THE NAVY, 1485–1558
Henry VII raised himself to the throne at the close of a period of naval
decadence which corresponded with that of English commerce and prestige,
and which, in common with the last mentioned, was a result of the feudal
anarchy characterizing the expiry of the Middle Ages. The rulers of the
country during the minority of Henry VI—and for practical purposes his
minority lasted until his deposition—sold off the powerful fleet which
his father had established, and relied upon hiring vessels for the very
modest naval undertakings of the reign. The Yorkist kings never enjoyed
sufficient breathing-space from internal disorders to do much for the
re-establishment of the nation in its proper place in the councils of
Europe, but their intentions undoubtedly outran their accomplishments,
and they took some steps towards the acquisition of a royal fleet.
Between 1461 and 1485 eleven ships were purchased by the Crown, and one,
the _Grace Dieu_, was built. They were mostly of small size and
indistinguishable in design from merchantmen, in which capacity the
purchased vessels began their careers. They were probably adapted for
naval service by the mounting of guns and strengthening of the upper
works.
Of these vessels Henry VII acquired six with the crown, the others
having disappeared from the navy list before his accession. His own
reign is not remarkable for important naval operations, and his
additions to the fleet, although of unprecedented quality, were not
numerous. He built two first-rate ships of large size and heavy
armament, the _Regent_ and the _Sovereign_, and also two smaller craft,
the _Sweepstake_ and the _Mary Fortune_, which were provided with
numerous oars in addition to a full equipment of masts and sails. They
were probably intended for the policing of the Narrow Seas and the
extermination of the enemies of commerce. By purchase or capture, Henry
VII also acquired three other ships of minor importance.[353]
A short war against the Scots in 1490, in which the enemy captured
several hired merchantmen from the English and lost one warship to them;
an expedition under Sir Edward Poynings two years later against a nest
of pirates which had terrorized traders and used the town of Sluys as a
base; and a demonstration against the Scottish coast from Berwick to
Edinburgh in support of an invading army which penetrated no farther
than eight miles from Berwick in 1497, represent the only naval events
of the reign. Of the fighting in 1490 no details are known beyond the
general result above stated. Poynings’ expedition against Sluys was
entirely successful, the place falling to the combined attack of the
English by sea and the Elector of Saxony, acting in the interest of the
Archduke Maximilian, on land. In the Scottish campaign of 1497 the
_Regent_ and other new ships, besides hired merchantmen, were employed
under the command of Lord Willoughby; but for political reasons the
commanders on both sides were unwilling to close, and there is no record
of any fighting at sea. On land the only result was the destruction of a
few border strongholds.
The reign of Henry VIII was destined to be of greater naval importance
than any previous one in English history; and from the date of his
accession he set vigorously about building or buying ships in
preparation for the reconquest of France which was the dream of his
earlier years. Before the end of 1512 eight vessels, large and small,
had been laid down, and nine others bought. These, added to the fine
ships left by Henry VII, formed a powerful fleet, which was steadily
increased in force to the very end of the reign. On the day of Henry’s
death, the Royal Navy consisted of more than fifty ships averaging over
200 tons in burden.
The first war against France and Scotland was preluded by the celebrated
action between Sir Andrew Barton, the Scottish rover, and the brothers
Edward and Thomas Howard, sons of the Earl of Surrey. Barton with two
ships, the _Lion_ and the _Jennet Purwyn_, haunted the trade routes
leading to the Flemish ports, and robbed, according to English
allegations, all merchants who fell into his hands, although his own
profession was that he was simply making reprisals against the
Portuguese for injuries inflicted on his father many years before. He
was undoubtedly a pirate under very thin disguise. In June 1511, Henry
commissioned the Howards to bring Barton to justice, and they put to sea
with two ships, of which the names and strength are unknown, for that
purpose. There is no strictly contemporary description of the fight
which ensued; the most probable account is that furnished by Hall’s
_Chronicle_,[354] copied by Holinshed and later writers. An Elizabethan
ballad, although erroneous in many details, preserves the spirit of the
encounter amid a mass of legendary embroidery.
Hall states that the Howards sailed in separate vessels and were parted
by chance of weather. Lord Thomas Howard fell in with Barton in the
Downs, and chased him until he brought him to action. Barton, in the
_Lion_, defended himself bravely, blowing his whistle to encourage his
men; but at length the English boarded, and the Scots made their last
stand on the hatches. Barton was taken prisoner, so sorely wounded that
he died soon after, and the remnant of his crew surrendered. In the
meantime Sir Edward Howard had chased and taken the _Jennet Purwyn_,
which surrendered after an equally desperate resistance. The two prizes
were brought to Blackwall on August 2, 1511, and were both added to the
navy. The prisoners were released on acknowledging their piracy. James
IV was ‘wonderfull wrothe’ on hearing of this action, and it was one of
the causes which determined him to make war on England two years later.
On the eve of Flodden, Lord Thomas Howard, who was then serving with the
army, sent him a message to the effect that he had come to render him an
account of the death of Andrew Barton.
In January 1512, king and Parliament decided on war with France, and
preparations for equipping a fleet were at once entered upon. Its first
duty was to keep the sea passage open for the transit of the land army
to the north-east of Spain, whence it was intended to launch an invasion
of Aquitaine. By an arrangement with Ferdinand of Spain it was agreed
that the English Navy should hold the sea from Calais to Brest, while
that of Spain should blockade the remainder of the western coast of
France down to the Pyrenees. Sir Edward Howard, the younger of the two
brothers who had accounted for Andrew Barton, was appointed admiral, his
command to consist of 18 ships and 3,700 men.[355] He was under
twenty-four years of age and endowed with dauntless spirit and energy,
marred, however, by a lack of patience and ability to play the waiting
game which circumstances were eventually to demand of him. His
subordinate captains were his equals in courage, but, as was inevitable
in a hastily improvised force, they did not at all times work in
concert; although the latter defect was not apparently due to any lack
of goodwill.
Before the fleet put to sea, the king made a banquet to all the
captains, who took oath to perform their duty faithfully.[356] The
French were not yet ready, and the first cruise was an unopposed parade
through the Channel, resulting in the capture of fishing-boats and
merchantmen. In June the army left for Spain under the Marquis of
Dorset, Howard proceeding to the neighbourhood of Brest to beat down any
attempt at interception. Far from any such intention, the French were
unable to preserve their own coast from insult, the English landing and
marauding on three successive days. When the army had completed its
passage to San Sebastian the fleet returned once more to Portsmouth at
the end of July.
By this time the French had made some progress with their preparations,
and early in August had concentrated a fleet of twenty-two sail at
Brest. Howard sailed again to look for them, and a general action, the
only one of the war, took place on August 10, 1512, in Bertheaume Bay.
The largest French ships were the _Louise_, in which was the admiral,
René de Clermont, and the _Cordelière_, commanded by a Breton gentleman,
Hervé de Porzmoguer. On the English side were the _Regent_, commanded by
Sir Thomas Knyvet, with Sir John Carew as his chief subordinate; the
_Mary Rose_, in which Howard sailed in person; and twenty-three others.
After a preliminary cannonade René de Clermont and the majority of his
captains turned tail and fled back to Brest, only the _Cordelière_ and
another vessel called the _Nef de Dieppe_ remaining to retrieve the
honour of their flag. The latter vessel retired after fighting for seven
hours; but the _Cordelière_, grappled by the _Mary James_, the
_Sovereign_, and the _Regent_, fought to a finish. The unequal combat
was drawing to its inevitable close when by some means, which
eye-witnesses are not agreed upon, the _Cordelière_ took fire. The
_Regent_, closely locked with her foe, shared the same disaster, and the
two mightiest ships of England and France were destroyed together.
Porzmoguer, Knyvet, and Carew all perished, together with the majority
of their men. Of the 700 in the _Regent_, 180 were saved; of the
Frenchman’s crew, probably superior in numbers, only six survived.
Perhaps the most intelligible and—from the circumstances of author and
recipient—most trustworthy account of the affair is that written by
Wolsey to the Bishop of Worcester on August 26:
‘And to ascertain you of the lamentable and sorrowful tidings and
chance which hath fortuned by the sea, our folks, on Tuesday was
fortnight, met with 21 great ships of France, the best with sail and
furnished with artillery and men that ever was seen. And after
innumerable shooting of guns and long chasing one another, at the last
the _Regent_ most valiantly boarded the great carrack of Brest,
wherein were four lords, 300 gentlemen, 800 soldiers and mariners, 400
crossbowmen, 100 gunners (these figures are undoubtedly exaggerated),
200 tuns of wine, 100 pipes of beef, 60 barrels of gunpowder, and 15
great brazen curtaulds with a marvellous number of shot and other guns
of every sort. Our men so valiantly acquitted themselves that within
one hour’s fight they had utterly vanquished with shot of guns and
arrows the said carrack, and slain most part of the men within the
same. And suddenly as they were yielding themselves, the carrack was
(at) once a flaming fire,[357] and likewise the _Regent_ within the
turning of a hand. She was so anchored and fastened to the carrack
that by no means possible she might for her safeguard depart from the
same, and so both in fight within three hours were burnt, and most
part of the men in them. Sir Thomas Knyvett, which most valiantly
acquit himself that day, was slain with a gun. Sir John Carew, with
divers others whose names be not yet known, be likewise slain.... Sir
Edward hath made his vow to God that he will never see the King in the
face till he hath revenged the death of the noble and valiant knight
Sir Thomas Knyvett.’[358]
There was no pursuit of the remainder of the French, but, although the
English had suffered as much material loss as their foes, their command
of the sea was assured, and the fruits of victory thus remained with
them. After ravaging the environs of Brest and scouring the Channel for
prizes, the English fleet returned to port at the end of August, and was
for the most part demobilized for the winter. In the late autumn
Dorset’s expedition, having achieved nothing, returned from Spain, again
without molestation. Its failure was due to bad organization, lack of
discipline, and the failure of Ferdinand to fulfil the lavish promises
which he had made at the commencement of the undertaking.
During the winter some of the minor ships were kept cruising in the
Channel, while the dockyards were busy in repairing the remainder and
constructing new vessels, one of which was the famous _Henry Grace à
Dieu_. The latter was not finished in time to take part in this war. The
French also made efforts to strengthen their Channel fleet. At some time
in the autumn of 1512 a squadron of galleys arrived at Brest from the
Mediterranean, under the command of Prégent de Bidoux. After completing
his crews Prégent set out for a raid on the English coast, but was
driven by various misfortunes to give up the design and put into St.
Malo. While he was still there, Sir Edward Howard put to sea (April 10,
1513) and speedily drove the French sailing fleet into Brest, thus
separating it from the galleys.
A strict blockade of Brest was now instituted under circumstances of
great difficulty and danger for the English. The fleet was very poorly
supplied with food, and the sailing of the victuallers with
replenishments was unreasonably delayed. In addition the French were
riding securely in the harbour and refused to come out and fight, while
reinforcements from other ports, together with Prégent’s galleys, were
daily expected. Thus at any time the blockaders might find themselves in
decisively inferior force. More important still, a strong westerly gale
would entail the ruin of the fleet, driving under the guns of Brest such
vessels as might escape destruction on the coast. Howard’s letters,
while exposing to the full the disadvantages under which he laboured,
breathe a spirit of confidence and assurance of victory. Hall states,
although the story lacks documentary corroboration, that when the French
were securely bottled up in Brest, the Admiral wrote to King Henry, ‘to
come thither in person, and to have the honour of so high an enterprise:
which writing the King’s council nothing allowed, for putting the King
in jeopardy upon the chance of the sea. Wherefore the King wrote sharply
to him to accomplish that which appertained to his duty.’[359] True or
false, the story is quite characteristic of Howard’s temperament. He
treated war as the field for the display of the fantastic
knight-errantry of the mediaeval romances rather than as the struggle
between two nations for material advantages.
