Captives

Captives.

I. 8. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Chancellor, (fn. 1) acknowledging his letter to the Aldermen touching the claim of one Atkinson, who had redeemed certain Captives in Barbary, (fn. 2) and stating that they found he had acted without warrant in the matter, thus raising the price of such Captives; that the collections for this purpose, which were but small, would not bear the charges of Captives already recovered, but only those that were to be ransomed, who, being many, would thereby receive prejudice and hindrance; at the request of his Lordship, however, they had agreed to give him 30l.
12th April, 1580.

I. 290. Letter from Valentine Dale (fn. 3) to the Lord Mayor, informing him that the Queen had licensed Mr. Lucas Argenter to gather the devotion of good people within the City, towards ransoming his wife and children, prisoners in Turkey.
30th October, 1581.

I. 313. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, informing him that Lucas Argentens, a Grecian born, being spoiled of all that he had, and his wife and children carried away captives by certain of the Turks' galleys, had come into this realm with good testimonials, and desiring some Christian relief for the payment of such ransom. The Queen being moved with some compassion for his miserable state, besides that which she would bestow herself, had recommended him to the Bishop of London, so that at the sermons usually made at the Spital, without Bishopsgate, in the Easter holidays, and otherwise within his diocese, the people might be moved charitably to assist.
1st April, 1582.

I. 315. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Bishop of London, (fn. 4) acknowledging his letters, and stating that he had also received other letters from the Council, requesting assistance in collections to be made for the relief of Lucas Argenten, and remarking that the ordering of collections of the people in the City had been a matter of the City's, and had not been dealt with by his predecessors. It also appeared that Her Majesty had been otherwise informed, to the City's prejudice. With regard to the preachers, they had been communicated with long since in order to give them reasonable time for preparation, and having signified their assent, they were not bound to present themselves before the very day of preaching, at which time it would be very late to send them to him for new instructions. With regard to the peace of the Church, such men had been chosen as were above exception; but in case he should think it good to write to them, their names were as follows:— For the first day, the Dean (fn. 5) of St. Paul's; for the second, Dr. Goade; and for the third, Dr. Billet.
6th April, 1582.

I. 316. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lords of the Council, acknowledging their letters touching the relief of Lucas Argentine, and informing them that the Bishop of this See (London) had never had interest to give licence or take order for any collections in the City, but the permission and ordering thereof, and the execution of Her Majesty's commandments therein, had always pertained to the authorities of the City as a matter of governance. This right and ancient usage the City trusted would be continued to them. In November last Argentine made an application not recommended by Her Majesty, praying to be allowed to beg for his relief upon certain days, and five pounds had been given to him. The collections made at Easter had been for many years devoted for the relief of Her Majesty's natural subjects, captives in Turkey and Barbary, of whom many had been redeemed and openly showed, to the great comfort of the English people, and there still remained many to redeem. If the contributors should learn the collection was to be made for this stranger, it would be less at this time, and hindered for time to come. The Lord Mayor recommended that these collections for the release of English Captives should be extended into other cities and ports of the realm.
7th April, 1582.

I. 403. Letter from John Aylmer, (fn. 6) Lord Bishop of London, to the Lord Mayor, forwarding the pitiful petition of certain miscrable Captives in Turkey, that by the relief of some general collection to be made at Paul's Cross (fn. 7) and elsewhere, they might be redeemed out of that hellish thraldom; and recommending that some convenient gathering should be made every Sunday; and further stating his opinion that "it is very strange and dangerous that the desire of worldly and transitory things should carry men so far with such kind of traffic, which neither our ancestors before us knew of nor can be attempted without selling of souls for purchasing of pelf to the great blemish of our religion and the shame of our country."
27th September, 1582.

I. 404. Copy of the Petition.

I. 427. Letter from John Aylmer, Lord Bishop of London, to the Lord Mayor, stating that he had received two letters from English Captives under the Turkish infidels, and recommending that a collection should be made for them at Paul's Cross, beginning upon the day of Her Majesty's Coronation, and to be continued every Sunday until some convenient portion had been gathered, and requesting him to appoint some grave and trusty citizens to collect the alms of the welldisposed people, at every gate in Paul's, after the sermon.
12th November, 1582.

I. 503. Letter from the Lord Mayor to Sir Francis Walsingham, informing him that, according to the wishes of Her Majesty, certain poor Hungarians had been permitted to gather the charitable alms for their ransom at the sermons at St. Paul's, and the several churches within the City, for three several Sundays, which contribution did not amount to more than 5l. on the first Sunday; complaining of the injurious effect this collection had upon the relief of poor English Captives, and recommending that the collection for the two following Sundays should be forborne; and further reminding him that the City had not yet received the Queen's Counter-bond for their bond given to Horatio Palavicino; (fn. 8) and with regard to their bond given to Bierbarm, he had in Sir Francis's name informed him that his claim would be satisfied on Saturday next, with which he held himself contented.
16th May, 1583.

I. 504. Letter from the Lord Mayor to Sir Francis Walsingham. (The same as 503.)
16th May, 1583.

II. 54. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, bringing to his notice the pitiful complaint of Caspar Comaroni, a Hungarian, who, through the invasion of the Turk, had been deprived of his patrimony and imprisoned for five years, and was at last put to a great ransom, for the assured payment whereof he gave certain Christians as pledges; for the redemption of these he was seeking the charitable collections of all Christians: the Council desired the Lord Mayor to give his best aid and furtherance.
25th May, 1595.

IV. 9. Letter from the Lords, of the Council to the Lord Mayor, commending to his notice the bearer of the letter, Anastatius Ralapolus, a Greek, who had come into these parts of Christendom, craving the alms of charitable people for the delivery of his parents out of a miserable thraldom into which they had fallen by the tyranny of the Turks, for harbouring certain persecuted Christians, as appeared by letters submitted to the Council from the Patriarch of Constantinople and others, and requesting that the Lord Mayor would, by his recommendation, assist him in procuring some benevolence from the well disposed within the City.
8th January, 1615.

IV. 106. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, stating that the King had granted Letters Patent under the Great Seal to one Mary Balfore, for a collection to be made within the City of London and the counties of Middlesex, Herts, and Cambridge, for the redeeming and ransoming of her husband, Charles Balfore, a prisoner under the slavery of the Turks, and that the Council were informed the sums collected fell far short of his ransom. They therefore requested that orders might be given for collections to be made on the three sermon-days in Easter week at the Spital, and one Sabbath day at Paul's Cross.
30th March, 1618.