Of Spanish Affections: Early English Domestic Opposition to the Virginia Company

When the Virginia Company of London was struggling to get off the ground in 1607 they faced numerous problems. One concern was flagging support for their venture, exacerbated by “pen-adversaries of divers sorts.” They were confronted by the opposition of groups which they described as “perfect Spaniards,” and “neutral writers, but of Spanish affections.” This paper will explore contemporary domestic English resistance to colonialism and the Virginia Company, specifically those who couched their resistance on respect for Spanish claims to the Americas.        That English planters and explorers faced impediments to their attempts is well known, chiefly because of apathy in early modern England. Less well understood by scholars is the existence of domestic opposition to English settlements for ideological and political reasons. English complaints on the behalf of both the Spanish and the indigenous peoples frustrated efforts by their countrymen to bolster support for colonial projects in the Americas. The Virginia Company took seriously the threats of these “pen-adversaries” and much of the promotional literature needs to be re-read as efforts not only to garner economic and political support but also to undercut pro-Spanish sentiment in London.        Almost all of the surviving evidence of this domestic resistance to English colonialism is negative, culled from the writings and commentaries of proponents of the Virginia Company’s plans. Yet a careful against-the-grain reading of these sources allows us to recover the positive articulations of this opposition and to understand their arguments for the political and legal rights of the Spanish and indigenous peoples. An understanding of such arguments highlights how English ambitions were necessarily channeled in a Spanish Atlantic and points to the existence of a strong early modern current of ideological opposition to English colonialism.