Those interested in Anglo-Persian encounters in the early modern period might have come across a lot of material on the two Sherley brothers, Anthony and Robert, who reached the court of Shah Abbas the Great (r. 1588-1629), the Safavid ruler, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Without any doubt, they are the most important figures in the history of Anglo-Persian relations in the early modern era. Shah Abbas chose the two brothers to represent Persia on diplomatic missions to the Christian princes of Europe on at least three occasions: first Anthony Sherley (1565-1635), chosen once and who never returned to Iran; and later Robert Sherley (1581-1628), chosen twice. The two brothers have been remembered by historians and chroniclers, creative writers and literary critics on and off for the last 400 years. However, the Sherley brothers were not the first Englishmen to venture into Persia. Muscovy company merchants led by Anthony Jenkinson (1529-1610/11) reached the Persian capital, then ruled by Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-1576), approximately 40 years before the Sherley brothers. In the 1560s and 1570s, there were more expeditions to Persia by merchants but owing to the difficulty of travel to Persia and little profit, this enterprise came to a halt before the Anglo-Ottoman capitulation in 1580. Some of the reports written by the Muscovy company merchants were later published by Richard Hakluyt in his Principal Navigations (1599-1600).

The history of Englishmen visiting Persia can be further traced back to early 1530s. A liminal figure about whom we don’t know much features in the Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547). There are many references to the conflicts between the Ottomans and Safavids in the State papers, but we find one curious reference to an English rebel named Robert Brancetour in a letter written by Sir Thomas Wyatt. Addressed to the English court in early 1540, the letter draws our attention to Brancetour’s link with Safavid Persia. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)—lyric poet, politician and diplomat—was attached to the court of Henry VIII and had served the English monarch as a diplomat in Italy and France. He was in Paris in late 1539 and early 1540 and he was assigned the task of asking Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor (r.1519-1556), to surrender the English rebel Brancetour to English authorities. Wyatt’s report to the English monarch needs to be quoted here. He writes:

Had access to his Majesty, along with Tate, on Twelfth Even after dinner, who after reading the king’s letters and reading credence, asked who the rebel was. Said, Brancetour. “Ah, quod he, Robert? That same, Sir, quod I. I shall tell you, quod he, Monsieur l’Embassadour, it is he that hath been in Perse. As he saith, quod I. No, qoud he, I know it by good tokens; for when I sent the knight of the Rhodes, he of Piemont, with charge to the Sophi, through Turkey, he fell sick, and this man, for the love he knew between the king and me, helped him; and in conclusion, when he saw he should die, he opened his charge unto this man and told him what service he should do to me and to all Christendom, if he would undertake it. And he did so and it seemed true, for the King of Perse the same time did invade, and he went about the tother way by the sailing of the Portygalles and brought me sure tokens of the man as well what money I gave him and other things. [No 38, January 7, 1540, “Wyatt to Henry VIII” p.15]

Charles V refused to hand Brancetour over to the English ambassador because he had rendered a great service for the cause of “all Christendom” by visiting “Perse” and completing the mission originally assigned by the Holy Roman emperor to a knight of Rhodes, who could not proceed according to plans as he fell ill halfway to Persia. The mission was accomplished by Brancetour and the Emperor was sure of his achievement because of the “tokens” he brought back. The purpose of the mission was to incite the “King of Perse” against the Ottoman Turks—a major theme that appears time and again in European writings on Persia. This makes Brancetour the first Englishman who had visited Persia, probably in 1529 or 1530 as Peter Marshall has suggested in one of his papers. As said before, very little information is available about Robert Brancetour. However, cues from the references in the Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Henry VIII call for the need to conduct archival research on this figure. Doing so will further shed some light on his contribution to Anglo-Persian relations in the first half of the sixteenth century, and allow for rich insight into the first Englishman’s venture on Safavid Persian soil.

Image: Shah Tahmasp in the mountains by Farrukh Beg, available from Wikipedia