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Abstract
Charles I's great warship the Sovereign of the Seas is famed for its design, decoration and importance as a tool that heightened the image of English naval supremacy. By exploring its career, size, name and decoration, this article highlights the Sovereign of the Seas’ significance as a national symbol of political and cultural power. It argues that Charles's leading warship was developed as a reaction to naval advances and current affairs in Europe. Through a diverse range of evidence including diplomatic correspondence, printed texts and artwork from both English and French institutions, as well as relating this to similar advances in the Netherlands and Sweden, the Sovereign of the Seas’ development is internationally contextualized. By comparing it with other contemporary warships, most importantly la Couronne of France, it is shown that Charles's flagship was a product of a growing international theatre of maritime activity that was inspired by cultural and political competition, as much as it was by military escalation.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Drs Gabriel Glickman and Alan James, his colleagues in the Department of History at The University of Warwick, and the anonymous reviewers for their advice on previous drafts of this article.
Notes
1 The British Library, London (hereafter BL), Egerton, MS 2982, fo. 155r: unknown author, ‘On his Majesties great ship The Soveraigne of the Seas’.
2 ‘Observations Concerning the Royal Navy and Sea-Service. Dedicated to the Most Noble and Illustrious Prince Henry, Prince of Wales’, in Oldys and Birch (eds), The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, VIII, 337.
3 The French renamed it la Grande Nef d’Ecosse. Macdougall, ‘The Greatest Scheip that ewer Saillit’. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (hereafter BN), Clairambault 326, fo. 555, ‘État de la flotte de guerre du roi de France, 1527’, records the vessel as 1,000 tons (or thereabouts), and could supposedly hold 1,000 men.
4 Nichols (ed.), The Diary of Henry Machyn, 43. Tuns are used in this case (instead of tons) because warship tonnage was estimated until the late sixteenth century when Mathew Baker's mathematical formula was adopted for greater accuracy and consistency in measurements.
5 Redding, ‘Divided by La Manche’, 179-81.
6 Redding, ‘English Naval Expansion under the French Threat’, 652.
7 It is likely that the Prince Royal was a direct copy of Tre Kroner. See Bellamy, ‘David Balfour and Early Modern Danish Ship Design’, 5–22, and Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea, 386.
8 Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 2–3; Milford, ‘The Navy at Peace’, 31–2.
9 Sharpe, The Personal Rule of Charles I, 82–6, 511–12.
10 Sharpe, Image Wars, xiii. Yet, as J. D. Davies, Kings of the Sea, 13, has recently highlighted, Sharpe ‘barely mentioned’ the navy in this great tome.
11 Bellamy, ‘Christian IV and his Navy’.
12 Thrush, The Navy Under Charles I, 179.
13 Oppenheim, ‘The Royal Navy under Charles I’, 93.
14 Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, 380.
15 Konstam, Sovereigns of the Sea, 7, 281.
16 Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, 388-9.
17 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 44.
18 BL, Add. MSS 9306, 21 Oct. 1651. For a comparison to the redesigned ship, see National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (hereafter NMM), PZ7257-001, ‘William van de Velde, the Elder's drawing of the Royal Sovereign in 1661’.
19 See Exchequer Accounts for the Navy: The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA), E351/2275–76, 2278, 2280, 2282, 24 Mar. 1635–31 Dec. 1639.
20 Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 5; TNA, E351/2277: 1 Jan. 1636–31 Dec. 1636; TNA, SP 16/378, fo. 109, ‘An exact Certificate of the Charge in materials’, 9 Jan. 1637. Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 105, also records that the cost of casting increased again on 27 Jun. 1638 to £26,441 13s. 2d. to provide four demi-cannon drakes for the stern chase.
21 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 15. As Michael Oppenheim first highlighted, A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, 260, this staggering sum is best understood under the mindset that the average 40-gun ship of the time would have cost £5,500 to £6,500.
22 TNA, SP 16/361, fo. 132: ‘Officers of the Navy to Lords of the Admiralty’, 13 Jun, 1637. In a second document the vessel is recorded ‘according to the Old way’ with a breath ‘from outside to outside’ of 47 feet 10 inches, and a depth from the ‘extreame bredth to the fronte edge of the keele’ of 21 feet 2 inches: TNA, SP 16/361, fo. 134, ‘The Dimensions of the Great Shipp’, 13 Jun. 1637.
23 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 141.
24 Davies, Pepys's Navy, 47.
25 Ibid., 12.
26 Thrush, The Navy under Charles I, 38; TNA, SP 16/361, fo. 135, ‘Phineas Pett to the King’, 13[?] Jun. 1637. Thrush is hesitant about providing a precise date for this document, although State Papers records the document as 13 Jun. 1637.
27 Ibid.
28 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 38; Davies, Kings of the Sea, 32.
