Stowe MS 166

Edmonde Papers, vol. 1, 18 June 1592-16 May 1596.

This volume includes letters from William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Sir Robert Cecil and Sir John Norris, commander in Brittany, to Thomas Edmondes. Much of this volume comprises drafts (described on the endorsements as copies or minutes) of the despatches of Edmondes to Burghley, the first dated 18 June 1592, and the last 31 Dec. 1595. During most of this time Edmondes was Agent at the French Court, reverting at the very end of the period to Secretary at the French Embassy with the appointment of a resident ambassador, Sir Henry Unton, though the latter's first formal audience was not until 1596. His letters give a minute account of the contest of Henry IV. with the Catholic League, as well as of the aggressions of Spain in Brittany, Picardy, and Normandy. the endorsements often name the carrier of the letter (omitted here).

In 1591 Queen Elizabeth I engaged by treaty to support Henri IV, King of France, by sending into Brittany and Picardy 3000 men, who were commanded by Sir John Norris and Sir Roger Williams. Henri, however, not only left the English to bear the brunt of the Spanish attacks, while he employed his own forces to consolidate his position in the rest of France, but failed to fulfil his contract to pay the English troops; and new treaties were constantly being made in 1592 and 1593, with the same results.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography notes of Edmondes:

'These years gave Edmondes an unparalleled knowledge of regional France. Following Henry IV's army took him to most of the provinces and their capitals north of the Loire. He gained firsthand experience of military affairs, concerning not only the English expeditionary forces in Brittany and Normandy but also the levying and retaining of German mercenary forces that were vital to the French king's strategic efforts to win back the French kingdom from the Catholic League. He also became the most acute observer of the delicate politics of the French court.' (Greengrass, M. "Edmondes, Sir Thomas (d. 1639), diplomat." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 28, 2015. Oxford University Press. Date of access 11 Nov. 2019, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8486).

Contents:

ff. 1r-2v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Senlis, 18 Jun 1592. Draft.

ff. 3r-4v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 'Fere en Tarleus', 23 Jun 1592. Draft.

ff. 5r-6v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 'Fere en Tarlenois', 27 Jun 1592. Draft.

ff.. 7r-8v: Instructions from the Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Greenwich, 2 Jul 1592. With signatures and address. Instructions to further the suit of John Dowdall, merchant, of Drogheda, for restitution of goods of which 'one La Fleur, captain of a shipp of Deipe', had robbed him on the Spanish coast.

ff. 9r-10v: Letter from Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Damery, 15 Jul 1592.

ff. 11r-12v: Letter from Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chouilly, a league above Épernay, 22 Jul 1592. Draft

ff. 13r-14v: Letter from Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the camp at Épernay, 30 Jul 1592. Draft.

ff. 15r-16v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, Nonsuch, 8 Aug 1592. With Burghley's signature. With address and seal: the address is to Edmondes in France with the French King on Her Majesty's affairs, with the address translated in French. Endorsement says it was received by Thomas the French cook. The Queen is daily expecting an answer from the King of France as to the conditions of her sending money and troops into France.

ff. 17r-18v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Provins, 16 Aug 1592.

ff. 19r-20v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Provins, 25 Aug 1592. Draft.

ff. 21r-22v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 7 Sep 1592. Draft.

ff. 23r-24v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Noyon, 4 Sep 1592. Draft.

ff. 25r-26v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Champ, 20 Sep 1592. Draft.

ff. 27r-28v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley to Thomas Edmondes, Oxford, 26 Sep 1592. Burghley's signature. With address and seal. On ratification of the contract, the Queen had sent 4000 men into Brittany; he hopes in a few days to obtain from Sir Henry Unton a cypher, whereby he may write matters he dare not 'committ to open writing'.

ff. 29r-30v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Champ, 30 Sep 1592. Draft.

ff. 31r-32v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Denis, 3 Oct 1592. Draft.

ff. 33r-34v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Denis, 11 Oct 1592. Draft.

ff. 35r: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 13 Oct 1592. Draft.

ff. 36r-37v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Denis, 22 Oct 1592, with further passage 24 Oct 1592. Draft.

ff. 38r-39v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Denis, 29 Oct 1592. Draft.

