Benedict Spinola
Encyclopedia
Benedict Spinola also called Benedick Spinola, and in Italian
Benedetto Spinola, was a 16th century Genoese
merchant of the Spinola family
who lived his whole adult life in the City of London
, then the principal seaport
of the Kingdom of England
. Beginning his career as a clerk, he rose to become an exporter of woollen cloths and importer of wines and also served the English government as an agent and financier
.
He never married and died of the plague in London in August 1580, shortly after his return from a mission to the Seventeen Provinces
.
, Spinola was the second son of Battista Spinola by his marriage to a cousin, Elisabetta, a daughter of Giacomo Spinola. The family
was an important one in the city, and in 1556 Spinola's father declined election as Doge
.
Little is known of Spinola's early life, but by 1541 he was in London
working as a clerk at a salary of two pounds
a year for Bastian Bony, postmaster to the City of London
's foreign merchants. Spinola lived his whole adult life in the parish of St Gabriel Fenchurch
, latterly joined there by his nephews Hannibal and Ascaneo Spinola. He never married and had a property in Shoreditch
known as "Spinola's pleasure".
Unusually for a foreigner, Spinola was fully naturalised in 1552, which gave him the right to pay taxes and customs dues at the rates applied to the English
. In 1559 he was an exporter of woollen cloths and an importer of wines. In 1561, he confessed to exporting another trader's goods on his own licence:
Despite this, in 1566 he was granted the right to do just the same within his licence. He traded with his three brothers who lived in Antwerp, Giacomo, Francisco, and Pasquale Spinola, and at home in London was an important merchant. When the Earl of Leicester
wanted hangings for Kenilworth Castle
, his man of business was instructed to deal with Spinola, who could "get such stuff better cheap than any man", and in 1572 Leicester wrote to Francis Walsingham
that Spinola was "my dear friend and the best Italian I know in England".
About 1550, Spinola was unhappy that the minister of the Calvinist
Italian church in London was preaching against Papist
s, but in 1566 the ambassador of Spain
in London reported home that Spinola had joined the Church of England
, and in 1568 Spinola and his household were attending services at their local parish church
. He became an adviser to the English government, gathering intelligence from correspondents overseas and negotiating financial questions, and by the 1570s was dealing in huge sums of money.
In 1568, Huguenot
raiders forced ships into English ports which were carrying silver lent by Genoese merchants to be used for paying the troops of the Duke of Alba
. For security, the silver was brought ashore, and Spinola acted for the English government in repaying the Genoese.
At a heralds' visitation
of London in 1568, Spinola showed a certificate from the 'Seigniory of Genoa' to the effect that he was the lawful son of Baptiste Spinola "who bare these Arms abovesaide", and another from the Earl of Bedford
, who certified that he had been in Genoa in 1566 and that in that year "the said Babtiste", Spinola's father, "did refuse to be Duke of the same Citie".
In 1568, in the letters patent
of Elizabeth I
which established a new joint stock company
called the Society of Mines Royal
, Spinola is named as one of the principals of the Society, together with the Earl of Pembroke
, the Earl of Leicester, Lord Mountjoy
, Lionel Duckett
, and others. In 1571, Spinola and Lionel Duckett between them made a loan to Queen Elizabeth I of £4,100. In 1578 Spinola acted as agent for an English loan to the Union of Brussels
.
On 15 June 1580, Spinola sold a tenement
and 7 acres (28,328 m²) in the parish of St Botolph's Aldgate
, London, to the Earl of Oxford
, for £2,500. The land was called the Great Garden of Christchurch and had previously belonged to Magdalene College, Cambridge
. Magdalene College, which considered that it had been cheated, pursued legal actions unsuccessfully, and more than four hundred years later in 1989, it avenged itself by erecting a gargoyle
representing Spinola, designed by Peter Fluck
and Roger Law
, the creators of Spitting Image
.
On 6 July 1580, after returning from a financial mission to the Netherlands
, Spinola made a will
in Italian
, stating that he was infirm. On 15 August he died of the plague and was entombed in the choir of St Gabriel Fenchurch
.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
Benedetto Spinola, was a 16th century Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
merchant of the Spinola family
Spinola Family
The Spinola were a leading political family in Genoa in the 13th and 14th centuries.Guido Spinola was one of the first important members of the family. He served as Consul of Genoa in 1102. The Spinola were generally Ghibellines and in league with the Doria Family.The next Spinola to come to...
who lived his whole adult life in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, then the principal seaport
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
of the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
. Beginning his career as a clerk, he rose to become an exporter of woollen cloths and importer of wines and also served the English government as an agent and financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
.
He never married and died of the plague in London in August 1580, shortly after his return from a mission to the Seventeen Provinces
Seventeen Provinces
The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of Western Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held by...
.
Life
Born at GenoaGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Spinola was the second son of Battista Spinola by his marriage to a cousin, Elisabetta, a daughter of Giacomo Spinola. The family
Spinola Family
The Spinola were a leading political family in Genoa in the 13th and 14th centuries.Guido Spinola was one of the first important members of the family. He served as Consul of Genoa in 1102. The Spinola were generally Ghibellines and in league with the Doria Family.The next Spinola to come to...
was an important one in the city, and in 1556 Spinola's father declined election as Doge
Doge of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa, in what is now northern Italy, was technically a communal republic in the early Middle Ages, although it was actually an oligarchy ruled by a small group of merchant families, from whom were selected the Doges of Genoa.- History :...