As time went on it became apparent that, unless the English could get at
their enemy, the unfavourable conditions described above would force
them to relinquish the blockade. An attempt was made to sail into the
harbour and engage the French even under the guns of the forts; but one
ship was lost by striking a submerged rock, and the others drew back.
The captain of the wrecked vessel, Arthur Plantagenet, an illegitimate
son of Edward IV, called upon our Lady of Walsingham when in danger of
drowning, and made a vow that if he escaped he would eat neither fish
nor flesh till he had seen her. As he must have subsisted exclusively on
bread and beer if he had remained with the fleet, Howard made him the
bearer of dispatches to the king, and thus put him in the way of
fulfilling his vow.[360]
The next incident was the sudden appearance of Prégent de Bidoux with
his six galleys and four smaller craft. In spite of instructions given
in anticipation of the event, he forced the blockade and made his way,
not into Brest itself, but into Blancs Sablons Bay, after sinking one
English ship and disabling another. It is evident that the fighting
powers of the galleys had been under-estimated. Prégent anchored his
galleys in a narrow cove with rocks on either hand. Batteries were
mounted on the rocks, and the water was so shallow that only rowing
boats could approach. Two plans for capturing this position suggested
themselves. The first was the landing of a large force on an unprotected
part of the coast, which force should march overland ‘and so come unto
the backside of the galleys’. Orders had actually been given for this
enterprise when a long-expected fleet of victuallers was seen
approaching, and the captains, probably because they had no choice in
the matter, immediately set their starving men to work in transferring
the supplies. For some reason unknown, Howard did not return to his
original intention, but decided instead to make a frontal attack on the
galleys by dashing into the narrow bay with all the small craft and
ships’ boats at his disposal. Once in, he relied upon his luck and his
leadership to expel the enemy from their ships, to get the latter under
way, and to bring them out in the teeth of the cross-fire from the
batteries. Without a full knowledge of all the conditions it is unjust
to condemn him for rashly giving away his life and those of his men.
Much more impossible-sounding things have been done by English sailors,
achievements which have owed their success to their very audacity, but
it must be admitted that in Howard’s case there is ground for suspicion
that pique rather than sober judgement actuated him. An English captain
tried to dissuade him, while a Spaniard, Alfonso Charran, urged him on;
and one can imagine that Howard’s fiery temper may have been stung by an
insinuation that the English dared not do what Spaniards had the courage
for.
On Sunday, April 25, the attack was made, the large ships in the
meantime continuing the blockade of Brest. Howard himself went in a
rowbarge with Charran and eighty men. Other boats were commanded by Lord
Ferrers, Sir John Wallop, Sir Henry Sherburne, Thomas Cheyne, and Sir
William Sidney. At four o’clock in the afternoon they pulled in,
Howard’s boat leading by a considerable distance. In spite of a storm of
arrows and shot from the batteries he reached Prégent’s galley and
climbed aboard. His men threw an anchor into the galley and so held on,
but before more than sixteen persons had had time to follow the Admiral,
the cable parted and the boat drifted away. Those who had boarded were
killed or jumped overboard, and Howard was seen alone on the galley’s
deck, waving his arm and crying: ‘Come aboard again! Come aboard again!’
Then seeing that there was no hope he took his whistle from about his
neck and hurled it into the sea; and immediately afterwards the pikes
thrust him against the rail and so overboard. The Spaniard Charran, his
evil councillor, shared his fate. The men in the first boat, dismayed by
what had occurred, made no further effort. The remaining boats arrived
after Howard’s death, which, in the smoke and confusion, they had not
perceived. They made a gallant though ill-combined attack, and lost many
men. Sir Henry Sherburne and Sir William Sidney boarded Prégent’s
galley, but were driven off. Then, seeing the Admiral’s boat retiring,
and supposing him to have abandoned the attack, they drew off likewise,
and only on reassembling outside did they discover their loss. Next day
some of the captains went ashore with a flag of truce and parleyed with
Prégent: what he told them destroyed the hope that the Admiral was taken
prisoner, and rendered his death indisputable.[361]
The words of Sir Edward Echyngham, one of his officers, constitute his
best epitaph: ‘Sir, when the whole army knew that my lord Admiral was
slain, I trow there was never men more full of sorrow than all we were;
for there was never noble man so ill lost as he was, that was of so
great courage and had so many virtues, and that ruled so great an army
so well as he did, and kept so good order and true justice.’
Lord Ferrers succeeded temporarily to the command, and led the fleet
back to Plymouth before a week had passed. The retirement would have
been inevitable even had Howard lived, for the shortage of provisions
had now become unendurable, and sickness had also broken out.
Discipline, never very strong in an irregular force, went utterly to
pieces; for, after the Admiral, there was no other officer combining
rank and character in a sufficient degree to exercise real command. The
king was very angry at the failure, and wrote a severe letter to the
captains. He appointed Lord Thomas Howard Admiral in succession to his
brother, and ordered him to return at once to the Breton coast. Lord
Thomas reported that his men were in great fear of the galleys and ‘had
as lief go to Purgatory as to the Trade (Brest water)’. However, he
promised to lead them there if victuals were forthcoming. After a
month’s delay it was decided not to return to Brest, but to keep a
select force in the Narrow Seas for the preservation of the
communications of Henry’s army invading the north of France. In spite of
their misfortunes, the English had demonstrated their superiority to the
French at sea, and it would have been folly to have wasted more ships
and men in continuing to blockade Brest without a chance of bringing the
enemy to action. After the loss of the _Cordelière_ the French sailing
fleet never showed the least inclination to leave the shelter of its
ports and contest the command of the Channel.
There was a promise of some revival of naval interest in the war in the
latter half of 1513, when, after Henry had commenced his Continental
campaign, James IV of Scotland declared war and allied himself with
France. The small Scottish fleet was sent southwards and joined that of
France, but their combined operations were ineffectual, and most of the
Scottish ships returned to their own country after a few weeks had
expired. The small naval force which England had kept afloat for the
guarding of the Straits of Dover was deemed sufficient to deal with the
allies; and the Lord Admiral did not think it necessary to go to sea,
fighting instead on land at Flodden.
[Illustration:
THE _GRAND MISTRESS_, BUILT 1545.
From Add. MS. 22047.
]
In the spring of 1514 Prégent de Bidoux raided the Sussex coast with his
galleys. Landing by night he burnt Brighton, which the chronicler calls
‘a poor village’, but which a contemporary drawing[362] shows to have
been something more. The drawing in question was thought by the editor
of the _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII_[363] to represent
Prégent’s raid, although it is inscribed with the date 1545 in a
sixteenth-century hand. It represents the town of Brighton in the form
of a hollow square, with a green in the middle and houses on three sides
of it, the shore forming the fourth. To the west is the village of Hove,
separated by an intervening stream. The French galleys are thrust ashore
on the open beach, where also the fishing-boats of the natives are seen
in flames. Numerous French warships are cruising near the coast,
doubtless to cover the landing of the galleys. The town is partly on
fire, but reinforcements appear marching down a high road from the
interior, summoned by the smoke of the beacon blazing in the ‘towne fyre
cage’. The whole is beautifully drawn and coloured, and seems to be the
work of a sailor. The details of the ships are minutely correct, and the
artist does not commit the error, almost invariably made by the
landsman-limner of the period, of making the wind blow two ways at once.
Holinshed says that Prégent was finally driven off by a force of
archers, losing one of his eyes as the result of an arrow wound.
Although, apart from the above manuscript, there is no contemporary
description of the burning of Brighton, it undoubtedly took place, since
there is a reference to avenging it in a letter of June 5, 1514. The
revenge consisted in a similar raid by Sir John Wallop on the coast of
Normandy, in the course of which, with a force of only 800 men, he burnt
twenty-one towns and villages and numerous ships.
This was the last act of the war, peace being signed shortly afterwards.
On the whole the English had no reason to be ashamed of the deeds of
their youthful navy. The right spirit was in the officers and men,
although inexperience had betrayed them into many errors, and the
business organization, in spite of Wolsey’s talent, had been lamentably
weak. Prégent’s galleys had certainly borne off the palm for general
efficiency and enterprise. The secret of their success was to be found,
not in any advantages which might be possessed by the galley itself, but
in the exceptional ability of their commander. On later occasions
galleys failed to come up to the expectations which had been formed of
them on the experience of this campaign. As to the behaviour of the
French sailing-ships, it had been, with one or two brilliant exceptions,
beneath contempt.
For the ensuing eight years, Wolsey’s policy was supreme in the State,
and peace reigned between France and England. During this time the navy
was strengthened by the completion of the _Henry Grace à Dieu_ and other
first-class vessels.[364] In 1522 Henry, in spite of his gorgeous
conference with Francis II at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, entered
into an alliance with the new Emperor Charles V. On May 29, while
Charles was in England, war was again declared on France; and soon
afterwards the Emperor, secure in the knowledge that the English fleet
would ensure him a safe passage, set sail for Spain. Ford Thomas Howard,
now Earl of Surrey, and later, by the death of his father, Duke of
Norfolk, still filled the office of Admiral, although a great part of
the operations of the fleet were conducted by the Vice-Admiral, Sir
William FitzWilliam. The fact that Surrey was invested with the supreme
command of the Imperial fleet as well as of that of England testifies to
the prestige the navy had gained in the previous struggle with France.
The war of 1522–5 produced no such stirring incidents as had that of
1512–14. The English fleet, coupled with the marine forces of the
empire, was so immeasurably superior to that of its enemies that the
latter did all in their power to avoid an engagement. Large numbers of
French and Scottish merchantmen were captured or burnt, and a very
imperfect blockade of the northern ports of France was maintained. It
was fortunate for the allies that the Government of Francis I had
allowed the French navy to fall into decay, for on the English side,
although the country had never before possessed so many powerful
fighting ships, there was the utmost slackness and inefficiency in the
civil administration of the fleet. Although the war had been reckoned as
a certainty for quite a year before it actually broke out, the naval
preparations were hopelessly inadequate. Not only was there a deficiency
of accumulated provisions, but also of such essentials as casks and
rigging, without which no fleet could remain at sea for more than a few
days at a time.[365] All food, both solid and liquid, had to be carried
in casks, of which an enormous number was required. Yet such was the
confusion in the administration that some time after war had been
declared Surrey was complaining that he could not move, as some of his
ships had victuals for only eight days, and the majority for not more
than a fortnight.
The French, however, missed their opportunity, and did nothing in the
Channel. In July 1522 Surrey got to sea, and sacked Morlaix. In August
he landed at Calais and ravaged the Boulogne district to the
accompaniment of horrible atrocities. Every farm, village, church, and
castle in the Boulonnais was destroyed.[366] But for Francis the main
interest in the war was elsewhere, and there was practically no
opposition. In spite of this Surrey was unable to capture Boulogne
itself. By the middle of October the raid was over, and he was back at
Calais.
