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A. D. 1585.
July 30./Aug. 9. |
Grand Duke of Tuscany to the Queen. |
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Asking that his subjects, the farmers of Italian alum, may be allowed to transport their alum in her Majesty's ships which come into the ports of Italy. Also that the new and additional imposition laid by her upon Italian alum may be taken off, or else made general to all sorts of alum. Sends Filippo Corsini to lay these matters more fully before her. Florence, 9 August, 1585. |
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Add. Endd. Italian. 1¼ pp. [Tuscany I. 6.] |
| July 31. |
Dr. Van Holtz to Walsingham. |
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[Describes the presentation, at Prague, 23 May last [o.s.], of the order of the Golden Fleece to the Emperor and Dukes Charles
and Ernest of Austria, and on the following day to William von Rosenberg, senior Burgrave of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and to the elder Baron von Arrach, of the Emperor's Privy Council, and how a sixth Fleece was taken by Spanish ambassadors to Munich, where the Duke of Bavaria preferred to have it offered to him.] |
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The Archduke Maximilian of Austria, brother of the Emperor, has accepted the Teutonic Order at Vienna, and the Master of the Order is said to have resigned in his favour. At the marriage of Catherine, second daughter of the King of Spain, to the Duke of Savoy at Saragosa last March, the King of Spain bestowed the Golden Fleece on his new son-in-law. On the conclusion of the marriage, the King went to Catalonia, as being nearer to France and Italy. News comes from Italy that he has had the Golden Fleece also presented to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. |
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The Duke of Guise has been for some years a pensioner of Spain, as I was told at the Imperial Court by the Spanish Secretary. We learn here that a great sum of money has been sent to him by King Philip, to carry on the war against the Huguenots, and to seize the kingdom, and that further aid is promised. With the exception of Venice and the Duke of Ferrara, the whole of Italy is practically at the disposition of the King of Spain. To what end these Spanish and pontifical fraternities and confederacies on all sides are tending, and what they portend, the Queen must long have seen. |
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There are many competitors for the bishoprics void by the death of Henry, Archbishop of Bremen, administrator of Osnabruck and Paderborn. The Emperor interceded for the election of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, Canon of Cologne and Dean of Strasburg, brother of the deceased Archbishop. But the son of Adolf, Duke of Holstein, was unanimously elected to the archbishopric on 12 July last, and set out a few days ago from the Court of the Landgrave William for Holstein. |
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The manner in which Spain is strengthening herself on all sides by power and alliances, appears from these facts. All the princes of Bavaria depend on Spain, and are working hard to transfer to themselves nearly all the bishoprics of Germany, especially the reformed ones, thus to restore on all sides the Papal religion. And their attempts are ceaselessly promoted by the Pope and Spain with money and soldiers (as was demonstrated in the war of Cologne, no attention being paid to the Council of Trent, which forbid pluralities. |
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Ernest, Duke of Bavaria, now Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, also holds the bishoprics of Liége, Hildesheim and Freising. The son of William, now reigning Duke of Bavaria, a boy of eight or nine years old, was made Bishop of Ratisbon, 4 years ago, and has lately been promised the bishopric of Münster. . . . The Duke of Bavaria is also aiming to get the diocese of Osnabruck for his son, and Adolf, Duke of Holstein, has sent an embassy for his son lately elected to the archbishopric of Bremen. |
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Otto Henry, eldest son of the Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, according to a report from the Imperial court, set out some weeks ago from the Spanish Court for Prague. He has obtained a pension from Spain, at the request of the Pope and Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and is soliciting the Emperor's influence to secure his appointment as General of the war in the Spains or the Netherlands. His father, Duke Otto, is understood to be quite estranged from him, owing to his defection to the Papalists. |
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[Suggests that he be summoned to England to give a personal account of his efforts on the Queen's behalf at the Imperial Court. Concerning his approaching marriage, and his desire to invite to it the Queen, the Council and Walsingham.] . . . Requests immediate repayment of the expences incurred by him during his missions on behalf of her Majesty.—Hamburg, 31 July, 1585. |
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[Long postscript in his own hand urging payment of the said expences.] Would like an answer to his remarks made in his letter of July 10 about Julius, Duke of Brunswick, and the affection of that powerful prince towards England, which he asked might be submitted to the Queen. There would be much advantage to England from such a prince, whom she could bind most surely to her by the service of one of his sons, a matter which he [Holtz] could carry through, he hopes, in accordance with the dignity of the Queen and the advantage of the realm. |
