The Pirate Queen (61 page)

2. Simon, Schama,
A History of Britain
(London, 2000), p. 285

3. G. Parker,
The Grand Strategy of Philip II
, (New Haven, 2000), p. 2; also see, J. Denucé,
Lettres Marchandes d’Anvers
, (Brussels, 1961), Chapter 9, pp. 164–168

4. Owen Tudor, grandfather of Henry VII, was the second husband of Queen Katherine, the widow of Henry V and mother of Henry VI, the last Lancastrian king in the Wars of the Roses. Victorian historians claimed that there was never any proof of their marriage, but this
has since been refuted. See S. B. Chrimes,
Henry VII
(New Haven, 1999).

5. Simon Schama,
A History of Britain
, p. 285.

Chapter 2.
A Realm Exhausted

1. Throckmorton was soon to be appointed as the queen’s ambassador to France. This particular news would have given Elizabeth great pleasure, since it was Cardinal Pole who had been her nemesis throughout Mary’s reign, and it was he who had carried out an Anglicized version of the Spanish Inquisition in the previous five years.

2.
CSP—Domestic
, vol. 1, p. 115, nos. 2, 4.

3. Ibid., no. 5.

4. National Archives, SP Domestic, Elizabeth 12/1/7.

5.
CSP—Spain
, vol. 1, p. 1.

6. Ibid.

7. The office of lord keeper (of the privy seal) was one of extreme trust. The lord keeper kept the queen’s seals required to engross an act into law and made the signatory personally responsible for the contents of any document under seal. Nicholas Bacon is most noted as a solid stalwart of early Elizabethan rule, as he set about modernizing the legal system to make it more just and was a firm believer in universal education (for men).

8.
CSP—Domestic
, vols 2, 3, pp. 120–129

9.
APC
, p. 9, no. 38.

10. Ibid.

11. National Archives, SP Domestic., Elizabeth I/77.

12. R. B. Wernham,
Before the Armada
(London, 1966), p. 240; also see
CSP—Venice
, vol. 6, 1049.

13. R. B. Wernham,
Before the Armada
, p. 245

14. Ibid.

15. AI, Indice General de los Papeles del Consejos de Indias, p. 128.

16.
CSP—Foreign
, vol. 1, p. xvi.

17.
CSP—Domestic
, p. 118.

18.
CSP—Foreign
, vol. 1, p. ix.

19. A repeated complaint of all popes between 1558 and Philip’s death in 1596. It is found time and time again in the
CSP—Rome
,
CSP—Spain
, G. Parker’s
The Grand Strategy of Philip II
(New Haven, 2000), and many other sources.

20. G. Parker,
The Grand Strategy of Philip II
, p. 7.

21. Ibid., p. 14.

22. G. D. Ramsay,
The City of London
(Manchester, 1964), p. 34.

23. I refer to them by their correct name and not Merchant Adventurers as is commonly the case today, in order to avoid any confusion with “merchant adventurers” (a generic term) and the Merchants Adventurers, the specific corporation.

24. Kenneth R. Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 16.

Chapter 3.
The Queen, Her Merchants and Gentlemen

1. DNB Biographical sketch on Martin Frobisher

2. R. Tittler,
Nicholas Bacon: The Making of a Tudor Statesman
(London, 1966), pp. 48-50.

3. See bibliographical sketches in the DNB for further details.

4. Benjamin Woolley’s recent biography of Dr. John Dee,
The Queen’s Conjurer
(New York, 2001) makes for riveting reading.

5. Robert Tittler’s
Nicholas Bacon
is the best biography of this exceptionally egalitarian man dedicated to the law and justice.

6. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
(Cambridge, 1999), p. 32.

7. John Cabot’s voyage of discovery in 1497 had been funded by Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, who had refused money to Columbus for his “West Indies” expedition only five years earlier in 1492.

8. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 14.

9. Lord Admiral Clinton and later Lord Admiral Howard became accomplices before and after the fact in many instances of piracy by virtue of this ruling. They took a keen interest in who would be issued with letters of reprisal, or “letters of marque,” making the bearer a bona fide mariner seeking reprisal granted from a head of state at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign. Yet as the years rolled on, virtually anyone requesting a letter of reprisal was granted one. They became direct beneficiaries of the pirates’ prosperity. Please note that the term “privateer” did not exist in Elizabethan times, and was used only from the eighteenth century onward.

10. Ibid.

11. Again, this is an area that has been explored very well by Susan Brigen in
New Worlds, Lost Worlds
(New York, 2001). The recusancy fines were tolerated by Catholics, but increased significantly after 1570 when the pope sent out a communiqué that all Catholics were exempt from any loyalty to the “heretic queen.”

12. This is the topic of many books on Elizabeth, and I could never do the subject justice here. It was an important tactic in her international politics that she would use as long as she decently could (until the early
1580s), but not something she probably seriously entertained in light of her childhood traumas, desire to rule in her own right, and deep devotion to Robert Dudley. Despite all the protestations of “courtly love” and a long list of admirers and scandalous behavior, Elizabeth only ever loved Robert Dudley, and never seriously entertained any marriage—except perhaps in old age—to the Duke of Alençon. With Robert Dudley disgraced by the inconvenient and suspicious “accidental” death of his wife, Amy Robsart, any chance Elizabeth could have had in marrying him had ended. In fictional works there are hints that William Cecil could have been behind a plot to murder Amy and thereby ruin Robert’s chances with the queen. The theory is historically possible, perhaps even probable, but there is no proof.

