THE THREE ENGLISH BROTHERS Sir Thomas Sherley his Trauels vvith his three yeares imprisonment in Turkie his Inlargement by his Maiesties Letters to the great Turke and lastly his safe returne into England this present yeare 1607. Sir Anthony Sherley his Embassage to the Christian Princes Master Robert Sherley his wars against the Turkes with his marriage to the Emperour of Persia his Neece LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Iohn Hodgets in Paules Church yard 1607. TO THE RIGHT HOnourable Thomas Lord Howard Earle of Suffolke Lord Chamberlaine of his Maiesties houshould and one of his Highnes most honorable Priuie Councell WEaknes Right honorable hath need of helpe and supportance as wel in Politick as naturall bodies the like in studies labors of the mind Caesars commentaries needed no Apologie because his power was able to defend thē Nor his Triū verborū literae to the Roman Senate Veni vidi vici craue any other inlargement because his fame went stil before him to dilate his acts In priuate inferior studies that want countenance in themselues the extensiue power of greatnes and authoritie giues strength and encouragement to intensiue weaknesse when our indeauours though vnworthy of acceptation are suffered in their minoritie and insufficient age to grow vp and prosper in the defensiue bulwarke of protection against the stormes of enuious and calumnious tongues that by continuāce through vse and practise they may happely afterwards proue worthie of regard In the want therefore of mine own worth I haue presumed to shield my selfe vnder your worthines and finding cause to distrust mine own strēgth I haue aduentured to shrowd my selfe vnder your power Humbly desiring your Honour so farre to grace these my labours as to vouchsafe them a passage vnder your Patronage that therby though happily they haue nothing in them to deserue your priuate reading and account they may yet the better by your countenance finde admittance and respect to publique view For I must confesse they come much short as well of the worthynes of the Subiect that they treat of as also of your regard and estimation If therefore out of your generall respect to all your Lordshippe shall bee pleased to vouchsafe mee this particular fauour I shall hereafter admit all times and pretermit no occasions to manifest my dutie Euer remaining Your Honors in all seruice Anthony Nixon Sir Thomas Sherley his Trauailes together with his three yeares imprisonment in Turkie his Inlargement by his Maiesties Letters to the great Turke and lastly his safe returne into England this present yeare 1607. IT is a naturall qualitie both customarie commendable in all Countries to enlarge their fames by divulging the memorable Actes of such worthy personages whose Noble Spirits showne by their honourable attempts and atchieuements haue drawne other Nations into admiration of their valours and emulation of their vertues It were then a fault vnpardonable in vs of the English Nation whose acts and high attempts haue not giuen place to any people to burie in obliuion the vertues of those our country Men whose noble deedes deserue for euer to liue vpon the tongues of men with honorable mention Amongst whom the Three Heroes of our Time the hopefull issue of a happy father haue so glorified their names by their honourable Actes and hostile imployments against the common Enemie of Christendome that honour by them hath added to her glory and Enuy lost the sting of her Detraction And here am I drawne into a deepe meditation of the Minde of man how infinite it is in opinion and weening and vnquiet by Nature that where it is once set vpon the desire of honour nothing can stay or limite her aduentures But as the Clowds are harried by the windes from one part of the Hemispheare to the other so the Body is carried by the Minde euen through the world by land by sea with toyle and danger making it to suffer hunger watching and cold where at home it might slepe with peace and feed with plenty The manifestation wherof is knowne in the tedious Trauailes dangerous Aduentures of these three excellent spirits that hauing no other Motiues but the honourable desire and pursuit of Glorie which indeedeis the Spurre to euery noble minde haue iustly by their deserts obtained her both for themselues and for their Countrie whose fame and renown being by them made known me thinkes they were vnkindly vsed by vs to be made strangers here at home Hauing therefore receiued some particulars of their trauels and their Occurrents in them though I must confesse I am but lame as well in the instructions of their Aduentures as also in mine owne worth to display their worthinesse I haue neuertherlesse attempted though not to satisfie yet in some sort to make knowne to expectation which euer gapes after Nouelties their variable fortunes and honorable imploiments in strange Countries and vnder great Kings so farre as my knowledge of them and hability in my selfe will giue me leaue And first to begin with Sir Thomas Sherley the yonger who as hee was eldest by the Fortune of his birth so is he not inferiour to the rest in