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The Hamburg ship Joachim Grunbach, which takes these letters to England, only stays there fourteen days and then returns straight to Hamburg. Any answer to this letter should be sent by her, or by Vincent van Spreckelsen, merchant of Hamburg, who dwells in the house of the Teutonic Hanse at London. |
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Add. Endd. “31 July.” Latin. 12 pp. [Hamburg and Hanse Towns II. 13.] |
| Aug. 2. |
The Hanse Commissioners. |
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Answers by the Hanse Commissioners to objections raised by the Council. |
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1. Objection. The chief drawback to these pretended privileges is that the Hanse merchants claim an easier scale of customs here than is granted by them to the Queen's subjects. |
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Answer. Perhaps some nations do burden the English in their realms with heavy exactions; in which case equally heavy taxes are demanded from them deservedly. But as this is not the case with the Hanse towns it is not unfair for them to petition that excessive burdens be not imposed on their citizens in England. Your lordships will easily see that since no merchant will trade without profit, all burdensome charges will fall in the long run on those who consume the wares, so that those heavy charges of yours will press on the multitude. To render this more plain, a comparison may be allowed of the customs and taxes in England and the Hanse Towns respectively. To take the example of Hamburg. There the English have so far paid for all merchandise of the value of a hundred thalers exported, a quarter
of a thaler; that is one four-hundredth of the value. On the other hand, in England 6s. 8d. is paid as custom on the export of a cloth of 12 yards, worth on the average 4l.; that is, one-twelfth of the value. The advantage is all on the side of the English, and if the Hanse towns raised their rates on the innumerable articles that must be bought from them, there would very soon be complaint from the people of England. As a method of raising money, the Hanse Towns do not consider high customs just, or in accordance with nature. So, while leaving the exercise of commerce free, they exact their necessary contributions, not from their friends and allies, but from the richer of their citizens and subjects. |
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Without doubt your lordships realise how important it is to England, in the matter of customs and otherwise . . . that wool should be distributed at a reasonable price. Now since your exorbitant exactions have been made, throughout the whole of Germany and in many of the Hanse Towns, where years ago cloth used to be made of English wool, many of the citizens have made trial of the wools of Pomerania, Prussia, Mecklenburg and Hesse, and have found that from them cloths of no less value than the cloths commonly called “sorting cloths” can be made. They can sell a yard of this cloth, finished in the English method in length and breadth, for three thalers; thus the English cloths, being burdened with these intolerable duties, are beginning to be thought less of. |
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2. Objection. All this is beside the mark. The real question at issue is the breaking off, by virtue of a decree at Lubeck, of the privileges which had been granted at Hamburg to the Queen's subjects for ten years, and which would have been prolonged for a further period if it had not been for the decree. |
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Answer. As to the residence at Hamburg, you can see in the Alderman's propositions that it was offered under very reasonable conditions. If the old Hanseatic leagues are not enough, and you think you must demand some new thing, it is necessary first of all to inquire whether such a change is advantageous or necessary to all the subjects of the English realm. With regard to this matter, we pray your lordships to excuse us if we give you a little advice. |
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It is and always has been lawful for all English subjects to trade at Hamburg with the utmost freedom, according to the prescribed laws of mutual intercourse. We cannot see anything more to be desired in these laws unless perchance the present aim is to secure that whereas at present every subject of England is treated at Hamburg as an ally and friend, and is maintained in his liberties by virtue of old treaties, these privileges shall be henceforth granted to certain incorporated persons only, excluding the rest. Your lordships must be the judges whether the Hanse towns can allow this course to be taken without incurring the charge of ingratitude to the subjects of England, with whom, no less than with their princes, the treaties were entered into. We think it to be far from the truth to say that the English are being excluded from their liberty of trading in the Hanse
towns; nay, these towns seem to us to be the asserters rather than the destroyers of the good of all Englishmen. |
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The second thing that may be required in the residence at Hamburg is a greater certainty of security. But seeing that a promise of individual security cannot be of such value as a security having the sanction of treaties entered into with the consent of all the estates, after grave and solemn deliberation, our masters cannot see why this should be so greatly desired, unless perhaps the city of Hamburg can be convicted of not having satisfied the terms of the treaty between the Hanse Towns and England, or afforded due security by land and sea. |
