CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
I.Henry VII and his Commercial Policy[13]
II.Mercantile Organization[31]
III.The Cabot Voyages—John Cabot, 1497 and 1498[51]
IV.The Cabot Voyages—Sebastian Cabot, ? 1499[86]
V.An Early Colonial Project[104]
VI.The Growth of Commerce[120]
VII.The Fall of the Hansa[152]
VIII.The English in the North Sea[183]
IX.France, Spain, and the Mediterranean[208]
X.Voyages and Projects of Discovery under Henry VIII[240]
XI.The African Voyages[274]
XII.The North-East Passage and the White Sea[307]
XIII.Ships and Men. English Ports[338]
XIV.The Navy, 1485–1558[372]

ILLUSTRATIONS

Warship, period 1514–45[Frontispiece]
English Trade Routes at the beginning of the Tudor PeriodTo face p.[16]
The North Atlantic, from the Map of Juan de la Cosa, 1500” ”[83]
The North Atlantic, from Robert Thorne’s Map, 1527” ”[116]
Venetian map of the British Isles, North Sea, and Baltic” ”[150]
Calais in the early Sixteenth Century” ”[206]
An English Warship, temp. Henry VIII” ”[272]
Map of Guinea and Benin, 1558” ”[288]
English Discoveries in the North-East, from William Borough’s Chart” ”[336]
Warship, c. 1485” ”[342]
Two Merchantmen” ”[346]
Two Carracks” ”[350]
The Henry Grace à Dieu” ”[358]
The Grand Mistress” ”[384]
Plan of Portsmouth, c. 1545” ”[394]

SUMMARY OF ENGLISH MARITIME AND
COMMERCIAL HISTORY, 1485–1558

PAGE
1485Accession of Henry VII[13]
Renewal of privileges of the Hansa in England[41]
Navigation Act limiting import of Bordeaux wines to English traders[19]
1488Concessions to Italian merchants[46]
1489Commercial treaty with Spain[22]
1490Commercial treaty with Denmark[41]
1491Diet at Antwerp to settle differences with the Hansa[42]
(1492Columbus discovers the West Indies)
1493Rupture of intercourse between England and the Netherlands[19]
Riot against the Easterlings in London[43]
(1494Treaty of Tordesillas)
1496John Cabot and his sons obtain their first Letters Patent for discovery[53]
The Magnus Intercursus settles the dispute with the Netherlands[20]
1497John Cabot’s first voyage[71–7]
Commercial treaty with the Netherlands[20]
Diet at Bruges to discuss disputes with the Hansa[43]
1498John Cabot’s second voyage[79–85]
(Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut)
1499Sebastian Cabot’s voyage to the North-West (?)[86–103]
Commercial treaty with the Netherlands[20]
Diet at Bruges to discuss disputes with the Hansa[44]
1500–2Voyages of the brothers Corte Real to Newfoundland, &c.[106], [116]
1501Letters Patent for discovery granted to Bristol merchants and Portuguese explorers[104]
First voyage of the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate[107]
1502Second voyage of the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate[108]
New Letters Patent issued reconstituting the syndicate[109]
1503Third Anglo-Portuguese voyage[110]
1504Fourth Anglo-Portuguese voyage[110]
1505Fifth Anglo-Portuguese voyage (?)[110]
New Charter granted to the Merchant Adventurers[34]
1506The Archduke Philip (King of Castile) falls into the hands of Henry VII[20]
The Malus Intercursus with the Netherlands[21]
1507–8Commercial negotiations with the Netherlands[21]
1509Death of Henry VII. Accession of Henry VIII[120]
1511Defeat and death of Andrew Barton[374]
1512War with France. Expedition for conquest of Gascony[375]
Battle off Brest. Loss of the Regent[376–8]
1513Attack on Brest. Death of Sir Edward Howard[381–3]
1514Raids on English and French coasts. End of the war[384–5]
1515Commercial treaty with Spain[216]
1516Alleged North-West voyage by Sebastian Cabot and Thomas Spert (very doubtful)[241–5]
1517The Evil May Day[141]
Grievances of the Hansa[154]
Charter of privileges granted to English merchants in Andalusia by the Duke of Medina Sidonia[216]
1520Commercial treaty with the Netherlands[185]
Diet at Bruges to discuss differences with the Hansa[155]
1521The London Companies invited to finance a voyage of discovery. Abandonment of the project[245–8]
1522–5Second French War of Henry VIII[386–8]
1525Proposal for a voyage of discovery to be led by Paolo Centurioni. Death of the latter[249]
(1526Sebastian Cabot’s voyage to the River Plate)
1527Robert Thorne’s Declaration of the Indies and Book to Dr. Lee[250–2]
John Rut’s voyage to the North-West[252–8]
1528Arrest of English merchants in Spain and Flanders[187]
1530The English merchants in Spain constituted a Company by Charter of Henry VIII[218]
Act relating to the decay of Southampton[368]
1530–2Voyages of William Hawkins to Brazil[265–7]
1532Death of Robert Thorne[261]
Diet at Bourbourg for settling disputes with the Netherlands[187]
1533Act forbidding export of food stuffs[147]
1534Act giving power to the king to suspend commercial statutes by proclamation[124]
1535Temporary arrest of the Hanse merchants[157]
1536Master Hore’s voyage to the North-West[262–4]
1538–9International crisis[125]
1539Proclamation placing foreign merchants on fiscal equality with English for seven years[126]
1539–40Religious persecution of Englishmen in Spain[220–3]
1540Extensive list of grievances presented by the Hansa[157]
Comprehensive Navigation Act[128]
1540–2Commercial and diplomatic struggle with Imperial Government[130–2]
Further voyages to Brazil[267–8]
1541Project for northern exploration[265]
1542Proposed diet with the Hansa at Antwerp[159]
1544War with Scotland and France. Sack of Leith and Edinburgh. Capture of Boulogne[388–9]
1545Arrest of the Merchant Adventurers at Antwerp[191]
Capture of a Spanish treasure-ship by Robert and John Reneger[272]
Arrest of all English merchants in Spain[224]
Renewed religious persecution of English in Spain[224]
French landing in the Isle of Wight[395]
Naval actions at Portsmouth and off Sussex coast[392–8]
1546Peace with France[399]
1547Death of Henry VIII. Accession of Edward VI[144]
Suspension of statutes limiting the export of unwrought cloth[145]
1548Return of Sebastian Cabot to England[308]
1551Thomas Wyndham’s first voyage to the Barbary coast[274]
1552Partial repeal of the Navigation Act of 1489 (1485)[214]
Execution of the Duke of Somerset[164]
Revocation of the privileges of the Hansa in England[166]
Voyage of Roger Bodenham to Chios[235–8]
Wyndham’s second voyage to Barbary[275–7]
1553Safe-conduct for trade in Turkey granted to Anthony Jenkinson by the Sultan[238]
First English voyage to Guinea (Wyndham and Pinteado)[277–83]
Formation of the Russia Company[311]
Departure of Willoughby and Chancellor on the first voyage to the North-East[317]
Death of Edward VI. Accession of Mary[150]
Restoration of Hanse privileges[170]
Willoughby discovers Novaia Zemlia[319]
Chancellor discovers the White Sea and reaches Archangel[323]
1553–4(winter) Chancellor travels to Moscow and interviews the Czar[324]
1554Death of Willoughby at Arzina[321]
John Locke’s voyage to Guinea[284–7]
Return of Chancellor with news of discoveries[326]
1555Partial revocation of Hanse privileges[174]
New Charter granted to the Russia Company[326]
Chancellor’s second voyage to Archangel[327–9]
Prohibition of Guinea voyages by the Privy Council[291]
1555–6William Towerson’s first voyage to Guinea[293–5]
1556Agreement with the Hansa allowing limited privileges[176]
Third expedition to Archangel[329]
Voyage of Stephen Borough in search of the North-East Passage[330-2]
Wreck of the Edward Bonaventure. Death of Chancellor[333]
Renewed prohibition of the Guinea trade[295]
1556–7Towerson’s second Guinea voyage. Fighting with the Portuguese on the Gold Coast[296–302]
1557Complete rupture with the Hansa[178]
Banishment of Englishmen from the Hanse towns[178]
Arrival in London of a Russian ambassador[334]
Fourth expedition to Archangel[336]
1558Fall of Calais[405]
Towerson’s third voyage to Guinea[302–6]
Death of Queen Mary[406]