In 1523 the fleet was better able to keep the sea, and in the autumn
another feeble invasion of Picardy was attempted, this time under the
king’s brother-in-law, the Duke of Suffolk. After a perfectly futile
march into the interior, ending in the capture of an unimportant town,
which could not be permanently held, Suffolk returned as Surrey had done
in the previous year. Scarcely ever has the military art descended so
low in England as during this war of 1522–5. Meanwhile Henry and Wolsey
had been experiencing the greatest difficulty at home in raising money
for the inefficient army. After 1523 the war, as far as England was
concerned, perished of sheer inanition. The one side was supreme at sea,
but weak on land, the other was able to fight on land, but powerless at
sea; and neither possessed the means of bringing its strength to bear
upon the other. In 1524 nothing was done; and in 1525 peace was signed
with France, bringing to a close the most purposeless war in English
history.[367]
The third and final maritime war of Henry’s reign opened with
hostilities against Scotland in 1543. In the latter half of that year
naval actions occurred in the North Sea involving the capture of several
merchantmen. War with France was also imminent. In April Henry refused
licence for twenty shiploads of wine to pass from Bordeaux to the
Netherlands; but serious fighting did not take place until 1544. In May
of that year a great English fleet under Lord Lisle, with land forces
commanded by Hertford, appeared in the Forth. It took and burnt Leith
and disembarked the army, which thereupon captured and partially
destroyed the city of Edinburgh, although the castle held out. Scotland
being thus for some time to come put out of action, Henry himself
crossed to France with a large army. Assisted by Lisle’s fleet, he laid
siege to Boulogne, which surrendered in September. Desultory naval
operations continued in the Channel almost to the end of the year.
But the English were not to hold undisputed the command of the sea. For
the first time in modern history, France made a supreme effort and, by
the summer of 1545, had concentrated in the Channel a fleet which was
indubitably stronger in material than that of her enemy. All the
fighting ships, both royal and private, of the northern and western
coasts of France were collected in the Seine ports, and a strong
squadron of twenty-five galleys was ordered round from the
Mediterranean. The admiral of the whole fleet was Claude d’Annebaut,
Baron de Retz, the galleys being commanded by Polain, Baron de la Garde,
and Strozzi, Prior of Capua. England was certainly in a critical
position, for Charles V, who had been her ally in the previous year, had
made a separate peace with France at about the same time as Boulogne
fell, and was now, owing to the irrepressible activity of the English
privateers, distinctly hostile in his attitude. In retaliation for
depredations suffered by his subjects at sea he had ordered the arrest
of all English merchants and ships in his dominions.
The French plan was to sweep the Channel by superior force, to occupy
the Isle of Wight, and use it as an advanced base for the blockade and
destruction of Portsmouth and with it the English fleet. In the meantime
Francis I himself with the land forces of France was to retake Boulogne,
cut off in this manner from all hope of succour from England. If
Boulogne fell, there appeared to be nothing to prevent a similar
reduction of Calais and the enforcement of a humiliating peace upon
England. The destination of the great armament was kept secret: Henry
could not guess whether it was intended for Scotland, the Thames,
Portsmouth, or any intermediate point on his coast. Consequently he was
obliged to disperse his forces over the whole country and postpone
concentration until the blow actually fell. With regard to Scotland he
was particularly uneasy, more especially as a strong body of French
troops had already been sent to that country to operate upon the
northern border of England. It has been calculated that the land troops
under arms in England during the summer of 1545 numbered more than
120,000 men.[368]
The weather during the early summer was rough and stormy and unsuited
for the use of the great ‘high-charged’ battleships which formed the
principal hope of England’s defence. Indeed, until the French should put
to sea, there was no service upon which they could be wisely employed;
for the casualties inevitable in a sustained blockade of the Seine would
but increase their original inferiority in numbers, and such a blockade
would not have prevented the great French fleet from leaving harbour
when ready. Accordingly, the king’s ships were concentrated at
Portsmouth, while the lighter and more seaworthy privateers of the
western ports ranged the Channel and the Bay of Biscay down to the
coasts of Spain itself. Their commissions empowered them to ‘annoy the
enemy’, which they did very effectively, almost contriving in the
process to convert the neutral Spaniards and Netherlanders into allies
of the French. Only one enterprise was undertaken by the regular navy
against the fleet in the Seine, and that—an attempt to damage it by
means of fireships—failed owing to misadventures and change of
weather.[369]
At length the French armada was complete. It set sail from Havre on July
16, after losing one of its greatest ships, the _Caraquon_, by an
accidental fire.[370] Martin du Bellay, a contemporary observer, says it
consisted of 150 ‘gros vaisseaux ronds’, 60 auxiliary craft, and the 25
Mediterranean galleys. In addition to the normal ships’ companies, there
were a number of soldiers for the occupation of the Isle of Wight, and
of siege troops presumably for use against Portsmouth.
In England the fleet had been made ready with the greatest energy,
although the unexpected defection of the emperor in the previous year
had left it to face a foe conscious of superiority and certain of
victory. A list of ships drawn up in April 1545 shows that there were
then available twenty-nine king’s ships, five prizes taken in the Narrow
Seas, two ships belonging to Lord Lisle and one to Sir Thomas Seymour,
and twenty hired merchantmen, of which three were supplied by the
Reneger family of Southampton.[371] This total of fifty-seven sail had
been increased by the middle of July to about eighty. The imperial
minister, writing on July 24, says there were that number at Portsmouth,
forty of them being ‘large and beautiful’.[372] Thus the French
armament, exclusive of the galleys, was quite double as strong as that
of England; and in certain circumstances, as the event was to prove, the
galleys were capable of hitting very hard.
At the time the French set sail the weather fell very calm and hot, and
so continued for several days. On the evening of the 18th they were seen
sailing round the eastern end of the Isle of Wight, the galleys in
advance and the sailing-ships behind. Four of the galleys were sent
forward to reconnoitre, but were driven back by a force of small craft
sent out from Portsmouth. The French then anchored for the night, most
probably in the neighbourhood of Ryde. The position occupied by the
English is somewhat difficult to determine. There are two detailed
accounts of the battle of the following day; one, written from the
French side, by Du Bellay, and the other from the English, by Van der
Delft, the imperial ambassador. In addition there is an engraving in the
British Museum from a contemporary painting, now destroyed, giving a
panoramic representation of the scene.[373] From these sources it would
appear that the English fleet was at anchor outside the inner harbour of
Portsmouth, in a position covered on the left by forts and batteries on
the shore towards Southsea, and on the right by shoals. The only
approach was from the front by a narrow channel.
On the morning of July 19 there was no wind, and the French galleys were
sent forward to cannonade the anchored English fleet. Some of them
entered the outer harbour and for more than an hour kept up a hot fire,
doing considerable damage. Du Bellay claimed that the _Mary Rose_ was
sunk by their fire, and that the _Henry Grace à Dieu_ was so knocked
about as to be kept afloat with difficulty. Neither of these statements
was correct. The _Mary Rose_ was sunk by accident, and the _Henry_ was
at sea shortly afterwards none the worse for the fight. But undoubtedly
the situation, if prolonged, would have been most serious for the
English. Their ships were becalmed at anchor, while the galleys, with
free power of movement, were extremely difficult to hit. The method of
mounting the big guns of the time allowed for very little lateral
adjustment, and no elevation or depression, so that unless the ship
could be manœuvred the enemy might take up a position in which it would
be impossible to bring guns to bear on him. Fortunately a land breeze
sprang up and the lighter English sailing craft immediately dashed out
upon the galleys. The latter had outstayed their welcome, and just
missed suffering severely for it. The English row-barges were among them
before they could get clear of the harbour. Once a sailing craft could
range alongside a galley, that galley was doomed, for her oars would be
smashed without the least damage to her opponent. Accordingly, there was
nothing for it but instant flight. Since the galleys carried no guns
pointing astern, they were at a great disadvantage, and the French
sailing fleet had to advance to their rescue.
Lord Lisle now saw the chance of fighting a battle on his own terms, in
which his smaller fleet would be assisted by the fire of the land
batteries. His heavy ships immediately moved out to join action with the
French. In the process occurred one of the famous disasters of the
English Navy. The _Mary Rose_, the vice-admiral, having discharged her
guns on one side, went about to fire the other broadside, and, the ports
on the discharged side not having been closed, as apparently they should
have been, their lower edges dipped below the water as the ship heeled.
In a moment the catastrophe happened; the sea poured in and heeled the
ship still further until she capsized and sank so rapidly that only some
thirty of a crew of five hundred were saved. Sir George Carew, the
captain, was among the lost. A trustworthy authority states that the
need for closing the lee ports was well known, but that owing to
indiscipline no one thought proper to attend to it.
Undismayed by this disaster, the English presented a bold front to the
enemy, and showed perfect willingness to continue the action. But
d’Annebaut was not prepared to fight both fleet and forts at the same
time, and, having rescued the galleys, the French retired to their
former anchorage off the Isle of Wight.[374] The action was renewed at
long range on the following day, but neither side would surrender the
advantage of position and consequently there was no decisive result.
[Illustration:
PLAN OF PORTSMOUTH, c. 1545.
From Cott. MS. Aug. I. ii. 15.
]
There was now no doubt as to the intentions of the French, and every
nerve was strained to concentrate decisive forces at the point of
danger. The king and the Privy Council had already moved down to the
neighbourhood of Portsmouth before the French had arrived, and the king
was aboard the _Henry Grace à Dieu_ when their approach was first
signalled. On July 20 orders were sent to the western privateers to make
all speed to Portsmouth.[375] Some sixty sail of small but active
fighting ships would thus be added to the English strength. At the same
time the officials at the Tower were instructed to send down all the
large ordnance and ammunition in that fortress.[376] The levies of the
southern shires were also set in motion, but, as the event fell out,
their services were not needed, and before long they were met by orders
to disband, as the danger had passed away.
Time was now in favour of England. If a week were allowed to elapse in
inaction on the part of the French, Portsmouth would be safe and the
invasion would have failed. On the French side other factors pointed to
the same conclusion. Disease in its most terrible forms had broken out
in their crowded ships, and the maintenance of a blockade long enough to
allow of the capture of Boulogne was an impossibility. Already the great
ship _Maitresse_, strained by the seas and shaken by the discharge of
her own guns, had been beached and abandoned to save her from the fate
of the _Mary Rose_. D’Annebaut was not the man to hold on in face of
difficulty as Howard had done at Brest in 1513. He seems to have
realized that prompt action was the only alternative to eventual
failure, and, after vainly seeking to draw the English into the open by
landing and burning villages in the Isle of Wight, he proposed the
desperate plan of sailing his whole fleet into Portsmouth harbour and
attempting to carry the town by a _coup de main_. His pilots represented
to him that the thing was an impossibility, that his ships, passing the
narrow entrance in single file, would be smashed by the fire of the
batteries on their flank, and that tides and shoals would prevent any
retreat. After sending in a boat party to assure himself of the truth of
these arguments, he submitted to the inevitable and began to think of
withdrawal.[377]
Meanwhile there had been sharp skirmishing in the Isle of Wight. The
smoke of the burning villages could be seen from Portsmouth, but the
French were by no means unopposed. Small bands of native archers,
perfectly acquainted with the country, ambushed them in the woods.
Reinforcements were sent across, apparently by favour of the negligence
of the French fleet, until 8,000 English troops were in the island, and
a large force would have been necessary for its conquest.
D’Annebaut’s next move was to leave the Isle of Wight on July 21 and
anchor his fleet along the western shore of Selsey Bill. His reasons for
this move are not clear. It would seem that his original position was
more advantageous until he should be forced by necessity to retire to
France. He has been criticized for not permanently garrisoning the Isle
of Wight, since he had a large number of supernumerary troops on board
his fleet. But he was probably justified in not doing so. With no
strong, well-provisioned fortress in which to hold out, the most
powerful force imaginable would have been driven to surrender in course
of time when deprived of the support of the fleet. With the imperfect
firearms of that day improvised earthworks were not a sufficient
defence, especially within a few miles of such an arsenal as Portsmouth.