the commendable parts and honorable qualities of his minde though happily not so succesfull in his Trauels as his other brethren Hee began his last voyage in Anno 1602. who hauing long time kept the Seas vnprosperously and with vnequall fortune to his hopes and deseruings at length landed in Italie and was for a time highly respected in the Duke of Florence his Court where hee carried himselfe in that honourable port as became both a Souldier and a Courtier in all those commendable qualities that serue both for vse and ornament But to stay there long was no life for him the State beeing setled and no imployments forraine or domesticall fit for the leuell of his thoughts and purposes which ayming at a higher proiect grew soone weary of the pleasures of Italie Which the Duke perceiuing and knowing the wants that his long vayage by Sea had before bronght vpon him did honourably furnish him with such necessaries as for his purposed imployments did fully satisfie his longing expectation Beeing thus once more at Sea full of hope and courage he lay houering too and againe a long time vpon the Straites of Giblater in a cōtinuall expectation of some purchase or other to satisfie the desires both of himselfe and of his company In whom of late hee found a strange alteration both in their countenances and behauiours towards him sauouring of Discontent the dāgerous disturber of any setled state whether it was deriued from a despaire they had of the successe of the voyage or from a desire of returne to England I know not but afterwards it turned to a mutinous reuolt He first perswaded them with faire words of hope and comfort and afterwards for the time appeased them by applying himselfe in many things to their humors but as fire cannot be hidde whose smoke betraies it so this
first the Protector was very obstinate being importuned and hauing a hope of the gaine of 40. thousand Chickeno's which were proffered made him a little to relent and so hee commanded to stay his Execution Thus Sir Thomas brought from the place of death and presently carryed to another place little better it being a prison called the seuē Towers where he was put into a miserable darke dungeon and extreame cold There he continued till one of the clocke in the afternoone the next day at which time the Embassador hauing vnderstood of the misery of that place sent one of hismen to the Gaoler to intreat him that hee might bee remoued to some better place whereupon hee was had out of the dungeon and put together with his two men into a little shed but two yardes square built against a wall hauing neither cloathes bed fire nor any good meat In this state hee continued foureteene dayes in extreame cold weather of frost and snow during which time one of his men perished and died euen of very cold and he himselfe was so benummed in all his limbes as he feared he should neuer againe haue the vse of them In this poore estate hee continued till the beginning of Aprill 1604 at which time there were Letters sent from the Kings Maiestie to the great Turke and money from his Father for before that time hee had receiued no newes out of England But whether by negligence or some ill accident the letters were lost Notwithstāding by reason of his money he was admitted to buy a Chamber and to hire a Seruant to attend vpon him being stil a prisoner and hauing a watchful guard about him Thus he continued till the Christmas following In which time his father hauing vnderstanding of his great miserie sustayned together with the losse of his Maiesties former Letters and his Sonnes present case as it stood became againe an humble suiter to the King in his Sonnes behalfe and eftsoones obtained his Maiesties gratious letters to the great Turke for his deliuery howbeit those letters did not worke his release for hee was still continued in prison But by meanes of them he had not torture nor torment inflicted vpon him as before but continued a prisoner till the middle of Nouember 1605. It which time his Maiesty of his Princely grace and fauour directed new Letters to the Turke of greater force then before by veriue of which and God assisting he was deliuered vpon friday the sixt of December in the yeare aforesaid which was in this manner The Protector Bashaw that day came in person to the prison and causing him to be brought forth deliuered him together with his man into the hands of the Lord Embassador with these wordes Hee is your Prisoner till the morning Thus being deliuered but not absolutely freed the Lord Embassador receiued him promising to send him the next morning to the Duana which is the name they giue to their principall Court because the Bashaw tould him the Emperour held him to be his lawfull prisoner that he had forfeited his life vnto him Howbeit to gratifie the Ma. of England hee was pleased to giue him as a present to his King and therefore hee should be deliuered to his Ma. officers in open Court The next day following beeing Saturday he was brought into the Duana there was no great doubt or question made of his deliuery onely the Testados who is as we tearme him the L. Treasurer cast