Stowe MS 150

This is a miscellaneous collection of 16th- and early 17th-century correspondence. It incudes one holograph letter of Sir Philip Sidney from Flushing [Vlissingen] in 1586 (ff. 50r-v), and a copy of a letter from the Irish chieftain Florence MacCarthy Reagh [Finian Mac Cárthaigh Riabhach] to Sir Robert Cecil from the Tower of London, 31 Aug 1602 (ff. 170r-171v). It also includes correspondence for a number of English counties, especially for Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Norfolk and Kent. Two letters to Colchester look like letters that once belonged in the borough archives.

Most notable are papers that are parts of the dispersed archives of the Ferrers of Tamworth (then a town on the Warwickshire/Staffordshire border) and Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, and of Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1546?-1622) of Stiffkey in North Norfolk. Other parts of the Ferrers archive are in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, with smaller deposits at Staffordshire Record Office and Birmingham Archives. Nathaniel Bacon's correspondence is now scattered over three continents and eleven archives. The important tranche of letters in Stowe MS 150 come from an early phase of its dispersal from Raynham Hall in North Norfolk: 'At some point, probably in the late-eighteenth or early- nineteenth century, the Raynham muniments, in common with those of many Norfolk families, were ransacked by well-meaning antiquaries' (The Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, Vol 1, 1556-1577, ed. by A. Hassell Smith et al, Norfolk Record Society Vol 46 (1978 and 1979), pp. xxii, xxxii-xxiii).

The strength of Stowe MS 150 lies in the range of correspondence relating to gentry social and political relations and to their role as local governors (this inevitably includes letters from the central political and legal authorities, and the news - and goods - reaching the provinces from London). There are a number of letters from the Privy Council, mostly originals with the Councillors' signatures. The Ferrers papers are particularly rich for the social (and particularly kin) networks of Sir Humphrey Ferrers (d. 1608). His archives also include correspondence relating to a dispute over the claims of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, over property in Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire (see D. Peck, 'The Earl of Leicester and the Riot at Drayton Basset, 1578'. Notes and Queries, new series, vol. 27, no. 2 (Apr 1980), 131-35). There is also a rich series of letters, containing both family and legal matters and national and international news, from Thomas Ferrers in London to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers in the Midlands, from 1598 to 1605. Ferrers had been Deputy Governor of the Merchant Adventurers in Stade. He became his brother's agent in London and eyes and ears in the capital and at Court.

Contents:

ff. 1-r: Letter of Sir Edward Guildford, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, to John Copledike ('Cowpledick') and/or Thomas Wrake, Halden [?High Halden, Kent], 20 Jun. There is no year, but from the dating in the letter of 20 June to a Tuesday, probably either 1525 or 1531. He tells them of his intention to be at Shepwaye [Shipway in Maidstone], there to take his charge 'according to the auncient custome', and that provision be made for his visit, 'and also in eny wise that the bere be layde in at Saltewod in the later ende of the halydayes, ij pypes and a hoggished of thre halpenny bere, and that every thing be put in a redynes'. With Guildford's signature.

ff. 2r-v: Letter of Thomas Smyth [Smith], Thomas Smyth, late Bailiff of Romney Marsh, to the Lieutenant of Dover Castle, n.d. [probably reign of Henry VIII). Concerning the examination of Thomas Thacchare [Thatcher]for appropriating wreckage at Dymchurch.

ff. 3r-4v: Letter of the Privy Council to William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 29 Oct 1564. Instructing him to see that the fishermen of the Cinque Ports apply themselves more to their trade, 'so as more store may be brought to the cyte of London and other marketts, both for the furnyture of the Wenisdayes and other fyshe dayes, and therby also their fisshe solde at lower pryces, wherunto they are the rather to be perswaded considering the Statute for eating fysshe on Wenisdaies was especially made for their benyfyte and proffytt'. With Privy Councillors' signatures.

ff. 5r-6v: Letter of Charles Wednester to Humphrey Ferrers, High Sheriff of Warwickshire, Rowington, 28 Jul 1566.

ff. 7r-8v: Letter of Richard Assheton to William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, Lord Treasurer, and Sir Walter Mildmay, Privy Councillor, Whalley, 21 Apr 1567. On the examination of the accounts of the Bishop of Carlisle's lands during the vacancy of the see. With note at the foot by Mildmay.

