Egerton MS 1694

This volume relates to the English involvement with the Dutch Revolt. The volume was once part of the Yelverton manuscripts, from which it became separated, and it embodies the involvement and preoccupation with the Dutch Revolt of the collection's originator, Robert Beale (1541-1601).

Beale was twice sent to the Netherlands. From 16 April to 26 July 1576 he was sent as special envoy to the Low Countries to protest at Dutch seizures of shipping. Ff. 2r-27v cover this period and other papers relating to his experience and expertise (which later included his being the victim of Dutch raiders himself) between 1576 and 1579.

Between 26 June and about 28 September 1587 Beale and Henry Killigrew were English representatives on the Dutch Council of State, and there are a number of letters to Beale (and/or Killigrew) in that capacity in this volume.

The bulk of the volume is correspondence to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, appointed English commander in the Low Countries by Queen Elizabeth I in late 1585 (arriving there December), and appointed Governor-General of the Netherlands by the Dutch States-General. The correspondence covers the period 1585-1587. A couple of the letters are drafts of Leicester's in the hand of his secretary, Arthur Atye, who is probably responsible for most of the endorsements on the letters received by Leicester.

The manuscripts are almost all original letters.

Contents:

f. 1r: 19th-century title-page: ‘Letters relative to the affairs of the Low Countries, &c. A.D. 1575-1587.’

f. 2r: 19th-century note on the descent of the manuscript from Beale to the Greys of Ruthin.

ff. 3r-4v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, London, 11 Mar 1576. Endorsed by Beale as received 26 March.

f. 5r: Letter of Edward Horsey to Robert Beale, Leicester House, 19 Apr 1576.

ff. 6r-7v: Letter of Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, London, 19 Apr 1576. Addressed to Beale as ‘Imployed at this present into Hollande’ in the Queen’s service. In his own hand. With seal.

ff. 8r-9v: Letter of John Hastings to Robert Beale, London, 20 Apr 1576. Addressed to Beale on his embassy in Holland.

ff. 10r-11v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, Whitehall, 21 Apr 1576. Endorsed by Beale as received in Holland 2 May. Seal intact.

ff. 12r-13v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, at the Court, 20 May 1576. Endorsed by Bale as received 1 June.

ff. 14r-15v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, at the Court, 3 Jun 1576.

ff. 16r-17v: Letter of L.T. to Philip van Marnix, Lord of St Aldegonde, Greenwich, 3 Jun 1676, with a copy of a letter from Francesco Giraldi to Julio Busini, London, 1 Jun 1576. Both in Latin.

ff. 18r-v: Letter of Thomas Castelyn to Robert Beale, London, 4 Jun 1576. From an endorsement, Beale is evidently at Flushing. With seal.

ff. 19r-v: Letter of Francis Milles (Mylles), Secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, to Robert Beale, Greenwich, 17 Jun 1576. The letter is a covering letter for an enclosure, and in a PS that Beale has added the latter states that he was willed to enclose this letter to Beale so that he does not think it has been opned because it is so ill sealed. The merchant Mr Villers ha spromised to see this letter delivered either by himself or one he sends over presently to Zeeland.

ff. 20r-21v: Letter of Sir John Arundell, Sir John Killigrew and William Mohun, Mayor of ‘Perin’ (Perranporth?), Cornwall, Cornish JPs to [?the Privy Council], Westminster, n.d.. Recipient uncertain, but a request that the Vice-Admiral of Cornwall, William Lower, restore four ships in Falmouth harbour that he has seized which are licensed by the Prince of Orange. The names of the signatories are written in by Beale, who endorses it, ’29 July 1576. M[andate?] to certen Justices of peace in the county of Cornewall: touching 4 shipps aperteining to the Prince of Orange’, implying the appeal is acted upon.

ff. 22r-v: Order of the Privy Council, Hampton Court, 9 Dec 1576, signed by Robert Beale and Thomas Wilkes. Beale has added the date, location and names of the councillors present. An order over a dispute between the company of Merchant Adventurers and a number of merchants trading to Spain and Portugal where ships of merchants of both companies ships were stayed in Zeeland with by the Prince of Orange with promise of repayment to the Spanish merchants by the Merchant Adventurers in London.

ff. 23r-23*v: Supplication of the Merchant Adventurers whose 14 ships were stayed at Flushing in April 1576, 13 Jan 1577. Endorsement by Robert Beale which gives the date. They deny that they owe the obligations claimed by the Spanish Merchants.

