Jewish merchants

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Jewish merchants

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Andrew and Christofer Munez (alias ?Meyenberg)


Christopher Boone and the Munez/Meyenberg(h) family

The thirty-eight year old London merchant Christopher Boone was deposed on the behalfe of the Amsterdam based Jewish merchants, Andrew and Christofer Munez, alias Meyenberg, regarding the alleged embezzlement of goods on the wonderfully named Hare in the ffeild. Boone was the London correspondent of the Munez/Meyenberg family, and the ship had been bound for Cadiz.[1]

Immediately following Christopher Boone's deposition on the behalfe of Meyenberg alias Andrew and Chr Munez is that of twenty-one year old Daniel Boone, servant to Christopher Boone at his London house.[2] Daniel had been ordered by Christopher Boone to attend the Hare in the Feild, "then lying before Blackwell," to receive goods restored to their owners by the High Court of Admiralty from the Officers of the Commissioners for Prize goods. However, one of the bales was missing, and others had been tampered with.[3]

Christopher Boone (b. c. 1615, d. 1686) was from Taunton, in Somerset.[4] He had worked as a factor in Seville in the late 1640s on behalfe of Thomas Boone in London, prior to returning to London. The two were probably cousins. A letter from Thomas Boone to Richard Houncell in Alicante, Spain, dated June 3rd, 1648, makes reference to:

"The order you gave Mr Christopher Boone of Seville to send us some efexts from thence or to lett us drawe itt on him that soe wee maie from hence remitt itt for your acco'o to Levorne because here are more occasions often for levorne than for St. Lucar or Cadiz itt is soe butt wee have verrye selldome occation to drawe itt from Seville by exa there fore wee will write him to remitt it & for Vallentia if possible exsepte you will that hee remitt itt per some good English shippe that maie offer from thence hether which is selldome"[5]

Christopher Boone maintained his commercial interest in Spain after his return to London, and employed Anthony Upton as his Seville factor in the 1660s. Anthony Upton, like Christopher Boone, came from the south-west England, Upton being from near Dartmouth, Devon. Upton mentioned Christopher Boone in his will, which he wrote in Seville in 1669.[6]

Both Christopher and Thomas Boone appear frequently in the correspondence of the Spanish merchant, John Paige.[7] Paige became associated with Maurice Thompson in the 1650s in several ventures in the East Indies, whereas Thomas Boone had been involved with Maurice Thompson in the late 1640s in advancing the Asssada plantation off Madagascar. Paige had a merchant cousin in Plymouth, the eponymous John Paige, with whom he and Maurice Thompson collaborated commercially on at least one occasion, as can be seen in a 1654 charterparty naming John Paige and Richard Ely, merchants of Plymouth, as the first party to the charter (part owners of the 85 tonne burthen Golden Cocke of Plymouth), and Thomas Canham, John Paige, and Maurice Thompson, London merchants as the the second party.[8]

Christopher Boone was also a cousin of Sir George Oxenden, who was President of the East India Company in Surat (1662-1669). They corresponded between London and Surat in the 1660s, with Boone sending out small adventures to invest in diamonds, and socialising with Sir George's elder brother, Sir Henry Oxenden, in London.[9]

As a London merchant Boone's commercial interests broadened geographically, though Boone retained his connection to the Spanish trade. He became a committee of the English East India Company in XXXX (XXXX - XXXX), and from 1677 was a committe of the New England Company.[10] He also ventured in the Guinea trade in commercial company of the merchant Thomas Papillon, close advisor to Sir George Oxenden's sister and London agent, Elizabeth Dalyson, and with the merchant Thomas Tyte, another associate of Elizabeth Dalyson.[11]

He was later resident at St Leonard, Bromley, Middlesex (1666) and at All Saints, Lee, West Kent (1686).

Christopher Boone's deposition in a case involving the Dutch ship the Hare in the Fields makes mention of the restrictions on trade for Jewish merchants in Spain.

  • "The said Andrew and Christofer were of the Jewish Profession of Religion and therefore not free to trade in Spaine"


- HCA 13/71 f.220r Case: On the behalfe of the foresaid ?Meyenberg alias Andrew and Chr Munez, touching goods embeazled out of the hare in the ffeild ; Deposition: 4. Christofer Boone of London Merchant, aged 38 yeeres: Date: 12/05/1656, Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet.[12]

The Hare in the field

Additional traces of the Hare in the field in various printed primary source include:

  • Letter dated 'Nieuport, the Dutch embassador in England, to N. Ruysch, Westminster, June 18, 1655. [N. S.]'