ff. 9r-v: Letter of Sir William Devereux, Edward Aglionby, Fulke Greville, and Clement Throckmorton, Commissioners for Musters for co. Warwick, to John Ferrers of Tamworth, 24 Aug. 1573.

ff. 10r-11v: Letter of R. Griffithe to John Ferrers at Tamworth, Whichmor [Staffs.], 18 Jun 1574.

ff. 12r-v: Letter of Roger North, 2nd Baron North, to Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, 20 Nov 1576. Copy. He remonstrates with him on his refusal to give up his palace at Holborn, on the Queen's request, to Sir Christopher Hatton, and advises him to yield to the Queen's wishes. With later (18th- or 19th-century) acerbic comments, including: 'This Lre contains much of the Spirit of the Times, Unless the Bp of Ely submit to be robb'd- he was to be persecuted'.

ff. 13r-14v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Humphrey Ferrers, 12 Apr [no year, 1579?]. Directions about a violent seizure of Harcourt's Park and the killing of one of Ferrers' men on the attempted recovery of it, and the suit depending in Star Chamber. In Leicester's hand throughout. Although the date does not immediately match up, this letter evidently refers to a dispute over property in Drayton Bassett in which Leicester was involved.

ff. 15r-16v: Letter of Richard Paramoure to Humphrey Ferrers, London, 15 Sep 1578.

ff. 17r-18v: Letter of Richard Paramoure to Humphrey Ferrers (at Tamworth), London, 26 Dec 1578.

ff. 19r-20v: Letter of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Humphrey Ferrers, Thomas Trentham, Edward Boughton and John Jefferis, from the Court, 5 May 1579. Leicester sends instructions for the taking possession and management of the properties in Drayton Bassett and elsewhere which he has bought from Richard Paramoure.

ff. 21r-22v: Letter of Privy Council to Edward Bashe, Surveyor of Victuals of Her Majesties Navy, Greenwich, 21 Aug 1579. Ordering him to provision a pinnace of Henry Seckford's which is to follow after the fleet of Sir John Perrot. Original, with address and signatures of Privy Councillors.

ff. 23r-24v: Letter of Privy Council to Edward Bashe, Surveyor of Victuals of Her Majesties Navy, Greenwich, 24 Aug 1579. For the victualling of ships under Admiral Sir John Perrot at Bristol. Original with address and Privy Councillor's signatures.

ff. 25r-26v: Letter of O. Sacheverell to Humphrey Ferrrers (at Tamwoth), Derby, 15 Oct 1579. Original, with address. The initial in the signature is definitely 'O', but on 26v an endorsement says 'H. Sacheverell).

ff. 27r-28v: Letter of Humphrey Ferrers to Thomas Bickley, Chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, 15 Apr 1581. Bickley writes his reply to Ferrers on the same letter, starting below Ferrers's letter, Lichfield, 19 Apr 1581. With both addresses on 28v (Bickley was at Lichfield, Ferrers at London).

ff. 29r-30v: Letter of William Cave to Edward Holte, 'Witharley' [? Witherley. Leics.), 6 Oct 1583. A letter asking Holte to intercede with Humphrey Ferrers on behalf of the bearer, his brother, the discharged Vicar of Allestree. At the foot Holte writes his letter to Ferrers, Duddeston (Warwicks) 7 Oct 1583. The address to Holts is f. 30v; the address to Ferrers at 29v.

ff. 31r-32v: Letter of Thomas Wotton to Richard Dering, London, 27 Dec 1583. Original, with address, where Dering is called 'cousin'.

ff. 33r-34v: Letter of the Privy Council to the Bailiffs of Colchester, 23 Feb 1584. Original with signatures. Advice on how to proceed in case of ill words spoken.

ff. 35r-v: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to the City of London, Palace of Westminster, 9 Mar 1584. Copy. On behalf of the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, burnt by fire.

ff. 36r-37v: Letter of Privy Council to Sheriff and JP of Essex, Westminster, 22 Mar 1584. Original, with address and signatures. On behalf of the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, burnt by fire.

ff. 38r-39v: Instructions of Privy Council to Muster-Master of Essex for the viewing and training of the Trained Bands, 1 May 1584. Copy. The name of the Muster-Master is largely lost: just 'Ro[bert]'.

ff. 40r-41v: Letter from Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor, to Sir Thomas Scott, Thomas Wotton, William Cromer and Thomas Fludd, his house near Charing Cross, 9 May 1584. Order for them to act as arbitrators in Chancery suit between Richard Dearing [Dering] and Daniel Bretnam [Brettenham]. Original, with address. Followed by their reports, 15 Sept 1584, ff. 42r-45v.