Lord Lisle detected the weakness of the French anchorage off Selsey Bill
and made plans to attack when the first south-westerly wind should place
the enemy on a lee shore.[378] But he was preoccupied with attempts to
refloat the _Mary Rose_, and, before the plan could be put into
execution, the French received warning and slipped off in time to escape
annihilation. D’Annebaut sailed for Boulogne, and landed his troops to
assist in the siege, which was making very poor progress.
The great plan had now definitely failed, and its failure was
undoubtedly due in the first place to the terrible mortality from
plague, typhus, and kindred scourges, which afflicted the French crews,
packed to suffocation as they were in their narrow quarters in sultry
weather, and most probably badly fed. In a lesser degree the failure was
ascribable to admirable leadership on the English side, although this
would not have availed to save Boulogne if the French had been in a
state to maintain a blockade for the necessary time. The Fabian conduct
of the English fleet was exactly suited to the occasion; and the credit
for it is due rather to Henry VIII himself than to his Admiral, who did
nothing of his own initiative if he could by any possibility obtain
instructions from the king.
D’Annebaut, after landing his sick and provisioning his fleet, was soon
at sea once more. But by this time the West of England ships had come
in,[379] and Lisle was at the head of a fleet strong enough to go in
search of the French. On August 11 he received orders to put to sea, the
French being reported to be off Rye to the number of 200 sail. The two
fleets sighted each other on the 15th off Shoreham. As before, the
galleys formed the advanced guard of the French, and were engaged by the
lighter English sailing craft. The English fleet was drawn up—if a set
of fighting instructions dated a few days earlier was followed—in the
manner of a land army of the period: the first-class ships in the
centre, preceded by a line of armed merchantmen, and guarded on either
flank by the auxiliaries. The merchantmen thus answered to the cannon in
a land battle, breaking the enemy’s ranks in preparation for the advance
of the main body—the infantry on land—behind. The light craft on the
wings played the part of cavalry, guarding the flanks of their own fleet
and taking advantage of confusion among the enemy. The plan was very
pretty on paper, but it is doubtful if it would have stood the test of
practice by a fleet untrained to manœuvre in concert, and a much simpler
procedure was actually adopted in the Armada fights in 1588.[380] In the
present instance, the battle was never fairly joined. The galleys
maintained a brisk cannonade against the row-barges and privateers,
getting, on the whole, the worst of the encounter. The French ‘great
ships’ held off, hoping that the galleys would do all the work. Towards
evening the weather became worse and the galleys were much knocked
about. Both fleets anchored for the night within a league of one
another; and next morning at dawn Lisle saw his enemies’ topsails
disappearing beneath the horizon. Finding the galleys useless in
anything but a calm, they had decided to give up the enterprise and
retire to Havre.[381]
The English made sail to the Narrow Seas, and a few days later Lisle,
apprehending no further danger for the moment, quitted the fleet. He was
present in person at a meeting of the Council at Woking on August 24. In
September he raided the Normandy coast, burning the town of Tréport and
thirty ships, and retiring without molestation. Thus the French, for all
their superiority of force, had again surrendered the command of the
Channel. But the victory had not been attained without great sacrifice.
The fishermen of all the southern shires had been impressed into the
service, and were now dying by hundreds from the same epidemics which
had scourged the French. Their wives and daughters were obliged to take
the boats out in search of a living; and it was a common occurrence for
a boat ‘manned’ by a dozen women and a boy to be chased into port by a
French privateer. The mortality in the fleet was so great that, as soon
as it was ascertained that the French acknowledged defeat, haste was
made to discharge the majority of the crews. The privateers compensated
by their energy for the timid tactics of the great ships. They scoured
the Channel and the neighbouring seas and were seldom scrupulous as to
the ownership of the property they took. Privateering as a lifelong
profession dates from this war. It was never thoroughly put down until
the following century.
In 1546 naval operations were renewed, centring principally round the
siege and relief of Boulogne; but the French were relatively much weaker
than in the previous year, and the captured fortress remained in English
hands. The war terminated in June with a French acknowledgement of
powerlessness to do anything further.
On a general view it is evident that Henry VIII’s naval policy was
justified by success. If it was his object to create a fleet
sufficiently powerful to render England immune from invasion and to
secure respect for her sea-borne commerce, it must be admitted that that
object was gained. Although the Continental powers were very much more
formidable than they had been at the opening of his reign, he was
generally able to take the offensive and to fight on the enemy’s ground.
Scotland, too, was rendered easier to deal with by the vulnerability of
Edinburgh to a stroke from the sea; and the oft-dreaded Franco-Scottish
combination was seldom effective owing to the interposition of an
English fleet between the allies. Henry died in January 1547, and a
list[382] made a year later shows that there were then in the navy 6
ships of 500 tons and over, 19 between 200 and 500 tons, 4 between 100
and 200, and 24 of less than 100. The total tonnage of the 53 vessels
was 11,268, and they carried between them 7,780 men and 2,087 guns. If
the total of guns seems disproportionately large, it must be remembered
that many of them were small weapons such as swivels and hailshot
pieces, which might almost be reckoned as small arms.
During the eleven years covered by the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, the
history of the navy shows a steady decline, not so much in strength of
ships and guns as in leadership, administration, and the moral qualities
making for success. On paper, especially under Edward VI, this decline
is not evident; indeed, a list of 1552 shows that only five of Henry
VIII’s ships had dropped out, while others had been acquired in their
places. But a formidable roll of battleships was of little value if the
ships themselves were allowed to rot untended in docks and harbours, or
were chartered by merchants for twelve-months’ voyages to the Levant or
the African coast. This charge of improvidence against the
administration is fully borne out by its inability, increasing as time
went on, to send large fleets of first-class ships to sea as Henry VIII
had done. Details of deterioration are wanting, and it can only be
deduced from its results; but it is certain that in the last eighteen
months of Edward’s reign, three large fighting ships were sent on
distant commercial ventures, and it is probable that other transactions
of the same kind took place, of which the evidence has perished. The
three ships referred to were the _Jesus of Lubeck_ (700–800 tons) and
the _Mary Gonson_ (600), chartered for a Levant voyage in February
1552[383]; and the _Primrose_, which, together with the _Moon_
(pinnace), was lent to Thomas Wyndham and his co-adventurers for their
Guinea expedition in 1553.[384]
To the credit of Edward’s guardians, on the other hand, must be placed
the establishment of the rudiments of a naval base in the Medway,
afterwards Chatham dockyard, and the inauguration of a special
department for victualling the ships of the fleet.[385]
At the outset of Edward’s reign, the Protector Somerset[386] determined
on a fresh invasion of Scotland for the purpose of securing the consent
of the Scots to a marriage between their infant queen and the young king
of England. The expedition was on a more ambitious scale than that of
1544, consisting of a fleet under Lord Clinton keeping pace with a
marching army under the Protector. The latter routed the Scots at Pinkie
(September 10, 1547) and again took Leith and Edinburgh; while the fleet
ravaged the coast and destroyed all the Scottish shipping it could find.
But the political result of the invasion was failure, for the young
queen was sent off to France by way of the Irish Sea in the following
summer, and her escort succeeded in eluding the English who were keeping
strict watch in the North Sea and the Channel.
During these events France, in a state of scarcely veiled hostility, had
maintained a fleet of galleys under Strozzi in her northern waters. The
war became regularized when the French began to raid the Sussex coast
and to concentrate troops in the neighbourhood of Boulogne in 1549. In
consequence of the former operations instructions were given to Thomas
Cotton, in May 1549, to patrol the Channel. With the commission of
Vice-Admiral he was to take six small craft of the row-barge type and
one shallop, and with them to drive the enemy from the Sussex coast, to
‘traverse the seas’ between the Isle of Wight, Portland, and the Channel
Islands, to supply the latter with munitions of war, and to keep watch
on Brest, where great preparations were said to be in progress. He was
particularly enjoined not to molest neutral shipping.[387] Early in
August a sharp action was fought in the neighbourhood of the Channel
Islands, but whether by Cotton’s squadron or not is not clear. It is
vouched for by Fox the Martyrologist and by the writers of chronicles of
the time, but has left no trace in official documents, either English or
French. The substance of the accounts is that a fleet of French galleys
was sent to reduce the Islands and that it was beaten back by an English
squadron with the loss of 1,000 men.[388] Boulogne was able to hold out
until the spring of 1550. By that time the English Government, hampered
by lack of money and by anarchy at home, had come to the conclusion that
its retention was not worth the efforts involved. In March they agreed
to surrender the fortress for a large money payment, and peace was
restored between England and France for the next seven years.
A feature of the naval history of this period was the series of changes
in the chief command of the fleet. During Edward’s reign the office of
Lord Admiral was successively held by Warwick (formerly Lord Lisle);
Seymour, brother of the Protector Somerset (executed March 1549);
Warwick again, and Clinton. Mary on her accession appointed Lord William
Howard, who held office until 1558, when he was superseded by Clinton.
One of the charges against Seymour was his connivance at piracy. In this
connexion a letter addressed to him in September 1548, by John
Graynfyld, a privateer captain, is of some interest. At the date
mentioned war had not been declared with France, and the man was legally
a pirate. He describes how his bark and three others had sailed from the
Cornish coast to that of Brittany, and had there separated ‘each to seek
their adventure, as the manner is of venturers’. Graynfyld himself,
being alone within half a league of Pointe de Penmarch, sighted
twenty-seven sail of Normans and Bretons. Nothing dismayed by the odds,
he gained the wind of them, waited until twelve of them had passed, and
then set on the thirteenth, which was armed with six pieces of ordnance.
She only escaped him by going ashore in Audierne Bay. He served two
others in the same way. While thus engaged, another of the enemy, of 95
tons and with a crew of twenty-six men, got to windward of him. But
Graynfyld rose to the occasion, boarded the French ship and took her,
after slaying her captain in the fight.[389] A more convincing testimony
to the reckless audacity of the sixteenth-century privateers would be
hard to find.
Under Mary the navy sensibly decreased in strength and efficiency, and
it may safely be said that it had never since the beginning of the Tudor
period passed through such a period of discouragement as that of the
years 1557–8. Even the paper strength of the fleet was not maintained.
The _Henry Grace à Dieu_ was accidentally burned at Woolwich on August
25, 1553. The _Primrose_ was sold in 1555, together with nine smaller
craft, some of them fetching such ridiculous prices as £8 and £10
apiece,[390] showing the utter state of decay into which they had been
allowed to fall. Other ships disappeared also in the reign with the net
result that, although six new craft were acquired, there were at Mary’s
death only twenty-six royal ships with a total tonnage of 7,110, a
decrease of 36 per cent. from Henry VIII’s total. Mr. Oppenheim does not
agree with censures on Mary’s naval administration. He points out that
thirteen of the ships left by Henry VIII were row-barges of 20 tons, and
that it was mainly this class of vessel which was disposed of. But the
fact remains that England lost command of the sea in the winter of
1557–8, at a time when the French had no overwhelming force afloat, and
that the failure to relieve Calais was due to the fact that not one of
the ‘great ships’ officially borne on the strength of the fleet was in
condition to put to sea at the time of need.
