Burghley, William Cecil, 1st Baron (1520/1-1598)
Autograph letter signed as lord treasurer to Lord Cobham as warden of the Cinque Ports, with MS articles of war
£5,292
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 07 February 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
the letter dated Theobalds, 30th September 1587, 2 pp., folio (28 x 20.4cm), signed ‘W. Burghley’, conjugate leaf endorsed presumably by Cobham ('from my Lord Threasorer [sic] touchinge the artykles to be observed by those that are to goo the seas, set forth by those of the ports') and addressed to him in a secretarial hand, seal tear not affecting text; the accompanying document 5 pp., folio (27.6 x 20.4cm), written in a secretarial hand, final blank with endorsement '1587 xxii September, Artikles to be observed by those of the cincq ports' in the same hand as the previous endorsement (Cobham's) and completed in a secretarial hand
(2)
Footnote
A rare and important insight into the stirring of the Elizabethan war machine in response to the growing threat of a Spanish invasion following the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in early 1587. Burghley sends Cobham an amended copy of the detailed articles drawn up by Cobham in response to an order from Elizabeth in August to place the Cinque Ports on a war footing, noting sardonically in his covering letter that the queen's demands would seem to have made peace with Spain impossible, in opposition to the designs he shares with the lord warden: ‘Whosoever shall consider these articles, and thynk that they must contynew, must presume that neither the L[ord] Warden, nor any other shall have the good luck to make a peace for England with the K. of Spayn … [and] also add to his imagination that the L. warden … as the high admyrall of England [Howard of Effingham] doth … tak more plesur or proffitt, by warrs than by peace. But I that know your L[ordship] inwardly can and will imagyne otherwise'. In his response, preserved in the Cecil papers at Hatfield, Cobham thanked Burghley for his ‘good and necessary additions’ and ventured the potentially treasonable remark that he could 'look for no other reward but her Majesty's high displeasure, and shame to me and my house for ever' (Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House: Volume 3, 1583-1589, 592).
An engrossing illustration of the centrality of the guerre de course to English naval strategy in the Tudor period, the articles instigate the mobilisation of privateers out of the Cinque Ports of Kent and Sussex and comprise under eleven headings specific directions for their conduct. It is declared that ‘all and every of the inhabitants of the cinq ports … who shall eyther in his own person serve or otherwyse bear any charge or adventure … shall not in any manner of wayse be reputed or challenged for any offender against her ma[jestie]s lawes'. Privateers are permitted a free trade in spoils and given specific licence to attack all Spanish shipping and any vessels from ‘such townes as doo make warre against the provinces of Holland and Zealand, as Dunkerk, Neuport, Sluys or any other towne in possession of them'.
Cobham became warden of the Cinque Ports shortly after Elizabeth's succession in 1558, his appointment due largely to the high regard in which he was held by Cecil, the new queen's secretary of state: ‘Possibly Cecil’s “dearest friend”, Cobham was certainly to be his most enduring one for the next forty years' (ODNB). The position gave Cobham a critical role both in coastal defence and intelligence operations. In January 1588 he joined an embassy to the Duke of Parma, alluded to by Burghley in his letter and having the aim of averting the Spanish invasion, but was forced to call off the negotiations when it transpired that a fellow ambassador had exceeded his instructions by offering an armistice. Burghley was by that point lord treasurer and spent the months preceding the arrival of the Armada raising funds and supervising naval supplies. In 1589 Burghley's son Robert Cecil married Elizabeth Brooke, Cobham's daughter.
Provenance:
1. Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS 25750
2. Sotheby's, Bibliotheca Phillippica … New Series: Seventh Part, 14th-15th June 1971, lot 1471.
3. Bernard Quaritch, Autographs and Manuscripts (catalogue 931), 1973, item 633.