Thomas Doyley to the Earl Of Leicester, November 24, 1585.

In 1585, Edward de Vere, the 17^th Earl of  Oxford, was appointed General of the Horse in the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester over the English forces provided the Lowlands against Spanish occupation.  For some unknown reason, he was very soon after called back.  Generals paid the expenses of their commands, as the rule.  No longer a sufficiently wealthy man, it is possible that he proved unable to meet the obligation.  He sent his effects back home on a separate ship which was boarded, and, upon discovering that it contained the effects of an English General, taken as a casualty of war.[1]

Thomas Doyley, servant to Leicester provides a gratifying amount of detail about the seizure of the English ship traveling from Gravesline, in Northern France, toward England, with Oxford’s effects onboard. Fascinating references also appear to Rowland Yorke, the scalawag soldier who might have formed part of the character of Pistol in Shakespeare’s Henry V (c. 1587) and surprisingly to Richard Stanyhurst whose 1583 translation from the Aeneid, the readers of my variorum edition of Shakespeare’s Ulysses and Agamemnon (1584)[2] know, was satirized in the play.

Right Honourable my singular good Lord,[3] my humble dutie premised, having by many difficulties ridd myself out of the hands of the hell-hounds of Dunkirk, and arrived at Calleys [Calais], where I may boldly write unto your Honour the unlucky event of our journey, these are to advertise your Honor, that putting out from Gravelinge [Graveline] the 13th of October, the 14th of the same we were taken not farre from Dunkerk; our pilot sayling off his course, bending too much southward. At the taking of us there were two men-of-warre, the one called the Lour Haane, and the other the Skeur Water, having two prises in his companie. Our ship being heavie and full freighted, both the upper and nether deck, so that we could make no fight, so that we yielded and were rifled of all our goods and apparel unto our doubletts and hose, with then daggers at our throats, and brought to the common jayle, and after our being there an hour, came the under-baylife, or serjeant-major of the towne, with their poignards to our brests, stripping us stark naked, searched us againe, and took away such money as the mariners fayled of. There we remayned from Thursdaye until! Mondaye, having nothing sayd unto us. That day we were examined before the governor, the baylif, bourghemaster, pensioner, and others, of our own estate, of her Majestie's actions in Flanders, of your Honors coming over, and this examination signed with our hands, was two dayes after sent to the Prince of Parma at Antwerp, whose resolution we must attend. The same day fortnight he went, he returned. After four days consultation upon the Prince's letters, we were called to the Towne Howse, and there told by the baylif the Prince had declared our goods confiscated and our bodies to be set at ransome. We demanded if he had declared us enemies; they answered, No; but we were therefore put to our ransom, because enemies goods were found in our ship, namely, the Earl of Oxfords, which they proved by letters of my Lord Treasurers to him, wherein he wrote of her Majesties grante of the commanding of horsemen, which letter one of the Earl of Oxford's chamber brought over in our boate, with his monie, apparel, wine, and venison, etc. Then were we severally put to our ransom, and rated at their plesures, merchants, mariners, ship, and all. My ransom, with my charges in prison, was 500 guilders, which, by the means of one Mr. Hudson and Mr. Beal, merchants, I dischardged. Mr. Stephens was exempted from this putting to ransom, because by the letters he had, they pretended him to be an agent of matters of estate, and an especiall instrument in matters of Flushinge, and sett him downe articles, wherunto they comaunded him to answere peremptoriely, uppon payne of the torture, the coppie wherof, with his answer to them, he hath sent to Mr. Secretarie. The answer to the articles is sent to the Prince, so that I douthis will be a longe and difficult matter. I escaped well, because they found nothing in my chest but physick and astronomy books, all letters and notes for your Honor's busines I drowned out of a porthole, when they entered the ship, which Mr. Stephens could by no means do, his trunk being overwhelmed with sondrie packs.

There came awaie in my companie two merchants, and your servant John Potter, for whose ransom I  have given my worde. We left behinde us some merchants, two of the Earl of Oxfords men, besides the four gentilmen which were there before us, namely, Mr. Shelton, two Traceys, and Mr. Whithed, for whom they demaund 2000 guilders a-piece, and as yet growe no lower.

The day before our coming out of Dunkirk, there arrived an English ship laden with corne and salt, a Sandwich man, his name is Richard Durrhum, the consideration wherof I refer to your Honor. There was one Burnham, whose bro ther serveth Mr. Secretarie, an inhabitant of Dunkerk, banished the towne uppon suspicion of informations into England.

There remayneth in Dunkerk, Mr. Stanyhurst, the Lord of Tunsans brother, and Mr. Copley, surnaraed Lord, whose sister Mr. Stanyhurst married: also Mr Kemp, called Don Gulihelmo.

The governor is a Spaniard named Francisco d'Aguillar d'Alvarede. The garrison is two companies Spanish, and one of Muffs, both weake. The Spaniards are notably hated of the inhabitants.

The towne is verie poor and desolate, the grass growing in the streets. If the Flushingers would hinder their fishing, they should be soone starved and brought to extremitie.

The day before our coming away, they, by proclamation, called downe the value of all coines to the rate of Brabant monie, as I suppose, to allure marchants to trade with them.

Mr. Stephens humbly requesteth your Honors assistance in the procuring his libertie. He hath wrote to Mr. Rowland York for his returne, and to St. Aldegonde to that effect, as he hath conferred with your Honor.

I knowe not what order your Honor hath taken touching your affayres since my imprisonment. I am readie as alwayes to do your Honor anie service, if your Honor please to employe me. I request agayne your letters of credit, and from the estates also; I hope to kepe them better.

I meane, God willing, presentlie to take shipping for Flushinge. We durst not go from Dunkerk to Ostende, the quarters being broken, no passport or drum would warrant us.

Thus humbly commending my dutifull service to your Honor, I wish the same felicitie in all affayres. This 12^th of November, 1585. From Calleys.

Your Honors most affectioned and dutifull servant,

Tho. Doyley.

 

---

[1] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Edward de Vere was Shakespeare: at long last the proof (2013,2017). 160, 161. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1543136257/

[2] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Ulysses and Agamemnon (1584). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JD7KM1T

[3] Queen Elizabeth and Her Times, a Series of Original Letters (1838). II.266-9.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years.  Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
• Edward de Vere, Shakespeare and Tycho Brahe.  June 9, 2020. “When Brahe was encouraged by his friends and associates to publish a book on the November 1572 supernova for which he is now famous, his answer belonged to his times.”
• Malvolio’s Crow's Feet and “the new Mappe”. October 14, 2019. “Percy Allen’s candidate is not mentioned by any of these parties. The traditionalists, of course, could not consider it possible because it would suggest far too early a date for the play.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
• Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.