Richard Amerike facts for kids
Richard ap Meryk, also known as Richard Amerike, lived from around 1440 to 1503. He was a British merchant and a royal customs officer in Bristol, a big port city in England. Later, he even became the sheriff of Bristol.
Some people in recent times have made interesting claims about Amerike. One idea was that he helped pay for the famous trip of explorer John Cabot in 1497. They also thought Amerike owned Cabot's ship, the Matthew. Another idea, first suggested in 1908, was that the name of the continents, America, came from Amerike's last name. This was supposedly to thank him for helping Cabot discover new lands.
However, there is no strong proof for either of these claims. Most historians agree that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian explorer.
Richard Amerike's Life Story
The name 'Amerike' is an English way of writing the Welsh name ap Meuric or ap Meryk. This means "son of Meurig." His name was spelled in many different ways, even in official papers. The 'Amerike' spelling was noticed by historians because it looked like 'America'. This spelling was also on a special metal plate made for his daughter's tomb in 1538.
We don't know exactly where or when Richard ap Meryk was born. One writer thinks he was born in 1445 in a place called Meryk Court. But this connection is not fully proven. One old document says he was from Chepstow, a Welsh port town near Bristol.
We also don't know much about the first 30 years of his life. His wife was named Lucy. Richard Amerike spent most of his adult life in or near Bristol. Bristol was one of the biggest cities and ports in medieval England, perhaps second only to London.
Amerike became successful as a merchant. After 1485, he also became a gentleman and a government officer. We first see him in Bristol's customs records in 1472, trading Irish fish. Later records from 1479–1480 show him trading with Ireland, Portugal, and Bordeaux. He also traded with Spain in other years.
By the mid-1470s, Amerike was a freeman of Bristol. This meant he was a member of the city's important people. He was rich enough to lend £50 to help free a relative of a rich merchant from pirates. In 1484, records show he had an Icelander working as a servant. He also bought land. By the early 1490s, his main land was in Long Ashton, near Bristol.
When Amerike traded, he would have used a special symbol called a merchant's mark to show his goods. Sadly, we don't have a record of his mark. The mark sometimes linked to him today actually belongs to a different person from a century later.
In 1485, Richard Amerike started working for the customs service in Bridgwater, a port near Bristol. He was a 'controller of customs'. In September 1486, he became the King's Customs Officer in Bristol. He held this job until December 1502. During this time, he was accused of not doing his job correctly. He had to pay a large amount of money to King Henry VII to be forgiven.
As a customs officer, Amerike could not hold a high city job. But after he stopped being a customs officer, he was chosen as one of Bristol's two sheriffs. He died while in this job, probably around December 1503. His daughters inherited his money. We only know about one daughter, Joan (or Jane) Broke. She died in 1538 and is buried with her husband in St Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol. Her tomb mentions Richard Amerike as her father.
Richard Amerike and John Cabot's Journeys
Many people are interested in Amerike because of his link to the explorer Zuan Caboto, known as John Cabot. King Henry VII of England allowed John Cabot to lead three trips from Bristol. Cabot wanted to find new lands and a way to the rich countries of the East.
His first trip in 1496 did not work out. The second trip in 1497 was the famous one on the Matthew ship. On this trip, Cabot found 'new land' that he thought was part of Asia. This land was probably modern Newfoundland in Canada. What happened on his third trip in 1498 is not clear.
People always thought that Bristol merchants paid for Cabot's trips. This made sense because any trade from new lands had to go through Bristol. But no list of sponsors has ever been found. The only proven money came from a bank in London and from King Henry VII himself.
The idea that Richard Amerike was a big helper for Cabot became popular in the late 1900s. People also thought Amerike owned and mainly paid for the Matthew ship. But experts from the University of Bristol's 'Cabot Project' have not found any papers to prove this. In fact, they think Amerike might not have liked Cabot. This is because Cabot's royal permission would have made it hard for customs officers to make money from trade with new lands. This might explain why customs officers made problems for Cabot. They refused to pay him the first part of the money the King promised him.
Richard Amerike did have one important job related to John Cabot. Amerike and another customs officer, Arthur Kemys, were the ones who paid John Cabot his pension. King Henry VII gave Cabot £20 a year starting in December 1497. Cabot was to be paid from the money collected from customs taxes in Bristol. Amerike and Kemys were in charge of collecting these taxes. They would then pay Cabot and report it to the King's treasury.
In the 1890s, an archivist named Edward Scott found an old document. This document showed that Amerike and Kemys paid Cabot's pension for two years, from 1497 to 1499. This document, called the 'Cabot Roll', is very important for learning about John Cabot's history.
How America Got Its Name: A Theory
In 1908, a local historian from Bristol named Alfred Hudd suggested that the word America came from Amerike or ap Meryk. Hudd shared his idea in a paper.
Some writers in the 21st century have supported Hudd's idea. They added to it by guessing about the Matthew ship's trips and later trade. Amerike was known to have financial interests in trade with the eastern coast. It is thought that as a main investor, Amerike's name might have been on ship maps. These maps would show where his goods were traded. It is also guessed that Spanish explorers might have taken these secret documents. This could have happened when a British ship was lost around the same time Amerigo Vespucci was mapping the coast of Brazil. This information might then have reached the mapmaker Waldseemüller.
However, this cannot be proven unless original documents are found. Most people still believe that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer.
It is interesting that Amerike's family symbol looks a bit like the modern Flag of the United States (the Stars and Stripes).
