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Indlæser... Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate84 | 1 | 318,069 |
(3.92) | 3 | In this lively and engaging new biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave, and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of piracy against his country’s enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different and far more interesting picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy, but never waged traditional warfare with any success. Drawing on much new evidence, Kelsey describes Drake’s early life as the son of a poor family in sixteenth-century England. He explains how Drake dabbled in piracy, gained modest success as a merchant, and then took advantage of the hostility between Spain and England to embark on a series of daring pirate raids on undefended Spanish ships and ports, preempting Spanish demands for punishment by sharing much of his booty with the Queen and her councillors. Elizabeth I liked Drake because he was a charming rogue, and she made him an integral part of her war plans against Spain and its armada, but she quickly learned not to trust him with an important command: he was unable to handle a large fleet, was suspicious almost to the point of paranoia, and had no understanding of personal loyalty. For Drake, the mark of success was to amass great wealth, preferably by taking it from someone else and the primary purpose of warfare was to afford him the opportunity to accomplish this.… (mere) |
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▾Referencer Henvisninger til dette værk andre steder. Wikipedia på engelsk (6)▾Bogbeskrivelser In this lively and engaging new biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave, and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of piracy against his country’s enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different and far more interesting picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy, but never waged traditional warfare with any success. Drawing on much new evidence, Kelsey describes Drake’s early life as the son of a poor family in sixteenth-century England. He explains how Drake dabbled in piracy, gained modest success as a merchant, and then took advantage of the hostility between Spain and England to embark on a series of daring pirate raids on undefended Spanish ships and ports, preempting Spanish demands for punishment by sharing much of his booty with the Queen and her councillors. Elizabeth I liked Drake because he was a charming rogue, and she made him an integral part of her war plans against Spain and its armada, but she quickly learned not to trust him with an important command: he was unable to handle a large fleet, was suspicious almost to the point of paranoia, and had no understanding of personal loyalty. For Drake, the mark of success was to amass great wealth, preferably by taking it from someone else and the primary purpose of warfare was to afford him the opportunity to accomplish this. ▾Biblioteksbeskrivelser af bogens indhold No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThingmedlemmers beskrivelse af bogens indhold
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Eventually he would take part in the Irish campaign of 1575 and even circumnavigate the globe, the first by an English commander. I have no doubt that sections comparing the various maps of his global voyage could've been trimmed down significantly. But if you can power through this part, the book really picks up again. This was no longer the South America of Magellan's day after all. He didn't stop there either. The raids of the West Indies, the raid on Cadiz and of course the defeat of the Spanish Armada was the pirate history I was here for.
While I do agree that Kelsey "shattered" the popular, patriotic image of this English hero, I don't think he nailed Drake as a person. Drake as a husband? As a friend in court? In that regard, Kelsey didn't come through, but you know actions speak louder than words. We can certainly judge Drake by how cruelly he treated his shipmates, his disregard for authority, and by his greed. At least he had the skills to back it up. There's a reason the Spanish called him "the Dragon" and why Elizabeth I favored him as a leader. He was every bit the lucrative pirate, even if he didn't want to be referred to as one. ( )