Robert Tyrwhyt to the Duke of Somerset, February 19, 1548.

Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, gained control of the English government by decree of his minor nephew, Edward VI, in March of 1547, making him “Lord Protector of the Realm”.  After his first Parliament, in November, he accelerated policies to weaken his opponents and to reward his allies.  His younger brother, the also powerful Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour, was the single most bothersome opponent. In no small part, the situation arose from little more than sibling rivalry at bottom.

His wife serving as step-mother to Princess (Lady) Elizabeth, Thomas managed to get her under his roof and pressed to become intimate. Being married, at the time, to a dowager-queen, Catherine Parr, it is difficult to see how he might have planned to marry Elizabeth. Nevertheless, this appears to have been his plan. Toward this end, he made regular reckless attempts to be alone with the Princess in intimate situations. Word of these actions gave brother, Edward, a powerful political weapon.

Elizabeth had removed her household to Hatfield by February of 1548. Accounts differ as to the details. Catherine Parr was pregnant at the time and would deliver a daughter on August 30. However it happened, Catherine died some six days later and Thomas Seymour turned his sights on Elizabeth.

The Lord Admiral’s behavior made him a comparatively easy target for his older brother. His attentions to the young Princess were likely the stuff of gossip. By order of the Privy Council, Elizabeth’s governess, Kate Ashley, was removed from her household for questioning as a possible accessory to crimes of the Lord Admiral. The wife of the Duke of Somerset’s servant Robert Tyrwhit was named to replace her. The couple were unmistakably installed foremost as spies for the Protector. 

The introduction of Elizabeth Tyrwhit into the  household at Hatfield is described here by Robert.

 

Plesyth yt your Grace to be advertysed, that after my Wyff's repayr hether, she declared to the Lady Eleysabeyth's Grace, that she was called before your Grace and the Counsell; and had a Rebucke, that she had not takyne upone her the Office to see her well governed, in the Leyue of Mistrys Ashlay. Her Answer was, that Mestrys Ashlay was her Mestrys, and that she had not so demened her selffe, that the Counsell shuld now nede to put eny mo Mestressys unto her: Wher unto my Wyffe answered, seynge she dyd alowe Mestrys Aschlay to be her Mestrys, she ned not to be ashamed to have eny honest Womane to be in that Place. She took the Matter so hevely, that she wepte all that Nyght, and lowred all the next Day, tyll she [received]

your Letter; and thene she sent for me and asked me, whether she was best to wryt to you agayne or not: I sayd, yf she wold make answer, that she wold follow the Affect of your Letter, I thought yt well done that she shoulde wrytt; but in the End of the Matter, I [perceived] that she was very loyth to have a Governer; and to avoyd the same, sayd, the Worlde wold not[e] her to be a grett Offender, havyng so hastely a Governer appointid her. And all ys no mor, she fully hops, to recover her old Mestrys agayne. The Love yet she beryth her ys to be wondert at. I told her yf she wold conseder her Honor, and the Sequell ther off, she wold, consedrynge her Yers, mak Suytt to your Grace to have one, rather thene to make delay to be wythoutt one one Owre. She cane not dysgeste sych Advyce in no weye; but yf I shuld say my Fantyse, yt war more meytt she shuld have two, thene one. She wold in eny wyse wrytt to your Grace, wherin I offred her my Advyce, wyche she wold in [no-wise] followe, but wrytt her owne Fantesy. She beginnyth now a lettell to droupe, be reason she heryeth that my Lord Admyrall's Houssys be dysparsed. And my Wyffe tellyth me now, that she cane not here hyme discommendyt, but she ys redy to mak answer therin; and so she hayth not beyne accustomed to do, unles Mestrys Ashlay wor towched, whereunto she was very redy to make answer veamently. And for thys present I comyt your A.D. 1548. Grace to the levyng God. From Hatfyld the 19^th of February.

Your Grac's humble to command,

ROBERT TYRWHYT.

 

Source: Haynes, Samuel. State Papers, Relating to Affairs… From the Year 1542 to 1570. (1740), 108-9.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

Gossip as History: The Murder of Amy Robsart. February 17, 2020. "The first sudden death Leicester was rumored to have caused was that of his wife, Amy Robsart, in 1560. In that year, it was still not clear whether the Queen would marry. But certainly not her beloved Leicester if he were married."

A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”

Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador.  April 3, 2019.  “…the Queen of England, with the permission of her physicians, has been able to come out of her private chamber, she has permitted me… to see her…”

Account of a Performance of Macbeth: April 20, 1611. September 30, 2018. “One detail of this account, in particular, promises to go a long way toward understanding the date of composition and a key detail as to the state of the text in 1611.”

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.