moral degeneracy. In The Masque of Blackness, performed
before James I in 1605, blacked-up court ladies played the
daughters of the black god Niger, who could only achieve
their ambition of becoming white under the benign influ-
ence of James.
In real life, distrust and contempt characterized most
European dealings with people of color, and relatively ob-
jective accounts of native peoples, such as Hans STADEN’s
of the Brazilian Tupinambá, are uncommon. People of
newly encountered tribes who were brought to Europe by
explorers were looked upon as freaks and exploited for
their rarity value; the considerate treatment accorded to
LEO AFRICANUSwas a rare exception. In explorers’ ac-
counts African and Native American societies are de-
scribed in sensationalist terms: nakedness, polygamy, and
cannibalism are all avidly reported, but in the writers’ eyes
the fundamental defect in all such peoples was their igno-
rance of Christianity. It very often followed from this that
Europeans saw indigenous peoples simply as savages to be
exploited. A typical proponent of this view was the Span-
ish theologian Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda who, at a special
session of the Council of the Indies in Valladolid in 1550,
presented the argument that the indigenous people of
America should be conquered by force and used as slaves.
A more humane voice was that of his opponent,
Batholomé de LAS CASAS, who devoted his life to the de-
fense of Native American rights against brutal oppression.
Some few people carried compassion for people of differ-
ent race to an extent extraordinary even today, such as the
Spanish Jesuit Peter Claver (born 1585) who ministered
for decades to sick Black slaves imprisoned at Cartagena
in conditions of extreme squalor and degradation.
See also: ANTISEMITISM; SLAVERY
Further reading: Olive Patricia Dickason, The Myth of
the Savage and the Beginnings of French Colonialism in the
Americas (Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta Press,
1984; 2nd ed. 1992).
Raffaele ware See MAJOLICA
Ragusa (Serbo-Croatian Dubrovnik) A Dalmatian city
and port on the Adriatic. Founded in the seventh century
by Roman refugees, Ragusa enjoyed considerable auton-
omy under Venetian suzerainty (1205–1358). After a pe-
riod under Hungarian rule (1358–1420) Ragusa was
restored to Venice, but became a free city in all but name.
During the period of the Renaissance shipbuilding, com-
merce, and the Ottoman trade brought prosperity to Ra-
gusa. By the 16th century Ragusan ships were sailing to
the Indies and the Americas (the word “argosy,” meaning
a ship with a rich cargo, derives from the Italian phrase for
“ship of Ragusa”). A number of refugees fled to Ragusa
ahead of the Ottoman advance into eastern Europe, mak-
ing the city an important literary and artistic center from
the 15th to the 17th centuries and earning it the title of
the “Athens of the South Slavs.” Fine paved streets and
handsome palaces still bear witness to the enlightened
civic policies and wealth of Ragusa’s rulers at this time.Raibolini, Francesco See FRANCIA, FRANCESCO RAIBOLINIRaimondi, Marcantonio (c. 1480–1534) Italian
engraver
Born near Bologna, Raimondi was trained by the gold-
smith and painter Francesco FRANCIA and is notable
chiefly for his engravings of paintings by his contempo-
raries. After moving to Venice in about 1506, and later
Rome (c. 1510), he was greatly influenced by the wood-
cuts of DÜRERand became famous for his engravings of
works by Raphael, Michelangelo, and others. Although he
became financially very successful, his reputation suffered
after his arrest for engraving obscene designs by GIULIO
ROMANOand he died in obscurity in Bologna. The tech-
nique of engraving brought by Raimondi to a high degree
of perfection enabled accurate copies of works of art to be
produced and disseminated in large quantities, thus con-
tributing greatly to the spread of iconographic and stylis-
tic information in the Renaissance.Rainolds, John (1549–1607) English divine and humanist
Rainolds was born at Pinhoe, near Exeter, and became
(1568) a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where
he was tutor to Richard HOOKER. From 1573 he was col-
lege reader in Greek and lectured on Aristotle’s rhetoric.
Owing to internal disputes in his college, he resigned in
1578, and became a fellow of Queen’s. Although two of his
brothers, William and Edmond, were Roman Catholics,
John was a Calvinist; in 1592 he was rebuked by Queen
Elizabeth for his reforming zeal. In the following year, he
became dean of Lincoln, but returned to Oxford in 1598
as president of Corpus Christi College. In 1604 he led the
Puritan faction at the HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCEand
was designated one of the translators of the Authorized
Version of the Bible (1611).Raleigh, Sir Walter (c. 1552–1618) English mariner and
writer
The son of an obscure Devonshire gentleman, Raleigh at-
tended Oxford University but did not graduate. He then
fought in the French Wars of Religion and in Ireland.
From 1581 he was in attendance on Queen ELIZABETH I,
where his wit, sincerity, and handsome appearance estab-
lished him as a favorite. His long poem The Ocean to Cyn-
thia expresses aspects of their relationship. Knighted in
1584, Raleigh gained grants of land and trading privileges
from Elizabeth, guaranteeing his financial security. An ex-
pedition sponsored by him (1584) claimed Virginia for
England, naming the territory in Elizabeth’s honor. Over
the next three years Raleigh spent £40,000 trying to es-
tablish a colony in Virginia; despite the failure of this pro-44002 2 RRaaffffaaeellee wwaarree