ff. 46r-47v: Letter of Henry Gybbon to Mr Bery, Bailiff of Lydd, Tenterden, 20 Oct 1585. Original, with address.

ff. 48r-49v: Letter of Privy Council Council to the Mayors, Sheriffs, JPs and other officers 'neere unto her Highnes Castell of Camber in Sussex',instructing them not to appoint the soldiers and retinue of the Deputy Captain of Camber 'to any other service then theire service of watche and warde in the sayd Castell accordinge to theire Priviledge', followed by a list of the Privileges of the garrisons of the Cinque Ports; Richmond, 25 Oct. 1585. Copy.

ff. 50r-v: Letter of Sir Philip Sidney to 'my singular good Lord', Flushing [Vlissingen], 14 Aug 1586. Original. On the state of the Flushing garrison: 'If we be turned over to the States it is as good as nothing, and it shall be no loss to her Ma^ti to have som store under an officer of her own, whom it shall pleas her, not to be spent but uppon urgent necessity. The garrison is weak; the people by thes cross fortunes crossly disposed; and this is the conclusion: if these 2 places be kept, her Ma^ti hath worth her monei in all extremities ; if thei shoold be lost, none of the rest wold hold a day'.

ff. 51r-52v: Letter of Thomas Wotton to his ever-loving cousin Richard Dering, Boughton Malherbe [Kent], 24 Aug 1586. in Wotton's hand throughout, with address and seal.

ff. 53r-54v: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Amias Paulet, 3 Oct 1586. Copy.

ff. 55r-56v: Letter of the Privy Council to the Sheriff and JPs of Norfolk, Greenwich, 10 Feb 1587. Enjoins that the orders previously given for fasting in Lent and on other prohibited days shall be 'carefullie and diligentlie observed, the rather in respecte of the late great mortalitye of shepe and other kinde of great cattell generallie … and of the dearthe and scarcety also of other kinde of victualls at this tyme'. Original, with address and Councillors' signatures.

ff. 57r-58v: Letter of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, to Humphrey Ferrers, Sheffield Lodge, 18 Jun 1587. Complaining of waste alleged against Ferrers in Needwood Forest. Original, with address and Shrewsbury's signature.

ff. 59r-60v: Letter of Francis Bradbourne to his mother Lady Bradbourne, London, 14 Dec 1587. Original, with address.

ff. 61r-62v: Letter of Edward Littleton to Humphrey Ferrers, Teddesley, 17 Jan 1588. Original, with address.

ff. 63r-64v: Letter of Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor, to Sir Moyle Finch, Thomas Pelham, William Lewen and William Heigham, Ely Palace, 8 Mar 1588. Original, with address. Order for them to act as arbitrators in Chancery suit between Richard Dering and Daniel Brettenham.

ff. 65r-66v: Letter of Sir Fulke Greville, Sir Thomas Lucy and Sir John Harington to Humphrey Ferrers, Sheriff of Warwickshire, 11 Apr 1588. Original, with signatures and address.

ff. 67r-68v: Letter of Sir Henry Grey, Sir Thomas Mildmay and Sir John Petre to the Bailiffs of Colchester, Aldersgate Street, London, 13 Feb 1589. Instructing them to enforce the Privy Council order for restraint of the killing and eating of flesh in Lent. Original, with signatures and address.

ff. 69r-70v: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to Nathaniel Bacon, the Court at Richmond, 29 Sep 1589. Original, with Walsingham's signature. Addressed to Bacon as Collector of the Loan in Norfolk.

ff. 71r-72v: Letter of Privy Council to Nathaniel Bacon. the Court at Greenwich, 7 Feb 1590. original, with Councillors' signatures. Addressed to Bacon as Collector of the Loan in Norfolk.

ff. 73r-74v: Letter of Privy Council for raising of 135 footmen in Warwickshire, and for a general muster of 'men, armour, horse and furniture', Greenwich, 25 Jun 1591. Copy.

ff. 75r-76v: Letter of Humphrey Ferrers to Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, Walton-on-Trent, 28 Jun 1592. Ferrers writes as a commissioner on the felling of trees in Needwood Forest.

ff. 78r-79v: Letter of Privy Council to William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Court at Greenwich, 5 Jul 1591. Copy. order to certify the men and weapons returned out of the 900 men levied for service in France in summer 1589.

