The Bristol merchant William Weston was the first known Englishman to lead an expedition to North America. Analysis of two important document finds suggests that Weston was an early supporter of the Venetian explorer John Cabot. A monetary reward demonstrates Henry VII’s satisfaction with the outcome of Weston’s voyage of c.1499 and the king’s continuing commitment to transatlantic discovery after Cabot’s presumed disappearance. Weston’s career is examined in detail to throw light on the nature and motivation of England’s earliest Atlantic explorers. Before 2008 William Weston, merchant of Bristol, was no more than a footnote to Bristol’s overseas trade. He emerged from obscurity as a result of an article in this journal on the unpublished research claims of Dr. Alwyn Ruddock (d. 2005), a former Reader at Birkbeck College and the leading authority on the voyages of discovery launched from Bristol to North America from c.1470–1508.1 Two things made the article unusual and went on to capture the public’s imagination. First, Ruddock’s assertions were astounding. She claimed to have found evidence that Bristol men had reached North America prior to John Cabot’s famous 1497 expedition, which initiated Europe’s exploration and settlement of the northern continent. Ruddock also argued for a previously unknown religious colony allegedly established in Newfoundland in 1498; and she offered reasons to believe that the Bristol explorers had charted much of the eastern seaboard of North America by 1500, long before those coasts were investigated by Juan Ponce de Leon (1513–21) and Giovanni da Verrazzano (1524). Second, the strangeness of Ruddock’s actions was enthralling. She failed to publish finds made over a forty-year period and then ordered the destruction of those discoveries in her will. It seemed incredible that an academic could unearth such amazing things and then seek to keep them secret. In combination, these two factors ensured that both the initial article and the follow-up research published in Historical Research received international press coverage.2 It also led to an unusually large 1 E. T. Jones, ‘Alwyn Ruddock: “John Cabot and the discovery of America”’, Hist. Research, lxxxi (2008), 224–54. Ruddock’s ideas had survived as a book synopsis in the archives of Exeter University Press. 2 Examples of the press coverage cited: [Accessed 7 Feb. 2017]. * Research for this article was undertaken as part of The Cabot Project, 2009–. From 2009–16 the project was funded by the University of Bristol, through the Arts Faculty Research Director’s Fund (2009–10), the British Academy, SG100194 (2010–11), and Gretchen Bauta, a private Canadian benefactor (2011–16), who also provided the cost of making this article freely available to the public. We would like to thank Francesco Guidi Bruscoli (University of Florence), Stuart Jenks (University of Erlangen), Dr. Jeff Reed and the late Peter Pope (Memorial University of Newfoundland), for reading and commenting on drafts of this article. