FISK, THOMAS [SSNE 7820]
- Surname
- FISK, FISCH, ENGELSMAN
- First name
- THOMAS, TOMES
- Title/rank
- AGENT, CLOTH MERCHANT
- Nationality
- ENGLISH
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). Thomas Fisk appears to have been active in Stockholm since at least 1586. On 10 July 1586 the Stockholm magistrates order one Oluf Mårtenson, a former weighmaster, to before sunset that day ensure that Thomas is compensated for the copper that 'disappeared' from the scales in the previous year.
On 20 September that same year, 1587, Thomas Fisk and Hans de Frind (presumably from the Low Countries) appeared before the Stockholm magistrates. Thomas accused Hans of publicly cursing him in front of Stegeborg castle and wanted Hans to suffer the full extent of Swedish law for this outrage. Hans claimed not to remember the event, but said if it had happened it was only because Thomas had led to Hans being arrested in England. Thomas said he was completely innocent of the events Hans accused him of. Eventually the two men reconciled.
According to Wikland, 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.
SOURCES: Stockholmsstads Tänke Böcker, 1584-1588, (Stockholm, 1947), p.348, pp.377-8. See also: 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 1581-01-01
- Departed 1600-12-31
- Capacity ROYAL AGENT, MERCHANT, purpose DIPLOMACY, NAVAL, TRADE