.
Little is known of Spinola's early life, but by 1541 he was in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
working as a clerk at a salary of two pounds
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
a year for Bastian Bony, postmaster to the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
's foreign merchants. Spinola lived his whole adult life in the parish of St Gabriel Fenchurch
St Gabriel Fenchurch
St Gabriel Fenchurch was a parish church in the Langbourn Ward of the City of London, destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt.-History:The church stood between Rood Lane and Mincing Lane...
, latterly joined there by his nephews Hannibal and Ascaneo Spinola. He never married and had a property in Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
known as "Spinola's pleasure".
Unusually for a foreigner, Spinola was fully naturalised in 1552, which gave him the right to pay taxes and customs dues at the rates applied to the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
. In 1559 he was an exporter of woollen cloths and an importer of wines. In 1561, he confessed to exporting another trader's goods on his own licence:
Despite this, in 1566 he was granted the right to do just the same within his licence. He traded with his three brothers who lived in Antwerp, Giacomo, Francisco, and Pasquale Spinola, and at home in London was an important merchant. When the Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
wanted hangings for Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...
, his man of business was instructed to deal with Spinola, who could "get such stuff better cheap than any man", and in 1572 Leicester wrote to Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
that Spinola was "my dear friend and the best Italian I know in England".
About 1550, Spinola was unhappy that the minister of the Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Italian church in London was preaching against Papist
Papist
Papist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
s, but in 1566 the ambassador of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in London reported home that Spinola had joined the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and in 1568 Spinola and his household were attending services at their local parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
. He became an adviser to the English government, gathering intelligence from correspondents overseas and negotiating financial questions, and by the 1570s was dealing in huge sums of money.
In 1568, Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
raiders forced ships into English ports which were carrying silver lent by Genoese merchants to be used for paying the troops of the Duke of Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands , nicknamed "the Iron Duke" in the Low Countries because of his harsh and cruel rule there and his role in the execution of his political opponents and the massacre of several...
. For security, the silver was brought ashore, and Spinola acted for the English government in repaying the Genoese.
At a heralds' visitation
Heraldic visitation
Heraldic Visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms in England, Wales and Ireland in order to regulate and register the coats of arms of nobility and gentry and boroughs, and to record pedigrees...
of London in 1568, Spinola showed a certificate from the 'Seigniory of Genoa' to the effect that he was the lawful son of Baptiste Spinola "who bare these Arms abovesaide", and another from the Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG was an English nobleman, soldier and politician and godfather to Sir. Francis Drake.-Early life:...
, who certified that he had been in Genoa in 1566 and that in that year "the said Babtiste", Spinola's father, "did refuse to be Duke of the same Citie".
In 1568, in the letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
which established a new joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
called the Society of Mines Royal
Society of Mines Royal
The Society of Mines Royal was one of two mining monopoly companies incorporated by royal charter in 1568, the other being the Company of Mineral and Battery Works.-History:...
, Spinola is named as one of the principals of the Society, together with the Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke KG was an English peer of the Elizabethan era.-Life:He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Parr. His aunt was queen consort Catherine Parr, last wife of King Henry VIII. Herbert was responsible for the costly restoration of Cardiff Castle...
, the Earl of Leicester, Lord Mountjoy
James Blount, 6th Baron Mountjoy
-Life:James Blount was born circa 1533 in Newport, Devon, the eldest son of Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy and Ann Willoughby. He inherited his title on the death of his father...
, Lionel Duckett
Lionel Duckett
Lionel Duckett was one of the Merchant adventurers of the City of London. He was four times Master of the Mercers' Company, and Lord Mayor of London ....
, and others. In 1571, Spinola and Lionel Duckett between them made a loan to Queen Elizabeth I of £4,100. In 1578 Spinola acted as agent for an English loan to the Union of Brussels
Union of Brussels
There were two Unions of Brussels, both formed in the end of the 1570s, in the opening stages of the Eighty Years' War, the war of secession from Spanish control, which lasted from 1568 to 1648...
.
On 15 June 1580, Spinola sold a tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
and 7 acres (28,328 m²) in the parish of St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, St Botolph-without-Aldgate, or just Aldgate Church, is a Church of England liberal and inclusive parish church in the City of London, standing at the junction of Houndsditch and Aldgate High Street. The current 18th century church is made of brick with stone quoins...
, London, to the Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....
, for £2,500. The land was called the Great Garden of Christchurch and had previously belonged to Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
. Magdalene College, which considered that it had been cheated, pursued legal actions unsuccessfully, and more than four hundred years later in 1989, it avenged itself by erecting a gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
representing Spinola, designed by Peter Fluck
Peter Fluck
Peter Nigel Fluck is a caricaturist and one half of the partnership known as Fluck and Law , creators of the satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.-Early life:...
and Roger Law
Roger Law
Roger Law is a caricaturist and one half of Fluck & Law , creators of the satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.-Early life:...
, the creators of Spitting Image
Spitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
.
On 6 July 1580, after returning from a financial mission to the Netherlands
Seventeen Provinces
The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of Western Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held by...
, Spinola made a will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, stating that he was infirm. On 15 August he died of the plague and was entombed in the choir of St Gabriel Fenchurch
St Gabriel Fenchurch
St Gabriel Fenchurch was a parish church in the Langbourn Ward of the City of London, destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt.-History:The church stood between Rood Lane and Mincing Lane...
.