ff. 40r-41v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp at Étampes, 11 Nov 1592. Draft.

ff. 42r-43v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 27 Nov 1592. Draft. In binding, the pages have been reversed. the letter starts at f. 43r.

ff. 44r-45v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 10 Dec 1592. Draft.

ff. 46r-47v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 'Chossy Malzerbe neare Plumieres', 5 Jan 1593. Draft.

ff. 48r-49v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 8 Jan 1593. Draft.

ff. 50r-51v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 19 Jan 1593. Draft. With some use of cipher.

ff. 52r-53v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 19 Jan 1593. Draft.

ff. 54r-55v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Chartres, 29 Jan 1593. Draft.

ff. 56r-57v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Tours, 16 Feb 1593. Draft. With some use of cipher.

ff. 58r-59v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Tours, 3 Mar 1593. Draft. With some use of cipher.

ff. 60r-61v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Blois, 16 Mar 1693. Draft.

f. 62r: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to the Municipal Council (President and Senators) of Marseilles, Westminster, 20 Mar 1593. In Latin.

ff. 63r-v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Denis, 22 Jul 1593. Draft.

ff. 64r-65v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, Windsor Castle, 23 Sep 1593. Closing two paragraphs, farewell and signatures in Burghley's hand; the rest is in a secretary's hand. In a lengthy letter, he complains of the French King's conduct with respect to the English troops: 'Theise and such like disapoyntments of promises hath bene the cause to provoke her Ma^tie to withdrawe her people, which have bene more wasted in 2 or 3 yeares in France for lacke of releif and places of retreit then hath bene in any open warre these many yeares paste' .

ff. 66r-v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dieppe, 27 Oct 1593. Draft.

ff. 67r-68v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Windsor Castle, 24 Oct 1593. With signatures and address. Instructing Edmondes that Sir Edward Brooke has been commanded, 'all direccions or Commandmentes theare of the Frenche Kinges sett a part' to prepare to embark with his forces for defence of Ostend, 'in danger to be besieged with a mightie Armie of the. Ennemies'.

ff. 69r-v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dieppe, 26 Oct 1593. Draft.

ff. 70r-71v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dieppe, 8 Nov 1593. Draft.

ff. 72r-73v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, from the Court, 13 Nov 1593. Encloses an answer to the propositions of the King of France. In Cecil's hand, with address and seal.

ff. 74r-75v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dieppe, 13 Nov 1593. Draft.

ff. 76r-77v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Vernon, 27 Nov 1593. Draft.

ff. 78r-79v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, Windsor Castle, 4 Dec 1593. In Cecil's hand, with address and seal. To assist Sir Robert Sydney, sent as special ambassador to King Henri IV; also Edmondes is to send on the secrets he has from [Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne], Duke of Bouillon in some little ticket enclosed in his letter.

ff. 80r-81v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, Theobalds, 5 Dec 1593. In Burghley's hand throughout, with address. He explains his absence from Court through illness as the reason why his son, by the Queen's command, answers his letters.

ff. 82r-83v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Vernon, 6 Dec 1593. Draft.

ff. 84r-85v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Mantes, 16 Dec 1593. Draft.

ff. 86r-v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Mantes, 16 Dec 1593. Draft.

f.87r: Extract from commercial treaty between the English Crown and the House of Burgundy, 1529, with confirmations 1549, 1604 and 30 Jun 1597. In Latin.

f. 88r: Letter of [George Gilpin, Resident at The Hague] to [Thomas Edmondes] proposing a correspondence, and remarking that the French Resident there, [Paul Chouart, Seigneur de] Buzenval, 'little favoureth and accounteth our Nation', The Hague, 29 Dec. 1593.

ff. 89r-90v: Letter of George Gilpin, [Resident at the Hague] to Thomas Edmondes, The Hague, 7 May 1594. On Sir Francis Vere's arrival at The Hague, and the operations of his forces in conjunction with Prince Maurice against the attempts of Francisco Verdugo, Spanish Governor of Friesland, upon Coeworden and Groningen. With address and seal.

ff. 91r-92v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dieppe, 19 May 1594. Draft.

ff. 93r-94v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Honfleur, 25 May 1594. Draft.

