Sir Walter Raleigh: Soldier.Planter, Scoundrel : His place in Irish history February 22, 2009

"Soldier, Planter, Patron, Scoundrel: Sir Walter Raleigh in Ireland."

This illustrated talk will provide an overview of past and recent research on Sir Walter Raleigh's role as soldier, planter and patron of letters in Munster at the end of the sixteenth century. Raleigh cut a strong and sometimes nefarious figure in southern Ireland in a time of great upheaval, colonial opportunity and literary creativity. The talk will be illustrated with slides of the Munster plantation and Raleigh's house ("Myrtle Grove") in Youghal and is timed to coincide with the March release of Sir Walter Raleigh in Ireland by Sir John Pope Hennessey , written in 1883 and newly edited by Thomas Herron and published by University College Dublin Press.

Bio of speaker: Thomas Herron is assistant professor of English at East Carolina University. He studies renaissance literature and early modern English and Irish culture, and has published a monograph, Spenser's Irish Work: poetry, plantation and colonial reformation (Ashgate 2007) as well as co-editing (with Michael Potterton) Ireland in the Renaissance, c. 1540-1660 (Four Courts Press, 2007). He lives in Greenville, NC.

Official Website: http://www.tirnanogirishpub.com