Humphrey Gilbert
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Sir Humphrey Gilbert | |
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Born | c. 1539 |
Died | 9 September 1583 (aged 43–44) waters off the Azores |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Spouse | Anne Aucher (1548-1631) m 1570 |
Children | 6 sons and 1 daughter |
Parents |
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Signature | |
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer,
Biography
Early life
Gilbert was the fifth son of Otho Gilbert of
Gilbert's mentor was Sir Henry Sidney. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford, where he learned to speak French and Spanish and studied war and navigation. He went on to reside at the Inns of Chancery in London in about 1560–1561.
Gilbert was present at the siege of Newhaven in Havre-de-Grâce (Le Havre), Normandy, where he was wounded in June 1563. By July 1566, he was serving in Ireland during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, under the command of Sidney (then Lord Deputy of Ireland) against Shane O'Neill. He was then sent to England later in the year with dispatches for the Queen. At that point, he took the opportunity of presenting the Queen with his A Discourse of a Discoverie for a New Passage to Cataia (Cathay) (published in revised form in 1576),[4] treating of the exploration of a Northwest Passage by America to China.
Military career in Ireland
After the assassination of O'Neill in 1567, Gilbert was appointed governor of
Gilbert's actions in the south of Ireland played a part in the events that led up to the first of the
In the summer of 1569, Gilbert was eager to participate, pushing westward with his forces across the
The heddes of all those (of who sort soever thei were) which were killed in the daie, should be cutte off from their bodies and brought to the place where he incamped at night, and should there bee laied on the ground by eche side of the waie ledying into his owne tente so that none could come into his tente for any cause but commonly he muste passe through a lane of heddes which he used ad terrorem... [It brought] greate terrour to the people when thei sawe the heddes of their dedde fathers, brothers, children, kindsfolke, and freinds...[8]
After the campaign, Gilbert retroactively justified his policy of attacking non-combatants by arguing that "The men of war could not be maintained without their churls and calliackes, old women and those women who milked their Creaghts (cows) and provided their victuals and other necessaries. So that the killing of them by the sword was the way to kill the men of war by famine."[9] Once Ormond had returned from England and called in his brothers, the Geraldines found themselves outgunned. In December 1569, after one of the chief rebels had surrendered, Gilbert was knighted at the hands of Sidney in the ruined FitzMaurice camp, reputedly amid heaps of dead gallowglass warriors. A month after Gilbert's return to England FitzMaurice retook Kilmallock with 120 soldiers, defeating the garrison and sacking the town for three days. Three years later FitzMaurice surrendered.
Member of parliament and adventurer
In 1570, Gilbert returned to England, where he married Anne Ager, daughter of John Ager (alias Aucher, etc.) of Otterden,[11] who bore him six sons and one daughter. In 1571, he was elected to the Parliament of England as a member of parliament for Plymouth, Devon, and, in 1572, for Queenborough. He argued in favour of the crown prerogative in the matter of royal licenses for purveyance.[citation needed] In business affairs, he involved himself in an alchemical project with Smith, hoping for iron to be transmuted into copper and antimony, and lead into mercury.[citation needed].
By 1572, Gilbert had turned his attention to the
The rest of Gilbert's life was spent in a series of failed maritime expeditions, the financing of which exhausted his family fortune. After receiving letters patent on 11 June 1578,[12]
Gilbert set sail in November 1578 with a fleet of seven vessels from Plymouth in Devon for North America. The fleet was scattered by storms and forced back to port some six months later. The only vessel to have penetrated the Atlantic to any great distance was the Falcon under Raleigh's command. [citation needed]
In the summer of 1579,
Gilbert set sail in June 1579 after a spell of bad weather and promptly got lost in the fog and heavy rain off Land's End, Cornwall, an incident which caused the Queen to doubt his seafaring ability. His fleet was then driven into the Bay of Biscay and the Spanish soon slipped past and sailed into Dingle harbour, where they made their rendezvous with the Irish. In October Gilbert put into the port of Cobh in Cork, where he delivered a terrible beating to a local gentleman, smashing him about the head with a sword. He then fell into a row with a local merchant, whom he murdered on the dockside.[citation needed]
Gilbert became one of the leading advocates for the then-mythical Northwest Passage to Cathay (China), a country written up in great detail by Marco Polo in the 13th century for its abundance of riches. Gilbert made a case to counter the calls for a Northeast Passage to China.[citation needed]
During the winter of 1566 he and a personal adversary of his, Anthony Jenkinson (who had sailed to Russia and crossed that country down to the Caspian Sea), argued the pivotal question of polar routes before Queen Elizabeth. Gilbert claimed that any northeast passage was far too dangerous: "the air is so darkened with continual mists and fogs so near the pole that no man can well see either to guide his ship or direct his course".[citation needed]
By logic and reason a north-west passage was assumed to exist, and Columbus had discovered America with far less evidence; it was imperative for England to catch up, to settle in new lands, and thus to challenge the Iberian powers. Gilbert's contentions won support and money was raised, chiefly by the London merchant Michael Lok, for an expedition. Martin Frobisher was appointed captain and left England in June 1576, but the quest for a north-west passage failed: Frobisher returned with a cargo of a black stone – which was found to be worthless – and a native Inuit.[citation needed]
