The Levant Company

Mavi Boncuk |

Company trading in the East. Established following the drawing up of a 5-year charter between Queen Elizabeth I (q.v.) and Sultan Murad III. Also known as the Turkey Company. Merged with the Venice Company in 1592 and took on its new name. Appointed and paid for consuls and ambassadors. Held the monopoly for trading in the Levant. In 1606 the system of granting 5 year licences ceased and these became perpetual. The history of Britain's and Turkey's relations can be witnessed through the Levant Company. Dissolved by an Act of Parliament.

Portrait of English Turkey merchant Francis Levett, attired in Turkish costume, after the painting by Jean Etienne Liotard in the Louvre Museum in Paris, line engraving by Johann Christoph von Reinsperger. 'M. Levett, Negociant Anglais'

The arms of the company were a ship with three masts in full sail between two rocks; the crest was a demi sea-horse salient, with two sea-horses as supporters; and the motto was 'Deo, Reipublicae et amicis' ('To God, the Republic [or state] and friends').

The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired, as she was anxious to maintain trade and political alliances with the Ottoman Empire. Its initial charter was good for seven years and was granted to Edward Osborne, Richard Staper, Thomas Smith and William Garret with the purpose of regulating English trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Levant. The company remained in continuous existence until being superseded in 1825. A member of the company was known as a Turkey Merchant

 

The origins of the Levant Company lay in the Italian trade with Constantinople, and the wars against the Turks in Hungary, although a parallel was routed to Morocco and the Barbary Coast on a similar trade winds as early as 1413.[4] The collapse of the Venetian empire, high tariffs, the ousting of the Genoese from Scio (Chios)had left a vacuum that was filled by a few intrepid adventurers in their own cog vessels with endeavour to reopen trade with the East on their own accounts. Following a decline in trade with the Levant over a number of decades, several London merchants petitioned Queen Elizabeth I in 1580 for a charter to guarantee exclusivity when trading in that region.[7] In 1580 a treaty was signed between England and the Ottoman Empire, giving English merchants trading rights similar to those enjoyed by French merchants. In 1582 William Harborne, an English merchant who had carried out most of the treaty negotiations in Constantinople to French protestations, made himself permanent envoy. But by 1586 Harborne was appointed 'Her Majesty's ambassador' to the Ottoman Empire, with all his expenses (including gifts given to the Sultan and his court) to be paid by the Levant Company.When the charters of both the Venice Company and the Turkey Company expired, both companies were merged into the Levant Company in 1592 after Queen Elizabeth I approved its charter as part of her diplomacy with the Ottoman Empire.

Bibliography

J. Theodore Bent, 'The English in the Levant' in 'The English Historical Review', vol. 5, no. 20 (October 1890), pp.654-664

Alfred C. Wood, 'A History of the Levant Company' (London: Oxford University Press, 1935, reprinted 1965)

[1] The Venice Company was an English chartered trading company established in 1583 to monopolise on trade in and around the Venetian colonies in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Venice Company was chartered as a trading company in 1583 by Thomas Cordell, William Garway and Edward Holmden for an initial period of seven years. Its mandate was to exchange English-made goods, usually woollen fabrics, for eastern commodities, especially spices, currants for wine, and silk cloth. Some of the company’s leading members were Paul Bayning, father of Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning, Thomas Cordell, an alderman and a member of the Mercers’ Company, Edward Holmden and William Garway. The latter two had vast experience in Moroccan commerce, while the others had all been active in Spanish commerce.

In 1592, upon the expiration of both the charters of the Turkey and Venice Companies, Queen Elizabeth I approved a charter to merge both companies into the Levant Company, as she was anxious to maintain trade and political alliances with the Ottoman Empire. Both Cordell and Bayning transferred to the Levant Company upon its formation.

 

See also:

The early history of the Levant Company - Levantine Heritage...

Trade and Cultural Exchange in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Braudel's Maritime Legacy

Maria Fusaro, Mohamed-Salah Omri, Colin Heywood

I.B.Tauris, 30 July 2010 - 336 pages

It is 60 years since the publication in 1949 of the original French version of Fernand Braudel’s ‘The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II’ revolutionised the study of Mediterranean history. The maritime history of the Mediterranean from the 16th to the 18th centuries has been - as one might expect - largely, though not entirely, the preserve of historians from the lands bordering the sea. Much of their work has not been readily accessible to English-speaking audiences. Now, 60 years ‘after Braudel’, the present volume brings together work by specialists from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Malta and Algeria, as well as from the United States and the United Kingdom. Topics covered in the book include new perspectives on the mercantile ‘Northern Invasion’ of the Mediterranean by English ships in the early 17th century; Britain and North Africa in the late Stuart period; the import trade in thoroughbred horses from the Arab world; the naval history of the north African ‘regencies’; the various faces of piracy, warfare and maritime slavery in the Mediterranean; plague as a determinant of maritime trade; the rise of Greek commercial shipping in both the eastern and western halves of the sea; and the the central role of Malta in the Mediterranean. The emphasis of the book, therefore, is on the sea itself, the ships which travelled it, and the men who sailed them. The new perspectives here offered are both multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary, and reflect the state of the art in current research, much of which has not been previously available in English. The book aims to open up the subject to English-speaking readers, in particular to those interested in maritime history; the history of the early modern world; and the historiographical legacy of Fernand Braudel.Political Economies of Empire in the