ff. 95r-96v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Greenwich, 25 May 1594. With signatures and address. On the seizure of the vessel of Henry Fawkener, merchant, of Chichester, by 'souldiers of Bullein' [Boulogne] who moreover 'did stripp him and all the rest of the maryners of all their apparrell'.

ff. 97r-98v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the camp before Laon, 4 Jun 1594. Draft.

ff. 99r-100v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to Sir Robert Cecil, camp at Laon, 4 Jun 1597. Draft.

ff. 101r-102v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 9 Jun 1594. Draft.

ff. 103r-104v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 20 Jun 1594. Draft.

ff. 105r-106v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 30 Jun 1594. Draft.

ff. 107r-108v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 9 Jul 1594. Draft.

ff. 109r-110v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 13 Jul 1594. Draft. With some use of cipher.

ff. 111r-112v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before Laon, 23 Jul 1594. Draft. With some use of cipher.

ff. 113r-114v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Quentin, 31 Jul 1594. Draft.

ff. 115r-118v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, Greenwich, 10 Aug 1594. In a secretary's hand, but one annotation, closing paragraph and postscript, and signature in Burghley's hand. with address. In a lengthy letter, he writes the state of affairs in Brittany, and the jealousies of the French and English commanders.

ff. 119r-120v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Amiens, 11 Aug 1594. Draft.

ff. 121r-v: Copy of a French letter for Sir Robert Cecil, Aug 1594. In French.

ff. 122r-123v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Compiègne, 21 Aug 1594. Draft.

ff. 124r-125v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 31 Aug 1594. Draft.

ff. 126r-127v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 14 Sep 1594. Draft. the letter is bound incorrectly: the letter starts on f. 127r.

ff. 128r-129v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes. Greenwich, 16 Sep 1594. With signatures and address. Instructing Edmondes to request the release of John Farrabye, an Englishman taken prisoner by the Governor of Blois.

ff. 130r-131v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Thomas Edmondes, Morlaix, 19 Sep 1594. With address. The letter reports reports the capture of Morlaix and Marshal d'Aumont's refusal to carry out the agreement to give it up as a place of retreat for the English troops.

ff. 132r-133v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 26 Sep 1594. Draft.

ff. 134r-135v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 26 Sep 1594. Draft.

ff. 136r-137v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, at the Court, 26 Sep 1594. In Cecil's hand, with address. Noting that this has been put into his hands by the Queen because of the sickness of Lord Burghley, he writes on Morlaix and tells that the Queen has remonstrated with Henri IV, King of France, 'concerning Maritime Spoiles daylie commytted, one upon thenecke of another, without ever the restitucion of any thing which is demaunded'.

ff. 138r-139v: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Henri IV, King of France, Greenwich, 27 Sep 1594. Copy. In French. The letter includes request that Morlaix may be given up to her according to agreement.

ff. 140r-141v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, from the Court, 27 Sep 1594. In Cecil's hand. With address. He asks that, 'if any pamplettes be put in prynt there wch concerne matters of state', he would send them; he also asks for a case or two of 'yor finest Systers'.

ff. 142r-143v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 6 Oct 1594. Draft.

ff. 144r-145v: letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, his house in Westminster, 6 Oct 1594. In Burghley's hand. With address. He says that the Queen is satisfied with Edmondes's 'resolut manner of dealyng with the Kyng ther in acerteaning hym yt, if he shall send no more forces into Brytann [Brittany] to joyne with hir Ma[jes]ty for the recovery of the Spanyardes fort at Brest, she hath charged Sr Jhon Norryce to retorn'.

ff. 146r-147v: Letter of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham [Lord High Admiral], Nonsuch, 7 Oct 1594. On the depredations by the French upon English vessels.

ff. 148r-149v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Thomas Edmondes, camp before the fort [Crozon, near Brest], 11 Oct 1594. In a long letter, he complains further of Marshal d'Aumont, and threatening to lay down his command 'yf hir Ma[jes]ty doe not revoke her forces'. With address in French.

ff. 150r-v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Germain, 22 Oct 1594. Draft.

