ROBERT BEALE AND THE QUEEN OF SCOTS
PATRICIA BASING
IN 1953 the British Museum acquired the Yelverton manuscripts, now Add. MSS. 48000-48196,^ from Brigadier R. H. Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and his trustees. The papers of Robert Beale (1541-1601), Clerk to the Council of Elizabeth I, form the core of this collection of historical papers, which never left the custody of Beale's descendants, the Yelverton family, and their heirs. Apart from the papers ofthe Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield House, the Yelverton manuscripts constituted the most important source in private hands for the study of Queen Elizabeth's reign: the manuscripts reflect Beale's activities as an antiquary and diplomat as well as an administrator. One volume. Add. MS. 48049,^ contains papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots, and in particular to negotiations with Mary, which took place between 1581 and 1584, in which Beale was involved. Many of these items, which include original instructions and copies of correspondence with Mary, are printed from other sources.^ Of the unpublished material, six letters, five from Mary and one written by Nau, her secretary, on her behalf, are the subject of the present article. All six items are related to the negotiations with Mary held in 1583-4. Since 1569 Mary had been in the custody of George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, chiefly at Sheffield, with shorter spells at other Shrewsbury properties, namely Chatsworth, Wingfield Manor and Worksop.^ The crises ofthe Northern Rebellion and the Ridolfi plot in the early years of her captivity were followed by quieter times. Mary's supporters in Scotland were finally defeated in 1573 when Edinburgh Castle fell and the government of Scotland under the Regent, the Earl of Morton, was friendly towards England. While unhappy with her confinement, she may have decided to bide her time: she had a strong claim to the throne of England and, since Elizabeth, then aged about forty, was nine years her senior and unmarried, it was possible that she might eventually inherit the Crown. However, as the years passed, desperation at her long imprisonment caused Mary not only to seek assistance from abroad, particularly from her cousins, the Guise, and from Phihp II, but to cast around for other means of improving her lot. Moreover, the situation in Scotland changed in 1579 with the arrival at the Scots court of Esme Stuart, Sieur d'Aubigny, the half-French cousin of James VI, a supporter of Mary and ally of the Guise. He soon exercised powerful influence over James, who created him Duke of Lennox, while the Regent Morton was deposed and subsequently executed. Belief that
65 the party in power in Scotland was favourable to her cause may have influenced Mary to make the proposal that was to be the basis of negotiations between Scotland, Elizabeth and Mary for the next few years, namely that James should be associated with her as joint ruler in the Crown of Scotland, and on 5 January 1581 she appointed the Duke of Guise her agent' specialement aux ouvertures proposees entre nous et nostre tres aime filz pour son association a la corone d'Escosse'.^ Mary's position, set out in detail in instructions dated 28 October 1581 which she drew up for James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, Mary's ambassador at the French court, whom she hoped to send as envoy to Scotland,^ was that since her abdication at Lochleven was forced, James was not King until she shared the right with him as joint ruler. Mary hoped to use the negotiations as a lever to secure her release from English captivity: on 10 October she had written to Elizabeth to suggest they send a joint embassy to Scotland, a letter that contained veiled threats of retribution from Scotland if the association were accomplished and she were not released.^ Elizabeth was at this time faced by hostility not only from the dominant party in Scotland but also from Spain. Relations between England and Spain were bad, owing to English depredations on Spanish shipping and support ofthe Protestant cause in the Netherlands, and Spanish involvement in intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, for example the invasions of Ireland in 1579 and 1580. Mary, who in her isolated position overestimated the lengths to which continental powers would commit themselves on her behalf, dwelt increasingly on foreign schemes: in July 1580 she wrote to Beaton of plans for a French marriage for her son, and the possibility of taking him abroad, to Spain or even to Ireland to link with a Spanish army there.^ Further, Elizabeth was disturbed by the influx of Jesuit missionaries to England, and probably worried more than was necessary about Mary's position as a focus for English Catholic discontent and foreign interference. Therefore, in spite of justifiable caution while Lennox remained the main infiuence on James VI, Elizabeth may have thought that a negotiated settlement would stabilize Scots affairs and reduce the threat from Mary.^ ^ Consequently, in November 1581, Beale was sent to Sheffield to treat with Mary about the proposed joint embassy to Scotland. ^^ Three weeks of inconclusive discussions took place, complicated by Mary's illness, which she exploited with dramatic effect, interviewing Beale on her sickbed. On one occasion she claimed to be dying, and after attempting to comfort her, Beale withdrew 'Because of her and her women weeping in the dark', noting later that 'the parties are so wily with whom a man deals'.^^ He finally left Sheffield around 4 December bearing promises from Mary to acknowledge Elizabeth as rightful Queen of England and not to have dealings with foreign powers or rebels to the prejudice of Elizabeth's person or estate.^^ In spite of these protestations, however, Mary wrote to Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador to England, on 6 April 1582, showing her involvement in a plot by Lennox to invade England and Scotland with help from Spain and the Pope, release Mary and establish Catholicism in England and Scotland. ^^ However, in August 1582, probably with Elizabeth's encouragement,^^ James was seized by a group of Protestant and pro-English nobles and taken to Ruthven Castle, while Lennox was forced to flee abroad. 