f. 24r: A note of the goods taken by Mr John Lyon of Flushing, a Scotsman, from Mr Edward Marche, merchant of Southampton, coming to £150, with a supportive note to the Privy Council from Sir Francis Walsingham.

ff. 25v-25*v: ‘The Answere of those merchantes Adventurers Ladars of the goodes stayed att Flushinge to the Complaynt of William Salter Reignoldes Hollyngworth George Holmes and other merchantes’, Feb 1577. Date from endorsement by Robert Beale, who describes the named complainants as ‘merchantes trading Spain’.

f. 26r: Memorandum in the hand of Robert Beale: ‘The contract made between the prince his Excellence [William, Prince of Orange] and the Englishe Marchantes adventurers during these troubles: is greatly to the said merchantes Detriment.’

ff.27r-v: Deposition of Thomas Longston of London, grocer, and Richard Courtnall as to answers made by Cornelius Taymond, Sercetary of the Council of Zeeland, about what had been done for the redress of injuries done by pirates of Zeeland to Robert Beale as he was travelling on embassy from the Queen to German princes; Middleburg, 18 Dec. 1579.

ff. 28r-v: Memorial from the Privy Council for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 28 Nov 1585. The text says 1585, but the endorsement has been changed to 1586. 1585 is perhaps the better date as it fits in with Leicester still in England but about to go the Netherlands to take command as Lord General of the English army in the Netherlands. Nine signatures (including Lord Burleigh and Sir Francis Walsingham). The endorsement summarizes the memorial.

ff. 30r-31v: Letter of Sir John Hawkins to Sir Francis Walsingham, Deptford, 14 Mar 1586. On the costs of transporting Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Addressed to Walsingham ‘at the courte’. With seal.

ff. 32r-33v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 27 Apr 1586. With seal.

f. 34r: Articles for explanation of some doubtful points in the contract made between Queen Elizabeth I and the Dutch States, set down by the Muster-Master-General [Thomas Digges] according to the Council of States and him, 4 May 1586. Two columns: on the right-hand side the articles, on the left the responses of the Council of Estates.

ff. 35r-36v: Letter of Thomas Digges to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht. 10 Jun 1586. Letter addressed to Leicester as General of the Queen’s forces and Governor of the United Provinces. Detailed endorsement in another hand.

ff. 37r-38v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 11 Aug 1586.With seal.

ff. 39r-40v: Letter of The Treasurer General and Council of Finance of the United Provinces to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 14 Aug. 1586. In French. With seal. Marginalia and a summary endorsement in another hand.

f. 41r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Hague, 4 Sep 1586.

ff. 42r-43v: Letter of Henry Killigrew, Richard Allyn, Lancelot Paresis, and Elias Lesch to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 13 Sep 1586. In French, with endorsement as to content in English. With seal.

f. 44r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Windsor, 16 Sep 1586.

ff. 45r-46v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Windsor, 28 Sep 1586.

ff. 47r-48v: Letter of Thomas Digges to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Utrecht, 28 Sep 1586. With summary endorsement in another hand.

ff. 49r-50v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Windsor, 3 Oct 1586. With seal.

ff. 51r-52v: Petition to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of five officers threatening to withdraw if Leicester continues Sir John Norris [Norreys] as his deputy, n.d. [?December 1586]. The officers are Sir William Russell, Sir William Stanley, Colonel Thomas Morgan, Sir Robert Williams and Rowland Yorke.

f. 53r: Letter of [Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester], to Thomas Digges; Rotterdam, Nov. 1586. Draft in the hand of Arthur Atye. Leicester’s secretary (noted as ‘Copye to Mr Digges…’).

ff. 54r-55v: Lists of English foot (from 11 Nov 1586) and horse bands (from 12 Oct 1586) in the Netherlands in the Queen’s pay, and of English companies in the States’s pay, 16 Nov 1586. The list is organized by commanding officer of the unit, with numbers for the troops in the Queen’s pay. All are noted as ratified by the Earl of Leicester. An endorsement states that the lists were sent from Sir John Norris [Norreys].

ff. 56r-57v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 3 Dec 1586.

ff. 58r-61v: Letter from Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 3 Dec 1586.

ff. 62r-63v: Letter from Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 6 Dec 1586.

ff. 64r-65v: Letter from Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 9 Dec 1586. With seal.

