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Pasqua Rosée () was a 17th-century
servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...
who opened the first
coffee-house A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...
in London and possibly Britain. He was born into the ethnic Greek community of the
Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...
(now southernmost
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
). In 1651 he became the servant of Daniel Edwards, an English merchant of the
Levant Company 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, ...
who was living in
Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
(modern
İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
, Turkey) in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
; Rosée's duties included preparing and serving Edwards's daily coffee. In late 1651 Edwards returned to London, taking Rosée with him. The number and frequency of friends visiting Edwards to drink coffee with him disrupted his social life, and so he set up Rosée as the proprietor of a coffee-house near the Royal Exchange. As Rosée was not a
freeman of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...
he was not able to trade; accordingly Edwards made his father-in-law's former apprentice, Christopher "Kitt" Bowman—a freeman of the City—join Rosée as a partner. The last known reference to Rosée was in 1658, after which Bowman ran the coffee-house with his wife until his death in 1662. There are stories that Rosée left London as a result of a misdemeanour and that he went to Holland or Germany to sell coffee, although there is no evidence this was the case. The number of coffee-houses grew rapidly after Rosée opened his outlet. By 1708 there were 500–600 in London and
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, and others in provincial cities. The original premises of the coffee-house was destroyed in the 1666
Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...
. On its location is a late nineteenth-century building housing—in the twenty-first century—a
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
, the Jamaica Wine House; a commemorative plaque is now on the spot, unveiled in 1952—the tercentenary of the founding of Rosée's shop.


Biography


Background and work in Smyrna

Pasqua Rosée was born in the early seventeenth century into the ethnic Greek community of the
Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...
(now southernmost
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
), and is variously described as Greek, Armenian, Turkish and "of Greek or Turkish origin". Little is known about his early life, but it is thought he spoke at least three languages:
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
,
Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...
and
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
. By 1651 Rosée was living in
Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
(modern
İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
, Turkey), in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, where he became the servant of Daniel Edwards, an English merchant of the
Levant Company 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, ...
. The Levant Company was an English
chartered company A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that is Incorporation (business), incorporated and granted rights (often Monopoly, exclusive rights) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of ...
formed in 1592 with the purpose of regulating English trade with the Ottoman Empire and the
Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
. The charter effectively provided a monopoly for fifty-three English merchants named in the text. English traders preferred to employ Levantine servants as they were cheaper than those from England and had better knowledge of the local languages and customs. Rosée's language skills made him an important aid for Edwards in business, and he acted as "a clerk of accounts, a translator and a social diplomat, using his knowledge of Turkish customs to smooth the path of commerce", according to the historian Markman Ellis; he also acted in a personal capacity as Edwards's
valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, ''valet de chambre'' was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "va ...
and coachman. Although Edwards's servants prepared and served his food, as his valet, Rosée prepared and served his coffee. Edwards left Smyrna in late 1651 to return to England, accompanied by Rosée; this was either because Edwards had thwarted activities of a
royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
cadre in the Levant Company in 1647 and 1650, or because of an outbreak of plague in the region, which reached Smyrna in September 1651. According to Markman Ellis, "Edwards brought some characteristics of Levantine merchants: hard work, Puritan politics and coffee drinking". According to one of Edwards's friends, it was known he "drank two or three dishes f coffeeat a time, twice or thrice a day". Friends would visit Edwards frequently to share his coffee and socialise; so many visited to taste this novel drink that it affected his family life, and in 1652 he decided to set up a coffee-house. As the rules of the Levant company meant he was unable to open it himself, he set up Rosée in business.


Coffee shop

Edwards and Rosée selected premises in St Michael's Alley, just off Cornhill and near the Royal Exchange. The lanes and alleys around the Exchange—a favoured place for merchants to meet daily—were busy with traders, lawyers, tavern keepers and the general public. The first incarnation of their coffee-house was a shed resembling a market stall on the edge of the churchyard of St Michael's Church. A sign hung over Rosée's stall, described either as "an image of himself dressed in some Levantine clothing", or a sign portraying his head. To promote his enterprise, in 1652 Rosée published a
handbill A flyer (or flier) is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. Today, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied lea ...
advertising "The Vertue of the Coffee Drink" in which he extolled the benefits of coffee, claiming "It is excellent to prevent and cure the
dropsy Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...
,
gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
and
scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...
", as well as scrofula, miscarriages and "a most excellent remedy against the
spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...
, hypocondriack winds and the like". This is the earliest-known advertisement for coffee, according to the historian Aytoun Ellis. The launch of the new product onto the London market was aided by the politics of the day, with puritans attacking the sale of wine and beer as being connected to the profligate and licentious activities of the Royalists. Taverners and wine merchants bemoaned the falling sales of their products in 1651 and 1652, and Rosée's positioning of coffee as a healthy and sober drink helped the product become commercially successful. One contemporary estimated that Rosée's turnover was 30 or 40 shillings a day – approximately £450 to 600 a year. Markman Ellis considers the estimate is "probably overstated", although Rosée's business was successful enough to generate jealousy from local tavern owners; they petitioned the
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
on the basis that Rosée was not a
freeman of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...
, and therefore should not be able to trade as he did. To overcome the barrier to Rosée's continuing trading, Edwards turned to his father-in-law,
Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
Thomas Hodges, who proposed one of his former apprentices, Christopher "Kitt" Bowman, a freeman of the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
, to join Rosée as a partner, which took place in 1654. In 1656 Rosée and Bowman moved from their shed into premises, also in St Michael's Alley, which measured ; the property was in poor condition, needing repairs and the men paid an annual rent of £4. The two men operated in partnership until at least 1658 (when they were both listed in the
churchwardens' accounts Churchwardens' accounts are a form of record maintained by the churchwardens of a parish church where expenses, activities, and events of the parish are recorded. Churchwardens' accounts are sometimes found in association with the parish register, ...
), but Rosée seems to have no part in the joint venture after that. The two men also ran competing coffee-houses on opposite sides of the street, which was remembered in
doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is de ...
verse, published under the name Adrianus del Tasso: :Pull courage, Pasqua, fear no Harms, :From the besieging Foe; :Make good your ground, stand to your Arms, :Hold out this summer, and then tho' :He'll storm, he'll not prevail—your Face :Shall give the Coffee Pot the chace. There are no records relating to Rosée after 1658. The
apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...
and writer John Houghton, writing in 1699, said that Rosée disappeared from London "for some misdemeanour", although no record or evidence for the misdemeanour has been found. There were claims that he left England and sold coffee in Germany or Holland—the latter in 1664—but there is no evidence to support either claim.


