ABSTRACT
In 1588 the Charter of the Turkey Company was not renewed. Some of the merchants were rather disheartened 1 by the great expense of having to maintain an Ambassador at Constantinople. They were even prepared to have him recalled and end the traffic. But the counsel of Harborne and the more enterprising spirits prevailed, and during the next three years the members of the old Company negotiated with the Privy Council for a renewal of their patent. They sought larger powers than their previous charter gave them, and to this the Venice Company objected. Their own charter came to an end in 1589, but even before that they registered their protest against giving enlarged powers to their rivals. 2 What they chiefly objected to was the wish of the Turkey merchants to trade in Candia, which they regarded as lying within their sphere of influence. But their objection to this was more or less conditional; for they made it clear that they would be agreeable if they in their turn were allowed to trade in Turkey, asserting that they had a licence from the Grand Signior even before the Turkey merchants had received theirs—a statement for which it is difficult to find proof. However, it became pretty clear that there was overlapping to a large extent in the operations of the two companies. They both exported and imported the same commodities. There was however this difference: that while the Turkey merchants were unmolested by extraordinary exactions in Turkey, the Venetian traders had to pay heavy impositions, 3 which impeded the growth of their trade. On the other hand the Turkey Company were hampered by having to bear the expenses of the embassy at Constantinople. Still on the whole there might perhaps be a gain all round if the two sets of merchants combined. This feeling must have gained strength because it soon became apparent that the two Companies joined forces in negotiating with the Council. Thus, “the merchants trading Turkey and Venice” appeal to the Lord High Treasurer of England, 4 saying that they had long been suitors to him “for uniting the Turkey and Venice Companies into one body politic,” and asking him to be mediator with her majesty for them that they might obtain letters patents “in such form and order mentioned in the annexed articles, to us the undernamed of both Companies.” 5