ff. 80r-81v: Letter of George Hyde to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at my Lord Keeper's at York House), Kingston Lisle, 4 Feb 1594. Original, with address.

ff. 81r-82v: Letter of Francis Barker to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), 2 Oct 1594. Original, with address.

ff. 83r-84v: Letter of the Privy Council to William Overton, Bishop of Coventry & Lichfield, John Manners, Sir Humphrey Ferrers, George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield, Godfrey Foljambe. John Frauncys 'and the rest', the Court at Greenwich, 31 Dec. Copy. Written to them as commssioners for investigating such lands in Derbyshire as are held by hospitals, and 'to see how som relief might therby convenyently be had for the sustentacion and comfort of maymed souldyors'.

ff. 85r-v: Letter of Sir Edward Aston, 1 Oct 1595. Original. Holograph. Address - and the recipient, a kinsman of Aston's - lost; Aston was a Staffordshire man, and the recipient may be a Ferrers.

ff. 86r-87v: Letter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, London, 12 March 1597. Original, with address. He requests his influence in levying troops in Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

ff. 88r-89v: Letter from Jane, Lady Puckering [wife of Sir John Puckering], to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, 8 Apr 1596. Original, with address, and fragment of seal. The address calls him her brother: her daughter Dorothy had married his son John in 1592.

ff. 90r-91v: Letter of Sir John Bowes to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, 19 Sep 1596. Original, with address.

ff. 92r-v: Letter of William Hannington the elder to Richard Dering (at Pluckley, Kent), Maison Dieu [?], 26 Sep 1596. Original, with address.

ff. 93r-94v: Letter of William Parker to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), 3 Nov 1596.

f. 95r: Letter of Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Walton-on-Trent, 3 Dec 1596. Unsent copy (draft?). On a quarrel between his son Walter and Jermain Poole, and the latter's challenge to the former to fight a duel.

ff. 96r-97v: Letter of Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper and Master of the Rolls, to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, at the Rolls, 23 [? - written xxxiii] Feb 1597. He send a copy of his final order on an agreement between Mrs Sacheverell and Mr Roper, her husband's counsel.

ff. 98r-99v: Letter of John Brograve and Henry Fanshawe, 'Auditor', to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, London, 28 Feb 1597. Summons Ferrers to appear at the Duchy [of Lancaster] Court to answer touching the spoil of the Queen's woods and timber [in Needwood Forest?]. Original, with address.

f. 100r-101v: Letter of John Harpur to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Swarkeston, 5 Apr 1597. Original: holograph, with address. On the quarrel between Walter Ferrers and Jermain Poole, with apologies for visiting Walton.

ff. 102r-103v: Letter of Privy Council to Nathaniel Bacon, from the Court, 8 May 1597. With Councillors' signatures. The address is to Bacon as Collector of the Loan in Norfolk.

ff. 104-105v: Letter of George Hyde to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), Plymouth, 25 Aug 1597. Original. With address. Hyde, who had married Ferrers's daughter Catherine, calls him his 'father-in-law'. He notes: 'Newes heere is none, but that all our lande soldiers are cassierd, and such service as is nowe to be done wilbe uppon the Kinge of Spaynes Fleet, which will not be longe a doinge, so please it God that the wynde serve us'.

ff. 106r-107v: Letter of William Assheton to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, William Colmore and William Holte, Clegg, [Lancashire], 19 Sep 1597.

ff. 108r-v: Letter of Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, to Sir Thomas Wilford and Thomas Fane, Deputy Lieutenants of Kent, Dover, 31 Oct 1597. Instructions to muster against the threat of a possible Spanish invasion. Copy. Followed by a copy of a letter from Sir Thomas Wilford and Thomas Fane to Thomas Peyton and other named Captains of Companies, to the same effect, Dover, 1 Nov 1597. Copy.

ff. 109r-110v: Letter of Nathaniel Bacon to Sir William Peryam, his brother-in-law and Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Stiffkey, 20 Jan 1598.

ff. 112r-113v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers, [late Deputy Governor of the Merchant Adventurers at Stade], to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton or Tamworth), London, 31 Mar 1598. Original, with address. He writes of his arrival from Stade, and bringing with him the eldest son of the Burgomaster of Stade to learn English, and the good usage he has received from Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex: 'Since my koming her Ma^tie haith used me verry grasiousley, and I hope some good will ensewe. In the meane tyme the Queene haith assynd me to my good lord of Essex, of whom I doe attend dayley towe daies past. Good newes is come from Irland, that th'erlle Tirone will come in and be subiect to her Ma^tie, w^ch God grawnt. Owt of France no newes, nether doe I expect aney good from thence'.

