PREFACE.
Object of the Preface.
It is the object of these remarks to present to the reader
a brief outline of the leading events which are narrated in
the present volume, viewed more especially with regard to
their bearing upon the history of our own country. In
doing this I refrain from analysing motives or deducing
inferences, leaving it to the reader to form his own estimate
of the events recorded in the following pages.
Affairs of France.
2. As in the last volume, so in the present, the politics
of France claim our first notice, both as regards the
number and the importance of the documents which illustrate the history of that country. The letters of the
English envoys, Throckmorton, Smith, and Somers, will
be read with undiminished interest. They record with
minuteness and accuracy the progress of events from
within a few days of the time when Louis de Bourbon,
Prince of Condé, assumed the command of the army of the
Huguenots (which he did at Orleans, 12 April 1562) to
the battle of Dreux, fought in the month of December in
the same year. The period thus sharply marked off on
either side by these dates is worthy of a careful study, as
exhibiting the motives, the position, the actions, and the
designs of the two great conflicting parties. These incidents
are here presented to us in all their primitive truthfulness, as
they occurred day by day, before they were moulded into
the form in which they subsequently took their place in
the pages of history. They are recorded by men who did
not (and who indeed, from the nature of things, could not)
interpret them by the light of the events by which they
were succeeded. Hence the exceeding value of these
papers, as exhibiting the movements of Condé on the one
hand and the Duke of Guise on the other, and the part
taken by Elizabeth and her ministers in reference to this
great political struggle.
3. Casting a rapid glance over this large mass of
correspondence, official and private, we observe that it may
be grouped under the following subjects,—the unsuccessful
negociations between Condé and the Queen Mother early
in June; the movements of the two armies, and the steps
taken on either side for their reinforcement; the surrender
of the city of Bourges to the royalists in August; the
occupation of Havre-de-Grace and Dieppe by the English
under the Earl of Warwick; the siege of Rouen, its
surrender, and the death of the King of Navarre in October.
After a lull, during which the Queen Mother endeavoured
to negociate with the Prince of Condé and the Admiral, we
have next to record the occupation of Dieppe by the
King's troops, the skirmishes near Paris, and the movements of the armies in the direction of Normandy, which
brought them into collision near Dreux, on 19 December.
Condé being taken prisoner on the one side and the Constable Montmorenci on the other, and the Marshal St.
André being slain, the sole command of the royalists then
devolved upon the Duke of Guise. (fn. 1)
Affairs of Scotland.
4. There was comparative tranquillity at this period in
the political affairs of Scotland, and the biography of its
Queen was marked by only one occurrence of exceptional
importance. In the earlier months of the year she had busied
herself in preparing for a meeting with Elizabeth, which
it had been decided should take place at York or Northampton in July; but the disturbances in France afforded
Elizabeth a reason for postponing the interview until the
following year, and the autumn had set in before Mary began
her expedition to the northern parts of the kingdom. She
had reached Aberdeen on the last of August, and, late as
the season was, she proceeded to Inverness, where, on
September 9, occurred the rebellion of the Earl of Huntly
and his sons, the Lairds of Gordon and Findlater.
Randolph's letters (who accompanied her in this expedition)
will be read with interest; (fn. 2) they give the fullest and most
authentic information which we possess respecting the
origin and progress of this very obscure conspiracy. The
correspondence for the year closes with some speculations
as to the probability of the Queen's marriage. An alliance
with Spain was at first thought not improbable; the King of
Sweden had recently been rejected, and Darnley was still in
England, and as yet had given no overt token of his intentions. Elizabeth's watchfulness, however, had already been
directed towards the family of Lennox, whose nearness by
blood to the throne of England caused her to regard it with
an eye of jealousy. Many curious particulars on this head
are disclosed by a remarkable series of papers connected
with this family, which are scattered through the present
volume. (fn. 3)
Affairs of Sweden.
