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{{Short description|Thomas Roe}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox person| name = Sir Thomas Roe | image = SirThomasRoe.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa}} 1581 | birth_place = Low [[Leyton]] near [[Wanstead]] in [[Essex]] | death_date = 6 November 1644 (aged 62–63)| death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Lady Eleanor Beeston | partner = | children = | parents = Sir Robert Rowe <br> Elinor Jermy | relatives = | signature = | website =| footnotes = }}

'''Sir Thomas Roe''' ({{circa}} 1581 – 6 November 1644) was an English [[diplomat]] of the [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] and [[James I of England|Jacobean]] periods. Roe's voyages ranged from Central America to India; as ambassador, he represented England in the [[Mughal Empire]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. He sat in the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] at various times between 1614 and 1644. Roe was an accomplished scholar and a patron of learning.

==Life==
[[File:SIR THOMAS STOOD BEFORE THE MOGUL.gif|thumb|left|''Sir Thomas standing before the Great Moghul'', {{circa|1908}}]]
Roe was born at Low [[Leyton]] near [[Wanstead]] in [[Essex]], the son of Sir Robert Rowe of Gloucestershire and Cranford, Middlesex, and his wife Elinor Jermy, daughter of Robert Jermy of Worstead, [[Norfolk]]. He matriculated at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], on 6 July 1593, at the age of twelve. In 1597 he entered [[Middle Temple]]<ref name="Williams">{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=William Retlaw|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924030494953|title=The parliamentary history of the county of Gloucester, including the cities of Bristol and Gloucester, and the boroughs of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury, from the earliest times to the present day, 1213-1898|date=1898|publisher=Hereford : Priv. print. for the author by Jakeman and Carver|others=Cornell University Library}}</ref> and became [[esquire]] of the body to Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]]. He was [[knight]]ed by [[James I of England|James I]] on 23 July 1604, and became friendly with [[Henry Frederick Stuart|Henry, Prince of Wales]], and also with Henry's sister [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Elizabeth]], afterwards briefly Queen of Bohemia, with whom he maintained a correspondence and whose cause he championed.

Sir Thomas Roe died in 1644 at the age of about 63.<ref name=Williams/> He was buried in the parish church of St. Mary in [[Woodford, London]].

===Family===
Roe married Eleanor, [[George Beeston|Lady Beeston]], the young widowed daughter of [[Cave-Browne-Cave baronets|Sir Thomas Cave]] of [[Stanford-on-Avon]], Northamptonshire in 1614, just weeks before embarking for India.<ref>Michael Strachan, ''Sir Thomas Roe 1581-1644. A Life'' (Michael Russell, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1989), p. 58.</ref> Eleanor did not go to India, but did accompany Roe on the subsequent embassy to [[Constantinople]]. The couple were childless and adopted Jane Rupa, an orphaned girl introduced by Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Akkerman |first=Nadine |title=Elizabeth Stuart: Queen of Hearts |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |pages=570}}</ref> When Eleanor died in 1675 she was buried alongside him in the parish church of St. Mary, Woodford.<ref>Strachan (1989), pp. 279-80.</ref>

==Career==
===Amazon explorer===

In 1610, Roe was sent by Prince Henry on a mission to the [[West Indies]], during which he visited [[The Guianas|Guiana]] and the [[Amazon River]]. He tried to reach the [[Lake Parime]] location of the fabled [[El Dorado]], that was represented in the map of [[Thomas Harriot]] in 1596. However, he failed then, and in two subsequent expeditions, to discover the gold he was seeking.

===Ambassador to the Mughal Empire===

[[File:Jahangir investing a courtier with a robe of honour watched by Sir Thomas Roe, English ambassador to the court of Jahangir at Agra from 1615-18, and others.jpg|thumb|Jahangir investing a courtier with a robe of honour watched by Sir Thomas Roe, English ambassador to the court of Jahangir at Agra from 1615 to 1618, and others]]
In 1614, Roe was elected [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Tamworth]].<ref name=Williams/>

The [[East India Company]] persuaded King James to send Roe as a royal envoy to the [[Agra]] court of the Great [[Mughal emperors|Mughal Emperor]], [[Jahangir]].<ref name="Anarchy">{{cite book |last1=Dalrymple |first1=William |title=The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=978-1-4088-6437-1 |pages=15–19 }}</ref> Roe resided at Agra for three years, until 1619. At the Mughal court, Roe allegedly became a favourite of Jahangir and may have been his drinking partner; certainly he arrived with gifts of "many crates of red wine"<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|16}} and explained to him "What beere was? How made?"<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|17}}

The immediate result of the mission was to obtain permission and protection for an [[East India Company]] [[Factory (trading post)|factory]] at [[Surat]]. While no major trading privileges were conceded by Jahingir, "Roe's mission was the beginning of a Mughal-Company relationship that would develop into something approaching a partnership and see the EIC gradually drawn into the Mughal nexus".<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|19}}

