Renegades, rebellion and discontent: Jamestown’s early years

Renegades are important figures in the history of the early years of the Jamestown colony, yet there is a significant lack of material on this topic. Research can be found that covers renegades over the whole of the colonial period, however very little of this is written about the Jamestown renegades in the period 1607 -1622. This thesis will build upon existing research by examining a wide variety of contemporary sources including official documents and personal accounts and letters written by the colonists at Jamestown. This will help to uncover as much as possible about the men who ran away from their fellow colonists at Jamestown to live amongst Native Americans, and also provide a better insight into rebellion and discontent within the early colony. This work will draw conclusions on what type of men were more likely to turn renegade, and what caused Jamestown colonists to feel the need to abandon the colony. It will be argued that the poor conditions within the colony during this period were the cause for the high level of
renegades, counteracting the debate that it was the appeal of Native society and culture that lured men away from their fellow Englishmen.