Legacy

Bowman continued to run the coffee-house until 1662, when he died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. His widow continued to run the coffee-house until at least May 1663, when hers was one of seven coffee-houses in the Cornhill ward. The original closely built wooden buildings in St Michael's Avenue were destroyed in the 1666
Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...
, although the stone-built church survived. Rosée's was only the first of many coffee-houses in London. In 1659 a
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
barber wrote that there was seemingly coffee sold "in almost every street" and by 1663 there were 83 coffee-houses in London, the clients of which were largely connected to trade in the Levant or
Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...
. Increasingly they became, as Markman Ellis writes, "firmly associated with the tumultuous political culture of the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
". In the early years of the growth of coffee-houses, there was opposition from local tavern keepers, who complained to the Lord Mayor of London about the number of non-Freemen of the city involved in the trade, and in December 1675, after the
restoration of the monarchy Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state. This may refer to: *Conservation and restoration of cultural property **Audio restoration **Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property **Film restoration ** Image ...
, Charles II issued "A proclamation for the Suppression of Coffee-Houses", which withdrew all licences to sell coffee; the resulting uproar led to the proclamation being withdrawn. No precise figures exist, but by 1708 coffee-houses were found in several provincial cities, with 500–600 in London and Westminster, and in 1739, the ''London Directories'' listed 551. Coffee-houses soon grew to be an important aspect of stock trading. In 1698 one trader began publishing share prices from
Jonathan's Coffee-House Jonathan's Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries, famous as the original site of the London Stock Exchange. The coffee house was opened around 1680 by Jonathan Miles in Change (or Exchange) ...
and then from
Garraway's Coffee House Garraways Coffee House was a London coffee house in Exchange Alley from the period when such houses served as important places where other business was performed. Its original proprietor, Thomas Garway, was already said to be the first person ...
; according to the historian Elizabeth Hennessy, this publication is "among the earliest evidence of the existence of organised trading in marketable securities in London".
Lloyd's Coffee House A 19th-century drawing of Lloyd's Coffee House Lloyd's Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was opened by Edward Lloyd (c. 1648 – 15 February 1713) on Tower Street in 1686. The establi ...
in Tower Street was opened in the 1680s by Edward Lloyd; he began publishing news sheets relating to shipping movements, and a newspaper, ''Lloyd's News''. He would also rent out tables to those who insured ships, and traders, merchants and shipowners congregated at the coffee-house to do business; this was the origin of the
Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...
shipping market. Rosée's sign was copied and imitated by several other coffee-houses and taverns across Britain. In his 1963 study of London coffee-houses from 1652 to 1900, the historian Bryant Lillywhite identified over fifty outlets using a sign comprising a Turk's head. After he left the coffee-house, Rosée's reputation remained in the popular memory. He was the inspiration for a character in ''Knavery in all Trades'', a play written by
John Tatham John Tatham (fl. 1632–1664) was an English dramatist of the mid-17th century. He was a strong Cavalier. Hatreds Little is known of Tatham personally. He was a Cavalier, with a hatred of the Puritans and of the Scots – he went so far as to ...
in 1664, and he was the target of the anonymously written satire "A Broad-Side Against Coffee". A
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
, the Jamaica Wine House, built in the nineteenth century, now occupies the location of Rosée's outlet in St Michael's Alley. In 1952 the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Leslie Boyce, unveiled a plaque on the location, in celebration of the tercentenary of the founding of Rosée's shop.


First coffee-house

Markman Ellis writes that several sources state that Rosée's coffee-house was the first in London but the second in England, after an earlier coffee-house that may have existed in Oxford; he considers this erroneous and that Rosée's "was the first in Christendom". The source of information about the Oxford coffee-house, Ellis states, is from the Oxford
antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...
Anthony Wood who wrote in his diary, known as "", that "Jacob a Jew opened a coffey house at the Angel in the parish of S. Peter, in the East Oxon". Wood left the reference undated, but the editor of his work, Andrew Clark, dated it to March 1650 or 1651. Wood's diaries state that coffee was consumed in private in 1650 in Oxford and that it was "publickly solde at or neare the Angel within the East Gate of Oxon ... by an outlander or a Jew" at some point between August 1654 and April 1655.


Notes and references


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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosee, Pasqua 17th-century Greek people Businesspeople from London Businesspeople in coffee Greek emigrants to England