King's Lynn and the Low Countries in the Early Seventeenth Century: Maritime Trade and Sexual Scandal

Abstract

This article analyses the general pattern of King's Lynn's overseas trade as it is recorded in the port books during the early years of the reign of James I and the place of trade with the Low Countries within that overall pattern. It shows how Lynn's merchants adapted to the emergence of the new Dutch Republic and in particular to the growth of the entrepot of Amsterdam. Dutch shipmaster-merchants played a major part in the trade with their home ports, but a group of Lynn merchants were also highly significant in the wider picture, with two in particular being dominant. An angry official complaint made by one Dutch shipmaster triggered another less happy relationship between Lynn and the Low Countries and exposed a case of sexual assault by a senior member of the borough's political elite. As this scandal unfolded, it became clear that some members of the borough corporation were not just aware of what the scurrilous alderman had been doing but had previously been his victims. The attempts to remove him from his place on the corporation ultimately failed and, without a criminal prosecution, he seems to have got away more or less scot-free.