Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/yl4okf8rx9
William Robinson (c. 1540 – 1613), a bombardiere in the service of Dubrovnik, English consul and (slave?) merchant
Rina Kralj-Brassard
; The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Abstract
A pluriperspective and comparative approach to the Ragusan segment of the life and work of William Robinson, a bombardiere in the service of the Republic, English consul and merchant, has helped portray a well-integrated foreigner, and at the same
time complemented the picture of the city in a pivotal period, the end of the "Golden Age" and the beginning of one of the crises.
Englishman William Robinson first appears in Ragusan sources in 1574, when the Senate hired him as a bombardiere, offering him an above average salary, in accordance with the skills of a master gunner. His bombardiere's career, including intermissions due to business travels, lasted at least until 1610, and most probably until his death in 1613. He joined a group of military experts gathered in a confraternity under the protection of St. Barbara, in which, as a rule, the foreigners were a majority, many of whom, like Robinson, were well-integrated in the Ragusan society through kin, friendship and professional ties. Before 1590 he married Marija, a local, with whom he had no children. He had an illegitimate son named Antun, who pursued a career in seafaring, having joined a crew of an English captain.
Apart from gunnery, he was also engaged in trade. Apparently, in two cases his name is recorded as an agent in "black slave" trade.
In the decisions of the Minor Council of 1601 and 1610 regarding bombardiere Robinson, he is titled as English consul, although he was not an official diplomatic representative of the English Crown nor is he mentioned in the hitherto known documents of the Levant Company, which appointed its men as agents and consuls to the places of commercial relevance. According to archival evidence,
Robinson intermediated and provided assistance to the English, therefore, performed practical consular duties. Robinson acquired modest property, which he bequeathed to his wife and son. For his final resting place he designated the Dominican church in Dubrovnik, where he is believed to have been buried in one of the fraternity graves.
A telling testament to the high level of Robinson's integration into Ragusan social environment has been provided by his compatriot, Fox. The latter observed a curious change in the behaviour of the Ragusan Englishman, "a man of many words but slo in performing, for tyme hathe so allterred the man that he ys becom a Slavonyan in natur, but a veary kynd fellow in hys facyon."
Keywords
Dubrovnik; England; 16th century; 17th century; William Robinson; gunner; bombardiere; English consul; Levant Company; confraternity of bombardieri
Hrčak ID:
324050
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2024.
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