War with France opened in the summer of 1557. In that year Lord William
Howard cruised in the Channel with a fleet including six ships of 200
tons and over, the largest being the _Jesus of Lubeck_, described as of
700 tons.[391] His proceedings were uneventful, and all the large
vessels were laid up at the beginning of winter. At the end of the year
disquieting news began to arrive with startling suddenness in England.
On December 22 Lord Grey of Wilton reported from Guisnes that French
preparations were on foot, although their object was not ascertainable.
On the 26th Lord Wentworth, the commander at Calais, wrote that five
French warships, with forty other sail and large numbers of troops, were
gathering at Boulogne and Abbeville. On the last day of 1557 Calais,
with its garrison of 800, was invested by 30,000 men.
The Government had taken the alarm by the 29th of December and, if the
Narrow Seas had been held by such a force as Henry VIII had been
accustomed to keep there in the winter, would have been in time to
relieve Calais, which held out until January 8. But such force was
lacking: a paper of December 29 shows that the ‘Ships and Barks already
in the Narrow Seas’ were five in number, their combined crews numbering
only 400 men.[392] It is true that instructions were given for the
immediate preparation of eight other vessels with crews amounting to
1,000 men,[393] but it was too late. The unready ships could not be
rigged and manned in time, and their commander, Sir William Woodhouse,
only received his final sailing orders on the very day the French
entered Calais.[394] In the meantime the Earl of Rutland had collected a
few hoys and fishing boats at Dover, and in them had attempted to
transport reinforcements to the beleaguered town. But the French
covering fleet beat them off, and he was obliged to leave Calais to its
fate.[396]
Calais had been lost by default of those responsible for the naval and
military administration of the country. A fortnight after its fall the
queen sent orders to Lord Howard to put the navy into an effective
state, equipping the regular ships and forcibly borrowing the services
of as many merchantmen as he should require. Howard was superseded by
Clinton early in 1558, and by mid-summer the latter was at sea. He made
the usual raid on the Brittany coast in July, burning Le Conquêt and
effecting nothing against Brest. At the beginning of August he was back
at Portsmouth. On July 13 a squadron detached from his fleet had
interfered with decisive effect in a battle fought on the shore at
Gravelines between the French and some of Philip’s Netherland troops.
The ships stood in and played with their heavy guns upon the French
until the latter gave way. But this was the only event to lighten the
gloom of the close of Mary’s reign, and was a trifling exploit as
compared with the fall of Calais. Fortunately the depression of English
affairs proved to be only temporary, and with a new sovereign and a
wiser government misfortunes were retrieved, and the nation was able in
the years to come to make triumphant progress along the path mapped out
for it by the first two Tudors.
-----
Footnote 353:
For full details of naval administration under Henry VII, see M.
Oppenheim, _History of the Administration of the Royal Navy_, and
_Naval Accounts and Inventories_.
Footnote 354:
1809 edition, p. 525.
Footnote 355:
_Letters and Papers_, i, p. 344.
Footnote 356:
Hall, p. 534.
Footnote 357:
Another account says that a gunner of the _Cordelière_, desperate at
the approaching surrender, fired the magazine. If the figures as to
survivors are correct they give support to the idea that the French
ship blew up while the _Regent_ burned.
Footnote 358:
_Letters and Papers_, i, p. 409.
Footnote 359:
Hall, p. 536.
Footnote 360:
_Letters and Papers_, i, p. 538.
Footnote 361:
Echyngham’s account. Prégent’s own description of the fight tallies
with the above. The English loss was about 120 killed, number of
wounded unknown.
Footnote 362:
_Cotton MSS._, Aug. I. i. 18.
Footnote 363:
Vol. xx, Preface.
Footnote 364:
The _Great Elizabeth_, 900 tons, bought 1514; the _Katherine
Pleasance_, 100, built 1518; the _Mary Gloria_, 300, bought 1517; the
_Mary and John_, bought 1521; the _Mary Imperial_, 120, built 1515;
the _Trinity Henry_, 250, built 1519.
Footnote 365:
_Letters and Papers_, iii, Preface, p. ccxvi.
Footnote 366:
Ibid., p. ccxix.
Footnote 367:
_Political History of England_, vol. v, pp. 250–1.
Footnote 368:
Froude, _History of England_, iv. 419.
Footnote 369:
_Letters and Papers_, xx, part i, Nos. 987, 1023, 1101.
Footnote 370:
Martin du Bellay, _Mémoires_, ed. Michaud et Poujoulat, 1838, p. 553.
Footnote 371:
_Letters and Papers_, xx, part i, No. 543.
Footnote 372:
Du Bellay says the English had only sixty ships on July 18.
Footnote 373:
Brit. Mus. Maps, 3, Tab. 24, No. 2. The original painting was at
Cowdray House, Midhurst, and was burnt with that building at the end
of the eighteenth century.
Footnote 374:
Froude, iv. 425–6; Van der Delft to Charles V, _Spanish Cal._ viii,
No. 101; Du Bellay, p. 554. Froude’s account is based mainly on Du
Bellay; Van der Delft’s letter was unknown at the time he wrote.
Footnote 375:
_A. P. C._, i. 212.
Footnote 376:
Ibid., p. 215.
Footnote 377:
Du Bellay, pp. 555–6.
Footnote 378:
_Letters and Papers_, xx, part i, No. 1237.
Footnote 379:
_Letters and Papers_, xx, App. No. 27.
Footnote 380:
See J. S. Corbett, _Drake and the Tudor Navy_, for tactical formations
employed in the sixteenth century.
Footnote 381:
Froude, iv. 435–6; Du Bellay, p. 559.
Footnote 382:
_Archaeologia_, vi. 218.
Footnote 383:
_Journal of Edward VI_, p. 61.
Footnote 384:
Strype, _Memorials_, ii. 504.
Footnote 385:
Oppenheim, _Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 101.
Footnote 386:
The Lord Hertford who had commanded the land forces at Leith and
Edinburgh in 1544.
Footnote 387:
_R. O., S. P. Dom., Ed. VI_, vol. vii, Nos. 9 and 12.
Footnote 388:
Fox, _Acts and Monuments_ (ed. G. Townsend, 1846), v. 741; Holinshed,
iii. 1055.
Footnote 389:
_R. O., S. P. Dom., Ed. VI_, vol. v, No. 3.
Footnote 390:
Oppenheim, p. 109.
Footnote 391:
_R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary_, vol. x, No. 67. This paper is small and
mutilated, but does not look as if any large portion were missing. It
may or may not represent a complete list of the ships employed.
Footnote 392:
Ibid., vol. xi, No. 65.
Footnote 393:
Ibid.
Footnote 394:
Ibid., vol. xii, No. 12.
Footnote 396:
Froude, vi. 500.
INDEX
Abaan, King of Guinea, 301.
Adams, Clement, writer, 322, 325.
Admiralty Court, the, 44, 366 and note.
Alday, James, originator of the Barbary trade, 274.
Alexander VI, Bull of, 79, 116, 287, 289, 337.
Alexandria, wealth of, 57.
Allen, Jeffrey, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 291–2.
Andalusia, English trade with. _See_ Spain.
Anglo-Portuguese Syndicate, 104–19;
first letters patent to, 1501, 104–6;
second letters patent, 1502, 109–10;
first voyage of, 1501, 107–8;
second voyage, 1502, 108;
third voyage, 1503, 110;
fourth voyage, 1504, 110;
fifth voyage (?), 1505, 110–11;
general considerations, 111–19.
Annebaut, Claude d’, French admiral, 389–98.
Antwerp, English trade with, 19, 20, 185, 189, 193, 195 note.
Antwerp, importance of, 149.
Artillery, import of, 184;
development of, 351–2, 353, 354–5, 360–2.
Arundel, Earl of, member of Russia Company, 311.
Ashehurst, Thomas, merchant of Bristol, 104, 109.
Asia, trade with, 15.
Aucher, Sir Anthony, shipowner, 235.
Ayala, Pedro de, Spanish ambassador, 69, 79;
letter from, describing Cabot’s voyage, 58–9, 67–9, 79.
Baccalaos. _See_ Newfoundland Fishery.
Baker, Matthew, 238.
Baltic, trade with the, 15, 16, 44, 129, 179, 196–8. _See also_ Danzig.
Barbary, English voyages to, 274–7;
commodities obtained from, 276.
Barnes, Sir George, merchant, investor in Guinea expedition, 284;
member of Russia Company, 311;
consul of same, 326.
Barton, Andrew, pirate, defeated and killed by the Howards, 1511,
374–5.
Bedford, Earl of, member of Russia Company, 311.
Bellay, Martin du, 356, 391.
Benin, Wyndham at, 1553, 281–3, 290.
Blondel, Denis, French captain trading to Guinea, 297–301.
Bodenham, Roger, voyage of, to the Mediterranean, 1551, 235–8.
Bordeaux, trade with, 19, 129, 145–6, 208–15.
Borey, Thomas, merchant of Southampton, makes voyages to Brazil, _c._
1540, 267.
Borough, Stephen, master of the _Edward Bonaventure_, 1553–4, 314;
commands the _Serchthrift_ in search of a North-East Passage, 1556,
329–32;
in 1557, 332.
Borough, William, seaman and navigator, 314, 319, 330, 364.
Bostoke, Henry, merchant, letter from, 204–5.
Boston, port of, 367, 371.
Boulogne, capture of, 1544, 389;
siege of, by the French, 1545–6:, 399;
renewed by the French, 1549–50, 402–3;
surrender, 403.
Bounties to shipowners, 114, 124.
Bourbourg, Diet at, 1532, 187.
Bradley, Thomas, adventurer in 1498 voyage, 61.
Brandan, Saint, island of, 74.
Brandon, Charles, Duke of Suffolk, engaged in Mediterranean trade, 232;
commands against the French, 1523, 388.
Brasil, island of, 58, 59, 74.
Brazil, English voyages to, 265–70;
French, 269.
Brest, battle off, 1512, 376–8;
blockade of, 1513, 379–83.
Brighton, burnt by the French, 1514, 384–5.
Bristol, 73–4, 139, 148, 199, 203;
visit of Henry VII to, 74;
John Cabot sails from, 1497, 56, 74;
1498, 81;
Anglo-Portuguese voyages from, 1501–5, 104–19;
other expeditions from, 58, 68, 74;
promises ships for 1521 project, 245;
Act relating to, 1543, 148, 370;
mercantile corporations at, 370–1;
status of as a port, 367, 369–70.
Brooke, John, agent of Russia Company at Vardo, 327.
Bruges, English trade with, 185.
Buckland, John, seaman, 314, 334.
Buil, Friar, 58, 68–9.
Butts, Thomas, participator in 1536 expedition, 263–4.
Cabot, John, 51–85, 91–2, 91 (erroneously for Sebastian Cabot);
at Mecca, 57, 72–3;
at Seville and Lisbon, 58, 67–8;
obtains letters patent from Henry VII, 53, 72, 74, 78, 105, 106, 109;
1497 voyage, 54–8, 60, 63–4, 65–7, 70, 74–7;
his landfall, 1497, 63–4, 75–6;
gratuity to, 60, 77;
pension granted to, 60, 61, 77, 82;
1498 voyage, 58–60, 60–3, 68–9, 69–70, 78–85, 98;
date of his death, 82, 85, 88, 94;
his wife, 55, 73;
his ship, 75, 81;
his crew, 1497, 56, 57–8, 74, 78;
chart made by, 56, 59, 69, 77;
his theory of geography, 57, 73, 75, 77, 77–8, 80–1, 84;
his nationality, 72, 73.
Cabot, Ludovicus, 53.