Newfoundland and death
It was assumed that Gilbert would be appointed president of Munster after the dismissal of Ormond as lord lieutenant of the province in the spring of 1581. At this time Gilbert was a member of parliament for Queenborough, Kent, but his attention was again drawn to North America, where he hoped to seize territory on behalf of the English crown.[13]
The six-year exploration license Gilbert had secured by letters patent from the crown in 1578 was on the point of expiring, when he succeeded in 1583 in raising significant sums from English
On arriving at the port of St. John's, Gilbert was blockaded by the fishing fleet under the organisation of the port admiral (an Englishman) on account of piracy committed against a Portuguese vessel in 1582 by one of Gilbert's commanders. Once this resistance was overcome, Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland (including the lands 200 leagues to the north and south) for the English Crown on 5 August 1583.[2] This involved the cutting of turf to symbolise the transfer of possession of the soil, according to the common law of England. The locals presented him with a dog, which he named Stella after the North Star. He claimed authority over the fish stations at St. John's and levied a tax on the fishermen from several countries who worked this rich sea near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Within weeks his fleet departed, having made no attempt to form a settlement, due to a lack of supplies.[2] During the return voyage, Gilbert sailed on HMS Squirrel.[2] He ordered a controversial change of course for the fleet. Owing to his obstinacy and disregard for the views of superior mariners, the ship Delight ran aground and sank with the loss of all but sixteen of its crew on one of the sandbars of Sable Island.[14] Delight had been the largest remaining ship in the squadron (an unwise choice to lead in uncharted coastal waters) and contained most of the remaining supplies. Later in the voyage, a sea monster was sighted, said to have resembled a lion with glaring eyes.
After discussions with Edward Hayes and William Cox, captain and master of Golden Hind respectively,
Legacy
Gilbert was part of a prominent generation of Devonshire men, who combined the roles of adventurer, writer, soldier and mariner. A. L. Rowse writes of him as,
an interesting psychological case, with the symptoms of disturbed personality that often go with men of mark, not at all the simple Elizabethan seaman of Froude's Victorian view. He was passionate and impulsive, a nature liable to violence and cruelty – as came out in his savage repression of rebels in Ireland – but also intellectual and visionary, a questing and original mind, with the personal magnetism that went with it. People were apt to be both attracted and repelled by him, to follow his leadership and yet be mistrustful of him.[17]
He was outstanding for his initiative and originality, if not for his successes, but it was in his efforts at colonisation that he had the most influence. In Ireland, Ulster and Munster were forcibly colonised by the English, and the American venture did eventually flourish. The formality of his annexation of Newfoundland eventually achieved reality in 1610. Perhaps of more significance was the issuance of a
Gilbert was the father of Ralegh Gilbert, who was to become second in command of the failed
Notes
- ISBN 9781317012078.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Quinn, David B. (1979) [1966]. "Gilbert, Sir Humphrey". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ Ronald, pp. 248–49.
- ^ Imprinted at London: By Henry Middleton for Richarde Jhones, Anno. Domini. 1576. Aprilis. 12.
- Devonshire.
Hooker, John, The Life and Times of Sir Peter Carew: Kt., (from the Original Manuscript), p. 254.
National Library of Ireland document "Pos1707", described as: "[Lambeth Palace Library Ms 635 (extracts)
The meares and bounds of the Barony of Odrone. Names of the towns, inhabitants etc. of Odrone. Map of the Barony of Odrone; extensive list of place names; inhabitants listed and map of the barony". - ^ "The Plantation of the Barony of Idrone, in the County of Carlow", jstor.org. Accessed 6 January 2023.(subscription required)
- ^ Prendergast, John Patrick (1808–1893), "The Plantation of Idrone by Sir Peter Carew", Journal of the Kilkenny Archæological Society.
- ^ Canny 1973, p. 582.
- ^ Quinn 1966, p. 172.
- ^ Burke's Landed Gentry, 1937, p. 886.
- ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 406. pedigree of Gilbert
- ^ Letters Patent to Sir Humfrey Gylberte, 11 June 1578, from the Avalon Project, yale.edu. Accessed 6 January 2023.
- S2CID 197957955.
- ^ ""Delight–1583", Nova Scotia Museum on the Rocks Marine Heritage Database". Museum.gov.ns.ca. 5 October 2007. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
- ^ Quinn, David B. "Biography - HAYES, EDWARD". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ Gerard Tondu, 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert, U.S. Timeline.
- ISBN 0141390050
- ^ Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh: 1584, from the Avalon Project
- ISBN 978-3-86195-190-2.
Bibliography
- Canny, Nicholas P. (1973). "The Ideology of English Colonization: From Ireland to America". The William and Mary Quarterly. 30 (4): 575–598. JSTOR 1918596.
- Payne, Edward John. (1893, 1900). Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America. 1, 2.
- Quinn, David B. (1966). The Elizabethans and the Irish. Cornell University Press.
- Ronald, Susan. (2007). The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire. HarperCollins: New York. ISBN 0060820667.
External links
- Newfoundland voyage – The Modern History Sourcebook
- Letters Patent issued to Gilbert by Queen Elizabeth I, 1578
- Early Newfoundland Settlement Schemes
- "Gilbert, Humphrey". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.