ff. 151r-152v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, from the court at Richmond, 30 Oct 1594. Cecil asks Edmondes to explain to Henri IV that the Queen's reasons for sending Sir Thomas Wilks to the Archduke Ernest, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, are the discovery of a Spanish plot for her assassination by poison by [Roderigo] Lopez, her physician, at the instigation of Philip II. In a postcript he adds, My lo: desires yow, if there come out any pamplettes or books that concerne matters of State, that yow would send some of them to him, or my selfe'.

ff. 153r-154v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, Oct 1594. Draft.

ff. 155r-156v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 3 Nov 1594. Draft.

ff. 157r-158v: Letter of Sir John Norris [Norreys] to Thomas Edmondes, Fort Crozon, 12 Nov 1594. Letter on the siege and capture of the fort and his quarrels with Marshal d'Aumont. In Norris's hand.

ff. 159r-162r: Copy of letter of Sir John Norris to Thomas Edmondes (ff. 157r-158v), with a diary of his recent campaign in Brittany with events at Morlaix and fort Crozon, 1 Sep-11 Nov 1594, with lists of killed and wounded. Among the latter is Sir Martin Frobisher, who died soon after. This is evidently in a secretary's hand, with Norris's signature.

ff. 163r-164v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Germain, 13 Nov 1594. Draft.

ff. 165r-166v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, his house in the Strand, 27 Nov 1594. In a lengthy letter topics include the Queen's satisfaction at the French king's treatment of the Protestants, on the movements of Sir Francis Vere aud the Duc de Bouillon in the Low Countries, Sir Thomas Parry's intended departure as Ambassador to the French Court, the news of the fall of Fort Crozon and comments on the books that Edmondes has sent him.

ff. 167r-168v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, his house in the Strand, 28 Nov 1594. He sends a book, 'come newlie from the presse', of the 'horrible treasons lately practized against her Ma[jes]ties person by Lopez and others', translated from the English into French. That it may be published there, if Edmondes sees cause; they manifest to the world the barbarities of the King of Spain.

ff. 169r-170v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, St Quentin, 30 Nov 1594. Draft.

ff. 171r-172v; Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Henri IV, King of France, Somerset House, 8 Dec 1594. In French. Copy. On behalf of Alderman Houghton and others, merchants of London.

ff. 173r-174v: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Henri IV, King of France, Somerset House, 8 Dec 1594. In French. Copy. On behalf of Mr Houghton and other Merchant Adventurers. Another copy of ff. 171r-172v.

ff. 175r-176v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Abbeville, 10 Dec 1594. Draft.

ff. 177r-178v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, Somerset House, 11 Dec 1594. With Cecil's signature and address. On the case of Alderman Houghton.

ff. 179r-180v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Somerset House, 12 Dec 1594. Demanding redress for the plunder of an English merchant-ship by 'certaine Ligueurs of Crotoy, in Piccardy'. With signatures and address.

ff. 181r-182v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 17 Dec 1594. Account of assassination attempt on Henri IV. Draft.

ff. 183r-184v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 22 Dec 1594. Draft.

ff. 185r-186v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 3 Jan 1595. Draft.

ff. 187r-188v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 11 Jan 1595. Draft

ff. 189r-190v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Greenwich, 18 Jan 1595. With signatures; address. On behalf of English merchants plundered at sea.

ff. 191r-192v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 21 Jan 1595. Draft.

ff. 193r-194v: Letter of William Burghley, 1st Baron Burghley, from the Court, 23 Jan 1595. Signature by Burghley. Burghley opens with two books from France he has received from Edmondes, a discourse of the Gallican church and a refutation of the Jesuits in the name of an advocate for the cures of Paris. Other contents include Burleigh telling Edmondes that the King of France, through his Ambassador, has declared 'his ernest determinacion nowe to make sharpe warre uppon the K. of Spaine, and praieth the Quene to enter into confederacion thereof howe she may concurre with him', with the Queen's response. Burghley complains of D'Aumont's conduct in Brittany, and his withholding of Morlaix from the English by a clause secretly inserted in the articles of capitulation 'that noe person should remaine in that towne but such as should professe openlie the Catholicque Romaine Religion', and is surprised that Edmondes has found out nothing of a secret treaty between France and Scotland, giving its reported terms.

ff. 195r-196v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 1 Feb 1595. Draft

ff. 197r-198v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 17 Feb 1595. Draft.