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. William Weston: early voyager to the New World 629 Historical Research, vol. 91, no. 254 (November 2018) © 2018 Institute of Historical Research readership for an academic journal, with the three articles becoming among the most downloaded items in its history.3 Evan Jones’s initial article set out Ruddock’s numerous claims. It showed that all were plausible and that some could be verified. Major question marks remained, however, as to whether her more extraordinary statements were based in fact. Such concerns were addressed in subsequent articles. The first went some way to confirming one of Ruddock’s key findings: that William Weston had undertaken a previously unknown discovery expedition from Bristol at the very end of the fifteenth century.4 The second article identified a document that proved, as Ruddock had suggested, that John Cabot received funding from ‘Italian bankers’ based in London. Those bankers were found to be the Florentine house of the Bardi, which maintained a London branch of the firm.5 So, rather than being purely English sponsored expeditions, as had always been assumed, Cabot’s voyages from Bristol were among the many European expeditions of this period that were funded by Italian financiers, especially those of the city-states of Genoa and Florence, but which were prosecuted under different national flags.6 At least some of Ruddock’s extraordinary claims had substance. Ruddock had suggested that William Weston’s independent expedition involved a passage north from Newfoundland along the coast of Labrador, as far as the entrance of the Hudson Straits, presumably to seek a northern route around the continent. We know for certain that Weston projected a transatlantic voyage. A letter from Henry VII ordered his lord chancellor to suspend legal proceedings against Weston because the king intended that the merchant should ‘shortly with goddes grace passe and saille for to serche and fynde if he can the new founde land’. This letter confirmed a key part of Ruddock’s narrative and was, indeed, one of the ‘new documents’ that underpinned her research. Yet the letter on its own did not prove that the expedition took place and it did not demonstrate that Weston was one of Cabot’s principal supporters, or that he was rewarded by the king for his efforts, as Ruddock had implied. Moreover, while the investigation of the chancery case that lay behind the king’s letter revealed a little of William Weston’s character and background, he remained a shadowy figure. This was disappointing given that, while John Cabot has long been famous, nothing has ever been known about the identity, motivations or social position of his Bristol supporters. This article provides some answers. It finds in William Weston a man whose career has uncanny parallels to that of John Cabot; and it identifies further material to support Ruddock’s assertions. It will begin by examining two pieces of evidence that relate to Weston’s voyage and his relationship with Cabot. They appear to be two more of the twenty-three new ‘Cabot’ documents that Ruddock claimed to have unearthed during her decades of research.7 As will be seen, they serve to confirm further elements of the case she intended to make. The article will then investigate Weston himself to throw light 3 Historical Research, Annual Publisher’s Report (2012 and 2016). 4 E. T. Jones, ‘Henry VII and the Bristol expeditions to North America: the Condon documents’, Hist. Research, lxxxiii (2010), 444–54. A revised and annotated version of the letter is: ‘Henry VII’s letter to John Morton concerning William Weston’s voyage to the new found land’, ed. M. M. Condon and E. T. Jones (University of Bristol, 2011) [accessed 13 July 2018]. 5 F. Guidi Bruscoli, ‘John Cabot and his Italian financiers’, Hist. Research, lxxxv (2012), 372–93. 6 Guidi Bruscoli, ‘John Cabot and his Italian financiers’, pp. 374, 392; E. T. Jones and M. M. Condon, Cabot and Bristol’s Age of Discovery (Bristol, 2016), pp. 26–7, 93. 