Cecil Papers: October 1604

Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House: Volume 23, Addenda, 1562-1605. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1973.

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'Cecil Papers: October 1604', in Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House: Volume 23, Addenda, 1562-1605, (London, 1973) pp. 184-187. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-cecil-papers/vol23/pp184-187 [accessed 18 March 2024]

October 1604

The Parishioners of St. John Zacharies to Viscount Cranborne.
[Before October 19, 1604]. The rectory is void by the death of the last incumbent, and they have petitioned the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's that Thomas Martin be made rector, a request of which the King has approved. Martin is chaplain to Lord Zouche. The Dean and Chapter, however, intend to appoint another person to the benefice, although he already enjoys two. Petitioners ask Cranborne to favour Martin, and suggest that if the place is considered convenient for the other party, then Martin should be given the benefice relinquished by him.—Undated.
¾ p. (P. 1370.)
[See Cal. S.P. Dom., 1603–10, p. 159.]
Robert Luffe to the King.
[October 19, 1604,]. He was an intelligence agent in Spain during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, and when in Madrid was accused by Don Carlos Mackert, an Irishman, and imprisoned for 18 months. He was then brought before Spanish judges, condemned and tortured on the rack "as never Englishman the like". Sir Richard Hawkins, then a prisoner, was an eyewitness and can testify accordingly. Since then petitioner has lived in want during the past three years owing to his disabledness. He requests the grant of a licence to transport 1000 quarters of wheat, paying the old custom of 6d the quarter. The grant is not within the competence of Viscount Cranborne, to whom the case was referred, although he would have awarded it if he had been in a position to do so.—Undated.
Note signed by Sir Julius Caesar: "At Court at Whitehall, the 19th of October, 1604. The Kings Matie hath referred this petition to the Lord High Tresurer of England and the L. Viscount Cranborne, and their lordships are to certifie the deserts of the suppliant with theire opinion of this suite."
1 p. (P. 719.)
[See H.M.C. Salisbury MSS, Vol. XVI, pp. 373, 439.]
John Baily to Viscount Cranborne.
[After October 31, 1604]. He has received a demand by privy seal for a loan of £20 to the King. In view of the fact that he lent an identical sum to the late Queen Elizabeth which has not been repaid, and that he still lives in Chancery Lane as he has done for the past 22 years, he asks to be released from the demand. He also requests to be summoned to undertake in future only such payments and services as are imposed on him by virtue of his place of residence.—Undated.
⅓ p. (P. 1425.)
[See Cal. S.P. Dom., James I, Vol. IXA, pp. 235–48.]
William Warren to Viscount Cranborne.
[After October 31, 1604]. He is of Bygrave, Hertfordshire, and recently received a demand by privy seal for a loan of £20 to the King. He has just been released from wardship, and has to provide legacies for his brothers and sisters to the amount of £1200, which will have to be paid out of the small estate bequeathed to him by his father, and which for 15 years has been in the hands of the late Queen Elizabeth and the King. He cannot afford the loan and begs to be discharged from the privy seal.—Undated.
¾ p. (P. 1442.)
[See Cal. S.P. Dom., James I, Vol. IXA, pp. 235–48.]
William Finch to Viscount Cranborne.
[After October 31, 1604]. He is of Watford, Hertfordshire, and a tanner by trade. He has received an order by privy seal to contribute a loan of £20 to the King. He is unable to comply, partly because he has spent much money in advancing two of his sons, and partly because he has recently paid many sums "into his Mats Countinghouse for his Highnes use". He begs to be discharged from the privy seal.—Undated.
½ p. (P. 1048.)
[See Cal. S.P. Dom., James I, Vol. IXA, pp. 235–48.]
Joan Blackwell to [Viscount Cranborne].
[After October 31, 1604]. She is a widow of 80 years and resident at Bushey, co. Herts. For the past twelve years she has been lame and sick, and charged with the care of many children. She has received a privy seal for a loan of £20 to the King, which she is not in a position to give, since her annual revenue does not amount to £40 derived from an estate that is hers for life only. She begs to be discharged from the privy seal. —Undated.
Signed: six of petitioner's neighbours. 1 p. (P. 1883.)
Theobald, Lord Butler, Viscount Tulleophelim to Viscount Cranborne.
[October, 1604]. The Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland, in conformity with instructions from Cranborne and the Privy Council, have granted him a commission to govern the county of Carlow in Leinster, with authority to mobilize the inhabitants if need be. But the commission has not passed the Great Seal, and therefore does not adequately empower him to call up the people, "who being wholly of the meere uncyvill Irish and so lincked together in allyance, and the common receptacle of all the evil disposed people of those parts of Leynster, that the petitioner may not altogether trust to them nor undertake to do any service for his Matie in the said countie without some men whome he may trust in the execution of his chardge". Petitioner requests that the commission be passed under the Great Seal of Ireland, and that he be allotted ten horse and twenty foot in the King's pay. He also asks for the same remuneration as that paid to the Governor of Queen's County; and that if his father-in-law, the Earl of Ormonde, should die, he be allowed time to ascertain what he is to inherit before any official inquisition be held. He would wish also to be notified of the date and place of any such inquisition in order to be present.—Undated.
[½ p. (P. 1981.)
[See Cal. S.P. Ireland, 1603–6, pp. 202–3.]
Francis Brackenbury to Viscount Cranborne.
[c. October, 1604]. He is of Sellaby, co. Durham. His uncle, Richard Brackenbury, intended to settle his estate upon him, but Anthony Brackenbury tried in every way to alienate his uncle's affection towards petitioner. When Richard Brackenbury died, Anthony Brackenbury sold £100 worth of goods belonging to the deceased. In addition, he took advantage of petitioner's ignorance to extract from him two bonds for £2000 for the payment of a certain sum of money. Petitioner has done so, but Brackenbury threatens to use the bonds, which he will not surrender, to bring legal proceedings against him. Moreover, with the connivance of one Tunstall, he has put a bill into the Star Chamber charging petitioner with forging Richard Brackenbury's will. Petitioner requests Salisbury to see that he gets justice in this matter.—Undated.
¾ p. (P. 1443.)
[See PRO. Star Chamber 8, James I, 60/18.]
John Browne to Viscount Cranborne.
[After October 1604]. He is one of the executors of the late John Freston, who by his last will made bequest of certain lands and all his leases for a number of charitable objects, such as the founding of fellowships and scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge, the provision of a chapel for two of the King's hospitals at Pontefract, the erection of a hospital at Kirkethorpe and of two free schools at Wakefield and Normanton, the allocation of money to be lent to poor artisans in those two towns, and of 40 quarters of corn to be annually distributed amongst the needy there. Freston had the lease of the estreats and issues of Greenwax within the Duchy of Lancaster north of Trent, in the counties of York, Nottingham, Derby and Stafford, which having expired the King had allowed the executors to obtain for the abovementioned charitable uses. In the meantime Sir Roger Aston has procured a lease of the estreats throughout the whole of the Duchy of Lancaster. Petitioner requests that this lease be stayed or that the estreats specified above be assigned out of it to the executors for 30 years, together with those in the counties of Leicester, Northampton and Bedford, the major part of which have been leased to one Tusher. The executors will pay an annual rent to the King, and so be in a position to continue with the charitable work intended by Freston.—Undated.
1 p. (P. 106.)
[See Cal. S.P. Dom., 1603–10, p. 158.]