29 Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 5.
30 Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, 421; Murphy, Ireland and the War at Sea, 8.
31 BN, français 6408, fo. 299, ‘Armée navalle de Ponant’, 1640. It is also possible that la Couronne's tonnage recordings are the result of France trying to claim that it possessed the largest warship in Europe.
32 See Redding, Divided by La Manche, 162, for a table that highlights these differences in measurement.
33 Old Baker Rule: (keel x depth x breadth)/100. BN, français 6408, fos 469–72, ‘Description du vaisseau du Roy nommé La Couronne’, 1636, has been used here, although other dimensions with small differences are also recorded, see: TNA, SP 78/106, fo. 422: ‘Description of the French Ship La Couronne’, about 1636; Winfield and Roberts, French Warships in the Age of Sail, 51. This measurement, if correct, would more closely conform to d’Infreville's original estimate of between 1,200 and 1,700 tuns. Sue (ed.), Correspondance de Henri d’Escoubleau de Sourdis, III, 204: ‘Voyage et inspection maritime de M d’Infreville, 23 March 1631’. Also take note that French pieds were marginally larger than the English equivalent, with a pied being 1.066 of an imperial foot meaning that la Couronne was slightly larger than the figures suggest, but not substantially so.
34 TNA, SP 16/361, fo. 134, ‘The Dimensions of the Great Shipp’, 13 Jun. 1637.
35 Sephton also determines by making his own measurements that the Sovereign was indeed the largest warship. Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 195.
36 Fournier, Hydrographie, 55.
37 Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 2–3.
38 James, ‘Voyages et inspection maritime de M. d’Infreville sur les côtes françaises de l’océan, 1631’, 476.
39 Hocker (ed.), Vasa I, 43.
40 The wreck of Store Sophie still exists in the waters off Gothenburg. Unlike Vasa only the lower deck has survived.
41 Denoix, ‘La Couronne’, 188.
42 BN, français 6408, fo. 168, ‘Armée navalle du Roy sur l’océan en 1636’.
43 BN, francais 6408, fo. 168, In the same document, la Couronne is recorded as 1,800 tons.
44 Konstam, Sovereigns of the Sea, 294–5.
45 BN, français 6408, fo. 285, ‘Estat de la despence par mois’, 1640. While, in 1640, Louis XIII's crowned warship cost 11,605 livres per month to sustain its 500-man crew.
46 James, The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 116–17; Berbouche, L’Histoire de la royale du moyen-âge, 164–5.
47 James, The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 88–9.
48 La Couronne is recorded in a number of documents as part of the 1639 fleet, commanded by the vice-admiral, Launay de Rasilly. Archives Nationales, Paris (hereafter AN), Marine B41, fos 235–6, 286–7. The best account of the La Coruña expedition remains Boxer (ed.), The Journal of Maarten Harpertszoon, 7–11.
49 AN, Marine B41, fos 291–4, ‘Lettre de M. Amelot de Beaulieu en bord de la Couronne à Belisle, 29 juin 1639’.
50 AN, Marine B41, fos 291–4, 323–4, ‘Ordre de l’armée navalle du Roy’, 27 Jul. 1640; Denoix, ‘La Couronne’, 188.
51 BN, français 6408, fos 281–82, 283, 285, 299, Mar. 1640.
52 La Couronne is still recorded at Brest in late Jul. 1644 according to Français de la Boullaye le Gouz's account. This is the last recorded account of the warship that I have found. Crofton Croker (ed.), The Tour of the French Traveller, 54–5; Musée de la Marine, MN-089-02, ‘Couronne Vaisseaux, 1637–1649’.
53 BN, nouv. acq. fr 9390, fo. 65 cited in Musée de la Marine, MN-089-02, ‘Couronne Vaisseaux, 1637–1649’.
54 James, The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 117.
55 Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire, 109-16; Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, 380–2; Emmer, ‘Mare Liberum, Mare Clausum, 671–8.
56 Grotius, Mare Liberum, 31.
57 It is unclear when the term ‘English Channel’ was first used, although English claims to the Channel were justified through manipulating the tales of Alfred the Great and Edgar I.
58 Selden, Mare Clausum. Also see Boroughs, The Soveraignty of the British Seas.
59 Selden, Mare Clausum, 331; Welwood, An Abridgement of All-Sea Lawes, Welwood, The Sea Law of Scotland.
60 Armitage, Ideological Origins of the British Empire, 118. Armitage has argued that the Rump Parliament would later reprint and endorse these two sources by Boroughs and Selden in order to assist in consolidating a British identity. In a later edition published in 1739, the foreword claimed that the 1633 edition ‘hinted’ that the Sovereign should be built, and in doing so, that Boroughs's work became its namesake.
