Chapter I: Preface

The subject of English maritime enterprise during the period 1485–1558 falls naturally into two divisions—discovery and trade. The former has engaged the attention of numerous historians in the last thirty years, their works centring mainly on the voyages of the Cabots with subsequent exploring adventures more or less summarily treated. Commerce, on the other hand, has been somewhat neglected as a factor in that great development of the powers of the English nation which made itself evident in the sixteenth century. The only exhaustive book on the _maritime_ trade of our country in the period in question is that of G. Schanz,[1] published in German in 1881, and never translated into English. This work stops at the year 1547.

The object of the present work is to present a comprehensive picture of English maritime affairs from the accession of Henry VII to that of Elizabeth; to trace out such lines of policy as are visible in the existing records; and to elucidate certain incidents concerning which disputable ideas, or no ideas at all, are current.

With regard to the Cabot voyages, no new evidence is adduced, but a scientific criticism and analysis of that already known has been attempted; leading, in the author’s opinion, to the partial rehabilitation of the character of Sebastian Cabot. The evidence in favour of his independent exploration in the North-West seems, when properly discriminated from other matters with which it has been unjustly confused, too strong to be neglected.

The later voyages of discovery under Henry VII, and those under Henry VIII, have been as deeply entered into as the scanty surviving evidence permits. The debt which our maritime expansion owes to the last-named monarch is emphasized by the fact that most of the projects of his reign owed their origin to his initiative, acting in despite of popular apathy.

With the trading voyages to Brazil, the African coast, and the North-East the new era of national expansion was entered upon. On these matters the Record Office possesses numerous documents which supplement the printed sources of information. The negotiations concerning the Guinea voyages furnish an illustrative sidelight on the actual influence exercised by King Philip over the conduct of English affairs.

In the chapters on commerce under Henry VIII and his two successors the development of the various branches of trade, and their relation to diplomacy, have been outlined, but many details have been necessarily omitted. The circumstances attending the fall of the Hansa in England are here fully stated for the first time.

For purposes of reference a chapter on the naval history of the period has been added. The connexion between the naval service and the mercantile marine was perhaps closer in Tudor times than at any subsequent period. Officers, men, and ships served alternately in the one and the other; and the navy itself was more of the nature of a marine militia than of a regular force.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
I. HENRY VII AND HIS COMMERCIAL POLICY 13

II. MERCANTILE ORGANIZATION 31

III. THE CABOT VOYAGES—JOHN CABOT, 1497 AND 1498 51

IV. THE CABOT VOYAGES—SEBASTIAN CABOT, ? 1499 86

V. AN EARLY COLONIAL PROJECT 104

VI. THE GROWTH OF COMMERCE 120

VII. THE FALL OF THE HANSA 152

VIII. THE ENGLISH IN THE NORTH SEA 183

IX. FRANCE, SPAIN, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN 208

X. VOYAGES AND PROJECTS OF DISCOVERY UNDER HENRY VIII 240

XI. THE AFRICAN VOYAGES 274

XII. THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE AND THE WHITE SEA 307

XIII. SHIPS AND MEN. ENGLISH PORTS 338

XIV. THE NAVY, 1485–1558 372

ILLUSTRATIONS

Warship, period 1514–45 _Frontispiece_

English Trade Routes at the beginning of the Tudor _To face_ p. 16
Period

The North Atlantic, from the Map of Juan de la ” ” 83
Cosa, 1500

The North Atlantic, from Robert Thorne’s Map, 1527 ” ” 116

Venetian map of the British Isles, North Sea, and ” ” 150
Baltic

Calais in the early Sixteenth Century ” ” 206

An English Warship, _temp._ Henry VIII ” ” 272

Map of Guinea and Benin, 1558 ” ” 288

English Discoveries in the North-East, from ” ” 336
William Borough’s Chart

Warship, _c._ 1485 ” ” 342

Two Merchantmen ” ” 346

Two Carracks ” ” 350

The _Henry Grace à Dieu_ ” ” 358

The _Grand Mistress_ ” ” 384

Plan of Portsmouth, _c._ 1545 ” ” 394

SUMMARY OF ENGLISH MARITIME AND
COMMERCIAL HISTORY, 1485–1558

PAGE
1485 Accession of Henry VII 13
Renewal of privileges of the Hansa in England 41
Navigation Act limiting import of Bordeaux wines to 19
English traders
1488 Concessions to Italian merchants 46
1489 Commercial treaty with Spain 22
1490 Commercial treaty with Denmark 41
1491 Diet at Antwerp to settle differences with the Hansa 42
(1492 Columbus discovers the West Indies)
1493 Rupture of intercourse between England and the 19
Netherlands
Riot against the Easterlings in London 43
(1494 Treaty of Tordesillas)
1496 John Cabot and his sons obtain their first Letters 53
Patent for discovery
The _Magnus Intercursus_ settles the dispute with the 20
Netherlands
1497 John Cabot’s first voyage 71–7
Commercial treaty with the Netherlands 20
Diet at Bruges to discuss disputes with the Hansa 43

