Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh was executed for treason in 1618, rumors have swirled about the whereabouts of his severed head.
Mary Roxburghe TrustThe red velvet bag incur at West Horsely Place , which may have once contained the question of Sir Walter Raleigh .
day before the 400 - year day of remembrance of Sir Walter Raleigh ’s death , novel evidence popped up that could puzzle out the longstanding closed book about what happened to his head after it was chop off during his execution in 1618 .
Raleigh was a prominent Elizabethan poet , courtier , and explorer who set up acolony near Roanokein New - day North Carolina in 1585 . Through it all , he was one of Queen Elizabeth I ’s best-loved soldiers , but he later fell out of favor with the British summit , was accused of treason and machinate to overthrow King James I , who then sentenced him to end .
Mary Roxburghe TrustThe red velvet bag found at West Horsely Place, which may have once contained the head of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty ImagesWalter Raleigh
Rumors have swirled about what materialise to Raleigh ’s chief ever since he was executed on Oct. 29 , 1618 at Westminister Abbey . According toThe Guardian , some accounts say that his body was wrapped in a nightgown and his head was placed in a red bag and then given to his widow , Elizabeth .
Anews releasesays that Raleigh ’s sorrow widow woman embalmed her husband ’s severed head and hold on in inside a red velvet bag for 29 year until her own death .
Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty ImagesWalter Raleigh
Now , a orphic crimson pocketbook that gibe those historical accounts ’ description has recently found inside the West Horsely Place home where Raleigh ’s widow woman and Logos , Carew , lived after his death .
“ It ’s clearly a dish of the period , ” Mark Wallis , co - director of Past Pleasures diachronic costume fellowship , toldThe Observer . “ Whether it held the mummified heading , I could n’t say . But that Lady Raleigh lived there means that it is much more likely than it would be otherwise . ”
West Horsely PlaceThe red velvet bag find at West Horsely Place .
West Horsely PlaceThe red velvet bag found at West Horsely Place.
It is believed that Lady Raleigh stored her hubby ’s severed , mummified drumhead in the red bag in a cupboard underneath the stairs in her family base . When Raleigh ’s Word ’s three children died during an epidemic in 1660 , it is said that Raleigh ’s head was buried alongside his grandchildren in a nearby church .
“ In 1665 , Carew Raleigh betray the estate … It is known that some of the subject were include in the sale … but , to particular date , we have been unable to find any further address to the red purse , ” Peter Pearce , the Director of the Mary Roxburghe Trust , which supervise the former Raleigh - owned manor , aver in the release .
“ We are greatly encouraged by the resultant of the initial inspection , and now search forward to discover out more , ” he added .
Wikimedia CommonsIllustration depicting the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Wikimedia CommonsIllustration depicting the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh .
The Trust plan on take more tests on the traveling bag , which was first spotted in 2014 by the plate ’s owner in the attic , to see if it really could have held Raleigh ’s head .
“ If it did apply the brain it would have been when it was mummified , and not covered in blood and gore , ” Wallis say .
West Horsely PlaceThe red velvet bag found at West Horsely Place.
Not everyone is so keen to believe the story fence in this fresh bring out red bag , however . Anna Beer , the author ofPatriot or Traitor : The Life and Death of Sir Walter Raleigh , doubt that the crimson bag is the one that withstand Raleigh ’s question .
“ It ’s almost definitely not the bag , ” she said . “ Almost every source on Raleigh ’s execution has howling contingent of the full horror of it , and that Lady Raleigh took his head away in a red leather bag . ”
Like all other mysteries from chronicle , there are skeptics and believers in the suit of this carmine grip . Hopefully , further testing should be able to puzzle out the mystery of Sir Raleigh ’s absent head once and for all .
Next , name why Portugal has preserved the C - old question of serial killerDiogo Alves . Then , ill-use inside the worrisome world ofshrunken heads .