ff. 199r-200v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 17 Feb 1595. Draft.

ff. 201r-203r: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, the Court at Lambeth, 20 Feb 1595. With signature; address; seal. The letter includes news of the departure of the French Ambassador [Jean de la Fin, sieur de Beauvoir La Nocle] from London 'with Her Majesty's good favour, as one whose carriage here hath wonne him selfe reputacion' and enclosing complaints made by Marshal D'Aumont against Sir John Norris.

ff. 204r-205v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, his house in Westminster, 20 Feb 1595. In Burghley's hand; with address and seal. On the departure of the French ambassador [Jean de la Fin, sieur de Beauvoir La Nocle].

ff. 206r-207v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 1 Mar 1595. Draft.

ff. 208r-209v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 4 Mar 1595. Draft.

ff. 210r-211v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, the Court, 9 Mar 1595. In Cecil's hand; with address. In favour of Monsieur Chovin, and to give testimony to Henri IV how much the Queen thinks herself beholding to him. Burghley has asked Edmondes to write rarely but when great occasion is offered, but Cecil urges him that His Lordship means that he shuld not be sparing but use his good discretion, 'Her M[ajes]ty hath given him a Cheyne of 240 crownes'.

ff. 212r-213v: Letter of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, Whitehall, 9 Mar 1595. On redress for English merchants plundered at sea.

ff. 214r-215v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Westminster, 12 Mar 1595. With signatures and address. On redress for English merchants plundered at sea.

ff. 216r-217v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 21 Mar 1595. Draft.

ff. 218r-219v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, the Court, 21 Mar 1595. On the ransom of an English prisoner [Mr Gorges, brother of Arthur Gorges] in France. In Cecil's hand. With address and seal.

ff. 220r-221v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Whitehall, 3 Apr 1595. With signatures and address. Demanding the restitution of a London ship and cargo seized by Frenchmen.

ff. 222r-223v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 4 Apr 1595. Draft.

ff. 224r-225v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Fontainebleau, 19 Apr 1595. Draft.

ff. 226r-227v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Whitehall, 27 Apr 1595. With signatures and address. Demanding restitution for shipping losses of Anthony Paulet, Captain of the Isle of Jersey, and others of that island.

ff. 228r-v: Letter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, to Thomas Edmondes, the Hugue, 29 Apr 1595. With address and seal. On the operations of the troops in the Low Countries.

ff. 229-230v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to the Privy Council, Paris, 1 May 1595. Draft.

ff. 231r-232v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Fontainebleau, 6 May 1595. Draft.

ff. 233r-234v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, from the Court, 13 May 1595. With Cecil's signature; address. Enclosing a petition of Adrian de Preter, a merchant stranger.

ff. 235r-236v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Troyes, 21 May 1595. Draft.

ff. 237r-238v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dijon, 30 May 1595. Draft.

ff. 239r-240v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dijon, 14 Jun 1595. Draft.

ff. 241r-243v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dijon, 22 Jun 1595. Draft.

ff. 244r-245v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Dijon, 30 Jun 1595. Draft.

ff. 246r-247r: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 'Ausonne', 9 Jul 1595. Draft. The correct order of this letter is f. 246v, 246r, 247v, 247r.

ff. 248r-249v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 'Ausonne', 9 Jul 1595. Draft.

ff. 250r-251v: Letter of Privy Council to Thomas Edmondes, Greenwich, 20 Jul 1595. With signatures; address; seal. On behalf of Thomas Jones, merchant, of Plymouth.

ff. 252r-253v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to (?) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp near 'Lion le Saulmer', 6 Aug 1595. Draft.

ff. 254r-255v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp near 'Lion le Saulmer', 6 Aug 1595. Draft

ff. 256r-257v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Lyon, 27 Aug 1595, with postscript 28 Aug 1595. Draft.

ff. 258r-259v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Lyon, 27 Aug 1595. Draft.

ff. 260r-261v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Lyon, 12 Sep 1595. Draft.

ff. 262r-263v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 25 Sep 1595. Draft.