66 Mary was much upset by this reverse: it is her son's predicament which forms the theme of letter I, addressed to Elizabeth and dated i8 February 1582/3. Mary refers back to a long letter to Elizabeth written on 8 November 1582 in which she set out all her grievances,^^ and asks that an agent may be sent to treat with her concerning her liberty. After representations from the French ambassador,^*^ Elizabeth despatched Beale again to Sheffield to assist Shrewsbury in negotiations with Mary. Their instructions of 6 April 1583, which refer to Mary's letters of November and February, contained orders to refute Mary's complaints and challenge certain aspects of her conduct towards Elizabeth.^^ Particularly mentioned in the instructions is 'a letter of comfort' sent by Mary to supporters abroad 'in her own hand, which contained many poisoned and spiteful terms and speeches meant for us, whom she terms "tyrant", "faithlesse", "antichrist"...'. This is undoubtedly letter II: it is dated 8 April and an endorsement by Beale states that the letter was written at the time ofthe Northern Rebellion, that is 1569-70. The letter was most probably sent to Beaton, and was intended to be shown to Mary's supporters in exile; a postscript asks that the letter be shown to ' them whose names are in mine ordinarie lettre'. The original was in cipher^^ and the present fair copy in English, which bears no marks of amendment or alteration, was almost certainly made in connexion with Beale's mission to Sheffield in April 1583. Mary urges her supporters to be cautious lest suspicions are aroused that could, even literally, prove fatal to her cause, refers to opposition from 'heretickes so muche against the marriage' and praises 'cuttinge of the most faithlesse antichrist and usurper of titles' as work acceptable to God. The letter was written either in April 1569, or April 1570, following the suppression of the rebellion in December 1569 and the defeat and flight of Leonard Dacre in February 1570. Evidence for 1569 as the date of the letter is strong: by April of that year Mary was actively seeking assistance from abroad. As early as September 1568 Mary wrote to her childhood friend Elizabeth, Queen of Spain, asking France and Spain to bring diplomatic pressure on Elizabeth to restore Mary to Scotland, 'elle n'oseroit le refeuser, car elle est assez en doubte elle mesmes de quelque insurrections'. Mary continues to mention supporters in England ready to take risks for her cause, asks for a cipher with the Spanish ambassador and states her intention 'me soubmetre a tous dangers pour establir toute ceste isle a l'antique et bonne foy'.^** Further, in January 1569 De Spes, the Spanish ambassador, reported to Philip II that the Bishop of Ross, John Leslie, Mary's agent in London, had visited him at midnight 'to offer the goodwill of his mistress and many gentlemen of this country'.^^^ Rumours of plans for a marriage between Mary and the Duke of Norfolk were already strong enough by December 1568 for Elizabeth to have challenged Norfolk about the matter, and by May 1569 Norfolk and Mary were corresponding.^^ Meanwhile Norfolk, who was involved with other nobles in the early part of 1569 in an abortive attempt to oust Cecil from his position as Elizabeth's chief adviser, was also in touch with De Spes. Relations between the English government and Spain had been bad since the English seizure of Spanish payships in December
67 1568: in February 1569 Norfolk and the Earl of Arundel, through the mediation ofthe banker Ridolfi, promised return of the Spanish money and ships and the establishment of a Catholic government with Elizabeth's consent, once they were rid of Cecil.^2 Further, if, as seems most likely, Mary's postscript 'my L. hathe dealt with the three brethren in lawe who seeme to be willinge but fearefull like the rest' refers to Norfolk's three brothers-in-law, the remark only makes sense in April 1569. Lord Scrope was an active supporter ofthe government against the Northern rebels, while in April 1570 the Earl of Westmorland, who finally fled abroad in September 1570, was a fugitive in Scotland. The evidence for 1569 is therefore overwhelming. Only one item poses any problem: the reference to the 'traiterous choice' of Huntingdon, which can be interpreted as the appointment of Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, as Mary's guardian in addition to the Earl of Shrewsbury in September 1569, after rumours of Norfolk's plans to marry Mary were confirmed by Elizabeth. As a 'puritan' Huntingdon was particularly opposed to Mary and she felt she had personal cause to fear him, since he also had a claim to the English throne through his mother's descent from Margaret, Countess of Salisbury. On 20 September Mary writes from Wingfield to Bertrand de la Mothe Fenelon, the French ambassador to England, that she is to leave for Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire the following day 'ou je seray mise entre les mains des plus grandz ennemys que j'ay au monde, assavoir, du comte de Huntington...'.^^ On 25 September she writes to Fenelon again of Huntingdon: 'II pretend au droict que je pretendz, et le pence avoir; jugez si ma vie sera seurement', and in the postscript to this letter she complains ofthe injustice which has placed her in the hands 'd'ung qui pretend a la couronne comme moy'.^^ Probably Mary exaggerated the danger, but her personal experiences of violence in Scotland may have caused her to fear the worst: on i October she complains to Elizabeth of a search made of her rooms: 'm'est-on venu fouiller mes coffres, entrant aveques pistollets et armes en ma chambre, non sans crainte de ma vie'.^^ Although Huntingdon ceased to be Mary's guardian in January 1570, her dislike and suspicion ofthe Earl are recurring themes in her letters.^^ However, the only date for the letter which makes sense is April 1569; and, in fact, another explanation for the reference to Huntingdon is possible. This may be found in the examination of the Bishop of Ross, who was put in the Tower after the arrest ofthe Duke of Norfolk in November 1571: the Bishop stated that when Norfolk tried the opinion of various noblemen about his proposed marriage with Mary, Huntingdon was vehemently opposed, and that this was the real reason for Mary's dislike of Huntingdon.^' If this were the case, Mary may have felt, albeit unjustly, that Huntingdon's opposition stemmed from his claim to the throne rather than religious zeal. Therefore 'this traiterous choice of Huntingdon' may refer to his views on Norfolk's marriage plans. Beale arrived at Sheffield on 12 April 1583 and on 16 April he and Shrewsbury wrote a long report to Elizabeth. ^^ In the course ofthe negotiations with Mary, they had 'read to her the English letter written in cipher at the time of the northern rebellion, which she utterly denied to have proceeded from her, renouncing the salvation of her own soul 68 if ever she were privy to it'.