ff. 114r-115v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton or Tamworth), London, 29 Jul 1598. Original, with address. Some personal matters. General news. This includes that the earl of Essex is not to Court; the merchants of the Hanseatic League, and a duel between a duel between " Mr. Secritary Davison's eldist sonne and Mr. Thornnelles sonne, being all he had," in which the latter was killed. He also notes: 'Owt of Italy ytt is wryttin that Sir Anthoney Sherley, that went owt of England the last winter, wth giving owt that he wold serve th' emperor against the Turke, but nowe sett downe that he dothe serve the Turke against th'emperor, and so he is torned from a Christian to a Turke, wch is most monstrus. No dowt, yf ytt be so, the Lord will punishe the same'.

f. 116r: Letter of Thomas Reresby to Richard Harpur (at Littleton), Eastwood, 11 Aug 1598. Original.

ff. 117r-v: Letter of William Hannington to Richard Dering (at Pluckley), 26 Aug 1598. Original, with address.

ff. 118r-119v: Letter of Sir Thomas Fane, Lieutenant of Dover Castle, to Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Dover Castle, 24 Sep 1598.

ff. 120r-v: Letter of Thomas Levinge to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Tissington, 28 Sep 1598. original, with address.

ff. 121r-v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, London, 8 Dec 1598. Giving local and general European news, and enclosing a manuscript newsletter, datedc Poland, 14 Nov 1598 (ff. 122r-v).

ff. 123r-124v: Letter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Sheffield Lodge, 27 Dec 1598. Original, with address and seal; postscript in Shrewsbury's own hand.

ff. 125r-126v: Letter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Sheffield Lodge, 13 Jan 1599. Original, with address; evidently in Shrewsbury's own hand throughout.

ff. 127r-128v: Letter of John Harpur to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton), 11 Apr 1599. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 129r-130v: Letter of Jobe Lavender to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton), London, 15 Jun 1599. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 131r-132v: Letter of Jobe Lavender to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton), London, 19 Jun 1599. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 133r-134*v: Letter of William Knyveton to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Mercaston, 5 Jul 1599. Original, with address, and enclosure (f. 134r) of assessed monies unpaid.

ff. 135r-v: Letter of William Hannington to Richard Dering (at Pluckley), Maison Dieu near Dover, 20 Sep 1599. Original, with address: holograph.

ff. 136r-137v: Letter of Zachary Babington, LL.D. Prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral, to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Curborough [, Staffordshire], 24 Sep 1599. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 138r-139v: Letter of John Savile, Baron of the Echcequer, and John Brograve to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, 18 Nov 1599. Original, with address and signatures. Respecting the rights of Gilbert Rolleston, esquire, to timber from Needwood Forest for repairs to his house, by decree of the Duchy of Lancaster.

f. 140r: Letter of Penelope Rich, Lady Rich to Queen Elizabeth I, 1 Jan 1600. Copy. On behalf of her brother, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.

ff. 141r-142v: Letter of John (possibly W[illiam]) Skeffington to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton), 8 Mar 1600. Original, with address: probably holograph.

ff. 143r-144v: Letter of William Bradbourne to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Edlaston ['Eddlestone'] 28 Oct, n.d. [?1600]. Original, with address; holograph. Bradboune addresses Ferrers as brother; he is the brother of Ferrers's wife.

ff. 145r-146v: Letter of George Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Ellenhall ['Hellenhall'] Grange, 5 Apr 1600. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 147r-148v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers, 29 May 1600. Original, with address; holograph. Family and political news.

ff. 149r-150v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 20 Nov 1600. Original, with address; holograph. Family news.

ff.151r-152v: Letter of Humphrey Brigges to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Haughton [Shropshire], 29 Dec 1600. Original, with address; holograph.

ff. 153r-154v: Letter of William Comberford to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Wednesbury, 17 Jan 1601. Original, with address; holograph.

f. 155r: Letter of Sir Humphrey Ferrers to 'My Honorable Lord', Walton-on-Trent, 20 Jun 1600. Draft.

