Jerome Bowes
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Sir Jerome Bowes (died 1616) was an English ambassador to Russia and Member of Parliament in England.


Early life

He was born into a Durham family, the son of John Bowes, and his wife Ann, née Gunville, whose family were from Gorleston, then in Suffolk. His name is included in the list of the gentlemen who followed Edward Clinton, to France, on his expedition to avenge the fall of
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
. It has been inferred from a casual mention of him by John Stowe that he was a client of
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ove ...
in 1571, but he was banished from court six years later for slanderous speech against him.


Diplomatic mission to Russia

Bowes was restored to favour, and in 1583 was appointed ambassador to
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Fedor Pisemsky had travelled to England in 1581, and the diplomatic background included trade matters, and a proposed marriage of
Ivan IV of Russia Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584. ...
to Lady Mary Hastings, daughter of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon. In June 1583 Bowes set sail with Pisemsky for Russia, on what turned out to be a fruitless mission.
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
, in his ''Brief History of Moscovia'', gives an account of this embassy, taken from
Richard Hakluyt Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonization of the Americas, English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discov ...
. There are some additional anecdotes recorded in
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
's ''Diary'', told to him by a group of customs officers in 1662, eighty years after the event, and in Samuel Collins's ''Present State of Russia'' (1671). In Collins' account Ivan IV of Russia is said to have nailed the French ambassador's hat to his head. Bowes at his next audience put on his hat, and the tsar threatened him with the like punishment. Bowes replied that he did not represent the cowardly king of France, but the invincible queen of England, "who does not vail her bonnet nor bare her head to any prince living". The tsar commended his bravery and took him into favour. Bowes is also said to have tamed a wild horse so effectually that the animal fell dead under him. Milton describes the pomp of the reception and how the ambassador refused to submit to etiquette and put the letters into the hands of the chancellor, insisting upon his right to give them to the emperor himself. The tsar, irritated by the assertion of Elizabeth's equality with the French and Spanish kings, lost patience when Bowes, to his question "what of the emperor?" replied that her father,
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, had the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
in his pay. Ivan hinted that Bowes might be thrown out of the window, to which Bowes replied that the queen would know how to revenge any injury done to her ambassador. Ivan's anger gave place to admiration, and he again raised the possibility of a marriage to one of the queen's relatives. But he died soon after, and with his successor, Feodor I, the anti-English Dutch faction came into power. Alfred Nicolas Rambaud, in his ''History of Russia'', blamed Bowes for clumsiness and lack of tact. The ambassador was imprisoned, threatened, and at last dismissed by Feodor. When ready to embark he sent back the new tsar's letters and "paltry present".


Later years

There is only fragmentary evidence for Bowes' subsequent activities. In a report by the lord chief baron of the exchequer he appears in a discreditable light, as having fraudulently dealt with a will under which he claimed (the record is undated, but assigned to 1587 in the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic). On 5 February 1592 a special licence was granted him to make drinking-glasses in England and Ireland for twelve years; his will indicates that he later renewed the licence. In 1597 the parishioners of
St Ann Blackfriars St Ann Blackfriars was a church in the City of London, in what is now Ireland Yard in the ward of Farringdon Within. The church began as a medieval parish chapel, dedicated to St Ann, within the church of the Dominicans (the order after whom ...
built, at their own cost a warehouse for his use, beneath an extension to their church, on land which they had purchased but on which he held the lease. They also paid him £133. He was elected to parliament in 1601 for Lancaster and 1604 for
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
. By 1599 he was living at
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
, where, in 1607 his house was robbed in a well-documented case, in which a female servant was murdered.An account was published as ''A true report of the horrible Murther which was committed in the house of Sir Ierome Bowes, Knight'' (1607) Bowes was buried on 28 March 1616 in Hackney Church. A portrait of him, painted in the year of his embassy, is in the Suffolk Collection.


Writings

In his retirement from court he translated from the French an ''Apology for the Christians of France ... of the reformed religion'' (1579).


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowes, Jerome 16th-century English diplomats Ambassadors of England to Russia Year of birth missing 1616 deaths People of the Elizabethan era English MPs 1601 English MPs 1604–1611 17th-century English diplomats