13. Derek Wilson,
Sweet Robin
(London, 1981), pp. 81–87.

14. John Foxe,
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
(London, 1888), 1714; also Raphael Holinshed,
Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(London, 1808), vol. 3, p. 1158; and
Elizabeth I Collected Works
, L. S. Marcus, J. Mueller, and M.B. Rose (eds.), p. 48.

Chapter 4.
The Quest for Cash

1.
APC
, 1558–1559, p. 1. Note that the documents are silent on whether these are Continental crowns or English crowns. One Continental crown was equal to 4 English crowns, and there were 5 shillings to a crown, or 4 crowns to a pound. I have taken the crowns as being Continental crowns since it was a payment due from France, or 2 million English crowns.

2.
APC
, p. 38, January 5, 1559.

3. Ibid., p. 28.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid., p. 11, no. 15.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid., pp. 14–15.

8. Ibid., pp. 22, 25, viii, ix.

9.
CSP—Domestic
1559, p. 126, nos. 44 and 45. The use of the word “cause” in this instance means a fact or condition of matters or consideration moving a person to action [OED].

10.
CSP—Scotland
, p. 546, no. 1008.

11. Staplers were those who had the wool woven or spun into cloth or another finished product. A staple was the market town for its sale.

12.
CSP—Spain
, vol. 1, p. ix.

13. Raymond de Roover,
Gresham on Foreign Exchange
(Cambridge USA, 1949), p. 26.

14. M. Oppenheim,
A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, 1509–1660
(London, 1896), p. 112.

15. N. A. M. Rodger,
Safeguard of the Sea
(London, 2004), p. 229.

16. Ibid.

17.
CSP—Foreign
, 1559–1565, p. 313, no. 623.

18. Ibid., pp. 308–310.

19. Ibid.

20. N. A. M. Rodger,
Safeguard of the Sea,
p. 196.

21. Ibid., p. 230.

22. When the Bishop of Ross, Confessor of Mary Queen of Scots, was interrogated after the Babington Plot was uncovered, he claimed that Mary had poisoned her husband, Francis.

Chapter 5.
The Merchants Adventurers, Antwerp, and Muscovy

1. Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV, was the third wife of Marie’s father, Duke Charles of Burgundy. While the marriage was childless, it was also a further bond.

2. W. E. Lingelbach,
The Merchant Adventurers of England: Their Laws and Ordinances with Other Documents
(New York, 1971), p. xxix.

3. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
(Cambridge, 1999), p. 6.

4. W. E. Lingelbach,
The Merchant Adventurers of England
, p.xxix.

5. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 63.

6. W. E. Lingelbach,
The Merchant Adventurers of England
, pp. xvi, 6.

7. Wheeler,
Treatise of Commerce
(London, 1601), p. 25.

8. W. E. Lingelbach,
The Merchant Adventurers of England
, p. 6.

9. G. D. Ramsay,
The City of London
(Manchester, 1964), pp. 6-7.

10. Raymond de Roover,
An Elizabethan Manuscript: Text of Gresham on The Understanding of Foreign Exchange
(London, 1949), p. 22.

11. Ibid., pp. 8-9. See also Chaloner to Cecil, August 31, 1559 and KL, II, 8–9.

12. Ibid., p. 68.

13. Ibid., p. 69. See also Albert Feavearyear,
The Pound Sterling
(Oxford, 1963), p. 79.

14. Ibid.

15. The key to Antwerp’s commercial success was the atmosphere of tolerance that had been guaranteed as an ancient right. Europe’s oppressed peoples, like the Jews, flocked there and rebuilt their fortunes.

16. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 68. Also see William Cunningham,
Growth of English Industry and Commerce
, vol. 2 (Cambridge, UK, 1882), p. 136, n. 2.

17. Baron Kervyn Lettenhove has calendared the State Papers of the Low-Countries in
Les Relations des Pays Bas et l’Angleterre
, which shows in fine detail the erosion of these privileges of tolerance.

18. J. Denucé,
Les Lettres des Marchands d’Anvers
(Brussels, 1961), pp. 267–268

19. Philip II’s “proposal” to Elizabeth shortly after her accession was at best halfhearted. The defender of the Catholic faith, and according to Gregory XIII, “more Catholic than the pope,” could barely bring himself to issue the offer of marriage to the heretic Queen Elizabeth.

20. At the time of Mary’s death, her debt was £65,069; this was much more than existed in England’s exchequer. This equates approximately to £10.09 million or $18.66 million today.

21. Philip also rightly believed that by marrying Elisabeth of France that the French threat against the Spanish Netherlands had naturally receded.

22. W. E. Lingelbach,
The Merchant Adventurers of England
, p. xviii.

23. Richard Hakluyt,
Principall Navigations
, vol. 2, pp. 212–214; Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 64.

24. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, p. 65.

25. Ibid., p. 68.

26. Richard Hakluyt,
Discoveries of Muscovy,
London (1589 edition), pp. 26–32.

27. Ibid.

28. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, pp. 19-20.

29. Ibid., pp. 68, 81.

30.
CSP—Foreign
, p. 59, no 112, April 14, 1561.

31. Ibid., p. 90, no 156, April 30, 1561.

32. Ibid., p. 102, no 184, May 6, 1561.

33. Ibid., pp. 126–127, no. 217

34. Richard Hakluyt,
Principall Navigations
, vol. 3., p. 38.

35. Julian A. Corbett,
Drake and the Tudor Navy
(London, 1988), pp. 71-72

36. Raleigh quoted from A. G. Lee,
The Son of Leicester: The Story of Sir Robert Dudley
, (London, 1964), p. 61.

37. The term “privateer” was not invented until the eighteenth century. Despite the trend since the nineteenth century to use it to describe Elizabethan seamen, I try to avoid it for a more accurate historical depiction.