Cabot, Sanctus, 53, 64.
Cabot, Sebastian, 52–3, 62 (erroneously for John Cabot), 63 64 65 84 85
86–103, 114 241–5, 246–9, 265 307–13, 315 323 326 329–30;
first voyage of discovery, 1499 (?), 86–103;
summary of accounts of, 95–7;
question of date of, 99–100, 101, 103 note;
alleged North-West voyage in 1516–17, 241–5;
his career in Spain, 242–3, 307–8;
proposal for him to command an English expedition, 1521, 246, 247–8,
248;
his visit to England, _c._ 1521, 248–9;
his voyage to the River Plate, 1526, 89, 93, 96, 251 note;
Wyatt’s memorandum on, 308;
arrangements for his transfer to England, 1547, 308;
his flight to England, 1548, 308–9;
pension granted by Edward VI, 1549, 308–9, 309 note;
his return demanded by Charles V, 309;
his position in England, 309–10, 312–13;
his letter to Charles V
betraying a project of Northumberland’s, _c._ 1552, 310;
draws up ordinances for Willoughby’s voyage, 1553, 311–12, 315–16;
made Governor of Russia Company, 312, 326;
visits Stephen Borough on board the _Serchthrift_, 1556, 329;
death, 1557 (?), 330;
character, 52, 53, 70–1, 94, 101–3, 307–8;
geographical knowledge of, 98–9, 101, 307–8;
map attributed to, 63, 70;
age of, 64, 330;
his birthplace, 73, 309.
Cabots, the, works on, 102 note.
Calais, head-quarters of Merchant Adventurers, 1493–6, 19;
head-quarters of Staplers, _see_ Staple;
fall of, 1558, 405–6.
Canary Islands, English trade with, 226, 260.
Candia, English trade with, 24–25, 229, 230, 231, 235–6, 238;
English factor at, 230 note;
English consul at, 231.
Cantino map, the, 116–17.
Carew, Sir George, captain of the _Mary Rose_, 1545, 394.
Carew, Sir John, killed at Brest, 1512, 377–8.
Carter, John, adventurer in 1498 voyage, 61.
Carter, William, captain in Guinea expeditions, 293.
Castlyn, Edward, merchant, factors of, at Grand Canary, 226;
investor in Guinea expedition, 284;
forbidden to trade with Guinea, 291–2.
Castlyn, William, member of Merchant Adventurers, 188;
Governor, 1542, 190.
Câteau Cambrésis, Treaty of, 180.
Cathay, search for route to, 71–3, 77, 84–5, 86–103, 106, 118–19, 328,
337.
_See also_ North-East Passage, North-West Passage, and Russia
Company.
Cavo de Ynglaterra, 83.
Cecil, Sir William, 180;
member of Russia Company, 311.
_Centième_, the, tax in the Low Countries, 190–1.
Centurioni, Paolo, Genoese navigator, project for a voyage of
discovery, 1525, 249.
Chamberlain, Sir Thomas, Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 193, 195.
Chancellor, Richard, 238, 313–333;
sails with Willoughby, 1553, 317;
captain of the _Edward Bonaventure_, 314;
separated from Willoughby, 318;
reaches Vardo, 322;
discovers Archangel, 323–4;
visits Moscow, 324–5;
returns to England, 1554, 326;
second voyage to White Sea, 1555, 327–9;
second visit to the Czar, 328;
obtains grant of privileges, 328;
remains in Russia, 1555–6, 329;
sails for England, 1556, 332;
wrecked and drowned, 333.
Channel Islands, naval action near, 1549, 402.
Chapuys, Eustace, Imperial ambassador, 131, 132, 143, 268;
letters from, 130, 265, 269.
Charles V, Emperor, 125, 126, 130, 131, 132, 170, 185, 186, 187, 191,
195, 220, 224, 389;
diplomatic struggle with, 130–2, 223;
in England, 1522, 386.
Charran, Alfonso, Spanish captain, 381–2.
Chaucer’s Shipman, 211.
Chester, Thomas, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 296.
Chilton, Leonard, English captain trading with Mexico, 226.
Chios, English trade with, 229, 230, 231, 232, 235–8;
English factors at, 230 note;
English consul at, 231.
Chronicle, anonymous (Cotton MSS. Vit. A. xvi), 61, 69–70.
Cipango (Japan), 57, 77–8, 80, 84.
Clermont, René de, French admiral, 376–7.
Clinton, Lord, Lord Admiral, 401, 403, 406.
Cloth export, 33–6, 40, 42, 126–7, 129–30, 135, 145, 147, 171–3, 192;
laws relating to, 152–4, 157;
suspension of laws, 145, 162, 170–1.
_See also_ Merchant Adventurers.
Cloth manufacture, English, 16, 36, 134–5, 147, 152–3;
Netherland, 20, 32, 33, 36.
Cockeram, Martin, mariner, 266.
Coinage, debasement of, 163.
Coke, John, Secretary of Merchant Adventurers, 188.
Columbus, Bartholomew, 71.
Columbus, Christopher, 71, 73.
Commerce, general development of, 13–50, 120–51;
Acts relating to, 124, 124–5, 134–5.
Cooper, Richard, Governor of English merchants in Spain, 218.
_Cordelière_, French warship, burning of, 376–8.
Corte Real, Gaspar and Miguel, Portuguese explorers, 106, 116.
Cortes, Martin, writer on navigation, 348.
Cosa, Juan de la, map of, 82–3.
Cotton, Thomas, vice-admiral, 402.
Crespi, treaty of, 224.
Crisis, international, 1538–9, 125–6.
Cromwell, Thomas, 125, 128, 262, 268;
policy of, 127 note, 140.
Customs duties, tonnage and poundage, subsidies, wool duties, 22, 33,
36–40, 46–7, 123, 136;
schedules of, 37, 40;
Acts relating to, 38, 123, 150–1, 161;
proclamation relating to, 1539, 126–7, 128, 130–2;
frauds on, 162;
receipts, 131, 367–71.
Danzig, English merchants at, 44, 129, 158, 178, 197–8.
Dawbeny, Oliver, participator in 1536 expedition, 263.
Denmark, trade with, 41, 129, 197.
Dorset, Marquis of, 120–1, 378–9.
Dudley, John, Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland,
146, 162, 164, 403;
commands fleet against French and Scots, 1544–6, 389–99;
sacks Leith and Edinburgh, 1544, 389;
action at Portsmouth, 1545, 392–7;
action off Shoreham, 1545, 397–8;
raids French coast, 398–9;
policy of, 162, 163, 165;
project for a voyage to Peru, _c._ 1552, 310.
Durforth, Cornelius, master of the _Bona Confidentia_, 314.
Easterlings. _See_ Hansa.
Eden, Richard, historian, 52, 90, 241–2, 245, 278, 279, 283, 284, 285.
Edward VI, general character of his reign, 146–7;
naval administration under, 400–1;
death of, 170.
Elephant-hunting, 298.
Elizabeth, Queen, letter from, to the Council of Lubeck, 180–1.
Elyot, Hugh, merchant and explorer, 109, 113, 114, 370.
Evil May Day, the, 1517, 141.
Exeter and Dartmouth, port of, 371.
Fabyan, Robert, chronicler, 62, 69–70.
Ferdinand, King of Spain, 23, 27, 121;
letters from, 53–4, 67;
letters to, 22–3, 58–9, 59;
death, 1516, 243.
Feria, Count of, Spanish ambassador, 303.
Fernandes, Francisco, Portuguese explorer, 104, 109;
pension granted to, 108.
Fernandes, João, Portuguese explorer, 104, 106, 108, 109.
Ferrers, Lord, naval captain, 1513, 382, 383.
Field, John, English merchant in Spain, 226, 227.
FitzWilliam, Sir William, vice-admiral, 1522, 358, 386.
Flanders galleys, the. _See_ Venice.
Flanders, trade with. _See_ Netherlands.
Foodstuffs, supply of, 147;
export of, forbidden, 147–8;
import of, 147.
Fox, Rowland, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 291–2.
France, trade with, 17, 208–15.
_See also_ Bordeaux.
France, wars with, 1512–14, 120–1, 375–86;
1522–3, 386–8;
1544–6, 159–60, 388–99;
1549–1550, 402–3;
1557–9, 179, 404–6.
Francis I, King of France, 125, 130.
_Fust MS._, the, 75.
Gabriel, Russian skipper, 330–1.
Galvano, Antonio, explorer and historian, 91, 95;
quotation from, 91.
Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Winchester, 132.
Gerard, Sir William, merchant, investor in Barbary voyage, 275.
Gold, amounts of, obtained by Guinea expeditions, 280, 281, 285, 287,
294–5, 302, 304, 306.
Gold Coast. _See_ Guinea.
Gomara, Lopes de, historian, 87, 92–3;
quotation from, 87–8.
Gonsalves, João, Portuguese explorer, 104, 109;
pension granted to, 108.
Gonson, Richard, 234.
Gonson, William, merchant, 234.
Grain Coast. _See_ Guinea.
Grand Cham, the, 54, 77, 256, 257.
Gravelines, battle of, 1558, 406.
Gray, Richard, in the Mediterranean, 234;
agent of Russia Company, 327.
Graynfyld, John, privateer, exploit of, 403–4.
Greenland, in early maps, 115, 116;
confused with Labrador, 93, 116 note.
Gresham, Sir John, 230 note;
member of Russia Company, 311, 326.
Gresham, Sir Richard, 190.
Gresham, Sir Thomas, 146, 163, 165, 170, 194;
financial services to Government, 194–5;
member of Russia Company, 311.
Guinea, English voyages to, 277–306;
commodities obtained from, 277, 279, 285–6, 287;
voyages prohibited by the Privy Council, 287, 291–3, 295–6, 297;
defence of the English merchants, 289–91;
Wyndham’s voyage, 1553, 277–84, 290 note;
Locke’s voyage, 1554–5, 284–7, 288, 290 note;
Towerson’s first voyage, 1555–6, 293–5;
Towerson’s second voyage, 1556–7, 296–302;
Towerson’s third voyage, 1558, 302–6;
other English expeditions, 295, 298–9;
French voyages, 297–301, 303, 304;
the Portuguese in Guinea, 280.
Guldeford, Sir Edward, 232.
Hakluyt, Richard, 62, 63, 264.
Hamburg, cloth mart at, 172, 173, 175.
Hansa, Hanseatic League, 15, 16, 35, 39–44, 129, 133, 152–82;
policy of Henry VII towards, 41–4;
of Henry VIII, 132–3, 152, 155, 156–7, 158, 159, 160, 161;
of Somerset, 161–2;
of Northumberland, 162;
of Mary, 170–1, 176, 178;
of King Philip, 173–4, 176, 179;
of Elizabeth, 180–1;
privileges of, 38, 39–40, 123, 152, 161, 167, 170, 172, 178;
first revocation of privileges, 1552, 139, 163–9;
restoration, 1553, 151, 170;
second revocation, 1555, 174, 176;
treaties with England, 39, 176, 181;
grievances of, 42–4, 154–6, 157–8, 159;
diets with, 1491, 42;
1497, 43;
1499, 44;
1520, 155–6;
1542 (proposed), 159;
1555–7 (proposed), 174, 176, 177–8;
negotiations with, 1558–1560, 180–1;
charges against, 162, 164–5, 166, 171–3, 177, 180;
embassies from, 165, 168–9, 174–6, 178, 179;
proclaims cessation of intercourse with England, 1557, 178–9;
banishes Englishmen, 178, 181;
final expulsion from England, 1598, 182;
suspected of heresy, 1526, 143;
temporary restraint of, 1535, 157;
furnishes ships for the English fleet, 160;
trade with Antwerp, 160, 167–8, 172–7;
threatened coalition of, with Denmark and France against England,
1557–8, 179;
dépôt of at Hull, 162, 168;
two Hanse ships captured by Towerson, 303, 350;
the Steelyard, 39;
attack on, 1493, 43.