I have also demanded relaxation of the ship called, the Hare in the Field of Middelburgh, and of the cargo thereof, being taken at sea, sailing from Havre de Grace to Cadiz in Spain, laden with rich goods; and the council has found good thereupon, that the said memorial, together with some instructions which were annexed thereunto, should be delivered to the commissioners of sea affairs and the fleet, with order that they should make an exact report thereof on yesterday. This morning I understood, that the said gentlemen had been ready, but that the council, treating upon publick affairs, the time was spent therein. I am told under hand, that proof can be made, that part of the cargo belongs to French merchants. I will further do my utmost endeavours, that a speedy and favourable resolution may be given upon my said memorials.[13]

  • Nieuport, the Dutch embassador in England, to de Witt. Westminster, July 16,1655. [N. S.]


In the mean while, having received the complaints of some masters of ships belonging to the United Netherlands, who, coming from Havre de Grace and St. Malo, were taken by some private commissioned vessels, and also by some ships of this state, I represented the same last wednesday to the lord protector, in the most serious and circumstantial terms, and laid open to him particularly the ways and tricks, which are made use of to the prejudice of the subjects of their high mightinesses. He seemed to be very much surprized at it, and declared, that he would give his speediest orders against it; and that they would call in immediately all the letters of reprisal and commissions granted to private persons; and that care should be taken, that for the future none should be granted, but with his consent and with approbation of the whole council; that he also would send for the judges of the admiralty and the commissaries of the fleet and seized effects, and let them know in serious terms, how disgusted he is at the complaints I have made him in the name of their high mightinesses. I insisted particularly upon it, that the ship called the Hare in Field, with her cargo, according to my two several memorials of the 26th of May and 15th of June last past, might be released. I delivered likewise to him their high mightinesses letters of intercession, granted at the request of mr. Peter Eese, merchant of Middleburgh, and acquainted him, that I had delivered in that behalf a memorial, with several proofs. I spoke likewise to him about the ship coming from Amsterdam with planks and deal-boards, bound for Brest in Bretagne, which was carried into Dover; and told him, that I had made and drawn up a memorial, containing the matters which I now had declared to him by word of mouth, all which I intended to deliver to the hands of my lord secretary of state; but he being indisposed, I should be glad if his highness would be pleased to let me know to whom I might best deliver the same: whereupon he told me, that he would take them himself, and procure that I should have very soon an answer upon the same; adding moreover, that he should always be well pleased, if any such affairs happened, or others, concerning the service of the United Provinces, that I would myself acquaint him with it; and that he would shew by deeds, how much he was dissatisfied, that any one of this nation should injure any inhabitant of their high mightinesses dominions. Yesterday was delivered to me the inclosed resolution and order to the attorney general, to draw up a proclamation, whereby all the letters of reprisals are to be called in; the time is left open therein, but a certain lord of the council has informed me, that their intention was, to name the 1st of August. In the afternoon the judges of the admiralty have been with their attorney at Whitehall, where the commissaries named in the said order have declared to them in the most serious terms, that the lord protector and the council require, and will, that they should as soon as possible, in the speediest way, finish all the matters of the inhabitants of their high mightinesses dominions, and cause that those complaints for the future may be prevented. Whereupon they declared very officiously, that as far as it lay in them, they would not be wanting therein.[14]

  • Letter dated 'Nieuport, the Dutch ambassador in England, the gressier Ruysch' (ca. September 10th, 1655):


Referring to "secondly, the excess which is daily committed in bringing in ships and goods belonging to the said subjects into the ports and harbours of England, as well by private men of war, as the ships in the service of this state", the Dutch ambassador went on to state: "To the second, concerning some particular complaints, I desired, that the ship the Hare in the Field, also the Frog, might both be released, being both of Middleburgh..."[15]

  • Consul Vanden Hove to the States General, Cadiz, 8th October, 1656. [N. S.]


