Captain John Smith
Baptized 9 January 1580
Died 21ST June 1631
Buried in St. Sepulchre’s Church,
ACCORDAMUS VINCERE EST VIVERE
Here lies one conquered that hath conquered Kings.
Shubdu’d large Territories, and done things
Which to the World impossible would seem,
But that the Truth is held in more esteem.
Shall I report his former Service done
In honour of his God and Christendom?
How that he did divide from Pagans three
Their Heads and Lives, Types of his Chivalry.
Fir which great Service in that Climate done,
Brave Sigismundus, King of Hungarion,
Did give him as a Coat of Armes to wear,
These Conquered Heads got by his Sword and Spear,
Or shall I tell of his Adventures since
Done in Virginia, that large Continent?
How that he subdu’d Kings unto his Yoke,
And made those Heathen flee, as Wind doth Smoke,
And made their land, being of so large a Station,
An Habitation for our Christian Nation,
WHERE God Is glorify’d, their Wants supply’d
Which else, for Necessaries must have dy’d.
But what avails his Conquests, now he lyes
Interr’d in Earth, a Prey to Worms and Flyes?
O! May his Soul in sweet Elysium sleep,
Until the Keeper that all Souls doth keep,
Return to Judgment; and that after thence,
With Angels he may have his Recompence.
John Smith seems to be quite a controversial character, even today. Little is understood of him, he has largely been denied his place and especially his prominence in history. This is a man to whom the world owes so much and yet knows so little. There are, of course, many scholarly works available on him, but even those are embedded with controversy.
John Smith was born in a time of discoveries, a time of enlightenment such as the wold had never known, nor ever would know again in this world. He, as the children of his day, saw the great figures of history, the reformers, the explorers, the great artists of all times. The time was also of great stories, great adventures, of knights and deeds of chivalry. John Smith would have been amongst the boys gathered along the ports as figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and others were bringing in their tales and spoils.