Robert Tyrwhytt to the Lord Protector. January 22, 1548.

Here Tyrwhit describes his aggressive effort to confuse and frighten Elizabeth into accusing her governess, Kat Ashley, and her cofferer, of conspiring with the Lord Protector’s brother, Thomas Seymour, to aid him to have intimate time alone with her. Elizabeth was shocked to hear that her beloved servants had been imprisoned in The Tower. Tyrwhit encouraged her to incriminate them and she would surely be seen as a young, inexperienced young  girl who they had misled. She refused, however, to incriminate them in any way.  Instead she seems to have remembered that she had not previously mentioned a letter and a related comment to Seymour that could be misconstrued. Afraid, perhaps, that her unsophisticated servants might mention them in a way that eager interrogators will be only too please to misconstrue.

PLESYTH  yowr Grace to be advertysed that after my Lady's Grace had sene a Letter (wych I devysed to Mestrys Blanche frome a Frend of hers,) that boyth Mestrys Ashlay and her Cofferer was put into the Towre, she was marvelous abashede, and ded weype very tenderly a long Tyme, demandyng of my Lady Browne, wether they had confessed eny Thyng or not; wych my Lady Browne incontenley [= incontinently] declared unto me. Wherupon her Grace dyd sende for me, who at my comyng declared, that she had forgottyne sertayne Thyngs to be opened to my Lorde grett Master, ande Master Denne, wych she wold opyne unto me, and all other Thyngs wych she coulde call to her remembranse that she donne; the affect wherof was no more but concerning a Letter that she had wryttene to my Lord Admyrall in the Favor of her Chaplayne Alene; and in the End of the same she mayd request to credyt her trusty Servant, her Cofferer, in all other Thyngs. But she sayth that she dyd meyne [= mean] in that Point that my Lorde Admyrall shuld be Sewter to your Grace for Durhame Place; the sayd Letter beyng wryttene and devysed by the Cofferer, and delivered by hyme to my Lord Admyrall. And the other ys thys, that her Cofferer dyd wrytt to Mestrys Ashlay, that my Lorde Admyrall wold se her [i.e. Elizabeth] in hys way goyng to Sewdlay [= Sudley]; wherin Mestrys Ashlay dyd answer by her Letter agayne, that he shuld in no weye come hether for feyr [= fear] of Suspicyon: She [i.e. Elizabeth] declarynge the affect of her Letter to my Lady's Grace [i.e. Elizabeth’s reputation], her Grace was mych offendyd with her, and advysed her not to wryte so, because she wold not hav her to take apone her the Knowlege of eny sych Thyng. After all thys, I dyd requyre her to consider her Honor and the Parell [= peril] that myght insewe, for she was but a Subject; and I further declared what a Womane Mestrys Ashlay was, with a long Syrcumstance, saying, that yf she wold opyne all thyng her selffe, that all the Eyll and Shayme shuld be ascrybyd to them, and her Yowth consedered boywth wyth 

the Kyng's Magesty, yowr Grace and the hool Consell: But in no. Waye she will not confesse eny Practys by Mestrys Aschlay or the Cofferer, consarnyng my Lord Admirall; and yet I do se yt in her Face that she ys guylte, and do parsaw [= pursue?] as yet, she wyll abyd mo Stormys, or she ackews Mestrys Aschlay. Upone sodene News that my Lorde grett Master, and Master Denne was arryved at the Gatt [= gate], the Cofferar went hastely to his Chamber, and sayd to my Lady hys Wyffe, I wold I had never beyne bourne, for I ame undone, and wrange hys Hands, and cast away his Cheyne from his Necke, and hys Ryngs from his Fingers. Thys ys confessed by hys owne Servant and dyvers Wytnes of the sayme. My Lady hys Wyffe ys at London, wher yowr Grace may caws her to be examyned. Another of his Servants doth confesse that at hys comyng into hys Chambre, he loked very pall [= pale] and sorowfull, and dyd marvell much at the same. At thys present I cane fynde no mor Matter wurthe the wryttyng, but comyt your Grace to the levyng God wyth mych Honor. From Hatfyld the 22d of January

 

Your Grac's to Command,

Robert Tyrwhyt.

 

Haynes, Samuel. State Papers, Relating  to Affairs in the Reigns of King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, And Queen Elizabeth. 70-1.

 

 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.