Raleigh,Education and Leisure

• Rich/nobility leisure activities


  • Hunting on horseback with dogs
  • Hawking
  • Fishing (men and women)
  • Fencing (men only)
  • Tennis (men only)
• Poor/working classes leisure activities


  • Football - violent, could last for hours, no standard rules, goals or pitches
  • Wrestling - men, classes wouldn't mix, rich = in private, lower classes in public
  • Swimming
  • Gambling
  • Cock-fighting - special arenas built, gambled on it, rich = better view/seats
  • Bull baiting and bear baiting - bear/bull vs. dogs, gambled, bull rings in most towns
• Leisure activities for both rich and poor


  • Wrestling
  • Swimming
  • Gambling
  • Cock-fighting
  • Bull baiting and bear baiting
  • Literature/poetry (if could read) - History, translations of Latin and Greek classics, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
  • Theatre - comedies were popular, companies created, purpose-built theatres built, women could not perform, rich = seats, poor = stood
  • Music and instruments - rich e.g. the lute, hired musicians for events; poor = at fairs/events
  • Dancing - no mixing between classes
• The rich had more time to take part in leisure activities/pastimes as they didn't work
• The rich had more money for specialised equipment/animals
• The poor/working classes could only play or watch sport on a Sunday after church as that was their only day off
• Elizabethan education for lower class boys/girls

  • No formal education, taught what they needed to do on the farm etc.

  
• Elizabethan education for middle class boys


  • Petty schools - often set up in a teacher's home, started their education here, would learn reading, writing and basic arithmetic, punishments were often harsh
  • Grammar schools - set up for 'bright' boys from mainly well-off families, fees varied - based on how much property the student's family owned, long school year – only had holidays at Christmas and Easter, debating was important, studied ancient historians, sports e.g. archery

  
• Elizabethan education for middle class girls

  • Dame schools – like petty schools, often set up in a teacher's home, started their education here, focused on skills needed in the home e.g. cooking and sewing
• Elizabethan education for middle class/noble boys


  • University - Oxford or Cambridge, start at 14/15, subjects e.g. music, law and medicine, highest qualification was a doctorate
  • Apprenticeships - children of merchants, craftsmen and yeomen - some grammar schools provided an alternative curriculum, education reflected what the economy needed and the life they were expected to lead, learn what was necessary to run the family business or farm, limitations - could only go to school if their family could manage without them
• Elizabethan education for noble boys/girls


  • Private tutor – taught at home, education would prepare them for their future, literature, history, philosophy

  
• Raleigh did not go to America himself but made 3 vital contributions: money, propaganda and selecting the leadership
• Elizabeth wanted American colonies just for tobacco
• Economic benefits of the Virginia colony

  • Could barter and trade with the Native Americans for cheap English crops
  • Virginia could provide work for English cloth makers and merchants
  • Virginia could provide materials such as wool that would be brought back to England for profit
  • Goods could be taxed and this would give the government even more money
• Raleigh promised he would bring back any stolen goods from French ships
• Elizabeth's backing meant many other investors gave Raleigh funds
• They tried to settle in the Roanoke Colony
• Francis Drake led the expedition
• Thomas Harriot was the main translator who had worked with Manteo and Wanchese (the Native Americans)
• The largest ship was called The Lion
• Elizabeth wanted American colonies for new trade opportunities, money, power and control
• Economic benefit: Virginia could provide exotic materials such as gold and tobacco that would be brought back to England for profit
• Raleigh promised he would bring back any stolen goods from Spanish ships
• Richard Grenville led the expedition
• The largest ship was called The Tiger
• How Walter Raleigh promoted the Virginia project

  1. He sent explorers to Virginia in 1584 to find out more information and to start trading with the Native Americans

  2. The explorers made friendly contact with the Native Americans and Raleigh used this friendly encounter to promote Virginia as a 'paradise' to persuade English men to leave their homes and make the dangerous voyage

  3. Raleigh gave hope to these men that they could find their fortune despite the failure of other expeditions

  4. The 1584 expedition brought back two Native American Indians from the Algonquian tribe back to England

  5. The Native Americans, Manteo and Wanchese helped promote Virginia to the English as they helped to create a English-Algonquian dictionary which helped the colonists and Native Americans to communicate
• Lack of food


  • Colonists left England too late to reach Virginia to plant crops
  • The Tiger let in seawater – ruined food and seeds for planting
  • Food rotted in the hot climate
  • Merchants lacked physical capacity for manual work
  • Lack of stonemasons meant that a stone fort was never built (vulnerable)
  • Soldiers could defend but couldn't farm the land – less crops – starvation
• Poor leadership


  • Grenville was hot headed, did not get on with the governor (Lane)
  • Leader of the second expedition (White) abandoned the colony in 1587
  • Unable to provide for themselves so in the first expedition they abandoned the colony in 1586
  • The second 'lost colony' may have also struggled to feed itself – very reliant on Native Americans
• Lack of skills and experience

  • Both expeditions lacked the skills and experienced needed for it to be a success
  • So, both were doomed from the start
  • Not prepared to build from scratch/did not co-operate
  • Very reliant on Native American help
  • Meant that those involved in both expeditions had little direction or purpose
  • This may have led to the abandoning of the first colony and how everyone was missing/abandoned the colony again in 1590
• Native American attack


  • 1586 – angered by the diseases they had brought, Chief Wingina led an attack on the colonists
  • Other tribes attacked in 1585 & 86 – suspicious of the English and their demands for food
  • The threat from the Armada meant that few ships were available to visit or resupply the colonists
  • The colonists were increasingly isolated and vulnerable to attack
• The war with Spain


  • From 1585, England was at war with Spain
  • Although the attack failed, it led to crisis within the first expedition, led to abandoning
  • The second expedition could have been wiped out by an Indian attack