^^ Mary complained not only that Elizabeth had sent Beale without proper letters of credence but also that she had had no response concerning her freedom, and she wrote to Elizabeth on this subject, probably on 17 April.^*' In the end, Mary proposed that she and James would recognize and uphold Elizabeth's right to the English throne, while retaining their own rights to the English succession; Mary herself was willing to remain in England.^^ Beale set out from Sheffield on Monday 29 April, probably bearing letters from Mary to Elizabeth^^ which would have included letter III, an autograph memorandum dated 28 April to Beale from Nau, on behalf of the Queen. In this letter, which repeats requests concerning Mary's servants, Mary also asks that George Buchanan's Rerum scoticarum historia, which contained a scurrilous account of the events surrounding Darnley's murder and Mary's subsequent marriage to Bothwell, should be banned in England. This time Mary did not have to wait long. As a result of Beale's mission. Sir Walter Mildmay and Shrewsbury were appointed to treat further with Mary with proper letters of credence, while Beale was sent to assist and to act as messenger between Elizabeth and Sheffield. Their instructions were drafted on 24 May and Mildmay and Beale arrived at Sheffield on i June.^^ The negotiations were inconclusive. Mary, who was eager to reach an agreement, suggested she remain in custody in England with a greater measure of liberty.^* However, Elizabeth delayed, saying that Scots nobles opposed to the Enghsh interest were poisoning the King's mind against the treaty and that this matter would have to be resolved by an English agent. ^^ Around Saturday 22 June Beale returned to London bringing letters from Mary, Shrewsbury and Mildmay to the Court,^^ which must have included the original of letter IV, from Mary to Elizabeth dated 16 June, represented here by a copy in Nau's hand. Mary, who was deeply disappointed at the delays in reaching agreement, asks that Elizabeth should tell her directly if she does not intend to complete the treaty, but does not write at length since she has left it to Shrewsbury and Mildmay 'de vous faire plus amplement entendre ce que de bouche je leur ay communique'. It was at this point that Elizabeth discovered the limitations of Mary's influence over her son. On 29 June, Robert Bowes, the English agent in Scotland, reported that James had no wish for the Association, and that it was feared that Mary's party in Scotland might be encouraged if she were set at liberty.^^ Further, a palace revolution in Scotland on 27 June 1583 had replaced the Ruthven conspirators with men potentially hostile to the English interest, and Elizabeth refused to proceed, declaring that Mary must have had foreknowledge of events in Scotland.^^ Meanwhile, Walsingham's spies were watching the frequent visits of a Catholic gentleman, Francis Throckmorton, to the French embassy in London. As early as April 1583 an agent with access to the embassy wrote to Walsingham that he hoped to subvert the ambassador's secretary.^^ This secretary was Nicolas Leclerc, Seigneur de Courcelles, and from the summer of 1583 a large part of Mary's correspondence with the ambassador, Michel de Castelnau, Seigneur de Mauvissiere, is known through copies made by Courcelles for the English government. Throckmorton, who was known to correspond with Mary, was arrested in November 1583: under torture he revealed a plan 69 for the Duke of Guise to invade England and Scotland with Spanish and Papal support, and as a result the Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, was expelled from England in January 1584. ** Alarm at the discovery ofthe plot may have prompted the government to re-open negotiations with Mary. In answer to points raised by Mauvissiere, Elizabeth drafted instructions to Shrewsbury on or about 8 March 1584: firstly, to question Mary's sincerity in desiring a treaty with Elizabeth, in view of recent events; secondly, to assure her of Elizabeth's support against rumours, allegedly spread by the Countess of Shrewsbury, that Mary had had an affair with the Earl; and finally to reassure Mary of her personal safety should Shrewsbury cease to be her guardian.^^ Mary's subsequent interview with Shrewsbury may have taken place on 21 March, for on that day she wrote to Mauvissiere in cipher, chiefly about the Countess of Shrewsbury, saying that Shrewsbury had spoken to her and promising a longer letter the next day.^^ Consequently, on 22 March Mary wrote again to Mauvissiere and also to Elizabeth.*^ Both these items are mentioned in letter V, another letter addressed to Mauvissiere, probably written also on 22 March, and copied by Courcelles, in which Mary gives an account of her conversation with Shrewsbury. This is very close to the account given by Shrewsbury in his report to Elizabeth of 23 March.'*^ Naturally, Mary denied foreknowledge of events in Scotland and dealings with the Throckmorton conspiracy. Her own account is a little more detailed than Shrewsbury's, and she concludes with a request for Mauvissiere to go to Scotland in a joint embassy with representatives from herself and Elizabeth. Shortly afterwards, in April 1584, a secretary of the King of France visited Mary concerning her dowry, and Elizabeth appointed William Waad, a diplomat fluent in French, to accompany him to Sheffield. Mary took the opportunity to speak to Waad, who wrote a long report of his conference with Mary.'^^ Waad made the point that negotiations had been broken off because James, instead of agreeing to the treaty, had persecuted and exiled nobles who favoured friendship between England and Scotland, and eventually Mary gave two verbal undertakings: firstly, to attempt to use her influence with James on behalf of the disaffected Scots nobles, and secondly to restrain the subversive activities of her associates in France. Both these offers were obviously in the English interest and on 13 May Beale arrived at Sheffield for another round of negotiations.^^ Mary, however, refused to fulfil her promises unless she was sure ofthe treaty and granted her liberty.^^ Elizabeth was not amenable to this kind of pressure and on 23 May, declaring that she hoped 'she shall never live to see those days that the crown of England shall depend on the crown of Scotland', she broke off the negotiations and recalled Beale.'' Elizabeth's letter arrived at Sheffield on 26 May and on that day Mary had an interview with Shrewsbury and Beale, at which she protested her sincerity but pointed out that, while she was not sure of Elizabeth, she needed other friends. On the following day, 27 May, Mary saw Beale and Shrewsbury again. At this meeting Mary conceded that envoys should go to Scotland before a treaty was concluded between herself and Elizabeth, agreed to attempt to reconcile the disaffected Scots nobles with James, but 70 4iWwa' que ^A*- Cc
