Abraham Harderet ( fl. 1604-1625), goldsmith and jeweller to

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...

Career

Abraham Harderet was the son of Martin Harderet and Rachel Fontaine or Le Maçon, daughter of Robert le Maçon, Sieur de la Fontaine, a refugee from the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. The family were French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

and the name was also written as "Hardret" and "Hardrett". In 1604 Abraham claimed that Queen Elizabeth had owed him £1,075, and he was appointed a jeweller to

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

, Anne of Denmark, and

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

with an annual salary of £50. Jacob, Martin and Nathaniel Harderet were also active as jewellers in this period.

gave Abraham and Martin a gift of £200 confiscated from recusants in 1604, Abraham and Nathaniel were confirmed as jewellers to the king in 1608, and Jacob, Abraham's brother, enlarged a chain for Princess Elizabeth in 1610. Martin had been recorded as "Martyn Harderettes", a "stranger" or foreigner in St Faith's parish in

Farringdon, London Farringdon is a small district in Central London, the southern part of the London Borough of Islington. The term is used to describe the area around Farringdon station. Historically the district corresponded to southern Clerkenwell and the small ...

, in 1582. Listed next to Martin Harderet in 1582, another of the St Faith's strangers was "Robert Fountayne" who was probably Rachel's father, while "Cornelis Dregg" or "Drodger" may be the Dutch craftsman who engraved a sapphire with Queen Elizabeth's portrait for Anne of Denmark in 1598. Cornelius "Draggie" turned up in Edinburgh in 1601, attempting to set up a weaver's workshop to exploit generous subsidies for expert craftsmen, but the other weavers protested he was a lapidary, not a weaver. Martin was probably the Martin Hardrett who supplied items to the queen's revels as a "Milliner" as early as 1574. Another early reference appears in a 1583 letter from William Poyntz to his master Sir

Thomas Heneage Sir Thomas Heneage PC (1532 – 17 October 1595) was an English politician and courtier at the court of Elizabeth I. Early and personal life Thomas Heneage the Younger was born at Copt Hall, Epping, Essex, the son of Sir Robert Heneage and Luc ...

about London shopping, "If your bracelet be done at Hyllyard's, you shall receive it by this bearer, Hardret hath not one of those glasses you wrote to me for, nor yet any other". In June 1604, Abraham Harderet after petitioning the

Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury. Background The title was first created for Patrick de S ...

and the

Earl of Nottingham :''See also Earl of Winchilsea'' Earl of Nottingham is a title that has been created seven times in the Peerage of England. It was first created for John de Mowbray in 1377, at the coronation of Richard II. As this creation could only pass to h ...

for a place as a court jeweller, was invited to draft the details of the office of Surveyor of Jewels, and was made a jeweller to King, Queen and

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. However, perhaps in 1607, Harderet complained to the

that he had not yet had any employment. His wife was lame and ill in bed. He sent a list of outstanding debts and losses. He had invested in a ship lost on the Barbary coast. Some of associates were "broken" or bankrupt. "Lord Amberall" owed £466. Harderet was paid a fee of £50 annually as a jeweller to Anne of Denmark. In 1608 Martin Harderet was a witness at the christening of James Oliver, a son of the portrait miniature painter

Isaac Oliver Isaac Oliver (c. 1565 – bur. 2 October 1617) or Olivier was an English portrait miniature painter.Baskett, John. ''Paul Mellon's legacy: a passion for British art'' (Yale University Press, 2007) pp. 240-1. Life and work Born in Rouen, ...

, and he may have provided cases for Oliver's miniatures. Abraham and Martin Harderet were paid £3000 from the confiscated goods of

recusants Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

. Martin died in April 1612, amongst his bequests leaving a house in

Compiègne Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''. Administration Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: * Compiègne-1 (with 19 ...

to Abraham.

Jewels for Princess Elizabeth

Jacob Harderet supplied pendants and rings to Princess Elizabeth in April 1612. On 14 February 1613, Princess Elizabeth married Frederick V of the Palatinate. Jacob Harderet provided diamond and ruby rings and pendants for Elizabeth to give away as she left England, and she wrote directly to

Sir Julius Caesar Sir Julius Caesar (1557/155818 April 1636) was an English lawyer, judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1622. He was also known as Julius Adelmare. Early life and education Caesar was born near ...

, Chancellor of the Exchequer to pay his bill of £500. He accompanied Princess Elizabeth on her journey to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. At Gaulsheim she gave gifts to those of her party returning to England. Harderet gave her these on credit. He returned to England with her letter to John Murray of the Bedchamber, which explained that she had been obliged to buy jewels from him to give as gifts at her wedding and during her journey, even to "indifferent persons", many more than she could pay for, and Harderet could show Murray the bills she had signed. Elizabeth wanted Murray to arrange that Sir Julius Caesar would write an order pay Harderet.

Business in London

Abraham Harderet, with the other royal jewellers

George Heriot George Heriot (15 June 1563 – 12 February 1624) was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as the founder of George Heriot's School, a large independent school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to H ...

, William Herrick and

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, German-born entrepreneur who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford: Cradle of ...

, joined the funeral procession of Anna of Denmark in 1619. Rachel Fontaine was a relation of Jehanne Hersent, the wife of Abraham Aurelle the minister of the

French Church , native_name_lang = fr , image = 060806-France-Paris-Notre Dame.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris , abbreviation = , type ...

Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History The stree ...

. In October 1613 she was a witness at the christening of their daughter Jahel, with Abraham van Delden and Jaél de Peigne, widow of Sir Henry Killigrew. Rachel's daughter Elizabeth Harderet married Caesar Calandrini, a minister of the Italian church in London, from Lucca. Her sister-in-law Elizabeth Calandrini was the wife of the financier

Philip Burlamachi Philip Burlamachi (1575 – 1644) was a major financial intermediary of King Charles I of England, and is remembered as the inventor of the concept of a central bank. Burlamachi was born Sedan, France. His family was of Italian origin, exile ...

. Abraham Harderet was still listed as a jeweller to King James in 1625.Mary Edmond, 'Limners and Picturemakers', ''The Volume of the Walpole Society'', vol. 47 (1978-1980), p. 167.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harderet, Abraham English jewellers 17th-century English people English goldsmiths English people of French descent Huguenots Material culture of royal courts