forth a word about the Kings Letters aduising the Bashaw to consider what he did in the deliuery of him for that hee seemed to be a great man The Cadiliscar that is as it were the chiefe Iudge in deciding mens causes answered hee knew that well enough and it was so generall vnderstood for so great Kings quoth he as is the Maiestie of England vse not to write for meane men and that their Emperour had freely giuen him to the King of great Britaine and therefore willed him to holde his peace but his man ran a daugerous fortune that day for diuers great men of the court stood much against him affirming the Bashaw had no reason to deliuer him because he was neither mentioned in his Maiesties Letters nor in the Emperours graunt But the Bashaw hauing vnder hand the pronuse of a great summe of money after a speech made and some solemnitie vsed deliuered both Howbeit the Monday following beeing the 16. of December remembring himselfe began to finde his error and to bee afraid that hee had runne into danger for releasing of his man and thereupon presently sent to the Lord Embassadour that hee would send both Sir Thomas his man to him againe The L. Embassadour went to the Bashaw himselfe refusing to send either of them backe and with much adoe perswaded the Bashaw for though he found no danger in Sir Thomas yet hee teared much the Bashaw had a purpose to stay his man and Sir Thomas was very loath to haue his man returned againe to his miserable kennell The Turke is very strickt and prccise in punishing faults in his Officers for that very Euening the Bashaw was depriued of his place for ro other cause but deliuering of his man without Commission Thus ended the tedious trouble and miserie of Sir Thomas Sherley in his imprisonment which beginning in the Island where he was first taken the 15. of Ianuarie in the yeare 1602. was afterwards continued in Nigro Ponte and at last ended in Constantinople vpon a friday the 6. of December 1605. So that the whole time of his imprisonment was 3. yeares sauing a fewe daies And here is to bee noted what a stampe and impression of duty and regard the countenance of a Kings Letter makes in the hearts of subiects though in places farre remote For the Embassadour that before that time did but faintly assist him in all his attēpts and intreaties and was many times afraid to speake in his behalfe and often refused to trouble himselfe in this businesse vpon the receit of his Maiesties Letters stood so stoutly by him that he flatly refused to send Sir Thomas or his man backe notwithstanding the strickt command of the Visior Bashaw who in his place was a man of principall authoritie in the countrey Sir Thomas staied in Constantinople a free man from the time of his deliuerie which was the 6. of December vntill the 15. of Februarie following 1605. during which time hee tooke pleasure to solace himselfe there where before he had endured so much sorrow and miserie taking a view and surucy of the seat and scituation of the Citie obseruing their lawes customs and ceremonies beholding their Courts Synagogues and Temples with other things not vnworthy a strangers obseruation And vpon the 15. of February hee departed from Constantinople in a Ragousian Ship called the Maria de la Rosaria and landed at Callipoly the 19. of the same moneth from thēce to Naples and so at last to England where beeing ioyfully receiued of
who beeing by the Kings appointment and his brother placed neere vnto him sitting vpon his Throne where he discoursed vnto the Sophi of Persia his countrey the state power Maiestie of his Prince the religion and conditions of the people the manner of gouernment with the nature and discipline of their warres then he descended to particularize the cause and the seuerall occurrents of his Trauels Lastly he declared the speciall matter and occasion that drew him into Persia namely the fame and renowne that he heard of his Actes and Gouernment and the inueterate hatred hee bare vnto the Turkes The King was highly pleased with his discourse and al this while hauing well obserued his speech gesture and countenance hee held him in his conceipt to bee of very honourable reckoning which after Princely thankes giuen and many graces and fauours showne hee made manifest for he tooke Sir Anthony by the hand leade him into other inward Chambers where beeing that night royally feasted hee was after Supper by many principall Gentlemen of the Court conuayed and attended to his lodging which in a farre more sumptuous manner then before was newly prouided for him Not many daies after the Persian King sent him a rich and costly present by his Steward to demonstrate his loue and the account and estimation he had of him Of the Manners Conditions and Customes of the Persians OUr English nation within these fewe yeares by reason of their trauels wherein I suppose they are at this day second to no countrey haue such knowledge and experience of all people of their customs and conditions that it is an easie matter to controll a writer that discourseth only vppon report except he be truly and directly instructed but so farre as I haue read