Returning from court to military service in Ireland in early 1581, Walter Ralegh wrote to Sir Francis Walsingham boasting of his half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert's reputation in the province. ‘I never heard nor read of any man more feared than he is among the Irish nation,’ he said. This might seem like characteristic hyperbole, arising... Continue Reading →
John Callis, pirate, and the Elizabethan ambivalence about his trade
Born in Monmouthshire, John Callis, generally worked out of the south Wales ports of Penarth and Cardiff, “where he and many other pirates (as it is commonly reported) are furnished, vittled, aided, received and succoured”, according to one local justice of the peace. But many local officials were effectively in the pirates’ pocket, receiving stolen... Continue Reading →