f. 156r: Letter of Sir Humphrey Ferrers to his brother [?]Thomas Ferrers, n.d. Draft.

ff. 157r-158v: Letter of Humphrey Brigges to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), Haughton [Shropshire], 2 Mar 1601.

ff. 159r-160v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 16 Mar 1601. Original, with address; holograph. A mixture of family and political news, including the fate of the Essex conspirators.

ff. 161r-162v: Letter of Thomas Sackville, 1st Baron Buckhurst, to Francis Gawdy [Justice of the Queen's Bench] and Nathaniel Bacon, Sackville House, 30 Jun 1601. Gawdy and Bacon are appointed to examine into the alleged abuses of Dr. Burman in his office as Judge of the Vice-Admiral's Court for Norfolk. Original, with address, seal and signature.

ff. 163r-v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers, London, 11 Feb 1602. Original; holograph. A mixture of family and political news.

ff. 164r-165v: Letter of W. [?William] Fitzherbert to John Ferrers (at his house beyond Westminster Abbey near the schoolhouse), Tissington, 8 Mar 1602. Original, with address; probably holograph.

ff. 166r-167v: Letter of Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper, to Sir Miles Corbett and Nathaniel Bacon, York House, 17 Jun 1602. Original, with address. Ordering them to examine upon a petition against Thomas Baker, Alderman of King's Lynn.

ff. 168r-169v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 15 Nov 1602.

ff. 170r-171v: Letter of Florence MacCarthy Reagh [Finian Mac Cárthaigh Riabhach] to Sir Robert Cecil, 31 Aug 1602. Copy. The letter alludes to his imprisonment in the Bloody Tower in the Tower of London.

ff. 172r-173v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 1 Dec 1602. Original, with address; holograph. On personal matters and national and international news.

ff. 174r-175v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 18 Jan 1603. Original, with address; holograph. On personal matters and national and international news. He notes: 'Owt of Irland nothing but good newes, Tiron, haith sent unto her Ma^tie his submission, under his hand, and sealle, and in the same doth desier to come in, and to submit him selffe, yf he maie enioye his liffe'. Out of the Low Countries, news of the Archduke's mutinous army.

ff. 176r-177v: Letter of Mary Verney to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, 10 Feb 1603. Original, with address and signature. Probably Mary, Lady Verney (d. 1642), widow of Sir John Verney (d. 1600) of Pendley, Hertfordshire.

f. 178r: Letter of the Privy Council to Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, and the sheriff, deputy lieutenants and JPs of that county, the Court at Richmond, 16 Mar 1603. Copy. The letter instructs them to suppress rumours of the Queen's ill health and prevent any disorders that these rumours may breed. Copy.

f. 179r: Letter of John Manners, JP, to Francis Fitzherbert, Sheriff of Derbyshire, Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Thomas Gresley and the rest of the JPs, Haddon, 20 Mar 1603. Copy. Manners encloses the Privy Council letter and repeats its message.

ff. 180r-181v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), London, 25 Mar 1603. Original, with address; holograph. The letter gives an account of the death of Elizabeth I and the proclamation of James I: 'letting you knowe that as the Queene went to her nakid bedd uppon Sondaie night last, and slept five oweres uppon Mondaie towardes night she begane to be verry ill, and then begane to be hart sicke, and so continewed, sicker and sicker, untill Thorsdaie morning, betwixt 3 and 4 of the clocke, att which tyme ytt pleased God to cawlle her to his mercie; who maid a most godlie end, to the ioye of all the beholders, the Lord Arsbushope of Canterbury and the rest, for his L[ordship] was with her untill the last gaspe.'

ff. 182r-183v: Letter of Privy Council to Francis Fitzherbert, Sheriff of Derbyshire, and the JPs of Derbyshire, Palace of Whitehall, 25 Mar 1603 (f. 182r). On the death of the Queen and proclamation of James I. With Fitzherbert's note of the actions he took under the proclamation (f. 182v)with Fitzherbert's signature. With address. The two texts (iincluding the names of the Privy Councillors) seem to be in the same hand.

ff. 184r-185v: Letter of Sir John Popham (Chief Justice of the King's Bench) to Nathaniel Bacon (at Stiffkey), Serjeants' Inn, 27 May 1603. He commends and confirms Bacon's committal committed to gaol of Thomas Irelande 'whose wandringe course of lyfe, I make no dowbt of, will dysover him to be ill affected to the State'. Original, with signature and address.