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/. Letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, to Queen Elizabeth, 27 May 1584. Copy, in the hand of Claude Nau. Add. MS. 48049, f. 275 insisted that the French ambassador should visit her before he went to Scotland.^^ Letter VI (fig. i) was written to Elizabeth on 27 May and carried back to London by Beale shortly afterwards. Mary regrets the collapse ofthe negotiations and the apparent loss of Elizabeth's goodwill. Beale, she says, will explain her position fully. She also refers to 'les voyes obliques de mes ennemys' and, in the subscription, to those who wish to alienate her from Elizabeth. These remarks probably refer to Walsingham, whom Mary blamed for the breakdown ofthe negotiations. In a letter to Mauvissiere of 31 May she says that Beale's report on the negotiations was deliberately misinterpreted and falsified by Walsingham and that Beale was as angry as she because ' je n'ay jamais diet ces choses comme elles ont ete prises, et luy ne les a nullement ainsy rapportees et mandees'.^** Whether there was any truth in this or not, after Beale's return Elizabeth expressed herself better satisfied with the negotiations and in July Fontenay, Nau's brother-in-law, went to Scotland as Mary's agent.^^ Mary, however, did not know that the negotiations had always been doomed to failure, since James did not wish to share his title to the throne with his mother.^^ In the late autumn of 1584, Nau and Patrick, Master of Gray, who had been in Beaton's service but had recently returned to Scotland, arrived at the English court to negotiate. Mary's hopes were high at this point, but these hopes were soon to be dashed. On 22 January 1585, soon after his return to Scotland, Gray wrote to Elizabeth referring to the 'pretended association between his majesty and his mother' and stating that the Scots King and Council had declared the association was 'a thing very disadvantageous both for the estate of his majesty and country', and should never be.^^ Mary knew nothing of this and in early March was still urging Mauvissiere to press for his mission to Scotland.'*'* However, on 11 March Mary received a letter from James saying that he did not want to enter into a treaty with her, giving her captivity as an excuse.^^ Devastated though she was by this news, Mary's reaction was to fight rather than sink into despair. She immediately wrote to Mauvissiere demanding that, when treating with James, he should not call him King, and that he ask Elizabeth whether she intended to maintain James in his usurpation.^^ Later, on 23 March, she wrote to Elizabeth threatening to deprive James of any rights derived from herself and stating her intention to look abroad for assistance: 'Je ne doubte point...qu'en la Chrestiente je ne trouve assez d'heritiers qui auront les ongles assez fortz pour retenir ce que je leur mettray en mayn'.^^ Her defiance was to lead within two years to the fiasco ofthe Babington plot and the scaffold. Mary's tragedy, from the time she fled to England, was that she did not grasp the political realities of her situation: that Elizabeth would not risk setting the Catholic heir to her throne at liberty in England, or worse, in France; that neither Spain nor France was prepared to mount a major military expedition against England on her behalf unless success was certain; and that her son, sovereign in his own right since babyhood, was unlikely to want to share his authority with a mother he could not remember. Mary's bitterness and desperation at an imprisonment that she naturally regarded as unjust are understandable; in the circumstances, however, it must have appeared to Elizabeth that her only safe option was to keep Mary in custody. Indeed, 72 Mary realized that Elizabeth protected her from her enemies both in England and Scotland. Nevertheless, isolated from her friends and supporters and increasingly out of touch with the outside world, she played into the hands of those in England who wished to see her dead by involving herself in intrigues that had little hope of success. As for Beale, his last missions to Mary were in November 1586 to announce the death sentence passed against her, and in the following February when he bore the death warrant to Fotheringhay.''^
THE LETTERS Editorial policy: abbreviated words have been expanded, but suspension marks on French and Enghsh words have been ignored unless the sense is affected. Capitals have been used sparingly. Punctuation has not been modernized. Where pauses between sentences are unpunctuated in the text, extra spaces have been left in the transcripts. 'Sr' is expanded to 'Sieur', and Wre' and 'nre' to *vostre' and 'nostre'. Square brackets [] indicate editorial insertions and a dotted line...illegible text. Insertions in the text are shown by italic and deletions are placed within angled brackets <)• Underlining in the text is reproduced in the transcript, as are lower case 'i', 'j', 'u' and W.
I. Mary, Queen of Scots, to Elizabeth I, 18 Feb. 1583. Add. MS. 48049, f. 298rv. English translation. English secretary hand. Madame having already by my former*^ layd downe my greefes vnto youe at good lengthe of mv miserable estate in this captvvitve. and my sonnes also no lesse dangerous bondage, being at this present in the hands of thos traytors that haue possessed them selues of him, I will onlye renew the same unto youe, to thend yt maye please youe to take in th'end some better and more honorrable resolucion for vs bothe, than I could hetherto receaue, notwithstanding the ^ood endevour I haue still vsed to deserue well bv mv svnceare meanings towardes your self, and hurtfull forbearing of myne ennemyes, who (as their dailye attemptes and practises do sufficientlie witnesse) seeke nothing more than the present ruin and ouerthrowe of me self and my said sonne, wherein I must needes tell youe francklye, that they haue more soddenly than peradventure youe could foresee, and contrarie to your owne good nature stept already farther before youe than is good ether for your self or for us. And to this purpos I cannot but make my moane vnto youe that my said ennemies should be hable to prevaile so much with youe, as to make youe to cast of your neerest and most faithfull and loving kinsfolk, who desier nothing more than to be wholly yours (which they haue endevored them selues by all meanes possible to witnesse unto youe) and to geue such advauntages uppe, them bothe to their ennemyes (naye your owne yf all thinges weare well sifted) and also to their owne naturall subiectes (a president most daungerous to all other princes) suffering their lyves to be with your knowledge and vnder your borowed name, perhappes, vsed in this sorte by their tyranny. I was neuer better disposed to assure youe
