Looks like you've got the makings of a good article or book, either or both would be good ways to make your case. On Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 8:46 AM Christopher Thompson < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > I began my serious historical research many years ago by investigating the > involvement of the Rich family, i.e. of the 2nd Earl of Warwick and his > second cousin, Sir Nathaniel Rich, in the affairs of the Virginia Company > of London. This entailed detailed work on the Records of the Virginia > Company edited by Susan Myra Kingsbury between 1906 and the mid-1930s and > contact with the studies of Wesley Frank Craven and that of Theodore Rabb > which was then in progress on the career of Sir Edwin Sandys. I have > maintained a watching brief on more recent historiography and have written > quite a few small-scale pieces over the years on the subject. One of the > features of earlier and later historiography on the subject which was and > still is a surprise to me is the credence given to the claims of Sir Edwin > Sandys and the two Ferrar brothers, John and Nicholas, about the struggle > for control of the Virginia Company and over its eventual dissolution. > Sandys and his allies usually appear as admirable figures brought down by > the Indian massacre of the English colonists and by the machinations of > their opponents in the Virginia and Bermuda companies. This view, which > still features in very recent works, is, I am afraid, profoundly mistaken. > Sandys was a grossly incompetent manager of the companies' affairs as Rabb > and, more recently, Michael Jarvis recognised. The records, moreover, on > which this erroneous assessment rests are highly selective and inadequately > edited. It is a grave mistake to take the opinions of Sandys, the Ferrars > and their allies about their own virtues and their critics' malevolence at > face value. The problem for Sandys and their supporters in the final > analysis was that their correspondence with the colonists in Virginia fell > into their opponents' hands and revealed the desperate state of the colony > and their mendacity. The history of Virginia requires a wholly new > approach, one free from the misconceptions that still dog its > representation. > > ______________________________________ > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at > https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum > and Library Services (IMLS). > ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).