61 BL Egerton MS 2982, fos 155–6, unknown author, ‘On his Majesties great ship The Soveraigne of the Seas’. With an active interest in the Sovereign as the designer of its carvings, it is possible that Thomas Heywood was the author of this work. I have found no evidence to suggest that this poem was published.
62 The Charles built in 1632 at a burthen of 810 tons, was an impressive size, but was still significantly smaller than the Sovereign of the Seas.
63 Thomson, ‘France's Grotian Moment?’, 377–94.
64 Ibid., 394.
65 Biggar, The Early Trading Companies of New France.
66 Berbouche, L’Histoire de la royale du moyen-âge, 164: ‘Au premier rang desquels la Couronne flattait l’orgueil royal’.
67 James, The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 164.
68 Laughton, Old Ship Figureheads, 66–7.
69 Anderson, ‘The Prince Royal and Other Ships of James I’, 272–5; Anderson, ‘The Prince Royal of 1610’, 365–8; Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 21–3; Davies, Kings of the Sea, 27.
70 TNA, E351/2248, 1 Jan. 1610–31 Dec. 1610.
71 Heywood, A True Description of His Majesties Royall Shipp, 29–30; Young, His Majesty's Royal Ship. A second edition of Heywood's work was published in 1638.
72 Heywood, A True Description of His Majesties Royall Shipp, 33.
73 Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, 19–20.
74 BL, Egerton MS 2982, fo. 155, unknown author, ‘On his Majesties great ship The Soveraigne of the Seas’.
75 Septhon, Sovereign of the Seas, 85–97. Sephton's work provides a highly detailed account of the Sovereign's carvings, and should be consulted for more information on this. See also Davies, Kings of the Sea, 31–2.
76 Although typically attributed to Peter Lely, this painting has disputed provenance. Laird Clowes, ‘The Portrait of the Sovereign’, 169–73. See also Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 32.192.
77 NMM, E8875, ‘Plan of the Sovereign of the Seas’, about 1637.
78 Hocker, Vasa: A Swedish warship, 69.
79 TNA, SP 16/350, f0. 149, ‘Directions Given by Charles I for Gilding and Painting the Sovereign of the Seas’, 23 Mar. 1636; Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 37.
80 H. C. Vroom, 1613, The Arrival of the Elector Palatine and his Bride at Flushing in May 1613 aboard the Prince Royal, Franz Hals Museum, Haarlem.
81 Denoix, ‘La Couronne’, 195.
82 Vivanti, ‘Henry IV, the Gallic Hercules’, 176-97; Jung, Hercule dans la littérature française; F. Bardon, Le portrait mythologique a la cour de France also includes a number of images of Hercules used for political representation in the period.
83 TNA, SP 78/106 fo. 422, ‘Description of the French Ship La Couronne’, about 1636.
84 James, The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 111–16; Winfield and Roberts, French Warships in the Age of Sail, 51.
85 Hocker, Vasa: A Swedish Warship, 36–9, 67.
86 Bellamy, ‘David Balfour and Early Modern Danish Ship Design’, 5–22.
87 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 29.
88 The figurehead was not Jupiter riding an eagle, which was used as an illustration in the second edition of Georges Fournier's work, mistakenly believed to have been la Couronne. Fournier, Hydrographie, printed between pages 12 and 13. For Hondius print see BN, Estampes Hennin, 2093, ‘Navire royale fait en Hollande, 1626’; Musée de la Marine, BN-089-02, ‘Couronne vaisseaux, 1637-1649’. Also see Denoix, ‘La Couronne’, 186–96; Le Conte, ‘Les ponts de La Couronne’, 41–5; Roncière, Histoire de la marine française, vol. 4, 593–5.
89 Sephton, Sovereign of the Seas, 98–117. See pp. 106 and 111 for images of these pieces.
90 Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 16–17.
91 TNA, SP 16/387, fo. 159, ‘Estimate of the Charge of Graving of the Brasse Peeces for the Sovereigne’, 16 April 1638; Oppenheim, ‘The Royal Navy under Charles I’, 102–3.
92 Musée de la Marine, B99-41632, ‘Un plan du modèle de la Couronne’; Crofton Croker (ed.), The Tour of the French Traveller, 55.
93 Glover, The Arrivall and Intertainements, 19; Sharpe, Image Wars, 235–6.
94 Glete, Navies and Nations vol. 2, appendix 2.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Benjamin W. D. Redding
Benjamin Redding is a teaching fellow in Early Modern History at the University of Warwick. His doctoral thesis: ‘Divided by La Manche: Naval Enterprise and Maritime Revolution in England and France, 1545–1642’ completed in 2017 was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and assessed the relationship between navy and state in the early modern period. His current research focuses on the visual and symbolic design of early modern warships.