FISK, THOMAS [SSNE 7820]
Text source
Thomas Fisk was an English merchant draper and he appears as such in Duke Charles' treasury accounts from 1586-1594. His colleagues included John Coote and Rubrich Allem (possibly Robert Allen?). He also became Duke Karl of Sweden's (later king Karl IX) agent in October 1587 when he sold a Swedish man-o-war to the navy of Queen Elizabeth of England, and the Duke offered the Queen a second ship (not long before the Armada was to sail). Fisk visited Sweden in 1589. Erik Wikland describes Fisk as an agent who "involved himself in diplomacy with the aim of improving Anglo-Swedish relationships" from 1581 until the end of Elizabeth's reign. Fisk's accounts reveal that in 1591-2 large amounts of cloth were imported into Sweden from England. In 1591 Elizabeth sent him back to Duke Charles with a verbal response regarding Swedish concerns over English merchants sailing to Russia and the fear that they might sell them weapons. Fisk's accounts also note payments for two of the English instrumentalists in Duke Karl's employ, Richard Blewett and Edward Tamset: in 1592 Fisk's associate John Coot [SSNE ] transferred part of their salaries into English currency which Fisk then disbursed to the relevant families. In May 1600 he was one of the witnesses in a case at Nykoping (where Duke Karl's court was located) against James Hill concerning the theft of some costumes intended for royal delivery.
E. Wikland, Elizabethan Players in Sweden 1591-92 &c. 2nd ed, Almqvist& Wiksell, Stockholm, 1971, p.13, 19, 20, 22, 26-27, 75-6, 94, 100-2, 148, 160,213.
Service record
- SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM
- Arrived 1581-01-11
- Departed 1600-12-31
- Capacity ROYAL AGENT, MERCHANT, purpose DIPLOMACY, NAVAL, TRADE