ELIZABETH I (1533-1603). Document signed (“Elizabeth R”), letters patent addressed to her treasurer of the chamber, Sir Francis Knollys (1511/12-1596), Havering Palace, 10 July 1568.

ELIZABETH I (1533-1603). Document signed (“Elizabeth R”), letters patent addressed to her treasurer of the chamber, Sir Francis Knollys (1511/12-1596), Havering Palace, 10 July 1568.

One page, 405 x 265mm. Text in a neat secretary hand, with a well-preserved papered seal; Elizabeth’s signature at upper left. Matted and framed with a portrait.

Elizabeth orders a payment to the Master of the Posts, Thomas Randolph: reversing an instruction made on 30 April that the annual payments for the royal posts should be halved, she orders them to be maintained at the level of £700, and for Knollys to make an additional compensatory payment to Thomas Randolph or his deputies of £319 and 19 shillings. Knollys was one of Elizabeth’s most trusted confidants, and in addition to his responsibilities as treasurer of the chamber, he had in May 1568 been charged with the extremely delicate task of handling Mary Queen of Scots after her escape to England, effectively becoming her jailor. Coincidentally, the career diplomat Thomas Randolph (1525/6-1590) had gained the position of Master of the Posts for his own service in connection with Mary Queen of Scots, as Elizabeth’s unacknowledged ambassador at Mary’s court in the five years before 1566.

Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS & MANUSCRIPTS