英國伊莉莎白女王致明朝萬曆皇帝國書

明萬曆二十四年（1596），英國女王伊莉莎白一世為了與中國通商,委託航海家喬治·韋茅斯攜帶她的親筆御書向中國明朝的萬曆皇帝致意。然而,探索航路的努力失敗，國書未能送達。蘭開夏郡的一位農民在他的收納盒破損時發現了御書，御書副本目前陳列在大英博物館內。

由喬治·韋茅斯（George Waymouth）遞交的伊莉莎白一世（Elizabeth I）的信附有該信的拉丁語、西班牙語和義大利語的當代翻譯，大概是為了如果中國皇室里沒有人能讀英語，那么他們可能會讀這些替代語言中的一種。

這封信直到1984年才寄到中國。

基本介紹

• 作品名稱：英國伊莉莎白女王致明朝萬曆皇帝國書
• 作者：伊莉莎白一世
• 創作年代：明代
• 英文名：letter from Queen Elizabeth I to the Emperor of Cathay 
• 創作時間 ：明萬曆二十四年

國書全文

古英語原文

ELIZABETH BY THE GRACE OF GOD QUEEN of England, France and IrelandDefendor of the faith ets. To the great, mighty, and Invincible Emperour of Cathaia.greeting. Wee haue receaued Dyuers, and sundry relac~ons both by our owneSubiects, and by others, whoe haue visited some parts of your Ma.ts Empire, andDominions, wherby they haue reported unto us as well your Inuincible greatness, asyour kind vsage of Strangers, that resorte unto yo~r Kingdomes with trade ofmerchandise, w~ch hath wrought in us a desire, to fynd oute some neerer waye ofpassage by Seas from us, into your cuntrey, then the usuall frequented course thathitherto hath byn houlden by compassing the greatest part of the world, By whichneerer passage, not only opportunity of entercourse of traffique of merchandize maybe offred between ye Subiects of both or Kingdomes, but also a mutuall league, andamity may growe, and be continued, between yor Mats and us, or Cuntries, andDominions being in their distance of scituations, not so farr remote, or severed, asthey are estranged, and unknowen the one to the other, by reason of the long andtedious course of Navigacon hitherto used – from theis party unto yor. To whichende wee have heretofore many yeares past, and at sundry tymes synce made choiceof some of or Subiects, being a people by nature enclyned to great attempts, and tothe discouery of Contries, and Kingdomes unknowen and sett them in hand wth thefynding out of some neerer passage by Seas into yor Mats Contries, through the North.Or East parts of the World, wherin hitherto not preuayling, but some of their Shipsneuer returning back agayne, nor being heard of synce their departure hence, &some of them retourning back agayne being hindered in their entended voyage by thefrozen Seas, and intolerable cold of those Clymayes; wee haue yet once more of orearnest desire to try the uttermost yt may be done to pforme at length a neererdiscouery of yor Contrye, prepared and sett fourth two small Shipps under yedirection of our Subiect & Seruant George Waymouth being ye principall Pylott ofthis present voyage, a man for his knowledge & Experience in navigacon, speciallychosen by us to this attempte, Whom if it shall please god so to prosper in his passage, yt either he, or any of his company shall aryue in any port of yourKingdome, wee pray yor Matie in fauor of us, who haue soe desired ye attaining thismeanes of accesse unto you, & in regard of an enyerprize pformed by hym, & hiscompany wth so great difficulty, & danger, yt you will use them wth that regard ytmay gyue them encouragemt to make this their newe discouered passage, wch hithertohath not byn frequented, or knowne by any to become a usuall frequented trade fromtheis pts of ye world to yor Matie . By wch meanes yor contry may hereafter beserued wth the natyue comodityes of theis parts of speciall seruice, & use both for yorMatie and Subiects and by returne, and enterchange of your contrey comodities, wee& our Subiects may be furnished wth thinges of lyke seruice and use out of wchmutuall benefit amity, and frendshipe may growe, and be established between us, wchwee for our part will not lett hereby to offer unto you for the honorable report wchwe haue heard of yor Matie and because in yis first discouery of the waye to yorcontrey, it seemed to us not convenient to ymploy Shipps of that burthen wch mightbring them any great quantity of or natyue comodities wherby they might be pestered,wee had resolue to use small shipps as fittest for an unkowen passage, laden for yemost part wth such necessaries, as were of use for their discouery,. It may please yorMatie by the pticukers of such things, as are brought in theis shipps to understand yt ofgoods of those kyndes, or kingdome is able to furnish yor Matie most amply & also ofsundry other kynds of merchandize of like use, wherof it may please yor Matie to bemore pticulerly enformed by the said George waymuth, & his company, of all wchupon signifcaco unto us by yor Matie Lres (Ed. = Largesse?) to be returned by or saidSubiect, yt our visiting of yor Kingdomes wth our shipps, & merchandize shalbeacceptable, & kindly receiued, wee will in the next fleet, wch wee shall send untoyou, make it more fully appeare what use, & beneftt, or amity, & entercourse maybring yor Matie & contre. And in the meane tyme do commend yor Matie to theprotection of the Eternall God, whose providence guideth, and pserueth all Kinges,and Kingdomes,. From our Royall Pallace of Greenwiche the fourthe of May anoDni 1602 and of or Raigne 44 Elizabetth R

現代英語

Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith to the great, mighty and invincible Emperor of Cathay, greetings.