While Roe's detailed journals<ref name=Roe>{{cite book |last1=Roe |first1=Sir Thomas |editor1-last=Foster |editor1-first=W. |title=The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mughal |year=1926 |orig-year=1899 |publisher=Humphrey Milford |location=London |edition=revised |url=https://archive.org/details/embassysirthoma03roegoog}}</ref> are a valuable source of information on Jahangir's reign, the Emperor did not return the favour, with no mention of Roe in his own voluminous diaries.<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|19}}

===Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire===
In 1621, Roe was elected MP for [[Cirencester (UK Parliament constituency)|Cirencester]].<ref name=Williams/>

Roe received diplomatic credentials to the [[Ottoman Empire]] on 6 September, arriving at Constantinople in December. In this role, he obtained an extension of the privileges of the English merchants. He concluded a treaty with [[Algiers]] in 1624, by which he secured the liberation of several hundred English captives. He also gained the support, by an English subsidy, of the [[Transylvania]]n Prince [[Gabriel Bethlen]] for the European [[Protestant]] alliance and the cause of the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]].

Through his friendship with the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]], [[Cyril Lucaris]], the famous ''[[Codex Alexandrinus]]'' was presented to James I,<ref>''Negotiations'', p. 618.</ref> and Roe himself collected several valuable manuscripts which he subsequently presented to the [[Bodleian Library]]. 29 Greek and other manuscripts, including an original copy of the synodal epistles of the council of Basle, he presented in 1628 to the Bodleian Library, after his letters of appointment had been revoked on 26 October 1627.<ref>Macray, ''Annals of the Bodleian'', 2nd de., pp. 70, 72.</ref> But Roe did not leave the [[Sublime Porte|Porte]] until June 1628. A collection of 242 coins was given by his widow, at his desire, to the Bodleian Library after his death. He also searched for Greek marbles on behalf of the [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|Duke of Buckingham]] and the [[Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel|second Earl of Arundel]].<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Roe, Thomas|volume=49|page=91}}</ref>

===Diplomat in the Thirty Years War===
In 1629, Roe was successful in another mission undertaken, to arrange a peace between [[Sweden]] and [[Poland]]. In so doing, he enabled [[Gustavus Adolphus]] of Sweden to [[Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War|intervene decisively]] in the [[Thirty Years War]] on the side of the Protestant German princes. Roe also negotiated treaties with [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] and [[Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laursen |first=L. |url=https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=17287984#214835,40569187 |title=Traites du Danemark et de la Norvege. Danmark-Norges Traktater 1523—1750 Med dertil horende aktstykker: Tredie Bind (1589-1625) |publisher=L. Laursen, Carlsberg Foundation |year=1917 |volume=3 |location=Copenhagen |pages=210 |language=Danish |trans-title=[Treaties of Denmark-Norway (1523-1750) with Associated Acts- Volume 3 (1589-1625)] |chapter=1640. 22. April (Flensborg). Handels- og Toldtrakat paa 6 Aar mellem Danmark-Norge og Storbritannien; med dertil horende Toldrulle.- Ikke ratificeret fra engelsk Side. |trans-chapter=1640. April 22 (Flensburg). Trade and Customs Treaty of 6 years between Denmark-Norway and Great Britain; with associated Customs Roll.- Not ratified by English Side. |access-date=26 May 2022 |via=Rigsarkivet}}</ref> A gold medal was struck in his honour on his return home in 1630 after attending the [[Diet of Regensburg (1630)|Diet of Regensburg]].

===Sponsor of Arctic exploration===
In 1631, he sponsored the [[Arctic]] exploration of [[Luke Fox]]. [[Roes Welcome Sound]] was named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Allen|first=Elsa Guerdrum|date=1951|title=The History of American Ornithology before Audubon|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005629|journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|volume=41|issue=3|pages=387–591|doi=10.2307/1005629|jstor=1005629|hdl=2027/uc1.31822011760568|hdl-access=free}}
</ref>

===English statesman and envoy===
In January 1637, Roe was appointed [[Chancellor of the Order of the Garter]], with a pension of £1200 a year.

In June 1640, Roe was made a [[privy councillor]]. In November of that year he was elected MP for [[Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)|Oxford University]] in the [[Long Parliament]].
He was appointed as England's ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire from 1641 to 1642.<ref name="Bell">Gary M. Bell, ''A handlist of British diplomatic representatives 1509-1688'' (Royal Historical Society, Guides and handbooks, 16, 1990).</ref> He took part in the peace conferences at [[Hamburg]], [[Diet of Regensburg (1630)|Regensburg]] and [[Vienna]], and used his influence to obtain the restoration of the Palatinate, the emperor declaring that he had "scarce ever met with an [[List of ambassadors of the Kingdom of England to the Holy Roman Emperor|ambassador]] till now."

