Editing Walter Raleigh (section)

==1580s==
[[File:Walter Raleighs house in Blackwall Harbour by Philip Norman.jpg|thumb|Walter Raleigh's house in Blackwall Harbour by [[Philip Norman (artist)|Philip Norman]] (before 1931)]]
In 1580 Raleigh went to fight in Ireland against the [[Desmond Rebellions|2nd Desmond Rebellion]].<ref name=":3" />  In December 1581, he returned to England.<ref name=":3" /> He took part in court life and became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I because of his efforts at increasing the Protestant Church in Ireland.<ref name="Walter Raleigh Biography"/> In 1585, Raleigh was knighted and was appointed [[Lord Warden of the Stannaries|warden of the stannaries]], that is of the [[Mining in Cornwall and Devon|tin mines]] of Cornwall and Devon, [[Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall]] and [[List of vice-admirals of the coast|vice-admiral]] of the two counties. He was a member of parliament for [[Devon (UK Parliament constituency)|Devonshire]] in 1585 and 1586.{{sfn|Laughton|Lee|1896}} He was also granted the right to colonise America.<ref name="Walter Raleigh Biography"/>

Raleigh commissioned shipbuilder R. Chapman of [[Deptford]] to build a ship for him. She was originally called ''Ark'' but became ''[[English ship Ark Royal (1587)|Ark Raleigh]]'', following the convention at the time by which the ship bore the name of her owner. [[The Crown]] (in the person of Queen Elizabeth I) purchased the ship from Raleigh in January 1587 for £5,000 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|0.005|1587|2015|r=1}}}} million in 2015).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} This took the form of a reduction in the sum that Sir Walter owed the queen; he received [[Tally stick|Exchequer tallies]] but no money. As a result, the ship was renamed ''[[English ship Ark Royal (1587)|Ark Royal]]''.{{sfn|Collier|1852|p=151}}

In 1586 one of Raleigh's expeditions caught Spanish explorer [[Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa]].  Raleigh held Gamboa prisoner in his house and had long conversations with him.  Gamboa passed messages to the Spanish ambassador who forwarded them to [[Philip II of Spain|King Philip II]].  Raleigh wanted to defect to Spain and sell his ship the ''Ark.''  Philip refused to buy the ship, but encouraged the passing of information from Raleigh.

In 1588, Raleigh had some involvement with defence against the [[Spanish Armada]] at Devon. The ship that he had built, offered to sell to Spain, and later sold to the crown, the ''Ark Royal'', was Lord High Admiral [[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham|Howard]]'s flagship.{{sfn|May|1989|p=8}}