Hawkins, Sir John, 225.
Hawkins, William, 241;
makes voyages to Brazil, 1530, 265–7;
commercial enterprises, 268–9;
letter from, to Cromwell, 268;
privateering exploits, 271;
further career, 270–1.
Henry VII, 54, 55, 57, 59, 78;
and Columbus, 71;
visits Bristol, 74;
grants letters patent to the Cabots, 53, 56, 59–60, 64–5, 74, 78;
to the Bristol syndicates, 104, 109;
policy of, 14, 17, 19, 20–7, 37, 41–7, 54, 65, 79, 106;
naval administration of, 372–4.
Henry VIII, character of, 120, 121, 128;
court of, 133;
policy of, 120, 121, 123–4, 126–8, 130–3, 142, 144, 161, 183–4, 186,
214;
his interest in discovery, 240, 245–8, 249;
exhorted by Robert Thorne, 250–1;
anecdote of, 264;
and William Hawkins, 271;
naval policy, 374, 399–400;
conduct of war, 1545, 397.
Hewster, John, Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 155.
Hickman, Anthony, merchant, factors of at Grand Canary, 226;
investor in Guinea expedition, 284.
Hojeda, Alonzo de, explorer, 99–100;
encounters English explorers (?), 1499, 100, 101.
Holstocke, William, Controller of the Navy, 234.
Holy League, the, 120–1.
Hore, Master, voyage of to Newfoundland, 1536, 262–4.
Howard, Sir Edward, Lord Admiral, engaged in Mediterranean trade, 232;
action with Barton, 1511, 374–5;
commands fleet against French, 1512–13, 376;
battle off Brest, 1512, 376–8;
blockades Brest, 379–83;
killed, 1513, 381–3;
character, 376, 378, 380, 383.
Howard, Thomas, Lord Admiral and Duke of Norfolk, 141;
engaged in Mediterranean trade, 232;
action with Andrew Barton, 1511, 374–5;
succeeds his brother as Admiral, 383–4;
commands in 1522–3, 386, 387–8.
Howard, Lord William, Lord Admiral, 403, 404–5, 406;
assists Guinea adventurers, 303;
member of Russia Company, 311.
Hull, port of, 371.
Hussey, Anthony, Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 296;
Consul of Russia Company, 326.
Hussey, Dr. Lawrence, 333–4.
Hutton, John, Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 188.
Iceland, fishery at and trade with, 41, 74, 199–203;
fighting in, 199–200;
conduct of the English in, 200–1;
number of ships going to, 201–2;
decline of the fishery, 202–3.
Ipswich, port of, 371.
Isabella, Queen of Castile, 20, 23.
Italy, trade with, overland, 16, 28, 29, 32, 150, 229;
by sea, 17, 28, 32, 48, 149, 230–1.
Ivan the Terrible, Czar, 324–6;
letter from to Edward VI, 325–326;
anecdote of, 327–8;
grants privileges to the English, 328;
letter to from Philip and Mary, 336.
Ivory Coast. _See_ Guinea.
James IV of Scotland, 375.
Jenkinson, Anthony, in the Mediterranean, 238;
goes to Russia, 1557, 336;
his explorations, 337.
John, Don, native chief in Guinea, 286, 294.
Johnson, John, merchant of the Staple, 204.
Johnson, Richard, description of the Samoyedes, 331–2.
Judde, Sir Andrew, merchant, member of Russia Company, 326.
Katherine of Aragon, 22, 23, 24;
divorce of, 186–7.
Killingworth, George, agent of Russia Company, 327–8.
Knotting, John, election of as Governor of Merchant Adventurers
annulled, 189–90.
Knyvet, Sir Thomas, 232;
killed at Brest, 1512, 377–8.
Labrador, 88, 91, 93, 115–16, 117–19, 203–4;
origin of name, 91–2, 104 note;
confused with Greenland, 93, 116 note.
Lambert, Francis, merchant, investor in Barbary voyage, 275.
Lambert, Nicholas, merchant, 281;
abandoned in Benin, 282–3.
Lancerota, fight between Wyndham and Spaniards at, 276.
Lane, Henry, agent of Russia Company, 321, 327, 337.
Lee, Dr., English ambassador in Spain, 251, 260.
Letters of Marque. _See_ Privateering.
Levant, trade with. _See_ Mediterranean.
Lisle, Lord. _See_ Dudley.
Livery Companies, the, invited to set forth a voyage of discovery,
1521, 245–8.
Locke, John, merchant, commands Guinea expedition, 1554, 284–7, 288.
Locke, Thomas, merchant, 284.
London, port of, 131;
growth of, 367–8, 371.
Low Countries. _See_ Netherlands.
Lutterell, Sir John, merchant, 274.
Magellan, Ferdinand, voyage round the world, 1519–21, 246.
‘Mantuan Gentleman,’ relation of the, 88–9, 93–4, 97.
Marco Polo, 72;
quotation from, 77 note.
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, 19, 21.
Martyr, Peter, historian, 86, 92;
quotation from, 86–7.
Mary, Queen, policy of, 150–1, 170–1, 176, 288, 291, 292, 303;
letter from to the Czar, 1557, 336;
naval administration of, 404.
Medina del Campo, treaty of, 22.
Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 216;
grants privileges to English merchants, 216–17, 218.
Mediterranean, commodities obtained from, 230;
English trade with, 15, 17, 46, 129–30, 228–39;
Acts relating to, 228 note;
decay of, 148–9, 238–9.
Merchant Adventurers, the, 16, 19, 31, 33–6, 127, 138, 140, 145, 146,
161, 163, 168, 183–96;
constitution of, 34, 35, 187, 194 note;
Act relating to, 35;
head-quarters transferred to Calais, 1493, 19;
treatment of, in the Netherlands, 184–6, 195;
threatened transference of head-quarters to Calais, 1527, 187;
threatened arrest of, in Netherlands, 1527, 187;
relations with English Government, 187–8, 194 note;
pay a benevolence in lieu of taxes, 191;
arrest of at Antwerp, 1545, 191–2;
suffer from Hanse competition, 191–2;
loans to Government, 163, 194 note;
attack privileges of the Hansa, 163, 164–5, 171–4;
petition the Council, 1554, 173;
disputes among, 35, 139, 189–190, 193–4;
indiscipline of, 189, 193, 195;
wealth of, 140–1;
members fined, 188–9, 194;
religion of, 195–6;
relative decline of, 196.
Merchant Adventurers for the discovery of new lands, &c. _See_ Russia
Company.
Merchants, social position of. _See_ Social Changes.
Merchants, foreign, in England;
Flemish, 127, 141;
French, 141, 212;
German, _see_ Hansa;
Italian, 26, 44, 46–8, 141, 150;
Spanish, 44–6.
Merchants of the Staple. _See_ Staple.
Merchant Venturers of Bristol, 370–1.
Michiel, Giovanni, Venetian ambassador, 150, 321, 327 note, 329 note.
Milan, Duke of, 55.
Mina, or El Mina, Portuguese head-quarters in Guinea, 280, 285.
Mordeyne, Miles, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 296;
member of Russia Company, 326.
More, Sir Thomas, 155.
Muscovy Company. _See_ Russia Company.
Navigation Acts, 1485 and 1489, 19, 45, 128, 209–10, 212–13;
repeal of, 145–6, 214–15;
1540, 128–30, 158, 213, 223;
licences to infringe, 19, 212;
Spanish Acts, 24, 27, 131, 219.
Navigation, Science of. _See_ Ships.
Netherlands, trade with, 19, 20, 129, 130, 131–2, 147, 184–7, 190–2,
196.
Newcastle, port of, 367, 371.
Newfoundland, in Thorne’s map, 115, 116;
Hore’s voyage to, 1536, 262–4;
fishery at, 56, 64, 87, 106–7, 118, 203–4;
Acts relating to, 203.
_New Interlude of the Four Elements, The_, 111, 114;
quotation from, 111–13.
Norfolk, Duke of. _See_ Howard.
North-East Passage, search for, 310–32, 337;
causes leading to, 310–11;
voyage of Willoughby, 1553–4, 314–22;
of Chancellor, 1553–4, 322–4;
of Stephen Borough, 1556, 329–32.
_See also_ Russia Company.
North-West Passage, search for, 88, 89–90, 91, 94, 96, 98, 101, 103,
118, 119;
alleged voyage, 1516–17, 241–5;
projected voyage, 1521, 245–8;
Rut’s voyage, 1527, 252–8;
Hore’s voyage, 1536, 262–4;
projected voyage, 1541, 265.
Northumberland, Duke of. _See_ Dudley.
Novaia Zemlia, discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby, 318–19.
Olaus Magnus, historian, quotation from, 200.
Orkneys and Shetlands, proposed raid on, 1542, 201.
Osep Nepea, Russian ambassador, sails with Chancellor, 1556, 332–3;
reception in London, 334;
negotiates a treaty, 334–5;
description of, 335–6;
departure, 336.
Ostrich, Henry, merchant, 308.
Ostrich, William, Governor of English merchants in Spain, 220, 222.
Packer, the, duties of, 135.
Paris Map, the. _See_ Sebastian Cabot.
Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, letter from, describing Cabot’s voyage, 54–55, 66.
Pembroke, Earl of, member of Russia Company, 311.
Pery, Thomas, imprisoned and tortured in Spain, 222–3, 224.
Pet, Arthur, 314, 332.
Petre, Sir William, 175.
Philip, Archduke and King of Castile, 20–1, 30.
Philip, King, consort of Mary, influence of in England, 174, 287–8;
policy of towards Hansa, 173–4, 176;
towards Guinea adventurers, 287–8, 291–3, 295–296, 302;
towards Russia Company, 337.
Phillips, John, voyage of to Brazil and West Indies, 1540, 267–8.
Pilotage, 30.
Pinteado, Antonio Anes, Portuguese pilot and renegade, 277–84.
Piracy, 28–9, 365–7;
Act concerning, 1536, 366.
Pisa, proposed wool-staple at, 25, 229.
Plantagenet, Arthur, son of Edward IV, 380.
Plymouth and Fowey, port of, 371.
Pole, Cardinal, 126.
Poole, port of, 371.
Popenruyter, Hans, gunfounder, 184, 361–2.
Portsmouth, fighting at, 1545, 392–7.
Portuguese, discoveries of the, 49–50, 72;
in America, 106–7, 116–17;
offence taken by at English voyages to Africa, 276–277, 279, 287;
negotiations with, 287–93;
fighting with on Gold Coast, 294, 299–300, 304.
Porzmoguer, Hervé de, French captain, 377–8.
Poynings, Sir Edward, 373.
Prato, Albert de, Canon of St. Paul’s and explorer, 252, 255, 258;
letter from to Wolsey, 255;
death of (?), 256.
Prégent de Bidoux, French captain, commands squadron of galleys,
1512–14, 379;
forces blockade of Brest, 353, 380–1;
beats off English attack, 381–3;
burns Brighton, 384–5.
Prices, rise of, 135, 146–7;
of sugar, 135;
of wines, 24, 213;
of wool, 146–7;
of corn, 148.
Prima Vista, land named, 64.