==Works==
{{multiple image|
| align =centre
| footer_align = center
| footer = A Dutch account of Sir Thomas Roe's travel to Jahangir's court
| background color = #BBDD99
| header_background =#F2CECE
| header = Sir Thomas Roe Travels to India
| image1 = A Dutch account of Sir Thomas Roe's travel to Jahangir's court 3.jpg
| caption1 = A plan of travel to India
| image2 = A Dutch account of Sir Thomas Roe's travel to Jahangir's court 2.jpg
| caption2 = Sir Thomas Roe meets Great Mughal
| image3 = A Dutch account of Sir Thomas Roe's travel to Jahangir's court 1.jpg
| caption3 = The Great Mughal Court
| footer_background = #E6CEF2
}}
* '''The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615–1619, as narrated in his journal and correspondence '''
His ''[https://archive.org/details/embassysirthoma03roegoog Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619, as narrated in his journal and correspondence]'', several times printed, has been re-edited, with an introduction by [[William Foster (historiographer)|William Foster]], for the [[Hakluyt Society]] (1899). This is a valuable contribution to the history of India in the early 17th century.
* '''Negotiations in his Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, 1621–28, vol. i'''
''Vol. i''. was published in 1740, but the work was not continued. Other correspondence, consisting of letters relating to his mission to [[Gustavus Adolphus]], was edited by [[Samuel Rawson Gardiner|SR Gardiner]] for the ''[[Camden Society]] Miscellany'' (1875), vol. vii., and his correspondence with Lord Carew in 1615 and 1617 by Sir F. Maclean for the same society in 1860.
* '''True and Faithful Relation ... concerning the Death of Sultan Osman ...''' (1622)
Several of his manuscripts are in the [[British Museum]] collections. Roe published a ''True and Faithful Relation ... concerning the Death of Sultan Osman ...'', 1622; a translation from [[Paolo Sarpi]],
* '''Discourse upon the Resolution taken in the Valteline''' (1628); and in 1613 Dr T Wright published ''Quatuor Colloquia'', consisting of theological disputations between himself and Roe; a poem by Roe is printed in ''[[Notes and Queries]], iv. Ser. v. 9''.
* '''The Swedish Intelligencer''' (1632–33), including an account of the career of [[Gustavus Adolphus]] and of the [[Diet of Regensburg (1630)|Diet of Ratisbon]] (Regensburg), is attributed to Roe in the catalogue of the British Museum. Several of his speeches, chiefly on currency and financial questions, were also published. Two other works in manuscripts are mentioned by Wood: ''Compendious Relation of the Proceedings ... of the Imperial Diet at Ratisbon ''and ''Journal of Several Proceedings of the Order of the Garter''.

=== Modern biographies ===
There are three modern biographies:
* {{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Michael J.|url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_european_history/12/|title=Itinerant Ambassador: The Life of Sir Thomas Roe|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|year=1970|isbn=9780813151533|location=Lexington}}
* {{Cite book|last=Strachan|first=Michael|title=Sir Thomas Roe, 1581–1644. A Life.|publisher=Michael Russell Publishing Ltd|year=1989|isbn=9780859551564|location=Salisbury}}
* {{Cite book|last=Das|first=Nandini|title=Courting India.|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2023|isbn=9781526615640|location=London}}

==References==
{{Commons category|Thomas Roe}}
{{Reflist}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Roe, Sir Thomas|volume=23|page=450}}

==Further reading==
*[[Foster Rhea Dulles]], ''Eastward Ho! The First English Adventurers to the Orient: Richard Chancellor, Anthony Jenkinson, James Lancaster, William Adams, Sir Thomas Roe'' (John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1931)

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|en}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Tamworth]]
| before= [[Thomas Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont of Swords|Sir Thomas Beaumont]]
| before2= [[John Ferrers (died 1633)|Sir John Ferrers]]
| with= [[Percival Willoughby|Sir Percival Willoughby]]
| years=1614
| after= [[Thomas Puckering|Sir Thomas Puckering]]
| after2= [[John Ferrers (died 1622)|John Ferrers]]
}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Cirencester (UK Parliament constituency)|Cirencester]]
| before= [[Anthony Manie|Sir Anthony Manie]]
| before2= [[Robert Strange (MP for Cirencester)|Robert Strange]]
| with= [[Thomas Nicholas (MP)|Thomas Nicholas]]
| years=1621–1622
| after= [[Henry Poole (died 1652)|Henry Poole]]
| after2= [[William Master (MP for Cirencester)|Sir William Master]]

}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)|Oxford University]]
| before= [[Francis Windebank|Sir Francis Windebanke]]
| before2= Sir [[John Danvers]]
| with= [[John Selden]]
| years=1640–1644
| after= [[John Selden]]
| after2=
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Chancellors of the Order of the Garter}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roe, Thomas}}
[[Category:1580s births]]
[[Category:1644 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Leyton]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to Poland]]
[[Category:17th-century English people]]
[[Category:17th-century English diplomats]]
[[Category:English MPs 1614]]
[[Category:English MPs 1621–1622]]
[[Category:English MPs 1640–1648]]
[[Category:Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of England for the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Order of the Garter]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales]]

Thomas Roe - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article