Thomas Roe
Sir Thomas Roe | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1581 |
Died | 6 November 1644 (aged 62–63) |
Spouse | Lady Eleanor Beeston |
Parent(s) | Sir Robert Rowe Elinor Jermy |
Sir Thomas Roe (c. 1581 – 6 November 1644) was an English
Life
Roe was born at Low
Sir Thomas Roe died in 1644 at the age of about 63.[1] He was buried in the parish church of St. Mary in Woodford, London.
Family
Roe married Eleanor, Lady Beeston, the young widowed daughter of Sir Thomas Cave of Stanford-on-Avon, Northamptonshire in 1614, just weeks before embarking for India.[2] Eleanor did not go to India, but did accompany Roe on the subsequent embassy to Constantinople. The couple were childless and adopted Jane Rupa, an orphaned girl introduced by Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia.[3] When Eleanor died in 1675 she was buried alongside him in the parish church of St. Mary, Woodford.[4]
Career
Amazon explorer
In 1610, Roe was sent by Prince Henry on a mission to the West Indies, during which he visited Guiana and the Amazon River. He tried to reach the Lake Parime location of the fabled El Dorado, that was represented in the map of Thomas Harriot in 1596. However, he failed then, and in two subsequent expeditions, to discover the gold he was seeking.
Ambassador to the Mughal Empire
In 1614, Roe was elected
The
The immediate result of the mission was to obtain permission and protection for an East India Company factory at Surat. While no major trading privileges were conceded by Jahingir, "Roe's mission was the beginning of a Mughal-Company relationship that would develop into something approaching a partnership and see the said Company gradually drawn into the Mughal nexus".[5]: 19
While Roe's detailed journals[6] are a valuable source of information on Jahangir's reign, the Emperor did not return the favour, with no mention of Roe in his own voluminous diaries.[5]: 19
Indian Ocean and East African coast
Prior to his arrival at the Mughal court, Roe explored the
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
In 1621, Roe was elected MP for Cirencester.[1]
Roe received diplomatic credentials to the
Through his friendship with the
Diplomat in the Thirty Years War
In 1629, Roe was successful in another mission undertaken, to arrange a peace between
Sponsor of Arctic exploration
In 1631, he sponsored the
English statesman and envoy
In January 1637, Roe was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, with a pension of £1200 a year.
In June 1640, Roe was made a
Works
- The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615–1619, as narrated in his journal and correspondence
His Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619, as narrated in his journal and correspondence, several times printed, has been re-edited, with an introduction by William Foster, for the Hakluyt Society (1899). This is a valuable contribution to the history of India in the early 17th century.
- Negotiations in his Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, 1621–28, vol. i
Vol. i. was published in 1740, but the work was not continued. Other correspondence, consisting of letters relating to his mission to Gustavus Adolphus, was edited by SR Gardiner for the Camden Society Miscellany (1875), vol. vii., and his correspondence with Lord Carew in 1615 and 1617 by Sir F. Maclean for the same society in 1860.
- True and Faithful Relation ... concerning the Death of Sultan Osman ... (1622)
Several of his manuscripts are in the British Museum collections. Roe published a True and Faithful Relation ... concerning the Death of Sultan Osman ..., 1622; a translation from Paolo Sarpi,
- Discourse upon the Resolution taken in the Valteline (1628); and in 1613 Dr T Wright published Quatuor Colloquia, consisting of theological disputations between himself and Roe; a poem by Roe is printed in Notes and Queries, iv. Ser. v. 9.
- The Swedish Intelligencer (1632–33), including an account of the career of Gustavus Adolphus and of the Diet of Ratisbon (Regensburg), is attributed to Roe in the catalogue of the British Museum. Several of his speeches, chiefly on currency and financial questions, were also published. Two other works in manuscripts are mentioned by Wood: Compendious Relation of the Proceedings ... of the Imperial Diet at Ratisbon and Journal of Several Proceedings of the Order of the Garter.
Modern biographies
There are three modern biographies:
- Brown, Michael J. (1970). Itinerant Ambassador: The Life of Sir Thomas Roe. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813151533.
- Strachan, Michael (1989). Sir Thomas Roe, 1581–1644. A Life. Salisbury: Michael Russell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780859551564.
- Das, Nandini (2023). Courting India. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781526615640.
References
- ^ a b c d Williams, William Retlaw (1898). The parliamentary history of the county of Gloucester, including the cities of Bristol and Gloucester, and the boroughs of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury, from the earliest times to the present day, 1213-1898. Cornell University Library. Hereford : Priv. print. for the author by Jakeman and Carver.
- ^ Michael Strachan, Sir Thomas Roe 1581-1644. A Life (Michael Russell, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1989), p. 58.
- ^ Akkerman, Nadine (2021). Elizabeth Stuart: Queen of Hearts. Oxford University Press. p. 570.
- ^ Strachan (1989), pp. 279-80.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4088-6437-1.
- ^ Roe, Sir Thomas (1926) [1899]. Foster, W. (ed.). The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mughal (revised ed.). London: Humphrey Milford.
- ^ The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619 As Narrated in His Journal and Correspondence. Volumes I-II. 2017. p. 22.
- ^ Negotiations, p. 618.
- ^ Macray, Annals of the Bodleian, 2nd de., pp. 70, 72.
- ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 91.
- ^ Laursen, L. (1917). "1640. 22. April (Flensborg). Handels- og Toldtrakat paa 6 Aar mellem Danmark-Norge og Storbritannien; med dertil horende Toldrulle.- Ikke ratificeret fra engelsk Side." [1640. April 22 (Flensburg). Trade and Customs Treaty of 6 years between Denmark-Norway and Great Britain; with associated Customs Roll.- Not ratified by English Side.]. Traites du Danemark et de la Norvege. Danmark-Norges Traktater 1523—1750 Med dertil horende aktstykker: Tredie Bind (1589-1625) [[Treaties of Denmark-Norway (1523-1750) with Associated Acts- Volume 3 (1589-1625)]] (in Danish). Vol. 3. Copenhagen: L. Laursen, Carlsberg Foundation. p. 210. Retrieved 26 May 2022 – via Rigsarkivet.
- JSTOR 1005629.
- ^ Gary M. Bell, A handlist of British diplomatic representatives 1509-1688 (Royal Historical Society, Guides and handbooks, 16, 1990).
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Roe, Sir Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 450. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Anne-Valérie Dulac, « Miniatures between East and West: The Art(s) of Diplomacy in Thomas Roe’s Embassy », Études Épistémè 2014, http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/343 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/episteme.343
- Foster Rhea Dulles, Eastward Ho! The First English Adventurers to the Orient: Richard Chancellor, Anthony Jenkinson, James Lancaster, William Adams, Sir Thomas Roe (John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1931)