Early Modern Mediterranean: The Decline of Venice and the Rise of England, 1450–1700 Cambridge University Press, 5 May 2015

Maria Fusaro https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/staff/fusaro/

Graduated from the Universita' di Venezia Ca' Foscari, and then moved to Cambridge to completed PhD in 2002. After a Junior Research Fellowship at St. Hugh's College at Oxford, she was Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago before moving to Exeter in 2006.

Against the backdrop of England's emergence as a major economic power, the development of early modern capitalism in general and the transformation of the Mediterranean, Maria Fusaro presents a new perspective on the onset of Venetian decline. Examining the significant commercial relationship between these two European empires during the period 1450–1700, Fusaro demonstrates how Venice's social, political and economic circumstances shaped the English mercantile community in unique ways. By focusing on the commercial interaction between Venice and England, she also re-establishes the analysis of the maritime political economy as an essential constituent of the Venetian state political economy. This challenging interpretation of some classic issues of early modern history will be of profound interest to economic, social and legal historians, and provides a stimulating addition to current debates in imperial history, especially on the economic relationship between different empires and the socio-economic interaction between 'rulers and ruled'.

 

 Levant Company, or Turkey Company

The Governor and Company of Merchants of England trading into the Levant Seas—usually referred to as the Levant Company, or Turkey Company—was founded by royal charter in 1581. Its powers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were derived from fresh charters in 1606 and 1661 that gave to its members the sole right to trade between England and the Ottoman Empire.

 The company was not itself a trading organization; instead, its members traded individually as independent merchants, subjecting themselves to the restrictions imposed on Levant Company members. Royal charter granted monopoly rights to the company. Although it was not forbidden for nonmembers to trade in the Levant, the company imposed on their goods an extra duty of 20 percent, which was prohibitive. It was not particularly difficult for a (London) merchant to become a member of the company, but admittance to an apprenticeship was more expensive than with any other company.

 Ottoman political culture was so different from that of early modern Europe that Westerners were reluctant to risk their businesses unless they were assured of some special protection. This took the form of the so-called capitulations, charters of privilege granted by the Ottoman government that conceded special rights and favors. The Levant Company's original capitulation, of 1580, was renewed nine times and definitively confirmed with the capitulations of 1675, which remained in force until the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. The main provisions reduced customs tariffs and other taxes on imports and exports and transits. Freedom of travel and residence within the Ottoman domains and a limited degree of judicial extraterritoriality were among the privileges granted to foreign traders.

 The Levant Company was an expensive establishment to run. The levies the company imposed were meant mainly for its upkeep, and were moderate in times of peace. For example, 1.5 to 4 percent of the value of every exported cloth and 3.5 percent per pound white silk imported was paid in London; in the Levant ports the charges collected by the consuls varied. During wars, when trade was reduced, the lasting expenses of the permanent establishment became a heavy burden.

 During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) English trade with the Levant was resumed after the old established connection via Antwerp had been cut definitively because of the occupation of this commercial metropolis by Spain. The Ottomans promised safe passage for William Harborne, a factor for the London merchant Richard Staper, to open trade under French protection, and in 1580 they granted him a charter of privileges (capitulations). In 1581 Osborne, and his associates, all London merchants, acquired an English royal patent for seven years. The resulting Levant Company opened English consulates all over the Ottoman lands, including in Egypt, Syria, Algiers, Barbary, Patras, Morea, and Chios. In its early days the company's profits were up to 300 percent. Exports to the Levant consisted mainly of cloth and tin; imports included raw silk, mohair, wool, yarn, carpets, drugs, spices, indigo, currants, and cotton. Shipping touched at ten ports using nineteen ships, including the largest ones then known in the merchant service. When its charter expired in September 1588 the company was rechartered as part of a merger with the Venice Company.

 In 1600 the English Crown cancelled the royal charter when the company resisted government demands to share its profits accruing from the lucrative levy imposed on nonmembers for currants produced in the Venetian possessions in Morea and Crete. A renewal eventually was issued on December 31, 1600, confirming the 1592 charter but demanding that the company make an annual treasury contribution of £4,000 (the equivalent of the currant monopoly levy). Conflict and renegotiation continued, but the basics of the charter remained in force until 1825.

 During the first half of the seventeenth century exports to the Levant were mainly English cloth, tin, lead, furs, and pepper. The English were able to balance their trade with the Levant. The Dutch wars (1652–1654) led to a breakdown of control of the company in London, and loss of Istanbul abassador's authority led to dissension in the Levant factories. Regulations were ignored, local treasurers became corrupt, consulage fees were not paid regularly, private debts were charged upon the company's funds, and factors conducted unlawful private trading. Deficits in the factories of Izmir and Aleppo were large, and the Istanbul factory was closed. English trade dwindled to nothing in contrast with the Dutch rivals.

