Abraham Harderet (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1604–1625), goldsmith and jeweller to

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

Career

Abraham Harderet was the son of Martin Harderet and Rachel Fontaine or Le Maçon, daughter of

Robert le Maçon, Sieur de la Fontaine Robert le Maçon, Sieur de la Fontaine, or Robert Masson, (1534/35–1611) was a French Reformed minister and diplomat. He founded a church in Orléans which became central to the Huguenot movement during the first French War of Religion 1562. Car ...

, a refugee from the

St. Bartholomew's Day massacre The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre () in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed ...

. The family were French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

and the name was also written as "Hardret" and "Hardrett". Martin Hardrett supplied pearls for head dresses of

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...

costume at Elizabeth's court and was described as a " milliner". In 1604 Abraham claimed that Queen Elizabeth had owed him £1,075, and he was appointed a jeweller to

King James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

, Anne of Denmark, and Prince Henry with an annual salary of £50. Jacob, Martin and Nathaniel Harderet were also active as jewellers in this period.

gave Abraham and Martin a gift of £200 confiscated from recusants in 1604, Abraham and Nathaniel were confirmed as jewellers to the king in 1608, and Jacob, Abraham's brother, enlarged a chain for Princess Elizabeth in 1610. Martin had been recorded as "Martyn Harderettes", a "stranger" or foreigner in St Faith's parish in

Farringdon, London Farringdon is an area of Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington, situated immediately north of its border with the City of London. The term is used to describe the area around Farringdon station. Historically the district corresponded to ...

, in 1582. Listed next to Martin Harderet in 1582, another of the St Faith's strangers was "Robert Fountayne" who was probably Rachel's father, while "Cornelis Dregg" or "Drodger" may be the Dutch craftsman who engraved a sapphire with Queen Elizabeth's portrait for Anne of Denmark in 1598. Cornelius "Draggie" turned up in Edinburgh in 1601, attempting to set up a weaver's workshop to exploit generous subsidies for expert craftsmen, but the other weavers protested he was a lapidary, not a weaver. Martin was probably the Martin Hardrett who supplied items to the queen's revels as a "Milliner" as early as 1574. Another early reference appears in a 1583 letter from William Poyntz to his master Sir

Thomas Heneage Sir Thomas Heneage PC (1532 – 17 October 1595) was an English politician and courtier at the court of Elizabeth I. Early and personal life Thomas Heneage the Younger was born at Copt Hall, Epping, Essex, the son of Sir Robert Heneage and Lu ...

about London shopping, "If your bracelet be done at Hyllyard's, you shall receive it by this bearer, Hardret hath not one of those glasses you wrote to me for, nor yet any other". In June 1604, Abraham Harderet after petitioning the

Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury. Background The title was first created for Patrick de Sa ...

and the

Earl of Nottingham :''See also Earl of Winchilsea'' Earl of Nottingham is a title that has been created seven times in the Peerage of England. It was first created for John de Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham, John de Mowbray in 1377, at the coronation of Richard ...

for a place as a court jeweller, was invited to draft the details of the office of Surveyor of Jewels, and was made a jeweller to King, Queen and

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. However, perhaps in 1607, Harderet complained to the

that he had not yet had any employment. His wife was lame and ill in bed. He sent a list of outstanding debts and losses. He had invested in a ship lost on the Barbary coast. Some of associates were "broken" or bankrupt. "Lord Amberall" owed £466. Harderet was paid a fee of £50 annually as a jeweller to Anne of Denmark. In 1608 Martin Harderet was a witness at the christening of James Oliver, a son of the portrait miniature painter

Isaac Oliver Isaac Oliver ( – bur. 2 October 1617) or Olivier was an English portrait miniature painter. Life and work Born in Rouen around 1565, he moved to London in 1568 with his Huguenot parents Peter and Epiphany Oliver to escape the Wars of Reli ...

, and he may have provided cases for Oliver's miniatures. Abraham and Martin Harderet were paid £3000 from the confiscated goods of

recusants Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

. Martin died in April 1612, amongst his bequests leaving a house in

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

to Abraham.

Jewels for Princess Elizabeth

Jacob Harderet supplied pendants and rings to Princess Elizabeth in April 1612. On 14 February 1613, Princess Elizabeth married Frederick V of the Palatinate. Jacob Harderet provided diamond and ruby rings and pendants for Elizabeth to give away as she left England, and she wrote directly to

Sir Julius Caesar Sir Julius Caesar (1557/155818 April 1636) was an English lawyer, judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1622. He was also known as Julius Adelmare. Early life and education Caesar was born near T ...

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

to pay his bill of £500. He accompanied Princess Elizabeth on her journey to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. At Gaulsheim she gave gifts to those of her party returning to England. Harderet gave her these on credit. He returned to England with her letter to John Murray of the Bedchamber, which explained that she had been obliged to buy jewels from him to give as gifts at her wedding and during her journey, even to "indifferent persons", many more than she could pay for, and Harderet could show Murray the bills she had signed. Elizabeth wanted Murray to arrange that Sir Julius Caesar would write an order pay Harderet.

Business in London

Abraham Harderet, with the other royal jewellers

George Heriot George Heriot (15 June 1563 – 12 February 1624) was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as the founder of George Heriot's School, a large independent school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to H ...

, William Herrick and

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, Holy Roman Empire-born businessman who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford ...

, joined the funeral procession of Anna of Denmark in 1619. Rachel Fontaine was a relation of Jehanne Hersent, the wife of Abraham Aurelle the minister of the French Church on

Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History Threadne ...

. In October 1613 she was a witness at the christening of their daughter Jahel, with Abraham van Delden and Jaél de Peigne, widow of Sir Henry Killigrew. Rachel's daughter Elizabeth Harderet married Caesar Calandrini, a minister of the Italian church in London, from Lucca. Her sister-in-law Elizabeth Calandrini was the wife of the financier

Philip Burlamachi Philip Burlamachi (1575 – 1644) was a major financial intermediary of King Charles I of England, and is remembered as the inventor of the concept of a central bank. Burlamachi was born Sedan, France. His family was of Italian origin, exiled ...

. Abraham Harderet was still listed as a jeweller to King James in 1625.Mary Edmond, 'Limners and Picturemakers', ''The Volume of the Walpole Society'', vol. 47 (1978-1980), p. 167.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harderet, Abraham English jewellers 17th-century English businesspeople English goldsmiths English people of French descent Huguenots Material culture of royal courts