5. During the year 1562 Elizabeth's former suitor, Eric
King of Sweden, once more comes before us, and the
circumstances under which he reappears are somewhat
remarkable. The question of his marriage with the Queen
was revived by a letter from two of the ladies of the
Court, one of whom, Katherine Ashley, will be remembered
as having been Her Majesty's "governor" at an earlier
period of her history. She and Dorothy Broadbelt address
themselves to no less exalted a personage than Nicolas
Guildenstern, Chancellor of Sweden, and they give him to
understand that if his master will renew his suit, the
probability is that it will be successful. The letter is
cautiously worded, but its meaning is obvious. (fn. 4) However,
it never reached its destination, having been intercepted by
Cecil, along with several others which reveal some curious
secrets of Court intrigue. The correspondence would
appear to have been carried on through half a dozen
Englishmen, who prosecuted their designs under the
pretence of trading between Stockholm and London. One
of them, John Keyle, gives a detailed account of his proceedings in England, which, if we accept his statement as
true, is certainly remarkable. (fn. 5) Another of the party,
James Goldborne, formerly a servant in the family of
Mistress Ashley, had contrived to pass into the service of
the King of Sweden, and, returning to England, sent such
intelligence as tended to encourage his master's ambition. (fn. 6)
But the most curious papers in the series are those which
record the result of the examination of Dymock and Keyle,
in which the proceedings of the party in England and in
Sweden are detailed with a precision which entitle them to
credit. (fn. 7) Dymoke contrived to escape from Cecil's power,
and we next find him writing from Dunkirk, "from whence
"he will go to Emden, and thence make his way to the
"King of Sweden." (fn. 8) Possibly it was by his representations
that Eric shortly afterwards renewed his professions of love,
which he addressed with increased warmth to the object of
his affections. (fn. 9)
Affairs of Germany.
6. The correspondence between England and Germany
is at this period without much significance. It was conducted chiefly through Dr. Mundt, whose letters are models
of compression and comprehension; valuable, business-like,
but uninteresting. They relate chiefly to the measures
adopted by the Queen for thwarting the attempts made by
the Duke of Guise to obtain troops from Germany. (fn. 10) M.
D'Oysel, who had been sent from France to the Count
Palatine to interest him on behalf of Charles the Ninth,
received an answer which showed him how groundless were
his hopes of aid from that quarter, a document to which so
much importance was attributed that it was forthwith
printed for wider circulation. (fn. 11) The mission of D'Andelot
in favour of the Huguenots was more successful; he
received a considerable sum of money for Condé, and took
back with him into France a large body of horsemen and
musketeers, who did good service at the battle of Dreux. (fn. 12)
Shortly afterwards, Henry Knolles was sent along with
Mundt upon a special message to the Protestant Princes of
the Empire, who entered warmly into her views upon the
subject, and promised her their co-operation in the common
quarrel. (fn. 13) From Bohemia we have a detailed account of
the magnificent coronation of King Maximilian at Prague,
which began at half-past five on the morning of Sunday,
21 September, and lasted until dinner time; that of the
Queen, with an equally elaborate ceremonial, took place on
the day following. (fn. 14)
Affairs of Italy.
7. The information which we have from Italy is both
scanty and unimportant. Shers and his successors, Stopio,
Giannetti, Marsilio della Croce, and others contrived to
glean a few particulars on matters generally of very little
value, and they transmitted these to Cecil and Mason. We
have a few reports of the proceedings of the Council of
Trent, but they do not add much to our information. Among
these may be specified one from Thomas Goldwell, formerly
Bishop of St. Asaph, addressed to Cecil, requesting to be
authorized to communicate with him respecting the proceedings of the meeting. (fn. 15)
Affairs of Spain and Portugal.
8. Sir Thomas Challoner still continued to be the
English Ambassador in Spain, and his letters and those of
his correspondents exist in considerable numbers. They
throw no great light upon Spanish affairs, and we gather
from them little which we might not learn elsewhere. An
exception, however, may perhaps be here entered in favour
of an important series of despatches respecting the illness
of Don Carlos, Philip's son, which had well-nigh proved fatal.
It possibly may have had an effect upon the subsequent
health of the Prince, and may in some degree account for
the eccentricities of his conduct in after life. (fn. 16) Attention is
also invited to the few papers connected with the history of
Portugal, which are worthy of notice as illustrative of the
progress of maritime discovery, commerce, and colonization. (fn. 17) It appears from one of these documents (fn. 18) that
Martin Frobisher had made at least two voyages to Guinea
before 1562, and had resided three quarters of a year in the
castle of Myne.
9. These remarks, taken in conjunction with the index
and the topographical classification of the documents, may
serve in some degree to simplify the use of this Calendar;
but the reader who is interested in the history of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth is requested to study the work for
himself, document by document, without trusting to aids
which at best must prove imperfect and unsatisfactory.
I have once more to acknowledge the assistance afforded
by Mr. A. J. Crosby, B.A., in the preparation of this
volume.
Joseph Stevenson.
15th July 1867.