On 29th October 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh was executed by being beheaded.

Raleigh was an explorer, writer, soldier, poet, aristocrat and spy. He popularised tobacco in England and was a sponsor of the failed Roanoke colony in the New World (to this day the definite fate of the colony is unknown). The state capital of North Carolina is named after him.

He was earlier imprisoned in the Tower of London for marrying without the permission of Queen Elizabeth I. He was again imprisoned, this time by James I (and VI) for plotting against him. His actual arrest and execution had nothing to do with this; instead, it was done to appease Spain after a failed attempt to find El Dorado and the ransacking of a Spanish outpost.

Image: By ‘H’ monogrammist (floruit 1588) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Walter_Ralegh_by_’H’_monogrammist.jpg)