1498 John Cabot’s second voyage 79–85
(Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut)
1499 Sebastian Cabot’s voyage to the North-West (?) 86–103
Commercial treaty with the Netherlands 20
Diet at Bruges to discuss disputes with the Hansa 44
1500–2 Voyages of the brothers Corte Real to Newfoundland, &c. 106,
116
1501 Letters Patent for discovery granted to Bristol 104
merchants and Portuguese explorers
First voyage of the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate 107
1502 Second voyage of the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate 108
New Letters Patent issued reconstituting the syndicate 109
1503 Third Anglo-Portuguese voyage 110
1504 Fourth Anglo-Portuguese voyage 110
1505 Fifth Anglo-Portuguese voyage (?) 110
New Charter granted to the Merchant Adventurers 34
1506 The Archduke Philip (King of Castile) falls into the 20
hands of Henry VII
The _Malus Intercursus_ with the Netherlands 21
1507–8 Commercial negotiations with the Netherlands 21
1509 Death of Henry VII. Accession of Henry VIII 120
1511 Defeat and death of Andrew Barton 374
1512 War with France. Expedition for conquest of Gascony 375
Battle off Brest. Loss of the _Regent_ 376–8
1513 Attack on Brest. Death of Sir Edward Howard 381–3
1514 Raids on English and French coasts. End of the war 384–5
1515 Commercial treaty with Spain 216
1516 Alleged North-West voyage by Sebastian Cabot and Thomas 241–5
Spert (very doubtful)
1517 The Evil May Day 141
Grievances of the Hansa 154
Charter of privileges granted to English merchants in 216
Andalusia by the Duke of Medina Sidonia
1520 Commercial treaty with the Netherlands 185
Diet at Bruges to discuss differences with the Hansa 155
1521 The London Companies invited to finance a voyage of 245–8
discovery. Abandonment of the project
1522–5 Second French War of Henry VIII 386–8
1525 Proposal for a voyage of discovery to be led by Paolo 249
Centurioni. Death of the latter
(1526 Sebastian Cabot’s voyage to the River Plate)
1527 Robert Thorne’s _Declaration of the Indies_ and _Book 250–2
to Dr. Lee_
John Rut’s voyage to the North-West 252–8
1528 Arrest of English merchants in Spain and Flanders 187
1530 The English merchants in Spain constituted a Company by 218
Charter of Henry VIII
Act relating to the decay of Southampton 368
1530–2 Voyages of William Hawkins to Brazil 265–7
1532 Death of Robert Thorne 261
Diet at Bourbourg for settling disputes with the 187
Netherlands
1533 Act forbidding export of food stuffs 147
1534 Act giving power to the king to suspend commercial 124
statutes by proclamation
1535 Temporary arrest of the Hanse merchants 157
1536 Master Hore’s voyage to the North-West 262–4
1538–9 International crisis 125
1539 Proclamation placing foreign merchants on fiscal 126
equality with English for seven years
1539–40 Religious persecution of Englishmen in Spain 220–3
1540 Extensive list of grievances presented by the Hansa 157
Comprehensive Navigation Act 128
1540–2 Commercial and diplomatic struggle with Imperial 130–2
Government
Further voyages to Brazil 267–8
1541 Project for northern exploration 265
1542 Proposed diet with the Hansa at Antwerp 159
1544 War with Scotland and France. Sack of Leith and 388–9
Edinburgh. Capture of Boulogne
1545 Arrest of the Merchant Adventurers at Antwerp 191
Capture of a Spanish treasure-ship by Robert and John 272
Reneger
Arrest of all English merchants in Spain 224
Renewed religious persecution of English in Spain 224
French landing in the Isle of Wight 395
Naval actions at Portsmouth and off Sussex coast 392–8
1546 Peace with France 399
1547 Death of Henry VIII. Accession of Edward VI 144
Suspension of statutes limiting the export of unwrought 145
cloth
1548 Return of Sebastian Cabot to England 308
1551 Thomas Wyndham’s first voyage to the Barbary coast 274
1552 Partial repeal of the Navigation Act of 1489 (1485) 214
Execution of the Duke of Somerset 164
Revocation of the privileges of the Hansa in England 166
Voyage of Roger Bodenham to Chios 235–8
Wyndham’s second voyage to Barbary 275–7
1553 Safe-conduct for trade in Turkey granted to Anthony 238
Jenkinson by the Sultan
First English voyage to Guinea (Wyndham and Pinteado) 277–83
Formation of the Russia Company 311
Departure of Willoughby and Chancellor on the first 317
voyage to the North-East
Death of Edward VI. Accession of Mary 150
Restoration of Hanse privileges 170
Willoughby discovers Novaia Zemlia 319
Chancellor discovers the White Sea and reaches 323
Archangel
1553–4 (winter) Chancellor travels to Moscow and interviews 324
the Czar
1554 Death of Willoughby at Arzina 321
John Locke’s voyage to Guinea 284–7
Return of Chancellor with news of discoveries 326
1555 Partial revocation of Hanse privileges 174
New Charter granted to the Russia Company 326
Chancellor’s second voyage to Archangel 327–9
Prohibition of Guinea voyages by the Privy Council 291
1555–6 William Towerson’s first voyage to Guinea 293–5
1556 Agreement with the Hansa allowing limited privileges 176
Third expedition to Archangel 329
Voyage of Stephen Borough in search of the North-East 330-2
Passage
Wreck of the _Edward Bonaventure_. Death of Chancellor 333
Renewed prohibition of the Guinea trade 295
1556–7 Towerson’s second Guinea voyage. Fighting with the 296–302
Portuguese on the Gold Coast
1557 Complete rupture with the Hansa 178
Banishment of Englishmen from the Hanse towns 178
Arrival in London of a Russian ambassador 334
Fourth expedition to Archangel 336
1558 Fall of Calais 405
Towerson’s third voyage to Guinea 302–6
Death of Queen Mary 406