, his father had to hide in a tower to avoid execution. As a result, Raleigh developed a [[Anti-Catholicism|hatred of Roman Catholicism]] during his childhood, and proved himself quick to express it after Protestant Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558. In matters of religion, Elizabeth was more moderate than her half-sister Mary.{{sfn|Bremer|Webster|2006|p=454}}

In 1569, Raleigh went to France to serve with the [[Huguenot]]s in the French religious civil wars.{{sfn|Black et al.|2011|p=724}} In 1572, Raleigh was registered as an undergraduate at [[Oriel College, Oxford]], but he left in 1574 without a degree.<ref name=":3" /> Raleigh proceeded to finish his education in the [[Inns of Court]].{{sfn|Black et al.|2011|p=724}} In 1575, he was admitted to the [[Middle Temple]], having previously been a member of [[Lyon's Inn]], one of the [[Inns of Chancery]].<ref name="Midddle Temple"/> At his trial in 1603, he stated that he had never studied law.<ref>The Trial of Sir Walter Raleigh." State Trials, edited by T.B. Howell, vol. 2, 1816, p. 15</ref> Much of his life is uncertain between 1569 and 1575, but in his ''History of the World'', he claimed to have been an eyewitness at the [[Battle of Moncontour]] (3 October 1569) in France. In 1575 or 1576, Raleigh returned to England.{{sfn|Edwards|1868|pp=26–33}}

In 1577 and again in 1579 Raleigh made voyages with his half-brother [[Humphrey Gilbert|Sir Humphrey Gilbert]] in attempts to find a [[Northwest Passage]].<ref name=":3" />  They failed to find a passage, but succeeded in raiding Spanish ships.<ref name=":3" />