ff. 186r-187v: Letter of Sir John Popham (Chief Justice of the King's Bench) to Nathaniel Bacon, Serjeants' Inn, 3 Jun 1603. A letter on the 'on the riotous pulling downe of certeine the inclosures of Rice Gwynn, esquire, in Fakenham'.

ff. 188r-89v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Tamworth Castle), London, 27 Jun 1603. Original, with address; holograph. Private and Court news: for instance, 'The King haith apoynted therlle of Ruttland to goe Ambasodor to the King of Denmarke, who did invite oure King to be godfather to a sonne Wch God haith sent the queene of Denmarke'. Thomas states that he 'sworne the Kinges servant, and an esquier of the bodie', and has been appointed to accompany the Earl to Denmark.

ff. 190r-191v: Letter of Henry Michell to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Tamworth Castle), Clements Inn, 4 Jul 1603. Original, with address. On the creation of Knights by the King, the preparations for the coronation, Thomas Ferrers' going to Demark, and the spread of the plague: ' 'The certeficate of the plage the last weeke was clviii within the freedome of the citie, and the Kyng (haveing informacion of more) sent to my lord mayor for a true certificate, who certefied viii c and od in the citie and suburbes. It is so dispersed as that fewe places are free, and such ill orders that it cannot be knowne where it is, and where it is knowne; it is not shunned by the neighbors, as my self can witnes, seeying them goe in and out where it was said some lay dead and some were dyeing'.

ff. 192r-193v: Letter of [Sir Humphrey Ferrers] to Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, 9 Jul 1603. Draft. Asking her influence at Court to procure for him the title of Baron, as it is reported that the King 'is very willing to restore or to greatt [create] sutch whose auncestors have byn Erles or barrons'.

ff. 194r-195v: Letter of Privy Council to Sir Thomas Knyvett, Warden of the Mint, the court at Greenwich, 30 Jun 1604. Original, with address and the Councillors' signatures. Instructing him to deliver £16,000 'of the newe standerd of Ireland' to the use of Sir George Cary, Treasurer-at-War for Ireland, for payment of the forces there.

ff. 196r-197v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Tamworth Castle), London, 6 Oct 1604. Family, Court and international news: 'ytt was there said that some men did offer 2000l. and some 30001. to be maid Barrons, but the King will maike no more'.

ff. 198r-199v; Letter of Alexander Rediche to Sir Humphrey Ferrers, London, 28 Oct 1604. Original, with address. Rediche calls Ferrers his father-in-law. The letter includes family matters and Court politics, including James's proclamation at King of Great Britain. He further notes: 'There is greate sute made for a Tolleration of poperie, and fiftye thowsande poundes per annum is offred unto the Kinge for the same'.

ff. 200r-201v: Letter of Sir Julius Caesar (Master of Requests and Judge in the Admiralty Court) to Sir Christopher Heydon, Sir Nathaniel Bacon, and Sir Henry Sidney, Whitehall, 17 Feb 1605. As commissioners they are to act in the suit concerning John Barwick.

ff. 202r-203v: Letter of Sir Edward Coke (Attorney-General) to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, The Temple, 17 Feb 1605. Instructions to hear and if possible conclude a dispute between Thomas Fairfax, gentleman, and 'this poore man' John Rust. Original, with signature and address. On f. 202v is the report of Bacon's hearing of the dispute, 5 Mar 1605, probably in the hand of Bacon's clerk.

ff. 203r-204v: Letter of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (Lord Treasurer), to the JPs of Norfolk, 22 Feb 1605. Original, with signature, and address. ordering them to stay any further export of corn and to report on the price of corn.

ff. 206r-207v: Letter of Thomas Ferrers to his brother Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-on-Trent), 6 Dec 160[5?]. The final digit of the year is lost in the binding: the original Stowe MSS catalogue took this as 1605. On f. 207v, probably in Sir Humphrey' hand, is an itemized list of the cost of the carriage of 2 hogsheads of wine from Hull.

ff. 208r-209v: Letter of Sir John Popham (Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench) to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and John Palgrave, JPs for Norfolk, Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street, London, 17 May 1606. Original, with Popham's signature and a postscript in his hand, and address. He orders them to examine a dispute between Thomas Fairfax, gentleman and Sir Henry Sidney and his servants, who stand accused of assaults and outrages made upon Fairfax. [See also ff. 210r-211v].

