Stephen Lesieur or Le Sieur ( fl. 1575 –1640) was a Swiss-born English ambassador to Denmark, Florence, and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

Career

Lesieur was born in Geneva, came to England in 1575, and was first employed as a servant of Sir

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

. In March 1583 an envoy in London collecting money for the church in Geneva, Jean Maillet, met Lesieur and they discussed efforts to raise a ransom for the English diplomat Daniel Rogers, who had been captured by

Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen Maarten (Martin) Schenck van Nydeggen, (1540?, – 11 August 1589) was a noted military commander in the Netherlands. He first served with William of Orange in the fight for Dutch independence from Spain then switched to serve with distincti ...

. Lesieur came to Edinburgh as the secretary of Robert Sidney in August 1588 and made the acquaintance of a Flemish mining engineer, Eustachius Roche. The Danish council was angered by a letter from Queen Elizabeth which he brought in October 1599, and they claimed to believe it came from private persons, rather than the queen or her advisors. Lesieur was given a gift of Christian IV's portrait. In 1602 he was appointed as assistant to an embassy sent to Bremen to meet Danish ambassadors including Manderup Parsberg and Jonas Charisius to discuss fishing rights. The ambassadors were Ralph, Lord Eure, Sir John Herbert, and

Daniel Donne Sir Daniel Donne (or Dunn) (died 1617) was an English jurist. Life He was the son of Robert Donne and descended from John Dwnn of Radnorshire, was educated at Oxford, where he was a member of All Souls College, and was admitted to the degree of ...

. After the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...

in 1603 it was said Lesieur would be sent to Germany to announce King James' accession to the throne of England, while Anthony Standen was sent to Italy. He was ambassador to the

in 1603-1604 and 1610-1614, and ambassador to Florence in 1608-1609. On 12 February 1603 Lesieur wrote from Bremen to

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mon ...

, sending a miniature portrait of Queen Elizabeth that he had commissioned in London at Christian's request.

James VI and 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 ...

paid him in June 1603 for his role as assistant ambassador to Denmark for Queen Elizabeth, at a rate of forty shillings a day. On 17 August he wrote from Neukloster near

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

to Robert Cecil detailing his movements and meetings, following his audience with

Charles I, Duke of Mecklenburg Charles I, Duke of MecklenburgGüstrow(28 December 1540 in Neustadt – 22 July 1610 in Güstrow), was the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg in the Mecklenburg-Güstrow part of the country. He was the youngest son of the Duke Albert VII and his wife, ...

. In March 1608 he was preparing to go to Italy when one of his companions and cousins, the eldest son of Sir Richard Norton, was challenged to a duel by Henry Clare (a follower of the

Earl of Montgomery The title Earl of Montgomery (pronounced "Mun-''gum''-ery") was created in the Peerage of England in 1605 for Sir Philip Herbert, younger son of the 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The first Earl inherited the Earldom of Pembroke in 1630 from his brot ...

) for wrongs done to his sister. Lesieur wrote to the Earl of Salisbury to prevent a fight. The young man, later Sir Richard Norton of Rotherfield (d. 1646) joined the embassy in Florence. The Governor of Vlissengen, John Throckmorton heard in October 1612 that Lesieur had a "sour" audience with the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, and a better reception from Archduke Maximilian, and had gone to the Duke of Brunswick to offer condolences on the death of his father. In May 1614

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Win ...

wrote to her father King James saying that Lesieur could explain the actions of Colonel Schönberg that would make him a suitable husband for her lady in waiting,

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genr ...

, daughter of Theodosia Harington and

Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley (baptised 17 September 1567 – 23 June 1643) was a major landowner, mainly in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and briefly a Member of the House of Commons of England. Through his intemperate behaviour he won wi ...

. In 1633 the printer William Fitzer dedicated an edition of Philip Sidney's letters to Lesieur, who had given him a volume of Sidney's correspondence with Hubert Languet.Roger Kuin, ''The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney'', vol. 1 (Oxford, 2012), pp. xxii-xxiv. The dates of Lesieur's birth and death are uncertain. He lived at Chiswick in his old age.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesieur, Stephen Diplomats from Geneva Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century English diplomats 16th-century people from the Republic of Geneva