Letter signed by Sir Robert Cecil ("Ro: Cecyll") and other members of Elizabeth I's Privy Council, to the poet Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst, in his capacity as Lord Treasurer, being a warrant for the payment of "coat and conduct" money to James Eveleigh for men levied in Oxfordshire in May and June for service in Ireland: "Whereas in the moneth of June 1599 there were the nomber of 50 [altered from 60] souldyers leavyed in the countie of Oxon' and sent to the Porte of Chester to embarque for the service of Ireland amongst the numbers there likewize leavyed in dyvers countyes of the Realme and the said nomber of 50 men being furnished at the countreys chardge wIth coates to the some of xli [i.e. £10] after the usuall rates, as also of conduct money being xli and 40s paid for the conductors wages, all which amounteth to the some of Twenty two poundes; yt is humbly prayed that repayment may be made hereof out of her Majestes Exchequer to the use of the countrey. And further also where there was the nomber of Twenty fyve men more leavied in that county of oxon in the moneth of May last past for her majestes like service in Ireland which were furnished in manner as the other with coates to the some of vli and of conduct money to the some of vli and the conducters wages vli being xiili in all, of the which like repayment is desyred for the countryes use. These are to pray and reqyre your Lordships by vertue of her Majestes privy seale bearing date the x&viith of January 1599" [contractions expanded]; integral address leaf, contemporary docket, trace of seal, 1 page, on paper with the little jug watermark, some light staining and wear, barely affecting legibility, overall in sound condition, folio, Whitehall, 20 January 1601[/02]

Footnotes

SUPPLYING COATS FOR ELIZABETHAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN IRELAND: after the Earl of Essex's expedition against the Earl of Tyrone - which had raised such high hopes in the Chorus of Shakespeare's Henry V - had met with ignominious failure three years earlier, command had devolved on Lord Mountjoy who succeeded where Essex had failed, and defeated the Earl on Christmas Eve 1601, with his unconditional submission following within a year.

The recipient of this letter, Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst, had succeeded to the post of Lord High Treasurer in 1599, on the death of Lord Burghley. He is best known today as joint-author of the first English blank verse tragedy, Gorboduc, performed at the Inner Temple's Christmas Revels of 1561-2 (a play later drawn on as a narrative and dramatic source by Shakespeare for King Lear and by Sidney for Arcadia). In a dedicatory sonnet in The Faerie Queene, Spenser praised him 'Whose learned Muse hath writ her owne record, In golden verse, worthy immortal fame'. He is also among the signatories of this letter. Other Privy Councillors who have signed are: Robert Cecil, Secretary of State; Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper; Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord High Steward of Ireland; Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester, Master of the Horse; Sir William Knollys, Comptroller of the Household; Sir John Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir John Stanhope, Master of the Posts; and Sir John Herbert, Second Secretary of State. At the foot of the warrant Buckhurst has written: "Mr Skinner make an order/ TB"; Vincent Skinner MP being Writer of Tallies and Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer.

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ELIZABETH I PRIVY COUNCIL Letter signed by Sir Robert Cecil ("Ro: Cecyll") and other members of Elizabeth I's Privy Council, to the poet Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst, in his capacity as Lord Treasurer, Whitehall, 20 January 1601[/02]

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