7 Jones, ‘Alwyn Ruddock’, pp. 228, 253. Subsequent research has shown that Ruddock revised her first total of 21 to 23, intending to include the texts as an appendix to her Exeter book. 630 William Weston: early voyager to the New World © 2018 Institute of Historical Research Historical Research, vol. 91, no. 254 (November 2018) on the nature, background and motivations of the first Englishman known to have led an expedition to the New World.8 It will argue that, far from being a selfless and romantic hero explorer of the type so fondly imagined in the nineteenth century, Weston’s activities and legal shenanigans suggest a risk-taker and opportunist, who may have supported Cabot, at least in part, as a way of escaping his entanglements in Bristol. As noted, the first key ‘Weston’ document was published in 2010. Henry VII’s letter ran under his signet and sign manual, but was dated only as 12 March at Greenwich. Closer dating was achieved by correlation to the king’s itinerary, and from its addressee, Cardinal Morton. The analysis showed that the voyage could only have taken place in 1498, 1499 or 1500, with the most likely date of sailing being 1499. The Bristol merchant probably operated under the letters patent granted in 1496 to John Cabot, since that gave Cabot and his deputies or assigns exclusive rights to sail westwards under the king’s colours.9 The most important new evidence concerns rewards made to Weston by Henry VII. The first connects him to Cabot; the second relates to Weston’s own expedition. In the week of 8–12 January 1498, the accounts of the king’s treasurer of the chamber record this payment: ‘Item to William Weston of bristoll – xl s’.10 Such one-off payments typically followed personal contact with the king and represented ex gratia rewards for good service, or were an expression of the king’s good will or largesse. No reason for the forty-shilling disbursement is given, but that is typical of the books.11 Weston’s appearance is noteworthy because he was a minor merchant who does not appear to have held civic office of any form in Bristol. He is very unlikely to have been sent to Henry VII on the town’s business. When we consider that Weston later led an expedition to the New World, with the king’s overt support, it becomes highly probable that he was rewarded in January 1498 because he was already involved in the Bristol ventures. This suggestion can be reinforced. The reward to Weston immediately followed this entry: ‘to a venysian in Rewarde – lxvj s viij d’. Although the Venetian is unnamed, it has long been assumed that this entry records a payment to John Cabot, who was at court periodically from August 14

中文翻译：

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威廉·韦斯顿：新大陆的早期航海者

布里斯托尔商人威廉·韦斯顿（William Weston）是第一位带领探险队前往北美的英国人。对两个重要文件发现的分析表明，韦斯顿是威尼斯探险家约翰卡博特的早期支持者。金钱奖励表明亨利七世对韦斯顿在 1499 年左右航行的结果感到满意，以及国王在卡博特假定失踪后继续致力于跨大西洋发现。韦斯顿的职业生涯经过详细审查，以揭示英格兰最早的大西洋探险家的性质和动机。2008年之前，布里斯托的商人威廉·韦斯顿只是布里斯托海外贸易的一个注脚。由于本期刊上的一篇关于 Alwyn Ruddock 博士（卒于 2005 年）未发表的研究主张的文章，他从默默无闻中脱颖而出，伯克贝克学院的前读者和 1470 年至 1508.1 年间从布里斯托尔到北美的发现之旅的主要权威 有两件事使这篇文章与众不同，并继续吸引公众的想象力。首先，拉多克的断言令人震惊。她声称已经找到证据表明，在约翰·卡博特 (John Cabot) 著名的 1497 年远征之前，布里斯托尔的人已经到达北美，该远征开始了欧洲对北方大陆的探索和定居。拉多克还为据称于 1498 年在纽芬兰建立的一个以前不为人知的宗教殖民地辩护。她提供了理由相信布里斯托尔探险家在 1500 年之前已经绘制了北美东部沿海的大部分地区，早在胡安·庞塞·德莱昂（Juan Ponce de Leon，1513-21 年）和乔瓦尼·达·维拉扎诺（Giovanni da Verrazzano）（1524 年）调查这些海岸之前。第二，拉多克奇怪的举动令人着迷。她未能公布四十年间的发现，然后在她的遗嘱中下令销毁这些发现。