 But the anti-Dutch policy of Oliver Cromwell's parliamentary regime (1653–1658) and cooperation with France brought a new, definitive supremacy of English over Dutch Levant trade, but the English remained second to the French in Mediterranean trade. The policies of England's King William III (r. 1689–1702) further reduced the Dutch position, and English Levant trade reached its apex in the 1670s and 1680s. But competition arrived from the East India Company, and from the French government of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, which established Levant companies at Paris and Marseilles in 1685 and 1689. In what was the greatest disaster in the history of the Levant Company and of Dutch navigation into the Mediterranean and Levant, the Anglo-Dutch Smyrna Fleet of 400 heavily loaded merchantmen sailing in convoy under heavy escort was attacked on May 30,1693 by the French fleet in Lagos Bay off the coast of Portugal.

 The following years proved the remarkable resilience of the Levant Company's organization. Trade went on profitably, with imports exceeding exports (though they were small compared to France's Levant trade). During the reigns of William III and Anne (1689–1702; 1702–1714) England gained control of the main areas of overseas trade and made safe its Levant shipping routes. During the first half of the eighteenth century, in spite of an enlarged membership, the competition with the East India Company and changes in demand in the Ottoman and English markets brought the company's decline. By 1767 the company could no longer meet its deficits, and until 1802 it relied on an annual government subsidy of £5,000. But Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition (1798–1799) caused the total collapse of the French Levant trade, and once again the British possessed a virtual monopoly on trade in the Mediterranean. By 1809 all the old rivals had disappeared, mainly because of the enormous expansion of industry in England, especially cotton manufactures. British exports to the Levant increased from £311,029 in 1812 to £806,530 in 1818. Membership increased to 816 new names in 1820, as compared to 400 in 1797.

 Finally, though, the expanding power of the state was the decisive factor in the demise of the company. All of the company's consular establishments taken over by the British Board of Trade in 1825, and special court surrendered the charter. An act of Parliament repealed all statutes relating to the Levant Company, and all its possessions and liabilities were transferred to the government.

 SEE ALSO Accounting and Accounting Practices; Bengal; Board of Trade, British; Bonaparte, Napoleon; Caravan Trade; East India Company, British; Coffee; Cotton; Egypt;Elizabeth I; Empire, British; Empire, Dutch; Empire French; Empire Ottoman; Empire, Portuguese; EntrepÔt System; Gold and Silver;Mediterranean;Mercantilism;Millets and Capitulations;Monopoly and Oligopoly;Partnerships;Piracy;Protection Costs;Silk;Smuggling;Spices and the Spice Trade;Textiles;Venice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Sonia P. An English Consul in Turkey: Paul Rycaut at Smyrna, 1669–1678. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1989.

 Anderson, Sonia P. "The Anglo-Dutch 'Smyrna Fleet' of 1693." In Friends and Rivals in the East: Studies in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Levant from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century, ed. Alistair Hamilton; Alexander Hendrik de Groot; and Maurits H. van den Boogert. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2000.

 Bent, James Theodore, ed. Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1893.

 Brennan, Michael G., ed. The Travel Diary of Robert Bargrave, Levant Merchant 1647–1656. London: Hakluyt Society. 1999.

 Carr, C. T., ed. Select Charters of Trading Companies, a.d. 1530–1707. London: Selden Society, 1913.

 Cernovodeanu, Paul. England's Trade Policy in the Levant 1660–1714. Bucharest, Romania: Academy of Social and Political Sciences of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1972.

 Davis, Ralph. "England and the Mediterranean, 1570–1670." In Essays in the Economic and Social History of Tudor and Stuart England, ed. F. J. Fisher. Cambridge. U.K.: Cambridge University Press. 1961.

 Davis, Ralph. Aleppo and Devonshire Square: English Traders in the Levant in the Eighteenth Century. London: Macmillan, 1967.

 Davis, Ralph. "English Imports from the Middle East, 1580–1780." In Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East, ed. M. A. Cook. London: Oxford University Press, 1970.

 De Groot, Alexander H. "The Organization of Western European Trade in theLevant, 1500–1800." In Companies and Trade, ed. Leonard Blussé and Femme Gaastra. Leiden, Netherlands: Leiden University Press. 1981.

 Foster, Sir William, ed. The Travels of John Sanderson in the Levant, 1584–1602. London: Hakluyt Society, 1931.

 Israel, Jonathan I. Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585–1740. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1987.

 Skilliter, Susan. William Harborne and the Trade with Turkey, 1578–1582: A Documentary Study of the First Anglo-Ottoman Relations. London: Oxford University Press, 1977.

 Wood, Alfred C. A History of the Levant Company. [1935]. London: Frank Cass, 1964.

 Alexander H. De Groot