Who killed Sir Walter Ralegh? Sep 17

The historian Richard Dale will be signing his new book Who Killed Sir Walter Ralegh? at Waterstones, New George Street, Plymouth, on Saturday 17th September.

One of the extraordinary turnarounds of fortune in the Elizabethan era was the execution for treason of the Devon-born national hero Sir Walter Ralegh (the spelling he used most consistently, though the modern convention is "Raleigh"). Richard Dale, an emeritus professor of the University of Southampton and a visiting professor at the University of Reading, draws on his legal background to offer a new explanation in terms of political gaming in the last months of Elizabeth’s reign and the first weeks of James’s succession. From the flyer:

• Was Ralegh deliberately set up by the brilliant but untrustworthy Sir Robert Cecil?
• Why did Ralegh’s friend Lord Cobham denounce him at his trial?
• And how could this towering figure of the Elizabethan age be accused of conspiring with his old enemy Spain to overthrow the king and his government?
• Elementary game theory is used to throw new light on Ralegh’s trial.

Richard Dale claims to have found the key to how political genius Robert Cecil destroyed the greatest figure of the Elizabethan age—but in the eyes of posterity, who was the real victor?

The Waterstones signing is from 11am to 1.00pm. Who Killed Sir Walter Ralegh? (Richard Dale, The History Press, hardback, ISBN 978-0-7524-5666-9) was published in August 2011.

- RG