Privateering, 29, 138, 214, 224, 225, 270–1, 272, 367, 390–1, 403–4.
Proclamation abolishing protection for seven years, 1539, 126–127, 130,
132.
Prussia, trade with, 42.
_See also_ Danzig.
Pudsey, —, merchant of Southampton, voyage of to Brazil, 1542, 267.
Puebla, Dr. Ruy Gonsales de, Spanish ambassador, 27;
character, 45–6;
letter to, 53–4;
letter from, describing Cabot’s voyage, 59, 79.
Purchas, Samuel, historian, 253, 255, 321.
Purchas, William, Lord Mayor, 62.
Ralph, John, captain in Guinea expeditions, 293.
Ramusio, Giovanni Battista, historian, 88, 93–4, 97, 114;
quotations from, 88–9, 89–90.
Ransoms, raising of, for prisoners of the Turks, 233–4.
Reformation, effects of, on maritime expansion, 141–4.
Reneger, John, son of Robert Reneger, 272.
Reneger, Robert, merchant of Southampton, makes voyages to Brazil, _c._
1540, 267;
career of, 272–3;
captures Spanish treasure-ship, 1545, 272;
lends ships to the king, 1545, 391.
Ribault, Jean, French explorer, 90.
Rotz, John, his _Book of Hydrography_, 345.
Russia Company, 311–37;
formation of, 1552–3, 311;
incorporated by Edward VI, 312;
Sebastian Cabot Governor of, 312, 326;
capital of, 312;
distinguished from Merchant Adventurers, 312–13;
first expedition, 1553–4, 314–26;
obtains fresh charter, 1555, 326–7;
second expedition, 1555, 327–9;
obtains privileges from the Czar, 328;
third expedition, 1556, 329–33;
disasters at sea, 332–3;
fourth expedition, 1557, 336;
factories in Russia, 337.
Rut, John, commander of North-West voyage, 1527, 252–8;
letter from to Henry VIII, 253–4;
in the West Indies, 255–6, 257 note.
Rutter, John, gunmaker, 361.
Salt, Isle of, Towerson at, 305.
San Lucar, English merchants at, 216–17, 218, 220, 222, 225.
Santa Cruz, Alonzo de, geographer, 91, 94;
quotations from, 91–2.
Savages brought from America, 1502, 62, 63, 110, 117.
Scandinavia, trade with, 15.
Schleswig, Duke of, letter from to Queen Mary, 179, 198.
Scotland, wars with, 1490, 373;
1497, 373–4;
1513, 384;
1522–4, 387;
1543–5, 388–9, 390;
1547–8, 401–2.
Searcher, duties of the, 135–6.
Senjen, island of, Willoughby at, 318.
Seven Cities, the, 58, 74.
Seymour, Thomas, Lord Admiral, 366, 391, 403.
Ships: development of ship-building, 232, 338–41, 346;
the mediaeval round ship, 339;
the galley, 339, 359–60, 380–1, 386, 393, 397–8;
English sailing ships called galleys, 355–6;
the carrack, 345, 350;
the caravel, 349–50;
the hulk, 350–1;
row-barges, 356, 393;
English ships, late fifteenth century, 341–2;
a merchantman of 1519, 344;
of 1527, 345;
warships, development of, 340–1, 351–2, 355, 356–7;
size of ships, 342–3, 345, 400;
cost of ships, 343–4;
sails and rigging, 346–8, 356–7;
ships’ boats, 346;
navigation, improvement of, 30, 240–1, 348–9;
seamen, health of, 362–3, 397, 399;
wages, 363;
victualling, 363;
private trading, 363;
officers, 363–4;
discipline, 364–5.
Ships: English (those marked * belonged to the Navy), the _Anne_, 336;
_Barbara_, 267–8;
_Barke Aucher_, 235–8;
_Bartholomew_, 284;
_Bona Confidentia_, 314–22, 328, 332;
_Bona Esperanza_, 314–22, 328, 332–3;
_Botolph_, 275;
_Christ_,* 233;
_Christopher_, 302–6;
_Edward Bonaventure_, 314–18, 322–6, 327–9, 329–30, 332–3, 363;
_Galley Subtile_,* 360;
_Grace Dieu_,* 372;
_Great Elizabeth_,* 386 note;
_Hart_, 293–5, 297–301;
_Henry Grace à Dieu_,* 243, 244, 343, 344, 347, 350, 353, 354–5,
357–9, 379, 393, 394, 404;
_Hind_, 293–5;
_Holy Cross_, 234;
_Jennet Purwyn_,* 374–5;
_Jesus of Lubeck_,* 233, 405;
_John Evangelist_, 284, 286, 336;
_Katherine Pleasance_,* 386 note;
_Lion_, 274, 275–7, 279, 283 note;
_Lion_ * (captured from Barton), 374–5;
_Mary and John_,* 232, 386 note;
_Mary Figge_, 271;
_Mary Fortune_,* 343, 373;
_Mary Gilford_,* 253, 256, 257 note;
_Mary Gloria_,* 386 note;
_Mary Gonson_,* 233;
_Mary Imperial_,* 386 note;
_Mary James_,* 377;
_Mary Rose_,* 243, 343, 353, 358, 361, 365, 377, 393, 394;
_Mary Spert_, 245;
_Matthew_, 75;
_Matthew Gonson_, 234, 255, 346, 362, 364;
_Minion_, 302–6;
_Moon_,* 279;
_Paul_, 266;
_Peter Pomegranate_,* 343, 353;
_Philip and Mary_, 327–9, 329–30, 332;
_Primrose_,* 279, 283 note, 336, 404;
_Regent_,* 233, 352, 353, 373, 377–8;
_Samson_, 254, 256, 257 note;
_Saviour_, 262;
_Serchthrift_, 329–32;
_Sovereign_,* 352, 357, 373, 377;
_Sweepstake_,* 343, 373;
_Tiger_, 297–302, 302–305;
_Tiger_,* 355;
_Trinity_, 284, 286, 336;
_Trinity Henry_,* 386 note;
_Unicorn_, 302.
Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, letter from, 169.
Sluys, expedition against, 1492, 373.
Social changes, 133–4, 139–41.
Somerset, Duke of, 145;
sacks Leith and Edinburgh, 1544, 389;
invades Scotland, 1547, 401;
policy of, 161–2;
execution of, 164.
Soncino, Raimondo de, letters from, describing Cabot’s voyage, 55,
56–8, 66–7.
Sousa, Lopez de, Portuguese ambassador, 288.
Southampton, 367;
voyages to Brazil from, _c._ 1540, 267–8;
decay of, 368–9;
Act relating to, 1530, 368;
privileges of, 369.
Spain, trade with, 17, 22–4, 27, 129, 139, 215–28;
Company of English merchants in, 217;
incorporated, 1530, 218;
complaint of, 1548, 225;
persecution of English in, 143, 220–4;
arrest of English merchants, 1545, 224–5;
rise of enmity between Spain and England, 143–4.
Spert, Sir Thomas, alleged voyage of, 1516–17, 241–5;
career of, 243–5.
St. John, island of, 64, 70, 75.
St. Thomé, Towerson at, 305.
Staple, Merchants of the, 16, 31–33, 135, 136, 138, 139, 204–7;
wealth of, 141;
decline of, 206–207;
Acts concerning Calais, 205–6;
licences to infringe Staple monopoly, 231–2.
Steelyard. _See_ Hansa.
Stockbridge, Richard, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 291–2.
Stow, John, historian, 62–3.
Tanais, country of, 56.
Thevet, André, historian, 90.
Thirkill, Launcelot, companion of John Cabot, 60, 61, 82.
Thomas, James, relation of Barbary voyage by, 275–7.
Thomas, John, merchant of Bristol, 104, 109.
Thorne, Nicholas, son of Robert Thorne the elder, 260, 262, 261 note.
Thorne, Robert, the elder, voyage of to America, 113–14, 117, 252;
royal grant to, 114;
date of death, 116 note, 259;
career of, 258–9.
Thorne, Robert, the younger, 113, 114;
map made by, 114–116;
_Declaration of the Indies_, 250–1;
_Book made by_, 251–2;
sends agents to South America, 251 and note;
connexion between his projects and Rut’s voyage, 257–8;
career of, 260–261, 261 note.
Thorne, William, 114.
Tison, Thomas, first English merchant in West Indies, 260.
Tomson, Robert, voyage of to Mexico, 1555, 225–8.
Tonnage and Poundage. _See_ Customs.
Tordesillas, Treaty of, 79, 116.
Towerson, William, merchant, first voyage of to Guinea, 1555–6, 293–5;
second voyage, 1556–7, 296–302;
fights a Portuguese squadron, 299–300;
fights a French pirate, 301–2;
third voyage, 1558, 302–6;
captures a French ship, 304.
Trade, mediaeval, 15–16, 19, 31, 49–50.
Trade routes, 15, 16–17, 148–9, 154–5;
effect of discoveries on, 49–50, 149.
Treaties, commercial, with Denmark, 41;
with the Hansa, 39, 176, 181;
with the Netherlands, 1496, 20, 21, 185;
1497, 20;
1499, 20;
1506, 21, 131, 185–6;
1520, 185–6;
1542, 132;
with Spain, 1489, 22;
1515, 216.
Tregonwell, Sir James, 178.
Trenchard, Sir Thomas, 20.
Trinity, Guild of the Holy, 30.
Turkey Company, the, 231, 239.
Vardo, 318;
Chancellor at, 322–323;
trading post of the Russia Company, 327, 329.
Venice, commerce and policy of, 17–18, 47–8, 148–50;
Flanders galleys of, 18, 26, 28, 48–9, 149;
English trade with, 24–5;
decline of, 148–9.
Vineland, 74.
Wade, or Ward, Armigil, explorer, 263.
Walker, Humphrey, gunmaker, 361.
Wallop, Sir John, naval commander, 382, 385.
Ward, Richard, merchant of Bristol, 104, 109.
Warwick, Earl of. _See_ Dudley.
West Indies, English trade with, 217, 228, 260.
White, Giles, merchant, forbidden to trade with Guinea, 296.
Williamson, John, relation by, 234.
Willoughby, Gabriel, 314, 321.
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, Captain-General of the North-East Expedition,
1553, 313–22;
preparations, 314–17;
voyage, 317–322;
discovers Novaia Zemlia, 318–19;
death, 321–22;
bodies discovered, 328.
Willoughby, Lord, commander against the Scots, 1497, 373–4.
Winchester, Marquis of, member of Russia Company, 311.
Wines, import of. _See_ Bordeaux, Spain, Levant, &c.
Withipole, Paul, merchant, 261.
Woad, Toulouse, import of, 209, 215.
Wolsey, Cardinal, 142–3, 155;
policy of, 121–2, 186;
negotiations with Sebastian Cabot, 1521, 249;
letter from, 377–8.
Woodhouse, Sir William, vice-admiral, 405–6.
Wool, export of. _See_ Staple.
Wroth, Sir Thomas, merchant, investor in Barbary voyage, 275.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, ambassador in Spain, 221, 308.
Wyndham, Thomas, 274–284;
voyages to Barbary, 1551–2, 274, 275–7;
to Guinea and Benin, 1553, 277–84, 290 note;
career of, 274–5;
death, 282.
Yorke, Sir John, merchant, investor in Barbary and Guinea expeditions,
275, 284.
Oxford: Horace Hart M.A., Printer to the University
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and
are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.
136.23 the right to ship 6000[,] broadcloths Removed.
319.32 such a serious error in latitude[.] Added.