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Sir Francis Drake, vice admiral ( – 27 January 1596) was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580, and was the first to complete it as captain and leader of the expedition throughout the entire circumnavigation. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He died of dysentery in January 1596〔According to the English calendar then in use, Drake's date of death was 27 January 1595, as the new year began on 25 March.〕 after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico. His exploits made him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards to whom he was known as ''El Draque''.〔His name in Latinised form was Franciscus Draco (Francis the Dragon). See (Theodor de Bry ).〕 King Philip II was said to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats,〔Cummins, John, ''Francis Drake: The Lives of a Hero'', 1996, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-16365-7〕 about £4 million (US$6.5M) by modern standards, for his life. ==Birth and early years== Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, England. Although his birth is not formally recorded, it is known that he was born while the Six Articles were in force. "Drake was two and twenty when he obtained the command of the ''Judith''"〔 Direct quote is followed by "this carries back his birth to 1544, at which time the six articles were in force, and Francis Russell was seventeen years of age."〕 (1566). This would date his birth to 1544. A date of c.1540 is suggested from two portraits: one a miniature painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1581 when he was allegedly 42, the other painted in 1594 when he was said to be 53.〔1921/22 edition of the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', which quotes Barrow's ''Life of Drake'' (1843) p. 5.〕 He was the eldest of the twelve sons〔Thomson,George Malcolm(1972), 'Sir Francis Drake', William Morrow & Company Inc. ISBN 978-0-436-52049-5〕 of Edmund Drake (1518–1585), a Protestant farmer, and his wife Mary Mylwaye. The first son was reportedly named after his godfather Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford.〔Froude, James Anthony, ''English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century'', London, 1896. Quote: "He told Camden that he was of mean extraction. He meant merely that he was proud of his parents and made no idle pretensions to noble birth. His father was a tenant of the Earl of Bedford, and must have stood well with him, for Francis Russell, the heir of the earldom, was the boy's godfather."〕 Because of religious persecution during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549, the Drake family fled from Devonshire into Kent. There the father obtained an appointment to minister to men in the King's Navy. He was ordained deacon and made vicar of Upnor Church on the Medway.〔Southey, Robert. (1897). ''English Seamen — Howard Clifford Hawkins Drake Cavendish'', Methuen and Co. 36 Essex Street WC London〕 Drake's father apprenticed Francis to his neighbour, the master of a barque used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France.〔 The ship master was so satisfied with the young Drake's conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, he bequeathed the barque to Drake.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Francis Drake」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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