Person Page 684

Thomas was born about 1411 in Heron Hall, East Horndon, Essex, England. Thomas' father was Sir John Tyrell of Heron Hall and his mother was Margaret Coggeshall. His paternal grandparents were Sir Walter Tyrell of Heron and Eleanora Flambard; his maternal grandparents were Sir William Coggeshall and Antiocha (Mary) Hawkwood. He had a brother and a sister, named William and Margaret. He was the second oldest of the three children. He died on March 28th, 1476 in Heron Hall, East Horndon, Essex, England.

"The Zealot."

By the late 16th century, two Flemish merchants, Anoul le Clercq and Mathieu Sohier had consolidated their position as the leading merchants in the French/Flemish community in Southampton. Between 1585 and 1595, only one refugee merchant, Jean le Mercier, matched their activity of in the town's overseas trade. Le Mercier originated from Tournai and was the son of François Cocquiel dit le Merchier a prominent Calvinist merchant who had migrated to Antwerp. (Coquiel the Merchant - at some point the family name of Cocquiel was dropped and the family became known first as Le Mercier and then the Anglicized Mercer. Jean's daughter, Mary, in her will, is referred to as Mary Coquell, also known as Le Mercier), . He first appeared in Southampton in 1579 when he married Jeanne, the daughter of Arnoul le Clercq. Le Mercier became involved in Southampton's overseas trade in the early 1580s. He exported 18 says (?) to Bordeaux in September 1580 and the following month a further 14 says were sent to La Rochelle; in August 1584 he exported 6 gays (?) to St. Malo with Arnoul le Clercq. But it was not until 1585 that le Mercier played a prominent part in the town's trade. However le Mercier's commercial connections were not as extensive as those of bis father-in-law, Arnoul le Clercq, but this may in part have been due to the foreign situation.







Although le Mercier does not seem to have traded with Spain, he apparently imported one cargo of green woad (?) from the Azores in 1588. He imported wine from Bordeaux, as weIl as raisins and prunes on occasion, and salt from La Rochelle. Trade with these ports even attracted one of the town's smaller merchants whose trade was normally confined to Northern France. Guillaume Hersent imported bay salt, dates and oats from La Rochelle in 1588-89. Le Mercier's trade with South Western France does seem to have been less frequent than that of le Clercq and Sohier but again this may have been due to the political situation. In fact it became necessary to protect the wine fleet to Bordeaux with a convoy against pirates, this was financed by a levy imposed on the imported goods.





Le Mercier traded regularly with Middelburg (Netherlands) with several cargoes being imported each year. It is unclear what, if any, links there were between le Mercier and le Clercq who had migrated to Middelburg in 1583. Le Mercier imported goods which had been produced or manufactured in the Netherlands such as hops, madder, rape oil and 'Holland linings' but he also imported goods which were redistributed through Middelburg in particular sack wine but also pitch and tar, cables and tarred ropes from the Baltic. Trade with the Low Countries was however always liable to disruption on account of the war there.