73 of me self and my sonne than the last yere, having made vnto youe all the offers and ouertures therof that weare possible, and vsed all the meanes I might to perfourme the samme for myne owne parte. And therfore myne ennemyes fearing that this good purpos would come to passe, and that the revnion would take place ending to th'establishing of the quiet estate of this island, with the common weale of the same and your owne rest and safetye, they haue ever since procured the more seuerity and hard vsage to be shewed to vs bothe, which their ministers and followers in Scotland haue lately executed there against him, wherwith I haue ben more greevid than with any other practise that was euer intendid to myne owne ouerthrowe. Pardon me then I beseeche youe yf being forced therto, I do desier at your handes that youe will suffer none of vour subiectes to entermedle in the causes of Scotland, under vour direction, contrarye to our common consent, or that yf youe will interpose your self therein for that we are your so neere neighbours and kinsflolkes [sic], that yt maye be don directlye for my sonnes safetye and the restoring of him to libertve. whos Ivfe cannot be out of danger so long as he shall remaine 6n captvvitve> captif in the handes of his auntvent and most corrupted traytours who I knowe will neuer thinck them selues assured of him whatsoeuer promises he mave make unto them. For me self besides thos requestes that I haue already made vnto youe for my delyueraunce out of this prison, I must nowe let youe also understand that I fynd my restraint therein to be dailye greater and greater both of body and mynd, so that I must needes be more earnest with youe in my said suits than ever I was, fynding yt the readyest waye to ridd youe of all care that maye ourecom me, and to purchase some rest vnto me self during this smaule tyme that I haue yet to lyve. I beseeche youe therfore that youe will thinck of vt and to send me some one of your servauntes to treete therof. vnles voue had rather that I should send some of mvne vnto voue. or ells take some order otherwves in the matter. In the meane while I cannot but yeld youe thanckes as well for the lettres of fauor youe graunted vnto le Sieur [f 298V] du Ruisseaux^^ in furtheraunce of my causes in Fraunce, as for that yt hathe pleased youe to yeld that I shall haue the two women to wayte in my Chamber, assuring youe that I did not require tham without great cause.'' And to conclude yt maye please youe to thincke with your self howe great a greefe yt must needes be to me to see my good will towardes youe and the offres which hertofore T haue made vnto youe to be so abused and so slip-htlv accompted of. Beseeching god to make knowen vnto youe the truth of all, and in what sorte I haue caryed meself towardes you, etc. Febr. 18 1582. [Endorsement, f 299V]: 'February 1582. The queene of Scotts to her M^^ enghshed.
IL Mary, Queen of Scots, to supporters abroad, 8 Apr. 1569.^' Add. MS. 48049, f. 266rv. Copy in English, made in 1583, of a transcript from cipher. Enghsh secretary hand. If ever Prince were bounde to trewe and faithfull frendes, subiectes, seruantes, and counsellours, for loyall seruice don at home: then are we ten times bounde to you, our most trewe and constant pilleres, who in forreine countreies contente your selues, who 74 as banished men for our sake continuallie remaininge to care how to enlarge our Iibertie, to restore us to our rightfull seate, to cease our dailie griefes, to suppresse our usurpinge and undeserued foes, to quenche the rage of erroneous tirantes, to the furtheraunce of gods worde, to the releasement and conforte of Christian[s]. What workes could be more acceptable to god, then to succour the Catholicke Churche, to defende the rightfull title of a prince, to deliuer afflicted Christians from bondage, and to restore iustice to all men, by cuttinge ofthe most faithlesse antichrist and usurper of titles, the destroier of iustice, the persecutour of god and his Churche, the disturber of all quiet states, the onelye maintainer of all seditious and mischieuous rebells of god and all Catholike princes, havinge a waye made by our holie father. Wherfore we beseeche you to proceade in gods name and our blessed Ladies, with the assistaunce of all the holie companie. For seinge our lovinge brethren haue so muche to doe with these heretickes so muche against the mariage,^^ my L. and the rest so fearefull y'^ nothinge can be don nor depende no longer then the sommer: we praie you to be carefull in puttinge their enterprises in execucion, with out colour of suspicion. For if it be anie waye suspected, it will not onelie hinder our Iibertie, deface our attemptes, cast us awaye from hope forever hereafter, but also be in daunger of deathe, withall that be here anie waye affectionate unto us. Therfore we praie yow that the multitude of bookes'^ maie be staied, least that they be founde to our more hurte then [f 266v] good. For their vile abuses, their villainous practises, their ungodlie gouernment and traiterous attemptes be so suflicientlie knowen, that they haue more enemies then frendes, in so muche that beinge once downe there wilbe litle sorrowe made and revengement. For besides all other causes, this traiterous choice of Huntingdon^"" hath procured suche to be their enemies as before were their frendes, althoughe they thincke that it is not knowen. Suche is the worke of god to suffer the wicked to seeke their owne destruccion. Thus prayinge yow, that there maie be good consideracion had in all execuciones, which is our chiefe praier, we desire to be hable to requite your constant truthe before we dye. In the meane time we committ yow to god our Lorde. From our Chamber the viij*^ Aprill. Your lovinge Mistress and Souueraigne when god so please. We praie yow^^ to shewe this lettre to them whose names are in mine ordinarie lettre and tell them that my L. hathe dealt with the three brethren in lawe^^ who seeme to be willinge but fearefull like the rest. [Endorsement, f 267V, in Beale's autograph.]: 'The coppy of a lettre from the Quene of Scottes in the tyme of y^ Northern rebellion'.