heard by the testimony of such persons as knowe somwhat haue little cause to say more then they know I will be bolde for the better vnderstanding of those that are ignorant in some sort to relate the Manners Conditions of the Persians as not impertinent to this present purpose For their deuotion it is much after the Turkish ceremonies their Priests somewhat differing in their Orders and habit their Temples and religious places much after their building and fashion The Persian praieth to Mahomet and Mortus Ally The Turkes both to them and three others that were Mahomets seruants against which three the Persian still inueighs and is an enemie Their conceit of Christ is that hee was a great Prophet a most holy and religious man beloued of God mighty both in deed and word but no way to bee compared to Mahomet for Mahomet say they was that most excellent and final Prophet through whose grace vertue and power all things concerning the Resurrection and saluation are made full and perfect Further being onely gouerned by Naturall and Carnal knowledge and wanting the illumination of Gods heauenly and powerfull Spirit to lighten the vnderstanding part of the Soule with the inward apprehension of the excellent misteries of faith and mans redemption they affirme that because God had neuer no wife nor neuer knew woman it was therefore impossible that Christ could be his sonne So hard a matter it is for naturall reason to comprehend the misteries of Faith And therefore as Pallengenius saith in his Zodiake Succumbat ratio fidei et Captiua quiescat But to leaue their religion to themselues and their conuersion to his diuine power that hath their hearts in his disposing let vs speake a little of the commodities that their Country affords They haue great plentie of silkes of all colours great store of spices drugs pearles and pretious stones Carpets they make of diuers kindes in which workes they are excellent Their principal marchandise among themselues is to buy and sell men and women in their markets They are a people for the most part vnlearned ignorant in all kind of liberall Sciences yet are they good warriours polliticke and valiant obseruing order and discipline they haue heretofore beene held a people fierce and vnciuill little better then the Turkes But of late they are growne very courteous and respectiue vnto strangers by whose conuersation they haue much bettred their manners conditions Certaine Townes and Prouinces belonging to the Persian bordering vpon the Turkes were lost by this Kings predecessors which he hopeth to recouer being now better able then euer they were or he himselfe hath beene in times past for he hath lately taken in certaine other Townes vpon the frontiers of the Turke that will much aduantage him whensoeuer he begins to warre For the vndertaking whereof Sir Anthony ceased not during the time he lay in the Cittie by all importune meanes and forcible reasons to animate and incense the Persian alleaging how easie a matter it were for him by his meanes being a Christian to ioyne many of the Christian Princes his borderers in League and friendship with him draw them to the assistance of these wars both with supplies in his owne Countrey and also with powerfull inuasions in many other places of the Turkes dominions farre remote that hee being thus driuen to sunder his forces into many partes his armie should bee the weaker against Persia hee himselfe being the head of this League and combination would be the surer guarded He further alleaged how honourable and easie it would be for him not onely to recouer those his Townes and Prouinces which now the Turke holds in his possession But be also able in short time to winne vpon him euen in his owne Countrey and that no time could bee fitter then now for that of late hauing obtained a great victory against the Tartars hee had no cause to feare them they being so weakned with their ouerthrowe that it was an easie matter for his garrisons being manned to keepe them from all incursions or other Acts of hostilitie The Persian being tickled with this deuise and proiect of Sir Anthonies set the Lordes a worke in councell and consultation of this ouerture whilst he himself in wordes and opinion gaue his approbation hauing now nothing in his conceipt and phantasie but plots draughts and stratagems concerning this warre and there was not a day past ouer his head but hee would send for Sir Anthony and his brother to conferre with him about these matters sometimes at midnight into his bedde chamber at last the King and his Councell fully concluded and resolued to further these dessignes and negotiations in what they might and by a speciall direction from the King and a generall consent of all Sir Anthony was made choise of as a man most fit for these imployments not onely for that he was a Christian and so might the rather induce the friends of his religion to the vndertaking of this worthie enterprize but also that he had such an assured trust confidence in his wisedome and resolution that hee thought nothing could miscarry wherein he was imployed So the managing of that was committed to