Add MS 48029

This volume of the Yelverton papers derives from the papers of Robert Beale (1541-1601), administrator and diplomat, who was a Clerk of the Privy Council from 1572 until his death. His hand appears on a number of pages, providing notes (ff. 73*r-v, 83v, 94v) or title-pages and subheadings (ff. 73r, 85r, 147r) to documents.

A number of the items in this volume have been identified as having belonged to Beale's friend and committed fellow-Protestant Thomas Norton through the inventory of the latter's papers taken when they were seized at his death in March 1584. Beale evidently acquired them sometime after 1586. (Taviner, 'Robert Beale', p. 265-6, 276; the inventory is Cecil Papers Online, Thomas Norton. vol. 140, The Marquess of Salisbury, Hertfordshire, 1584, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1858034158?accountid=9735 [accessed 9 Jan 2018]).

The volume falls into five parts:

ff. 50r-53v: Copies of letters by the Jesuit Nicholas Sander (b c.1530, d, 1581), 1577-1579. The first letter (f.50r) was written to William Allen (later cardinal) from Madrid on 6 Nov 1577. Sanders accompanied the small Papal-backed invasion of Ireland led by James Fitz Maurice Fitzgerald in 1579, and he wrote the other two letters on that expedition. If these were indeed the copies of Sanders's letters amongst Norton's papers 9and the copyist states that the letters were in his hand) they were found when the conspirator Francis Throckmorton's house was searched in Nov 1583. Some letters and papers of Nicolas Sander 1562-1680', ed. J. B. Wainewright, Catholic Recod Sociey, Miscellanea XIII , 1926, no. 1

ff. 58r-72v: Thomas Norton's 'Chayne of treasons' (so identified in the endorsement, f. 72v). This collection of evidence of Catholic subversion, polemic and plots, was evidently compiled between the arrest of the conspirator Francis Throckmorton in Oct 1583 but before his execution in Feb 1584. It was evidently amongst Norton's papers at the time of his death. The first two sections (ff. 58r-59v, 60r-62v) form one narrative tracing the chain of treason, and include a number of Catholic foes: most notably Nicholas Harpsfield, Cardinal William Allen, the printer William Carter, the priest George Haydock and John Lesley, Bishop of Ross. These sections conclude with praises to the Queen and verses in Latin, beginning 'Sera vt in caelum', an adaptation of Horace, Ode I, ii, ll. 45-47, 52 (f. 62v). The final section, ff. 64r-69v, stands somewhat apart. It describes the culmination of the chain - the Throckmorton conspiracy - but it is not written as part of the narrative, but rather is a summary of material on the recently discovered plot from the examinations of Throckmorton, 2 Dec 1583, with an account of the actions and confessions of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland: what the endorsement (f. 69v) describes as 'The Plottes of the treasons intended against her Ma[jes]tie and the Realme drawne out of sondrie examinations'. This section also concludes with Verses entitled 'Vivat Regina E'. Beg. 'Sit superstitiosis superstes'. f. 69r. In the 1584 inventory of Norton's papers this last section was listed as distinct from the 'Chayne of treasons'. This, and the separate endorsement, suggest that the last section was retrospectively bound as part of the 'Chayne'.

ff. 73-114r: A collection touching the conviction for treason of Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel, 1589. Title-page in the hand of Robert Beale, who notes that the collection was gathered by William Waad, Clerk to the Privy Council, 'who was used in the said Examinations, and to attend upon Sir Tho. Heneage and others her Ma[jestie]s counsellors appointed for that purpose', f. 73. The collection, which includes his narrative and copies of letters and confessions, is in a scribal hand which is not Waad's, although he may have written the marginal comment on f. 96v. The papers include Arundel's trial before Star Chamber in 1586 and the examinations and trial documents, Oct 1588-April 1589, leading to his conviction for treason. It also includes 'An other discours made by mr Waad' - Waad's account of the events leading to charging the Earl (ff. 85r-97r). There is a question mark over when this collection was compiled: whether shortly after the trial or at some point between then and Beale's death in 1601.

ff. 121r-142v: 'A generall discourse of the Popes Holynes devices', in two books; 1579-1580. Endorsed by Beale 'Priestes and Semynaries beyond the Seas', f. 142v. Book 1, the names of all the prestes. pencioners & scollers wth others in Rome to me knowne, & also in many other places (f. 122r) consists of a list of priests and lay recusants abroad and in England, ff. 122v-130r. Book 2, 'the discourse of the Pope & his adherents wth most of his devices collected from tyme to tyme as they were discovered' (f. 122r) is the diary of a spy who travelled to Rome to collect information about Catholics; the diary commences with the arrival of the informer in Rome, 5 July 1579, and ends on 26 May 1580 with a record of his final interview with Sir Francis Walsingham in London, ff. 131r-141v. Both books are in the same hand, and are the work of the spy Charles Sledd (or Slade). These were amongst Norton's papers at the time of his death. There is another version of Book 2, including a draft preface, probably addressed to Sir Francis Walsingham, and a somewhat different text in Add MS 48023, ff. 94r-109v. Printed from this volume in Miscellanea. Recusant Records, ed. C. Talbot, Catholic Record Society, no. 53, 1960, pp. 193-245.

ff. 147r-184v. Narrative compiled by William Waad, Clerk to the Privy Council, of the evidence for the guilt of Dr Roderigo Lopez and his associates; [early March?] 1594. The title-page, 'A Discours of the Reasons of D[octor] Lopez ...gathered by mr William waad' is in the hand of Robert Beale (f. 147r). Lopez, the Queen's Portuguese Jewish physician, was tried for treason, allegedly for taking Spanish money to poison the her, on 28 Feb 1594, andwas executed on 7 June 1594. Waad drew up an account of Lopez's treasons at Burghley's instance, which was completed by 4 March 1594 (The National Archives, SP 12/248 f.8r). The narrative includes letters and confessions.