High and mighty lords,

My lords, since my last letter of the first current, I have delivered to the lord duke of Medina Celi your high and mighty lordships concerning the ship the Hare-in-the-field, and did speak with him myself about it; and at last, after some difficulties, which his excellency proposed, he was induced by me to suspend the sale of half of the goods, as long as was possible, for which he had an order of his majesty.[16]

  • Extract out of the register of the resolution of the lords states-general., Jovis the 29 of March 1657. [N.S.]:


Secondly, that a certain ship, called the Hare in the field, is detained at Cadiz with her whole lading, both ship and goods belonging to the inhabitants of this state, except a few goods laden in England, without the knowledge of the interested, and is threatned with confiscation.[17]

  • Letter dated 'Admiral De Ruyter to the states-general, from aboard the ship Amsterdam, the 8th of April 1657


The Hare in the field continued to be involved in trading English goods, with an ambiguous national identity, as can be seen in in letter from Admiral de Ruyter to the states-general, written from his vessel in the western Mediterranean, off the coast of Spain, and dated April 8th 1657:

This day I received a letter from their noble great lordships of the fifth of January, concerning the ship the Hare-in-the-field, about which I was on the third instant by the governor, who caused the same to be brought in, and I also spoke with the consul Van Hove about it, who thought that the governor had right for what he had done, and said, that the goods were laden most in England and France, and consequently were lawful prize. But after I had spoken with the duke de Medina Celi, he seemed to be more mild, and promised to write a letter to the king of Spain about it, and to send it by an express.[18]
  1. ↑ HCA 13/71 f.219r
  2. ↑ HCA 13/71 220r; HCA 13/71 220v
  3. ↑ HCA 13/71 220r
  4. ↑ PROB 11/385 Lloyd 136-181 Will of Christopher Boone, Merchant of London of All Saints Lee, Kent 29 July 1686
  5. ↑ [17] London. Thomas Boone (Alicante, 2-6-1648),' in José Ignacio Martínez Ruiz, Perry Gauci, Mercaderes ingleses en Alicante en el siglo XVII: estudio y edición de la correspondencia comercial de Richard Houncell & Co (Alicante, 2008), p. 130]
  6. ↑ PROB 11/332 Penn 1-66 Will of Anthony Upton of Seville 25 January 1670
  7. ↑ The letters of John Paige, London merchant, 1648-58: London Record Society 21 (1984). See, for example, pp. IX-XXXIX; pp. 70, 93
  8. ↑ [HCA 15/6 Box One. Charterparty, dated November 7th 1654, Unfoliated. 1. John Paige and Richard Ely of Plymouth merchants partowners of the Golden Cocke of Plymouth, Richard Chappell Master; 2. Thomas Canham, John Paige and Maurice Thompson of London Merchants. to go to such places within and without the Streights from the Port of London, starting at Gravesend
  9. ↑ March 1665/66, Letter from Christopher Boone; March 1665/66, letter from Christopher Boone, XXX Saige, Thomas Papillon, and Jos. Child to Sir GO; 13th April 1667, Letter from Christopher Boone to Sir GO, London; 7th October 1667, Letter from Christopher Boone to Sir GO
  10. ↑ [ADD REFERENCE]
  11. ↑ [ADD REFERENCE]
  12. ↑ HCA 13/71 f.220r
  13. ↑ Thomas Birch (ed.), State Papers, 1655: June (2 of 7)', A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 3: December 1654 - August 1655 (1742), pp. 514-528
  14. ↑ Thomas Birch (ed.), A collection of the state papers of John Thurloe, Esq., vol. 3: December 1654 to September 1655(London, 1742), pp. 623-624
  15. ↑ Thomas Birch (ed.), A collection of the state papers of John Thurloe, Esq., vol. 3: December 1654 to September 1655(London, 1742), pp. 749-750
  16. ↑ Thomas Birch (ed.), 'State Papers, 1656: September (7 of 7)', A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 5: May 1656 - January 1657 (1742), pp. 447-469
  17. ↑ Thomas Birch (ed.), 'State Papers, 1657: March (3 of 5)', A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 6: January 1657 - March 1658 (1742), pp. 117-132
  18. ↑ 'Admiral De Ruyter to the states-general, vol. xlviii. p. 363', in Thomas Birch (ed.), 'State Papers, 1657: March (5 of 5)', A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 6: January 1657 - March 1658 (London, 1742), pp. 147-157

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