III. Memorandum from Claude al. Jacques Nau, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, to Robert Beale, Sheffield, 28 Apr. 1583. Add. MS. 48049, f. 301. Autograph, in Nau's formal Memoire a M"^ Beale pour la Royne dEscosse. Qu'il plaise a la Royne dAngleterre promectre a la dite Royne dEscosse de faire dans la fin du moys prochain vn voyage aux baings de Bouxtowns^^ Accorder les passeports 75 des damoiselles de Seton et de Courcelles lesquelles desirent se retirer, ladite Damoiselle de Seton a cause de son indisposition quasi continuelle l'autre pour se rendre en relligion comme de long temps elle a delibere si qu'au lieu de la dite Damoiselle de Seton Madame de Ledington puisse venir pardeca.^*' Que ce pauure garcson Escossois'^ puisse aussi estre licentie nestant homme ainsi que ledit sieur Beale pourra tesmoigner de cappacite quelconque subiect a soubz^on Que les deux femmes de chambre'^ dernierement accordees a l'officier qui les [a]" accompaignees puissent passer ici si tost quelles arriueront a Londres af!in que s'il est possible elles soient auec ladite Royne dEscosse durant son voyage des baings ou elle en aura plus grand besoing La nouuelle Histoire de Bukanan^^ soit deffendue par ladite Royne dAngleterre auec punition des libraires qui la venderont et debiteront en ce Royaulme et de tous aultres qui en seront trouuez saisiz. Sheffeild xxviij"'^ Apuril 1583 Nau [Endorsement, f. 301V, in Beale's autograph]: '23 Aprilis 1583.^^ Memoriall touching the Scotish Queene.'
IV. Mary, Queen of Scots, to Elizabeth I, Sheffield, 16 June 1583. Add. MS. 48049, f. 300. Copy, in Nau's formal hand. Madame ma bonne soeur Ores que voz depputez'^ departans auec telle irresolution de tout ce que jay traicte auec eulx mayent quasi este tout subiect de vous en escripre je ne veulx ce neantmoins mescongnoistre lobligation que je vous ay en particulier pour la bonne affection delaquelle jay entendu qu'il vous a pleu embrasser cest affaire Ce qui a este le principal motif de me faire soubzmectre auec si peu de respect de moy mesmes aux conditions proposees pour ma demeure en ce pays et non pour aulcun bien aise et aduantaige que j'en pense recepvoir Car de vray quand vous l'aurez bien considere vous trouueriez qu'au lieu qu'en ceste prison de mon corps je demeure libre de toutes autres choses j'engaige fort estroictement vers vous par la captiuite que jauois acceptee ores que soubz le nom et apparence de liberte non seulement moy mesmes en corps en coeur et en toutes mes actions mais aussi mon filz et tous mes amys en la Chrestiente au moins ce que je puis auec eulx en toutes sortes Ce que je ne ferois jamais (asseurez vous) pour vne estendue de quelques miles sans lesperance de vostre faueur et bonne grace qui est la chose du monde qu'au jour dhuy je desire le plus et que deuant dieu je proteste auoir le plus d'enuie de meriter Or Madame ayant tres sincerement procedde aussi auant qu'il estoit en moy pour vous satisfaire de tout poinct (dont je vous prie vous souuenir de quelque facon que les choses succedent) je ne reste plus que vostre derniere resolucion laquelle je vous supplie ne trouuer mauuais si je vous presse d'auoir sans aulcun delay puisque de vostre part ny de la mienne il ny a rien qui la puisse justement retarder Car
76 SI vous n auez agreable de venir maintenant a conclusion de ce traicte plus doulcement en rescepueray je un prompt et plain reffuz affin de me resouldre pour mon estat a l'advenir que de membrouiller par my tant de vaines esperances et remises Et au contraire s'il vous plaist accepter mes ouuertures que je puis dire plus que raisonnables vous m'obligerez dauantaige me les accordant franchement que de les faire deppendre des passions desordonnees de troys ou quatre trahistres^^ qui sont pres de mon filz du pouuoir et mercenaire affection desquelz en vostre endroict je m'asseure que vous ne vouldriez faire comparaison auec la naturelle inclinacion et sincere disposition d'vne qui vous est si proche en sang comme moy qui pour ne vous importuner de plus Iongue lettre remectz a Monsieur le Comte de Shereusbury et Sir Watter Myldmay de vous faire plus amplement entendre ce que de bouche je leur ay communique Et pour ce que ce gentilhomme^^ vous yra a ce que jentends le premier trouverjV vous supplie le charger sur son debuoir vers vous de vous dire plainement ce quil en a entendu me voulant rien adjouster sinon que dieu me rende ason divine jugement comme je suis disposee de m'vnir entierement a vous et tout ce qui deppend de moy sil vous plaist m'y recepuoir ceste fois pryant sa diuine bonte de vous faire penetrer en linterieur de mon coeur pour y prendre lasseurance necessaire a vostre satisfaction le manutantion de mon filz et le bien commun de ceste isle Sheffield ce xvj""^ Juin 1583.
Vostre humble et tres affectionnee bonne soeur et Cousine telle que jay tousjours desire destre vous supplir m'accepter et tenir a ladvenir Marie R [Endorsement, f 300V]: 'Copie of y^ S.Q, lettres to hir Ma^^ 16 June 1583'.
