Full transcript of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Will of 1597

Abstract

There is a growing interest in the works of Sir Walter Ralegh or works that are attributed to him. While these have been getting a lot of attention lately, this is not the case with his will dated from 1597. Until now no full transcription of the will exists, mainly summaries were written about it. Therefore, my aim was to present the transcription of the whole will while maintaining its authenticity with keeping the original spelling as well as letter style, and correcting the use of capital letters and abbreviations. This was all possible because Sherborne Castle kindly sent me the original document I could work from. Besides giving a transcription, I shortly highlighted the historical context of the will, and gave a brief summary about the structure of will making, comparing it with Ralegh’s. If someone in the future aims to analyse Ralegh’s will, this transcription will ease the undertaking.