一个学者能发掘出如此惊人的东西，然后设法将它们保密，这似乎令人难以置信。综合起来，这两个因素确保了在历史研究中发表的最初文章和后续研究都得到了国际媒体的报道。2 这也导致了异常大的 1 ET Jones，'Alwyn Ruddock：“John Cabot 和美国”'，历史。研究，lxxxi（2008），224-54。拉多克的想法作为一本书概要保存在埃克塞特大学出版社的档案中。2 引用的新闻报道示例：[2017 年 2 月 7 日访问]。* 本文的研究是作为 2009 年卡博特项目的一部分进行的。2009-16 年，该项目由布里斯托尔大学通过艺术学院研究主任基金（2009-10 年）、英国学院、SG100194（2010-11 年）和加拿大私人捐助者 Gretchen Bauta（2011-16 年）资助)，他们还提供了向公众免费提供这篇文章的费用。我们要感谢 Francesco Guidi Bruscoli（佛罗伦萨大学）、Stuart Jenks（埃尔兰根大学）、Jeff Reed 博士和已故的 Peter Pope（纽芬兰纪念大学）阅读并评论本文的草稿。这是一篇基于知识共享署名-非商业性禁止衍生许可条款的开放获取文章，允许在任何媒体中使用和分发，前提是正确引用原始作品、非商业用途且未进行任何修改或改编。威廉·韦斯顿：新世界的早期航海者 629 历史研究，卷。91，没有。254（2018 年 11 月）© 2018 Institute of Historical Research 一本学术期刊的读者，其中三篇文章成为其历史上下载次数最多的文章之一。3 Evan Jones 的首篇文章阐述了 Ruddock 的众多主张。它表明所有这些都是合理的，有些是可以验证的。然而，主要的问号仍然是，关于她更特别的陈述是否基于事实。在随后的文章中解决了这些问题。第一篇在某种程度上证实了拉多克的一个关键发现：威廉·韦斯顿在 15 世纪末从布里斯托尔进行了一次以前未知的发现探险。4 第二篇文章确定了一份文件，如拉多克所暗示的那样，约翰卡博特从伦敦的“意大利银行家”那里获得了资金。那些银行家被发现是 Bardi 的佛罗伦萨家族，该家族拥有该公司的伦敦分行。5 因此，卡博特从布里斯托尔出发的远航并非像人们一直认为的那样纯粹是由英国赞助的探险活动，而是众多欧洲探险队中的一员。这段时期由意大利金融家资助，尤其是热那亚和佛罗伦萨城邦的金融家，但它们以不同的国旗被起诉6 至少拉多克的一些非凡主张是有实质内容的。拉多克曾建议威廉·韦斯顿的独立远征涉及从纽芬兰向北沿着拉布拉多海岸的通道，直到哈德逊海峡的入口，大概是为了寻找环绕大陆的北部路线。我们肯定知道韦斯顿计划了一次跨大西洋航行。亨利七世的一封信命令他的大法官暂停对韦斯顿的法律诉讼，因为国王打算让这位商人“如果能找到新的创始人土地，就应该很快带着女神的恩典过去和航行去寻找和寻找”。这封信证实了拉多克叙述的一个关键部分，确实是支撑她研究的“新文件”之一。然而，这封信本身并没有证明远征发生了，也没有证明韦斯顿是卡博特的主要支持者之一，或者他的努力得到了国王的奖励，正如拉多克暗示的那样。此外，尽管对国王信件背后的大法官案件的调查揭示了威廉·韦斯顿的一些性格和背景，但他仍然是一个阴暗的人物。这是令人失望的，因为虽然约翰卡博特长期以来一直很有名，但他的布里斯托尔支持者的身份、动机或社会地位却一无所知。这篇文章提供了一些答案。它发现威廉·韦斯顿的职业生涯与约翰·卡博特有着惊人的相似之处。它确定了支持拉多克断言的更多材料。它将首先检查与韦斯顿的航行以及他与卡博特的关系相关的两个证据。他们似乎是 Ruddock 声称在她几十年的研究中发现的 23 份新的“Cabot”文件中的另外两份。7 正如将要看到的，它们有助于确认她打算制作的案件的进一步要素。然后，文章将调查韦斯顿本人，以揭示 3 历史研究，年度出版商报告（2012 年和 2016 年）。4 ET 琼斯，“亨利七世和布里斯托尔远征北美：康登文件”，Hist。研究，lxxxiii（2010），444-54。这封信的修订和注释版本是：“亨利七世写给约翰·莫顿的关于威廉·韦斯顿前往新发现的土地的航行的信”，编辑。MM Condon 和 ET Jones（布里斯托大学，2011 年）[2018 年 7 月 13 日访问]。5 F. Guidi Bruscoli，“John Cabot 和他的意大利金融家”，Hist。研究，lxxxv（2012），372-93。6 Guidi Bruscoli，“约翰·卡博特和他的意大利金融家”，第 374、392；ET Jones 和 MM Condon，《卡博特和布里斯托尔的发现时代》（布里斯托尔，2016 年），第 1 页。26–7, 93. 7 Jones, 'Alwyn Ruddock', pp. 228, 253。随后的研究表明，Ruddock 将她的第一个总数 21 修改为 23，打算将这些文本作为附录纳入她的埃克塞特书中。第 630 章 新世界的早期航海者 © 2018 历史研究所历史研究，卷。91，没有。254（2018 年 11 月）关于第一位已知带领远征到新世界的英国人的性质、背景和动机。8 它会争辩说，远非像在19 世纪，韦斯顿的活动和法律恶作剧表明他是一个冒险者和机会主义者，他可能至少部分支持卡博特，作为逃避他在布里斯托尔的纠缠的一种方式。如前所述，第一个关键的“韦斯顿”文件于 2010 年出版。亨利七世的信在他的图章和签名手册下，但日期仅为 3 月 12 日在格林威治。通过与国王的行程以及其收件人红衣主教莫顿的相关性，可以实现更接近的约会。分析表明，这次航行只能发生在 1498 年、1499 年或 1500 年，最有可能的航行日期是 1499 年。布里斯托尔商人可能根据 1496 年授予约翰·卡博特的专利信函经营业务，因为这给了卡博特和他的9 最重要的新证据涉及亨利七世给予韦斯顿的奖励。第一个将他与卡博特联系起来；第二个与韦斯顿自己的探险有关。在 1498 年 1 月 8 日至 12 日这一周，国王财务主管的账目记录了这笔付款：“布里斯托尔威廉韦斯顿的物品 - xl s”。10 这种一次性付款通常是在与国王个人接触之后对良好服务的特惠奖励，或者是国王善意或慷慨的表达。没有说明支付 40 先令的原因，但这是书中的典型。11 韦斯顿的外表值得注意，因为他是一个小商人，在布里斯托尔似乎没有担任过任何形式的公民职务。他不太可能因镇上的事务而被派往亨利七世。当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 但这是书中的典型。11 韦斯顿的外表值得注意，因为他是一个小商人，在布里斯托尔似乎没有担任过任何形式的公民职务。他不太可能因镇上的事务而被派往亨利七世。当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 但这是书中的典型。11 韦斯顿的外表值得注意，因为他是一个小商人，在布里斯托尔似乎没有担任过任何形式的公民职务。他不太可能因镇上的事务而被派往亨利七世。当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 11 韦斯顿的出现值得注意，因为他是一个小商人，在布里斯托尔似乎没有担任过任何形式的公民职务。他不太可能因镇上的事务而被派往亨利七世。当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 11 韦斯顿的出现值得注意，因为他是一个小商人，在布里斯托尔似乎没有担任过任何形式的公民职务。他不太可能因镇上的事务而被派往亨利七世。当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭 当我们考虑到韦斯顿后来在国王的公开支持下带领探险队前往新大陆时，他很有可能在 1498 年 1 月获得奖励，因为他已经参与了布里斯托尔的冒险活动。这个建议可以加强。对 Weston 的奖励紧随此条目之后：'to a venysian in Rewarde - lxvj s viij d'。尽管威尼斯人没有透露姓名，但长期以来人们一直认为该条目记录了向约翰卡博特支付的款项，他从 8 月 14 日起定期出庭