ff. 66r-67v: Letter from Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 9 Dec 1586. With Seal.

ff. 68r-69v: Letter from Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 12 Dec 1586. With Seal.

ff. 70r-71v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 13 Dec 1586.

ff. 72r-73v: Letter of George Gilpin to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 16 Dec 1586. The letter is directed to Leicester at the Court. A summary endorsement in another hand.

f. 74r: Letter from Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 18 Dec 1586.

ff. 75r-76v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 24 Dec 1586. With seal.

ff. 77r-78v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Thomas Wilkes, 24 Jan 1587. A draft (to which Leicester has added his initials ‘R Le’. In the hand of his secretary Arthur Atye, who notes that this is ‘Copye to Mr Wylkes from the Erle’,

ff. 79r-80v: Letter of George Gilpin to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Leiden, 26 Dec 1586. Marginalia and endorsements in another hand. With seal.

ff. 81r-82v: Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 4 Jan 1587. With one marginal note in another hand. With seals.

ff. 83r-84v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 11 Jan 1587. Norris dates the letter 11 Jan 1587, but here and elsewhere uses the new style year; the endorsement gives the date as 11 Jan 1586.

ff. 85r-v: List of military units in the Low Countries, starting with the companies in the Queen’s pay at ‘Berghis’ (Bergen-op-Zoom?) and Ostend, 11 Jan 1587. The list is organized by company under the name of their captain. Other units are the companies ‘that go this Jorney’ – those in the Queen’s pay, English captains in the States’ pay and Scottish and Dutch captains. The journey is evidently the march of Sir john Norris to secure the town of Wesel (see f. 87r). The companies that tarry behind are also listed, and for these the complement is sometimes given.

f. 86r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 12 Jan 1587.

ff. 87r-88v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 19 Jan 1587. With seal.

ff. 89r-90v: Letter of the Dutch Council of State, to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 20 Jan 1587. Signed by Christiaan Huygens, Secretary of the Council of State. Endorsement summarizes content.

ff. 91r-92v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht, 13 Jan 1587. With seal.

ff. 93r-94v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 23 Jan 1587. With seals.

ff. 95r-96v: Letter of George Gilpin to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 23 Jan 1587. With seal.

ff. 97r-98v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 24 Jan 1587. With seal.

ff. 99r-100v: Letter of Henry Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Rycote, Oxfordshire, 25 Jan 1587. With seal.

ff. 101r-v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 26 Jan 1587.

ff. 102r-103v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 27 Jan 1587. With seal.

f. 104r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 6 Feb 1587.

f. 105r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 8 Feb 1587.

ff. 106r-107v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht, 13 Feb 1587. With seal.

ff. 108r-109: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht, 17 Feb 1587. With seal.

ff. 110r-111v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht, 5 Mar 1587. With seal.

ff. 114r-115v: Letter of George Gilpin to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 7 Mar 1587. Addressed to Leicester ‘at the Court’. Marginalia and summary endorsement in another hand.

ff. 116r-117v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 12 Mar 1587.

ff. 118r-119r: Articles exhibited by Thomas Wilkes to the Estates-General of Holland wherein they have violated the authority of His Excellency, i.e. Robert Dudley. Earl of Leicester, Governor-General of the Netherlands and Lord General of the Queen’s forces in the Low Countries, 16 Mar 1587. Heading: ‘The estates general &c of Holland the 16 of Marche finding the counsayle greved with theyre proceedinges as derogatorie to his Exc: authoritie, whiche they pretende not to have violated. Mr Wilkes propounded …’.

ff. 120r-121v: Letter of Thomas Digges to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, n.d. Summary notes in another hand in the endorsement.

ff. 122r-123v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 11 Apr 1587. With seal. Summary notes in endorsement in another hand.

f. 124r: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 13 Apr 1587.

ff. 125r-126v: : Letter of Thomas Digges to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Utrecht, 5 May 1587. With seal. Summary notes in endorsement in another hand.

f. 127r: Privy Council order, Greenwich, 11 Jun 1587. They direct a letter to be sent to Thomas Sackville, 1^st Baron Buckhurst, presently employed by the Queen in the Low Countries, on English military obligations there.

ff. 128r-129v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, at the Court, 20 Jun 1587. A letter recommending the bearer Richard Burgrave. With seal.

