{"id":394,"date":"2012-02-02T16:51:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T13:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.helsinki.fi\/kaislani\/?p=394"},"modified":"2012-02-02T16:51:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-02T13:51:15","slug":"valley-of-misery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/2012\/02\/02\/valley-of-misery\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Charles Cornwallis in his valley of misery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first English Ambassador in Spain\u00a0post-Elizabeth, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sir_Charles_Cornwallis\">Sir Charles\u00a0Cornwallis<\/a>, got bit of a rough deal. English trade with Spain had just been opened up again (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Treaty_of_London_(1604)\">in 1604<\/a>), but relations were still somewhat strained, and many English merchants found themselves in trouble in Spain \u2013 some of it their own causing, but much of it not. These merchants naturally sought redress by going to the Spanish Court themselves, but more frequently through contacting the English Ambassador and asking \u2013 if not demanding! \u2013 his help in pursuing their suit. Cornwallis did his best, but received flak equally from importunate English merchants who put much more effort into complaining than actively trying to sort their matters out, from local nobles at the Spanish Court who felt Cornwallis demeaned his post as Ambassador\u00a0by <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.helsinki.fi\/kaislani\/2012\/01\/30\/whats-early-modern-english-for-tom-dick-harry\/\">acting as a solicitor<\/a> for the English merchants, and also somewhat from the Lords of the Privy Council of England who perhaps did not fully appreciate Cornwallis&#8217;s situation.<\/p>\n<p>In this light, the following closing of a letter written 16 November 1607 (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Old_style\">Old Style<\/a>), is not particularly uncommon:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And so my good lo<em>rd<\/em>, trauayling on in this vale of mysery,<br \/>\nw<em>ith<\/em> none other earthly hope, &amp; comfort, then to serue my<br \/>\nm<em>aster<\/em> &amp; my cuntry w<em>ith<\/em> myn vntermost [sic] dilligence, &amp; deuty, I<br \/>\nrecom<em>m<\/em>end myn humble seruyce &amp; affection to yo<em>ur<\/em> lo<em>rdship<\/em> to<br \/>\nwhom I wyll neuer be other then<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">one of yo<em>ur<\/em> faythfyllest<br \/>\nseruant<em>es<\/em>, and truest poore<br \/>\nfrend<em>es<\/em> .\/<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 120px\">Charles Cornwaleys<\/p>\n<p>Madrid 16<sup>o<\/sup> Noue<em>m<\/em>b<em>er<\/em> 1607<br \/>\nstilo vet<em>eri<\/em> .\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(TNA SP 94\/14 ff. 212-213)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first English Ambassador in Spain\u00a0post-Elizabeth, Sir Charles\u00a0Cornwallis, got bit of a rough deal. English trade with Spain had just been opened up again (in 1604), but relations were still somewhat strained, and many English merchants found themselves in trouble in Spain \u2013 some of it their own causing, but much of it not. These [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[22,33,38,41,53],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aside","category-observation","tag-cool-stuff","tag-emode","tag-letters","tag-manuscripts","tag-ramblings","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuli.kaislaniemi.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}