ff. 264r-265v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, Nonsuch, 8 Oct 1595. With signature and address. On the departure of the French Ambassador [Henri Auguste de Loménie de Brienne], and enclosing a letter from the Queen (see ff. 268r-271r) to Henri IV, defending herself against a charge of lukewarmness against Spain. Edmondes is to see the King before Loménie de Brienne arrives. The letter is her answer to his letter to la Fontaine, written at Lyon, 14 Sep.

ff. 266r-267v: 'The principall points of the Fr: Kings l[ett]re to La Fontaine' [i.e. of the French king's complaints] [Lyon, 14 Sep 1595]. In same secretary's hand as ff. 264r-265v.

ff. 268r-271r: Translation into French of letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Henri IV, King of France (see ff. 264r-265v) in the hand of Edmondes or his usual secretary.

ff. 272r-273v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Paris, 16 Oct 1595. Draft.

ff. 274r-275v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before La Fère, 5 Nov 1595. Draft.

ff. 276r-277v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, court at Richmond, 14 Nov 1595. With Cecil's signature, address, seal. Cecil explains that it is no fault of the Queen's that the French Ambassador has been unable to procure a vessel to carry him to France, and alluding to 'his sower and sullen carriag here'. With Cecil's signature, address, seal.

ff. 278r-279v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before La Fère, 24 Nov 1595. Draft.

ff. 280r-281v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, the Court at Whitehall, 27 Nov 1595. On the Queen's unwillingness to credit a pamphlet 'out of Italie' containing articles between Henri IV and the Pope, 'amongst which theyre is one pryncipallie bynding him to declare himself to be an enemy to the Queene of England'. He reports the news that the Earl of Tyrone and [Hugh] O'Donnell have submitted to Sir John Norris in Ireland.

ff. 282r-v: The humble submission of Hugh [O'Neill], 2nd Earl of Tyrone to Queen Elizabeth I, 18 Oct 1595. Copy.

ff. 283r-284v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before La Fère, 8 Dec 1595. Draft.

ff. 285r-286v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Thomas Edmondes, Richmond, 18 Dec 1595. Signature by Burghley; address. Notifying of the appointment of Sir Henry Unton as Ambassador.

ff. 287r-288v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to Sir Robert Cecil, camp before La Fère, 20 Dec 1595. Draft.

ff. 289r-v, 291r: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, camp before La Fère, 20 Dec 1595. This letter includes the King of France's denial of the agreement alleged in the Italian pamphlet (see ff. 280r-281v). Draft.

ff. 290r-v: Postcript, either to preceding letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (ff. 289r-v), but possibly to one a lost letter to Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex. It follows naturally on from the preceding letter, starting a new sheet where ff. 289r-v finishes at the end of a page. But f. 290v notes, 'Pour Monsieur le conte dessex'. Both drafts. Henri IV says that he has been told that an Envoy from the King of Scotland has been on a secret embassy to the Pope, the Venetians and Florentines, offering 'to enter into common league with them either against her Matte or the K. of Spayne and to make himself a Catholique'.

ff. 292r-293v: Letter of Thomas Edmondes to William Cecil., 1st Baron Burghley, camp before La Fère, 31 Dec 1595. Draft.

ff. 294r-295v: Letter of Frederick IV, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Stuttgart Castle, 27 Jan 1596. In French. With Frederick's signature and seal.

ff. 296r-v: Letter of Queen Elizabeth I to Henri IV, King of France. On seizure of English merchants' goods in Rouen, n.d.

ff. 297r-298v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Sir Henry Unton, court at Richmond, 17 Mar 1596. Demanding redress for English merchants.

ff. 299r-300v: Letter of Sir Robert Cecil to Thomas Edmondes, court at Richmond, 31 Mar 1596. With signature; address; seal. In a long letter on strategic ommitments, he defends the Queen against the King of France's charges 'that her majestie provideth an armie for places more remote, to bring her private utility, and doth therby abandone him to the ennemies violence'.

ff. 301r-302v: Treaty between England and France, Greenwich, 16 May 1596.

ff. 303r-304v: Instructions of Queen Elizabeth I to (?) Thomas Edmondes, n.d. On the negotiations between England, France, and Brussels [?1599-1601]. Incomplete. Copy.

f. 305: Merchant's complaint of goods seized from a ship of his and other goods confiscated in Marseilles, n.d.