V. Mary, Queen of Scots, to Michel de Castelnau, Seigneur de Mauvissiere, French ambassador to England, 22 March 1584.^^ Add. MS. 48049, f. 274rv. Copy, in the hand of Nicolas Leclerc, Seigneur de Courcelles.^" Oultre la lettre que jay escripte de ma main a la Royne d'Angleterre ma bonne soeur et a vous ^ jay estime vous debuoir adiouster ce mot pour vous dire ce que jay respondu au Comte de Shereusbery ace quil ma diet de sa part affin que soyez suffizamment informe de tout Et touchant le premier poinct que luy le sieur de Walter Myldmay et Besle me peuuent estre bons tesmoings sy en temps et auec rayson je ne m'estois pas suffizamment dechargee du traicte selon que j'auois tousiours proteste que toutes choses par moy dictes ou faictes durant icelluy demeuroroient nulles et en cas que je n'eusse une finalle resolution de ladite Royne dedans le xx jours appoinctes entre lesdites commissaires et moy apres les departements d jcy desdites Myldmay et Besle**^ aquoy ledit Sieur Comte m'ayant replicque que cela estoit seulement ung artifftce du chargement que je debuoys sauoir advenir de bref en Escosse Je luy dictz que je n'en auois eu aulcune congnoissance Mais qu'il estoit bien ayse de preuoir mon filz estant detenu contre sa 77 vollunte par noz mauluais subiectz; et aparent danger de sa vye estoit pour se deliurer d'une telle captiuite par quelque moyen que ce fust, et d'vng gouuernement sy illegitime 79 et fidellite vers sa Royne et son estat et l'obligation que en sa conscience et pour son honneur il estime auoir a la manutention de la verite comme il feroict plus manifestement aparoistre sy tost quil seroict a la court ou il esperoict prest de sa'cheminer en bref Et pour conclusion Monsieur de Mauvissiere je vous prie de ne vous lasser de me faire plaisir en choses justes et raisonnables et qui importent a vostre Roy et a son estat et ne vous prieray jamais que destre comme vous auez este treshonnorable et bon Ministre entre le Roy Monsieur mon beau frere et la Royne madite bonne soeur Estimant que pour cella vostre voyage en escosse^^ estoit plus que necessaire lequel au lieu de laduancer sy j'en parlois {feroict retarde envers^^ que> comme je le trouve VL Mary, Queen of Scots, to Elizabeth I, Sheffield, 27 May 1584. Add. MS. 48049, f. 275. Copy in Nau's formal hand. Madame ma bonne soeur. Je ne puis que je ne regrecte grandement d'auoir veu comme en un esclair tant par les lettres de lAmbassadeur de france que par le raport de ce Gentilhomme M' Beale telle demonstration de vostre bonne volonte vers moy pour si soubdain sesuanouir et perdre ses deux considerations que ledit Beale me fit hier entendre de vostre part de fort peu de moment au prix de l'entiere ouuerte et sincere affection dont jauois sus vn si simple message (tant le ressentiment de ce que je vous suis peut auec moy) commance a embrasser tout ce que je pensois et m'auoit este propose vous pouuoir seruir de contentement et a moy dacquerir vostre bonne grace. II vous dira amplement le desir qui me demeure dy parvenir aultant qu'auec mon honneur et seurete je le pourray faire estimant que d'aultant plus je m'y offre et oblige franchement et de bon coeur vous ne me vouldriez beger^° arien au contraire Et pour ce attendant la resolution que sur ce il vous plaira prendre je ne vous troubleray pour le present de plus Iongue lettre si non pour prier Dieu de vous faire congnoistre au vray la difference (quil y a) dentre les voyes obliques de mes ennemys et la directe auec moy et honneur et aduantages que vous pouuez remporter delvne ou lautre me recommandant bien humblement a vos bonnes graces Sheffield ce xxvij"'^ May 1584. Vostre tres affectionnee cousine malgre ceulx qui vous veulent rendre autre vers elle Marie R [Endorsements, f 276V]: 'Pour Mr. Beale'.^^ '27 May 1584. The S.Q, letter to her I am grateful to Dr David J. Shaw, Senior in History, St Hilda's College, Oxford, for her Lecturer in French, University of Kent at helpful comments on the article, and to my Canterbury, who gave generous assistance vvith colleague Dr Scot McKendrick for his advice on the French texts, to Dr Jenny Wormald, Fellow difficult points of transcription. 80 1 The British Library, Catalogue of Additions to Mary's denial raises the question of forgery by the Manuscripts. The Yelverton Manuscripts, someone hostile to Mary. However, to admit (forthcoming 1994). knowledge of such a letter would have been 2 A similar volume. Add. MS. 48027, contains extremely dangerous and it is unlikely that a material relating to the trial of the Duke of forger would have included the obscure sentence Norfolk, the Babington plot and the trial and about Huntingdon. Further, there is no reason to execution of Mary. suspect that Elizabeth doubted the authenticity 3 Particularly in the Calendar of the State Papers of the letter. relating to Scotland [SP Scot.'] and A. Labanoff 30 Lab., vol. V, pp. 217-19, where the letter is (ed.), Lettres, instructions et me'moires de Marie wrongly assigned to 1581. For a copy of this Stuart... (London, 1844) [Lab.]. letter in the formal hand of Nau, dated 27 Apr., 4 For a detailed and well documented narrative see Add. MS. 48049, ff. 292-293V. account of events while Mary was in Shrews- 31 SP Scot. 15S1-15S3. nos. 425, 428. bury's custody, see J. D. Leader, Mary Queen of 32 Ibid., no. 425, p. 425. Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880). 33 For these negotiations see ibid., in particular 5 Lab., vol. V, p. 185. nos. 481, 483, 498-9, 503, 518, 521, 529-33, and 6 SP Scot. isSi-isSj, no. 74. A. Teulet (ed.). Relations Politiques de la France 7 Ibid., no. 68. et de PEspagne avec PEcosse au XVT siecle (Paris, 8 Lab., vol. V, p. 174. 1862), vol. iii, pp. 229-37. 9 It is possible that Elizabeth never took the 34 SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 499. negotiations seriously, merely hoping to divert 35 Ibid., no. 518. Mary from plotting. Cf. Conyers Read, Mr 36 Ibid., nos. 524-33 passim. Secretary Walsingham and the policy of Queen 37 Ibid., no. 546. Elizabeth (Oxford, 1925), vol. ii, pp. 199-200. 