ff. 210r-211v: Letter of Sir Henry Sidney to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, Walsingham, 24 May 1606. Original; holograph letter. Sidney's self-justifying account of the quarrel between him and Thomas Fairfax and its aftermath [see ff. 208r-209v].

ff. 212r-v: Letter of John Ferrers to his father Sir Humphrey Ferrers, Warwick, 4 Dec 1606.

ff. 213r-214v: Letter of Robert Eyre to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-upon-Trent), Highlow [Derbyshire], 10 Dec 1606. Original, with signature and address. Eyre addresses Ferrers as 'Yor lovinge and obediente Sonne in law to comaund'.

f. 215r: Letter of Sir Julius Caesar, Sir Thomas Fleming, Sir George Savile and George Snygge (Chancellor, Chief Baron and barons of the Exchequer) to Thomas Norton, Auditor of Wiltshire, 30 Jan 1607. Request for valuation of the manor of Ludgershall.

ff. 216r-217v: Letter of John Wightwick to Sir Humphrey Ferrers (at Walton-upon-Trent), Clements' Inn, 3 Feb 1607. Original, with address.

ff. 218r-219v: Letter of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham (Lord High Admiral), to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, the Court, 20 Feb 1608. Original, with address and signature. Reprimanding him for his frivolous suits against poor fishermen contrary to the Lord High Admiral's jurisdiction (he though Bacon had learnt not to trespass on his jurisdiction after the affair of the whale).

ff. 220r-221v: Letter of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Charles Cornwallis, MPs for Norfolk, Whitehall, 30 Jun 1608. Instructing them to nominate collectors for fifteenths according to the Statute.

ff. 222r-223v: Letter of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, the Court at Holdenby, 13 Aug 1608. Northampton, as Lord Lieutenant out of the county, writes ordering a general muster. Original, with the signature and address in Northampton's hand.

ff. 224r-225v: Letter of Sir Christopher Heydon to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, 22 Mar 1609. A letter about a case of fornication.

ff. 226r-v: Letter of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton (as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk), Northampton House, 22 Mar 1611 (f. 226v), accompanying Privy Council letter, Whitehall, 17 Mar 1611 (f. 226r). Copy. On purveyance.

ff. 227r-v: Letter of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton (as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk), Northampton House, 10 May 1611 (f. 227v), accompanying Privy Council letter, Whitehall, 24 Apr 1611 (f. 226r). copy. On purveyance.

ff. 228r-229v: Note of Sir Francis Bacon that, wanting time to set down, he is sending copies of both the King's projects and of the Act of Recognition. Verso the endorsement may be in the hand of Sir Nathaniel Bacon.

ff. 230r-231v: Letter of Sir Christopher Heydon and Sir Nathaniel Bacon (with a note in the hand of Sir Austin Palgrave) to Sidney Montagu, Master of Requests, Holt, 11 Oct 1617. Report of proceedings summoning the creditors of George Burrowe of Gresham in order to get him relieved. Original, with address.

ff. 232r-233v: Letter of John Heigham to William Heydon (London), Bury St Edmunds, 20 Apr 1618. Original, with address and seal; holograph.

f. 234r: Letter of John Harpur to unknown recipient [possibly Sir John Ferrers], Swarkeston, 19 Jan 1621. Original: holograph.

ff. 235r-v: Letter of Sir Thomas Southwell, Vice-Admiral of Norfolk, to William Neve, concerning the goods of some Dutchmen wrecked at Sheringham, 31 Oct 1621, with the reply of Neve's report of the staying of the goods.

ff. 236r-237r: Examinations taken (and signed by) Sir Nathaniel Bacon, Sir Robert Gawdy and Sir Austin Palgrave, from witnesses of alleged assault arising from the seizure of the Dutchmen's goods at Sheringham, 2 Nov 1621.

ff. 238r-239v: Letter of Sir Thomas Southwell to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Austin Palgrave, Castle Rising, 4 Nov 1621. Original , with address.

ff. 240r-241v: Letter of Sir Thomas Southwell to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Austin Palgrave, Castle Rising, 7 Nov 1621. Original , with address and seal, and note by Joshua Newgait.

ff. 242r-243v: Letter of John Wightwick to Sir John Ferrers, Coventry, 23 Sep 1622. Original, with address and seal; holograph. Verso Ferrers has made a note to Mr Parker to observe the contents of the letter and act on it.

ff. 244r-247v: Letter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, to King James I, The Hague, 30 Dec 1623. Copy.