Seaman, courtier, explorer, poet, privateer, and soldier of fortune, Sir Walter Raleigh was unquestionably the hands-down favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, even though he was far from handsome, being endowed with a long face, a high forehead, and "pig eyes." However, that he once stepped forth from a crowd, gallantly doffed his cloak, and threw it over a mud puddle to protect the feet of the passing queen is pure fiction.

The story of the cloak and the mud puddle probably originated with historian Thomas Fuller, known for his imaginative elaborations on historical fact. Later, Sir Walter Scott kept the humor12-myth alive in his 1821 Elizabethan romance, Kenilworth. "Hark ye, Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy muddy cloak," the queen exhorts Sir Walter, "in token of penitence, till our pleasure be further known." Sir Walter vows never to clean the cloak, and later the queen, delighted with his gallantry, invites him to visit the royal wardrobe keeper that he may be fitted for "a suit, and that of the newest cut."

Other humor12-myths about Raleigh are legion. One is that he introduced the potato to England in 1586. He didn't. According to John Gerard, author of the 1597 work Herball, a C. Clusius first grew potatoes in Italy in 1585, and their popularity quickly spread throughout England and the Continent.

Other humor12-myths about Raleigh are legion. One is that he introduced the potato to England in 1586. He didn't. According to John Gerard, author of the 1597 work Herball, a C. Clusius first grew potatoes in Italy in 1585, and their popularity quickly spread throughout England and the Continent.