Contents:

f. 1: Table of contents (seventeenth-century hand)

ff. 1v-49v: Blank

f. 50 Letter of Nicolas Sander alias Sanders to William Allen, 6 Nov 1577 (includes ciphers to passages coded in the original). Copy. According to the copyist, written in the hand of Nicholas Sander.

ff. 51r-52r: Letter written in the name of James Fitz Maurice FitzGerald to Lord Kildare,1579. Copy. According to the copyist, written in the hand of Nicholas Sander.

ff. 53r-53v: Letter of Nicholas Sander to Ulick Burke (later 3rd Earl of Clanricarde), 24 Sep 1579: Copy. According to the copyist, written in the hand of Nicholas Sander.

ff. 58r-72v: Thomas Norton, 'Chayne of treasons', 1583-4.

ff. 58r-59v: Thomas Norton, 'Chayne of treasons': first section, beginning 'Before and toward the great rebellion [of 1569] a plot was layde by the pretended Catholikes to depriue her Ma[jes]tie of her Crowne and to transferr it to an other'.

ff. 60r-62v; Thomas Norton, 'Chayne of treasons: second section, beginning 'These Treasons are neither newe nor sodaine, but have had their continual progression from the last great rebellion fayling of sucesse'.

ff. 62v: Thomas Norton, Latin verse.ff. 64r-69v: 'The Plottes of the treasons intended against her Ma[jes]tie and the Realme drawne out of sondrie examinations'.

ff. 64r-65v: Account of information obtained from Francis Throckmorton, 1583.

ff. 65v-68r: Account of the actions and confessions of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 1583.

ff. 69r: Thomas Norton, Latin verse.

ff. 73r-114v: 'A Collection touching the Attainder of Philipp Howard Erl of Arundell. 159': documents concerning the guilt and arraignment of Philip Howard, 13th earl of Arundel, gathered by William Waad, Clerk to the Privy Council' [1589 or after, covering period 1586, 1588-89]. Title-page in hand of Robert Beale

ff. 73*r-73*v; Memorandum (in the hand of Robert Beale) of evidences against Arundel left blank in in Waad (in the hand of Robert Beale).

ff. 74r-80r: The order of the arraignment of the earl of Arundel at Westminster Great hall, 14 April 1589.

ff. 81r-81v: Schematic presentation of the charges and evidences against the Earl at the 1589 trial.

f. 82r; Letter (author unknown) written to William Bennett, priest and prisoner, taken down by Richard Randolph, 15 Dec 1588: Copy.

f. 83r: Letter of William Bennett; priest, to Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, taken down by Richard Randolph, 15Dec 1588; Copy.

f. 83v: Memorandum in hand of Robert Beale of the death of William Bennett.

ff. 84r-84v: Confession of William Bennett, 15 and 16 Dec 1588: Copy.

ff. 85r-91r: Discourse by William Waad on the examination of prisoners in the Tower after the Armada (title in Robert Beale's hand: 'An other discours made by mr Waad': Copy.

ff. 91v-93r: Written confessions of Sir Thomas Gerard, 25 Oct 1588.

ff. 93v-94r; Letter of Sir Thomas Gerard to William Waad, 16 Dec 1588, reporting notes to him from William Bennett, 14 and 15 December: Copy.

f. 94v: Joint confession of William Bennett and Sir Thomas Gerrard, 18 Feb 1589, with memoranda on dates in the confession by Robert Beale.

f. 95r: Untitled articles [identified by Pollen, 209, as articles for examination of witnesses].

ff. 95v-97r: Confession of Richard Randolph 16 December 1588: Copy, (with marginal note possibly in William Waad's hand, f. 96v),

ff. 97v-98r: Joint confession of Sir Thomas Gerard and William Bennett, 10[or 19?] Feb 1589, and attested by them, 21 Feb 1589: Copy.

f. 98v: Confession of William Bennett, 19 Feb 1589: Copy.

f. 99r: Joint confession of Sir Thomas Gerard and William Bennett, 26 Feb 1589: Copy.

ff. 99v-102r: Examination of Sir Thomas Gerard, 26 Feb 1589: Copy.

ff. 102v-103v: Written confession of William Bennett, 16 Oct 1588: Copy.

ff. 107r-109v: The arraignment of the Earl of Arundel, 14 April 1594: Copy.

f. 110r: List of those who gave evidence against the Earl of Arundel, 14 April 1589; Copy.ff. 111r-114v: The proceedings against the Earl of Arundel in Star Chamber, 17 May 1586: Copy.

ff. 121r-142v:: `A generall discourse of the Popes Holynes devices' [by Charles Sledd]: 1579-1580.

ff. 122v-130r: Book 1 of 'A general discourse': a list of priests and lay recusants in Rome, elsewhere abroad and in England: Copy

ff. 131r-141v: Book 2 of 'A general discourse': the diary of the spy Charles Sledd in Rome, 1579-1580: Copy.

ff. 147r-184r. William Waad, Clerk to the Privy Council: Narrative of evidence against Roderigo Lopez: 1594. For another copy see Harley MS. 871, ff. 7-64. The present version has a concluding paragraph not in Harley 871 and a title page in Beale's hand (f. 147r).

ff. 185r-232v: Blank.

f. ii: Rear end-paper: Sheet B of a printed book, A. Marcourt, The boke of the marchauntes . . . , 1547 (STC 17313.7; ESTC: S117723).