ff. 130r-131v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale, at the Court, 4 Jul 1587. Addressed to Beale as ‘one of the Councell of estate in the Provinces United in the Lowe Contries’.

ff. 132r-133v: Letter of Thomas Wilkes to Robert Beale, Brill, 4 Jul 1587. With seal.

ff. 134r-135v: Letter of Joachim Ortell (Dutch Resident in England) to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, London, 8 Jul 1587. The letter is in English, the address in French. Endorsement possibly in the hand of Robert Beale.

ff. 136r-137v: ‘An answere unto certaine Articles of the States of the Lowe Countreis’, concerning the mustering and pay of troops, Middelburg, 10 Jul 1587. Signed by Thomas Digges. Endorsements in two other hands.

ff. 138r-139r: Notes of the letters sent out of England by Michel Leeman and Jeronimo Moorebeke touching the peace, London, 6, 7 and 9 Jul 1587.

ff. 140r-142v: Letter of Arthur Atye to Robert Beale, Flushing (Vlissingen), 20 Jul 1587. f 141r is a copy of the oath that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, means to impose on all his private secretaries.

ff. 143r-144v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Henry Killigrew, on shipboard before Sluys, 22 Jul 1587.

ff. 145r-146v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Henry Killigrew and Robert Beale, on shipboard before Sluys, 25 Jul 1587. The letter is addressed to Killigrew and Beale as members of the Council of Estate of the United Provinces of the Low Countries. The text is in a secretary’s hand, but Leicester signs and adds a passage in the margins in his own hand.

ff. 146r-147v: Letter of Robert Dudley to Henry Killigrew and Robert Beale, on shipboard before Sluys, 25 Jul 1587. The letter is addressed to Killigrew and Beale as members of the Council of State of the United Provinces of the Low Countries. The letter is in a secretary’s hand, with Leicester’s signature. With damaged seal.

f. 147r-148v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Henry Killigrew and Robert Beale, on shipboard before Sluys, 25 Jul 1587. The letter is addressed to Killigrew and Beale as members of the Council of State of the United Provinces of the Low Countries. The address has written under it ‘Hast post hast’. Written in a secretary’s hand with Leicester’s signature. Damaged seal.

ff. 149r-150v: Notes by Robert Beale of interviews with [Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, deposed] Elector of Cologne; 24, 25 July, 1587. Beale’s notes are prefaced by a copy of a short letter, in French, from the Elector to Sir Francis Walsingham, dated 22 July 1587.

ff. 157r-158v: Letter of Henry Killigrew to Robert Beale, Flushing (Vlissengen), 26 Jul 1587. Addressed to Beale at Middelburg.

ff. 153r-156v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Sir Francis Walsingham, n.d. (Monday, 9 o’clock). Evidently in Leicester’s own hand.

ff. 157r-158v: Letter of Edward Norris [Norreys] to the Privy Council, n.d. (28 Jul 1587). The date comes from the endorsement to another copy of the same letter, The National Archives, SP 84/16, ff. 212r-213v. From the signature here, this looks an original, and from the endorsement probably one which came to the Earl of Leicester. The letter relates to the affair of his challenge to a duel of Count van Hohenlowe (Count ‘Hollocke’in the letter).

ff. 159r-160v: Letter of Edmonde Hunt to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, London, 28 Jul 1587. Summary notes in another hand in endorsement.

ff. 161r-162v: Letter of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, to Henry Killigrew and Robert Beale, Flushing [Vlissingen], 29 Jul 1587. The letter is addressed to Killigrew and Beale at Middelburg. Signature by Leicester; text and address in the hand of his secretary Arthur Atye.

ff. 163r-164v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Robert Beale and Henry Killigrew, at the Court, 31 Jul 1587.

ff. 166r-167v: Letter of Henry Killigrew to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The Hague, 12 Oct 1587.

ff. 168r-169v: The words of Sir John Norris to Queen Elizabeth I, Jan or Feb 1588. In English (with partial translation into Italian). The endorsement, probably by Robert Beale, dates Norris’s words to Jan or Feb 1588.

ff. 170r-171v: Letter of William Burghley, 1st Baron Burghley to Sir Francis Walsingham, 20 Sep 1587. A letter in Burghley’s hand. With seal. A postscript discusses offices but the letter is about a letter enclosed (but no longer so), from Queen Elizabeth I to the Dutch States, which he prays Walsingham to deliver to Mr Atye.