Abstract for Cultures of correspondence in early modern Britain 1550-1640, Plymouth, 14-16 April 2011
Samuli Kaislaniemi (University of Helsinki)
Successful commercial ventures are predicated on the canny use of information. This was no less true in the Early Modern period than today: up-to-date information can make the difference between making money and losing it. Indeed, the advantages of having swift access to accurate and useful information are so great that businesses are willing to incur great costs in order to acquire reliable sources of such information and reliable channels for its transmission. Reliability is the key here, but as Early Modern European commerce was largely built on credit, and credit is premised on trust, merchant networks were in essence self-regulating systems of trust and obligation, and therefore perfectly suited for the transmission of information as well as merchandise and money.
Information-gathering was particularly important in international commercial endeavours, which depended upon knowledge of not only the state of foreign markets, but also of the current political and popular climates, and of any military or epidemic situations. Early Modern merchants' manuals underline the importance of learning the language(s) used in foreign ports, of interacting with local people in order to source news, and of reporting back home extensively and frequently. These merchants were canny, multilingual, observant and literate – all skills to do with the acquisition and processing of information – and the primary tool of their trade was correspondence.
In this light, it comes as no surprise that the first newsletters were commercial, or that the flow of information passing through commercial channels did not escape the attention of governments. As politics and commerce share many aims and motivations, a system evolved where both sides profited from collaborating with the other. Intelligence networks were built upon commercial networks, using the mechanics of the latter as a base, but further intertwined with and bolstered by diplomatic networks.
This paper will discuss the British Spain-oriented intelligence network under Sir Robert Cecil, 1600–1610. I will demonstrate how the principles outlined above were realized in Cecil's intelligence network, and how Cecil and his secretaries relied upon merchants for the conveyance of documents and people, as well as (at least partly) for the recruitment, organization, management and reimbursement of intelligencers. I will present a model for the mechanics of the network, as well as for the information flow within it. And I will finish with a discussion of the central but hitherto overlooked role played by merchants in intelligence networks.