Raleigh, W: Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Vol. 1 of 8

Excerpt from The Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Vol. 1 of 8: Now First Collected, to Which Are Prefixed the Lives of the Author; The Lives

And first for the name of Ralegh, otherwise written Bale and Ralega in some old deeds I have formerly seen it is certainly of great antiquity in this kingdom; since there are some villages and towns in the west, as well as other parts, so called 5, which might at first receive their denomi nation from some, as well as afterwards give it to others, who were natives or possesmrs thereof. And since we are credibly informed, that one of those districts belonged an ciently to noble lords of the same name c, as also that several of them were so called from the very family we are to speak of d, and as the Raleghs of Devonshire will appear to have ¿ourished there before the Conquest; they might be the progenitors of those in other counties; as it is expressly in timated out of the records they were of those in Warwick shire 6. But as we are also told of no less than five knights of this name, at one time difi'erently situated in that western county before mentioned f; and that there were three great families so named also there, contemporary with sir Walter Ralegh's, who bore arms different from those of his paternal coats; we may conclude they were not all of one lineage; and at the same time, that it is owing to the eminency of this great man, that a distinction of the several houses, and his in particular, when all but his were in a manner ex tinct, has been so elaborately endeavoured by the antiquaries and genealogists of his own time.

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