Document signed by six of the major figures in Shakespeare's Elizabethan England

Excerpt of Elizabethean Privy Council document, 1595 Jan. 25. Addressed to Vincent Skynner; signed by W. Burghley (William Cecil), C. Howard (Charles Howard), Devereux (Robert Devereux), Hunsdon (Henry Carey), and Fortescue (John Fortescue).

Mounted with an engraving of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.

Transcription:

From the court the xvxth of January 1595. Your loving friends . /W Burghley C Howard Devereux | Hunsdon Fortescue | To our loving friend Mr. Vincent | Skynner of the receipt

Although the signatures on this document represent men who need no introduction, they are, in brief: William Cecil, first Baron Burghley (1520/21-1598), one of Queen Elizabeth’s most famous councilors, thought to be the model for Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Burghley was allied with Henry Carey, first Baron Hunsdon (1526-1596), the Queen’s first cousin and the patron of the Lord Admiral’s Men, Shakespeare’s acting company. Hunsdon's son-in-law Charles Howard, was first Earl of Nottingham, second Baron Howard of Effingham (1536-1624), who commanded the naval forces against the Spanish Armada. Burghley led a faction opposed by Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex (1565-1601), one of the Queen’s favorites, who would be executed for treason in 1601. Also present was Sir John Fortescue (1533-1607), a lifelong member of the Queen’s court and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

According to Alan G.R. Smith, Vincent Skinner was "the 'man of all work' in Burghley’s secretariat in the fifteen years after 1578. He dealt with appointments to escheatorships […], acted as messenger for Burghley, concerned himself with legal matters on his master’s behalf, interested himself in foreign affairs generally, and acted as intermediary in suits to Burghley."

The letter seems to be addressed in Vincent Skinner’s hand. Skinner continued to serve the Cecils in various capacities even after his appointment to the Exchequer.

The day after this Privy Council document was signed, Burghley wrote a letter to his son Robert Cecil: 

"I pray inform hir Ma[jes]ty, that Mr. Treasor hath bene with my L[ord] Kepar and me, and informed us of sondry misusages of the marchantes of St. Mallos, abowt the ordonnances whereof the informacion is that it was carried unlawfully owt of the realm, but the proves thereof he had not redy to shew us. And thowgh the wrytt [of error] is lawfully granted, yet to delaye the cause, my L[ord] kepar and I have accorded, that wher we both should be in the chequr chamber. But for other wrytts and for that also, on of us shall be absent, and so the wrytt shal be delayed. Whereof the Fr[ench] men will storm, exclaiming already of Iniustyce done them."

This suggests that the January 25 document may have related somehow to a writ of error, or appeal, to the Court of the Exchequer; as Lord High Exchequer, Burghley was the formal head of the Exchequer, with Sir John Fortescue directly below him as the Chancellor. The Court of Exchequer, or Exchequer of Pleas, was a court of equity (as opposed to courts of law), meaning it heard cases involving remedies other than monetary damages, such as injunctions, writs, etc.

Another possible topic for the missing part of the document can be found in letters sent in the days leading up to January 25 to John Fortescue (on January 20) and Robert Cecil (January 23) by Sir Horatio Palavicino. According to Palavicino, he had borrowed a small amount against a forthcoming pension from William Sugdon, a Teller of the Exchequer; however, Sugdon had apparently demanded direct and immediate repayment from Palavicino, who refused, referring Sugdon to Fortescue, as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sugdon sued Palavicino for the money, leading Palacivino to appeal to Fortescue and Robert Cecil to intervene. As Auditor of the Exchequer, the resolution of this issue could have involved Skinner.

Catalogued by Dr. Molly G. Yarn

Literature

Great Britain Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., &c. &c. &c., Preserved at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire (H.M. Stationery Office, 1895), p. 19-20, 23

"The Letters of Lord Burghley, William Cecil, to His Son Sir Robert Cecil, 1593-1598," Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series, 53 (2017), 87–293. 

‘SKINNER, Sir Vincent (1543-1616), of Thornton College, Lincs.; Lincoln’s Inn and Blackfriars, London | History of Parliament Online’ https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/skinner-sir-vincent-1543-1616

Smith, Alan G. R., ‘The Secretariats of the Cecils, circa 1580-1612’, The English Historical Review, 83.328