One of the greatest problems we, as historians, face is one of discerning people and personalities from sources. We can happily find out where a person was, what they did, where, how and why they did it, who they did it with etc. We can even look at the lasting repercussions of a persons actions and how it later affected their lives. But we can never really know how they felt about it or indeed, what kind of person they were.

Personalities are a lot harder to discern from the source material available, though obviously items such as personal letters can tell us more than a court record. So I am on a search to find sources, from which we can see something of a person’s character and personality. This might not be a regular segment, it depends entirely on what I find in my research cupboard. I will not interpret or analyse it, just leave it for your perusal and hopefully it will allow you to draw your own conclusions about the person. Today: Sir Francis Drake.

This morning one of my daily prayer apps gave me a prayer written by Drake in 1577, while he was on an expedition. I think his prayer, as well as being one of the more beautiful prayers I have read, certainly gives us an insight into his mindset; his hopes, fears and above all his faith.
What do you think?