38 Ibid., no. 602. 10 Instructions and reports: SP Scot. 1581-1 $83, 39 Ibid., nos. 436, 437. See also J. Bossy, Giordano nos. 79-85, 87-^0. Bruno and the Embassy Affair (New Haven and n Ibid., no. 85. London, 1991), pp. 19-21. 12 Ibid., no. 89. 40 SP Span. 1580-1586, nos. 358, 359, 362-6. 13 Calendar of Letters and State Papers relating to 41 SP Scot. 1584-1585, no. 34. English affairs ...in the Archives ofSimancas [SP 42 Lab., vol. V, p. 433. Span.] i$8o-'is86, no. 242. 43 Ibid., pp. 440, 446. 14 Ibid., nos. 244, 276. 44 SP Scot. 1584-1585, no. 47. . 15 SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 203; Lab., vol. v, p. 45 Ibid., no. 72. 318. 46 Instructions, 4 May, ibid., no. 91; report, etc., to 16 SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 381. Walsingham, 16, 17 May, ibid., nos. 123, 124. 17 Ibid., no. 383. For the original see Add. MS. 47 Ibid., no. 131. 48049, ff. 210-219V. 48 Ibid., no. 140. 18 SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 400, p. 392. 49 Ibid., no. 147. In fact, Elizabeth had already 19 Lab., vol. ii, pp. 182-7. abandoned the idea of Mauvissiere going to 20 SP Span. 1568-15/g, no. 70, p. 97. Scotland, ibid., nos. 131, 135, 137. 21 W. Murdin (ed.), A Collection of State Papers 50 Lab., vol. V, pp. 474-5. relating to affairs in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 51 SP Scot. 1584-1585, nos. 174, 216. (London, 1759), pp. 179—80. Lab., vol. ii, p. 344. 52 See above p. 69, and n. 37. 22 SP Span. I56g-i5jg, no. 82. 53 SP Scot. 1584-1585, no. 508. 23 Lab., vol. ii, p. 379. 54 Lab., vol. vi, pp. 101-4. 24 Ibid., pp. 380-2. 55 SP Scot. 1584-1585, no. 573. Lab., vol. vi, pp. 25 Ibid., p. 384. For Huntingdon's version of 122-7. this incident see SP Scot. i563-i56g, no. 1166. 56 Lab., vol. vi, p. 125. 26 Lab., vol. iii, pp. 5-6, 25, 58. 57 Ibid., p. 136. 27 Murdin, op. cit., p. 50. 58 SP Scot. i586-i58g, nos. 150, 270. 28 SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 400. 59 Mary's letter to Elizabeth of 8 Nov. 1582. SP 29 Ibid., no. 400, pp. 392-3. The vehemence of Scot. 1581-1583, no. 203; Lab., vol. v, p. 318. 81 60 Du Ruisseau, Nau's brother-in-law and Mary's Mary Lethington, nee Fleming, another of intendant in the Vermandois, visited Mary in the Mary's childhood companions, was the widow of autumn of 1582. He requested on Mary's behalf William Maitland of Lethington. that Elizabeth send letters to the King and 71 This boy was unfit for service but Shrewsbury Queen of France concerning Mary's dowry. SP would not release him without a licence: ibid., Scot. 1581-1583, nos. 46, 192. nos. 388, 526. 61 Mary requested to be allowed two 'femmes de 72 See n. 61. chambres' on account of her illness in her letter 73 Auxiliary omitted. to Elizabeth of 8 Nov. 1582. Ibid., no. 203, p. 74 George Buchanan, Rerum Scoticarum historia 203. (Edinburgh, 1582). 62 For date see pp. 67-8. 75 Error for 28 April.? 63 The proposed marriage between Mary and 76 Sir Walter Mildmay and Beale. Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. 77 A reference to Scots nobles opposed to the 64 For the production and distribution of Catholic treaty. SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 518. literature, banned in England, see A. C. 78 Beale, who carried the letter. Southern, Elizabethan Recusant Prose i55g- 79 For date see p. 70. 1582 (London and Glasgow, 1950), pp. 30-43. 80 Secretary at the French embassy. See pp. 69-70. 65 Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon. 81 For these letters see Lab., vol. v, pp. 440, 446. 66 Probably James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, 82 The negotiations of Mildmay and Beale in June Mary's ambassador at the French court. 1583. Mary had stipulated that her proposals 67 The husbands of Norfolk's three sisters: Charles should be null if Elizabeth did not reply in Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland; Henry, 7th twenty days. Teulet, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 237. Baron Berkeley; Henry, 9th Baron Scrope of 83 Meaning: closely related, closely touching. Bolton. 84 Almost certainly an error here for Francis 68 For examples of this hand in other collections, Throckmorton. Francis Throckmorton probably see letters signed by Mary, Cotton MS. Caligula had two brothers, Thomas and George; cf. C. VIII, ff. 84,85, 86; for another example ofthe Calendar of State Papers, Domestic... 158 i-i5go, elaborate signature on the present memorandum, pp. 136-7, 178, 346, and J. Bossy, op. cit., p. see Cotton MS. Caligula B. V, f. 243, a 102, n. 10. George Throckmorton is identified as document in Nau's cursive hand, dated 1605. Francis's younger brother in SP Span. 1580- 69 Mary obtained permission to visit the baths at 1586, no. 364. Buxton, which lay close to the Countess of 85 Obscured by the centrefold. The four sub- Shrewsbury's property, Chatsworth, on several sequent lines are affected in the same way. occasions between 1573 and 1584. She was not 86 Lower case initial letter in text. allowed to go in 1583, ostensibly because ofthe 87 Rumours allegedly spread by Elizabeth, Count- situation in Scotland, although the activities of ess of Shrewsbury, that Mary had had an affair Francis Throckmorton must also have influenced with her husband. SP Scot. 1584-1585, no. 481. Elizabeth. SP Scot. 1581-1583, no. 602. 88 Mary wanted Mauvissiere to go to Scotland on a 70 These requests were first made in Dec. 1581: joint embassy with representatives of herself and ibid., no. 89. Mary Seton, daughter of George, Elizabeth. Cf. Lab., vol. v, p. 444. 4th Baron Seton, was taken to France with Mary 89 Inserted and excised. as a child and remained in her service in 90 From be'gayer. Scotland and England. Mile de Courcelles had 91 Nau's autograph. been in Mary's service for twenty years in 1581. 92 Beale's autograph. 82