CHAPTER I
HENRY VII AND HIS COMMERCIAL POLICY

The reign of Henry VII marks the opening of the modern era in the history of the English nation, the period in which, from being an agricultural and military people, we have become transformed into a maritime and commercial community, with interests stretching far beyond the shores of our immediate neighbours on the continent of Europe. Throughout the Middle Ages all the strivings and ambitions of England were concentrated on the conquest, by force of arms, of the surrounding countries—of the remaining parts of the British Isles at first, and afterwards of France. With a hardy and independent peasantry and a fierce and warlike baronage, it could scarcely have been otherwise. English kings found themselves obliged, for their own preservation, to put themselves at the head of such movements, and those of them who were unable or unwilling to do so were continually menaced by the turbulent elements to which they refused an outlet.

This system of violent expansion, successful in the cases of Ireland and Wales, and not seriously pursued in that of Scotland, proved to be its own destruction when applied to France. Although a military conquest might endure for a time, it was impossible that England could permanently absorb a nation larger than itself, of different blood, language, and manners of thought, in the same way that Wales had been absorbed. When Henry V commenced his wonderful career of conquest the sentiment of nationality was already too well established; and the long struggle, which ended forty years later in the expulsion of the English from France, consolidated that sentiment, and rendered the renewal of such an attempt for ever impossible of success. But just as France had developed from a mere geographical area into a nation in the modern sense of the word, so also had England, although much remained to be done before her development could proceed on truly national lines. The Wars of the Roses, protracted, with intervals of peace, for thirty years, cleared away much of the remaining débris of feudalism; and at their close Henry VII came forward as the first king of modern England. The old ideals, the old national instincts, and the old social order had gone, or were in process of dissolution; and the work of his reign consisted in forming new ones and giving direction to that universal awakening of the human mind which now first began to make its influence felt in the practical affairs of the English nation.

As with all changes of deep-rooted and far-reaching importance, its results were slow to manifest themselves, and were scarcely apparent to many of the greatest minds of the time, bred up to the old order, yet nevertheless working unconsciously in the furtherance of the new. The king himself, who did more than any other man to usher in the new era, and whose policy has been followed, with intervals of retrogression, almost to our own time, may well have been unaware how greatly he differed from his forerunners, and there is nothing in his recorded utterances to show that he realized the significance of the change that was taking place. In fact, as compared with many of the more flamboyant statesmen who followed him, he must have appeared slow and conservative, a survival of mediaevalism rather than a man of the Renaissance. Like the evolution of the natural world, that of imperial Britain has been largely unconscious, and measures which owed their origin to expediency and the needs of the moment have frequently hardened into enduring elements of the national system. Let us then examine, from this point of view, one aspect of the reign of the first Tudor—his commercial policy; bearing in mind that, although he himself was concerned only with the immediate welfare of his family and country, his work was of such a character as to serve as the foundation for an edifice upon which the passage of four Centuries has not yet placed the topmost stone.