We have received divers and sundry reports both by our own subjects and others, who have visited some parts of Your Majesty’s empire. They have told us of your greatness and your kind usage of strangers, who come to your kingdom with merchandise to trade.

This has encouraged us to find a shorter route by sea from us to your country than the usual course that involves encompassing the greatest part of the world.

This nearer passage may provide opportunity for trade between the subjects of both our countries and also amity may grow between us, due to the navigation of a closer route. With this in mind, we have many times in the past encouraged some of our pioneering subjects to find this nearer passage through the north. Some of their ships didn’t return again and nothing was ever heard of them, presumably because of frozen seas and intolerable cold.

However, we wish to try again and have prepared and set forth two small ships under the direction of our subject, George Waymouth, employed as principal pilot for his knowledge and experience in navigation.

We hope your Majesty will look kindly on them and give them encouragement to make this new discovered passage, which hitherto has not been frequented or known as a usual trade route.

By this means our countries can exchange commodities for our mutual benefit and as a result, friendship may grow.

We decided for this first passage not to burden your Majesty with great quantities of commodities as the ships were venturing on a previously unknown route and would need such necessities as required for their discovery.

It may please your Majesty to observe, on the ships, samples available from our country of many diverse materials which we can supply most amply and may it please your Majesty to enquire of the said George Waymouth what may be supplied by the next fleet.

In the meantime, we commend Your Majesty to the protection of the Eternal God, who providence guides and follows all kings and kingdoms. From our Royal Palace of Greenwich, the fourth of May anno Domini 1602 and of our reign 44.

Elizabeth R

中文大意

神恩天命英格蘭，法蘭西及愛爾蘭諸國女王，信仰的守護者伊莉莎白致敬偉大、強大而不可戰勝的大明天朝皇帝：

我們通過對各方的文獻記錄的了解，以及那些有幸遊歷過陛下雄偉帝國的商人的傾訴，從而得知陛下的偉大和對遠方客人仁愛。這鼓勵我們去尋找比世界上大部分的航行路線更短的到達大明帝國的航海路線。

由於更近的航行路線，較近的通道提供我們兩國直接的貿易機遇和友好關係的增長。出於這種考慮，過去我們很多次鼓勵開拓者穿過北部區尋找更近的通道。他們中的一些船隻至今未歸也從未聽到有關他們的訊息，據推測可能由於冰凍海洋和無法忍受的寒冷。儘管如此，我們希望再次嘗試並做好準備在具有豐富學識和航行經驗的總領航員喬治的指揮下駕駛兩艘小船出發。

我們考慮初航不應該太麻煩陛下，所以此次帶的商品樣本比較少，因為船隻航行於未知的航線並需要必需品來探索航線。

屆時請陛下檢驗我們商船上帶來的各式各樣的商品樣本，並告訴喬治·韋茅斯哪些商品可以運來交易，我們將在下一批商船隊中提供這些貨物。

我們希望仁慈的陛下能給予他們關照，並鼓勵他們，開通這個它迄今為止還沒有被經常光顧的貿易航線。

通過這種方式我們兩國家可以增強貿易合作，各取所需並增進兩國人民的友誼。

在此際，我等願上天保佑陛下。

西元1602年，伊莉莎白一世登基第44年。

于格林威治宮。

相關人物

喬治·韋茅斯（George Waymouth，約1585年至1612年）出生於德文郡科金頓（Cockington），來自一個造船家族，年輕時學習造船和數學。葡萄牙和荷蘭控制了正常的貿易路線，比賽正在尋找通往東方的替代路線。

喬治帶著35名船員，分為發現號（70噸）和神速號（60噸），於1602年5月2日從倫敦啟航，只帶了18個月的給養。6月28日，他們在北緯62°30′（巴芬島南部）看到陸地，但由於大霧被迫離岸。在整個旅程中，惡劣的天氣和隨後的叛亂一直困擾著探險隊。7月26日，威茅斯號經過哈德遜海峽，但無法進入，在探索了拉布拉多海岸的一部分後，於1602年9月5日返回達特茅斯。

大概是喬治·韋茅斯把伊莉莎白女王的信和翻譯帶了回來，不知何故，它們最終被放進了蘭開夏郡農場，但究竟是怎么回事還是個謎。這些檔案屬於克羅斯家族，被送到蘭開夏郡檔案辦公室，任何人都可以看到，是最受歡迎的物品之一。