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Honnold Library Record: A Leash of Brothers
From the Honnold Library Record, Volume 2, Number 1. Spring 1959:
A Leash of BrothersThe Library has recently acquired two books, which though inexpensive, have taken a long time to find. The first is The Three Brothers; or, The Travels and Adventures of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert & Sir Thomas Sherley, in Persia, Russia, Turkey, Spain. . . London, 1825. The second is The Sherley Brothers, an historical memoir of the lives of Sir Thomas Sherley, Sir Anthony Sherley, and Sir Robert Sherley, Knights, by one of the same House. Chiswick, 1848.
These, together with another book acquired a few years ago, Stemmata Shirleiana, are the most important sources for the story of this most adventurous, prodigal, brave and somewhat larcenous "leash of brothers," as Thomas Fuller terms them. The Sherleys had a certain advantage in achieving their reputation by having an extraordinary father. This gentleman, Sir Thomas Sherley, inheriting a large and prosperous estate, was knighted in 1573. By a strange miscarriage, he was appointed treasurer of the English forces in the Lowlands, and there exhibited for the first time the rare gift of the Sherleys for creating financial confusion.
He so managed his office of treasurer that in a remarkably few years he ruined his estate and ended in prison. A commission was issued in 1591 to examine his accounts and transactions. Five years later it was concluded that his affairs were utterly and perhaps hopelessly involved, and that he probably owed the Queen's Government more than he was worth. He ended his life in poverty.
The eldest of the sons of this Sir Thomas Sherley was also named Thomas, and also was knighted. This son's principal and luckless adventure was to fit out a ship and go adventuring—(a term used loosely in those days to cover robbery and violence) in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although such an enterprise was not unusual or disreputable, Sir Thomas was unwise in selecting his theater of operations. The English Levant Company was at that time doing a profitable business in the regions of the Turk, and they were fearful that Sherley's depredations would spoil their trade. Their fears were unfounded; Sir Thomas did very little injury, except to himself. He landed on the Island of Zea in January 1602, probably with the idea of plundering a village. Not only was the village devoid of anything of value, but the villagers set upon Sir Thomas and his comrades with sticks and stones with such vigor that they killed sonic of his followers and took others prisoner, including Thomas. He languished in Turkish prisons until December 1605, when he was released and returned to England, where he lived until 1630, overwhelmed with debt.
The second brother, Anthony, received his B.A. from Hart Hall, Oxford, in 1581 and soon after joined the English forces in the Low Countries. With the rank of Colonel he was sent to assist Henry IV of France in Brittany, and so endeared himself to that monarch that at the King's hands he was made a Knight of the Order of St. Michael. That he should swear fealty to a foreign monarch enraged his own Queen, and he was thrown into prison as a mark of her displeasure. He next undertook a buccaneering expedition against the Portuguese possession of Sao Thomé on the West African Coast. He did not capture Sao Thomé but did some damage to other Portuguese property.
He then crossed the Atlantic in search of plunder, and several Spanish settlements knew his gentle visitations, including Jamaica. Returning home none the richer, he cast about for employment for his peculiar, but real talents. At the instigation of the Earl of Essex, he conducted a band of mercenaries into Italy, but finding no employment there for his troops, he resolved to go to Persia.
The adventures of Anthony and his younger brother Robert in Persia are the most remarkable part of the Sherley story. The Sherleys became great favorites of the Persian ruler, Shah Abbas, and Anthony was sent as his ambassador to Europe. He returned to Europe by way of Moscow, and there, says his chronicler, "we were entertained in the best sort they could, with a crew of aqua-vitae-bellied fellows ... which show being ended ... we were shut up in prison for ten days ..." During that time, the Russian ruler "daily sent his great dukes to examine Sir Anthony upon divers frivolous particularities to prove if they thereby might grope out some matter of advantage against him."
Getting free of the Russians, Anthony cut quite a swath across Europe. He remained in Prague half a year "in all which time he found nothing but revels, feastings, and other pleasures of the Court." He was made a Count of the Empire, and then made his way to Spain, where he was made a knight of the Order of Saint Iago, and was created Captain of the Spanish galleys in the war against the Turk. Later he went to Morocco as the Emperor's ambassador, and, his Persian affairs forgotten, finished out his threadbare days in Spain.
The youngest brother, Robert, accompanied Sir Anthony to Persia and remained there when Anthony left for his Embassy to the Western Countries. A few years later, when Anthony did not return, Robert was himself sent by the Shah to Europe as ambassador. He had married a Persian wife, and with this exotic beauty, and himself clad in Persian costume, he also created a stir in Europe. Unlike Anthony, and perhaps unwisely, he returned to Persia, but having advanced in Europe nothing to the advantage of the Shah, he was treated with contempt and indifference, and, largely owing to this shabby treatment, he became ill and died not long after his return.
In addition to the three books noted, there are numerous references to the Sherleys in other works scattered throughout the Library, certainly remarkably interesting material for those interested in England's relations with Persia, in the Elizabethan world, or simply in a wonderfully engrossing adventure story.
The materials mentioned here are located in Special Collections and are listed in Blais, the online catalog. For more information, contact Special Collections.
What is the Honnold Library Record?
The Honnold Library Record, published from 1958 until 1975, was the publication of the Honnold Library Society, the friends of the library group, founded in 1954. All the issues of the Honnold Library Record are available online in the CCDL in the Honnold Library Record Collection. They are also available on at the Special Collections web site as both high and low resolution PDFs.
— michael | August 31, 2006 09:19 AM | The more you know
