Early voyages and travels in the Levant : $b I.—The diary of Master Thomas Dallam, 1599-1600. II.—Extracts from the diaries of Dr. John Covel, 1670-1679. With some account of the Levant Company of Turkey merchants. — John Shaqi
Early voyages and travels in the Levant : $b I.—The diary of Master Thomas Dallam, 1599-1600. II.—Extracts from the diaries of Dr. John Covel, 1670-1679. With some account of the Levant Company of Turkey merchants.Covel, John
History
Early voyages and travels in the Levant : $b I.—The diary of Master Thomas Dallam, 1599-1600. II.—Extracts from the diaries of Dr. John Covel, 1670-1679. With some account of the Levant Company of Turkey merchants.
Covel, John
Company of Merchants of England Trading to the Levant; English diaries; Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Turkey; Middle East -- Description and travel; Turkey -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain
Accordingly, in 1605, we find petitions from the Company to James
I, complaining that they could no longer pay the salaries of the
ambassadors and consuls, and that they feared that the Turks might seize
their factories and buildings in the Turkish towns. Lord Salisbury
entered into consultation with Chief Justice Popham on the subject, and
the result was that, on the 14th December 1606, letters patent were
granted by James I which may really be said to have established the
Company on a permanent basis. The five years’ terminable licences were
made perpetual, and privileges were granted to several persons and their
sons, and such others as should be after admitted. The Company was to
have the monopoly of all the Levant trade: in fact, the English traffic
of nearly all the Mediterranean was handed over exclusively to the
Company, which was to be open to all merchants who could pay £50 towards
the expenses of carrying on the trade, the salary of the ambassadors and
consuls, and the presents which, from time to time, were necessary to be
given to the Sultan to keep him favourably disposed, and the first year’s
“imposition”, or tax of £5,322, was handed over to the Company to assist
in tiding over a time of difficulty.
Thomas Glover, who had been one of Thomas Dallam’s companions on board
the ship _Hector_ on his journey out, was ambassador at this time, with
power to appoint consuls and regulate the trade for the Company. It does
not appear what emolument he got from the Company, but it was doubtless
considerable, as he was forbidden to trade on his own account, and, under
his skilful management, the successful career of the Levant Company was
inaugurated.
It was absolutely necessary in those early days of mercantile enterprise
to give the monopoly of the Levant trade to one Company; only a rich and
united body, with the privileges accorded to them by their capitulations,
could carry on such trade. It was necessary, for the safety of the
ships, that they should sail in large numbers for mutual protection from
Dunkirkers, corsairs, and other hostile craft, and hence very strict
penalties were imposed on private individuals who sought to carry on
trade under the protection of the Company without actually belonging to
it. The celebrated case of Bates, who refused to pay a tax to the Company
on currants, and drove them off in his own cart from the wharf, was tried
shortly after this, and when it was decided in the Company’s favour,
their monopoly was clearly established.
In the reign of James I the Company received the name of “The Governor
and Company of Merchants of England trading to the Levant Seas”, and the
arms of a ship with three masts in full sail between two rocks. Their
crest was a demi sea-horse salient; their supporters two sea-horses; and
their motto, “Deo Respublicæ et amicis.”
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