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The Hanse Towns do not ask for fresh security in England, nor would they have requested any special agreements with London if the lords of London had not been the first to stir up controversy and if their old rights had not been interrupted. That those of Hamburg have stirred up similar controversies against the terms of the old treaty must not be attributed to the States, who would wish to afford no pretext for complaint under this head, and would be content to have the same security guaranteed to them as they guarantee to the English. Then they would not be compelled to hear so many complaints from their seamen and merchants that they are nowhere more miserably infested by pirates (and those English) than around the coasts of England. The third thing that may be required is freedom to contract with any persons, foreign or native. Your lordships will gather how greatly this requirement would be the ruin of our mutual commerce from the fact that it has never been asked for or obtained at Hamburg or in any Hanse Town, by any other associated city or citizens. Moreover, our masters could prove that English merchants were able to get Hanse commodities much more easily and cheaply in former times from the citizens than they did for some years afterwards from outsiders; so that by this demand they are working more for their disadvantage than advantage. |
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But apart from this, our masters think it worth considering whether this liberty of contract, although due to Hanse merchants in accordance with the formula of old treaties, was granted to them in London during the residence at Hamburg. On the contrary, the protests lodged yearly since the beginning of the Queen's reign against the magistracy of London show that the Hanse merchants have not been able, during that time, and cannot now contract with any Italian, Frenchman, Belgian, Scotsman or Englishman unless he be a citizen of London. So that as the use of the Hanse liberties is clearly interrupted, they have had to be content so far with a bare pretence of privileges, while they have had to keep up at great cost the Steelyard, seeing that they bought it at a great price and cannot lightly leave it. |
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The Hanse towns think that all those ancient and oft repeated treaties and agreements made by them with the city of London, with the consent and by the authority of the whole realm of England, are more valid and worthy of consideration than the
concessions made for a fixed time only by the city of Hamburg, without the consent or knowledge of the Hanse community, in the hope that the city of London might thereby be brought back to the observing of their public agreements, and that the Hanse merchants might have their liberties restored. |
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As this result did not follow, were not the associated states at liberty to rescind the residence at Hamburg after one or two years? And ought not the City of Hamburg to be considered worthy of some kindness in return for keeping its promises to the English, as well as the other Hanse towns, instead of having the additional burden of these decrees imposed on them ? These are our answers to your objections. |
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Endd. with date. Latin. 6½ pp. [Hamburg and Hanse Towns II. 14.] |
| Aug. 5. |
Count Edzard to the Queen. |
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John Geerdes, a citizen of Embden, has informed me that in 1584, he bought in England 320 small tuns of ale, brewed there, and had it brought to Embden. He afterwards found that the ale was impure and undrinkable, and so was forced to send back 200 tuns to the seller, as useless, and make a sheer loss of the rest. As he has not made a farthing's profit and has paid customs and other duties on it in England, in order to recover some part of his loss he has decided to beseech your Majesty to grant him free passage hither of 320 tuns (for so much he has decided to buy again), without payment of customs or other dues, and has prayed me to aid him by my intercession. As I rely on your singular clemency, and inclination and duty prevent me from failing my subjects in their just petitions, I beseech your Majesty, firstly to assent to this prayer, and secondly to grant that he may, for the advantage of the English nation, bring every year a considerable number of fine horses to England, to exchange for the ale, for which he sometimes experiences more loss than gain. |
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Moreover, as I have given him orders to buy for me two fine ambling horses (equos gradiarios), it has occurred to me that it would not be without advantage if I could prevail with your Majesty to grant me them free of all customs or other impositions. Aurich, 5 August, 1585. |
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Add. Endd. Latin. 2 pp. [Ibid. II. 15.] |
| Aug. 6. |
Count Edzard to the Queen. |
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Your Majesty's most opulent realm is the mother, among other things, of the choicest and strongest of ambling horses, a breed in which I chiefly delight, and of which, as old age gradually creeps over me, I feel the need very greatly. If your Majesty, of your singular munificence, feels disposed to furnish me with two or three fine horses of this breed, according to your good pleasure, in truth you cannot confer on me a greater
favour, and although I am never unprepared to serve you, will render more earnest my prayers for your safety and the tranquillity of your realm.—Aurich, 6 August, 1585. |
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Add. Endd. Latin. 2 pp. [Hamburg and Hanse Towns II. 16.] |
