Rare letter to Queen Elizabeth I sold in Edinburgh

An extremely rare autographed letter to Queen Elizabeth I from her lifelong friend and possible love interest, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, has been sold by auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull for £32,700, four times more than the estimated price. 

The manuscript featured in the Books & Manuscripts sale on Wednesday live online and in the Edinburgh auction room, contains an enigmatic reference to an unspecified great matter of state, said to bear directly on the Queen’s life and likely relating to England’s policy towards Scotland in the aftermath of the Throckmorton plot of 1583. This was a conspiracy between English Catholics and continental powers to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots.

Leicester also apologises in the letter for his elusiveness during his recent journey across the Midlands of England. His marriage to Lettice, dowager countess of Essex, in 1578, whom Elizabeth loathed, no doubt contributed to his absence and he was forced to keep his marriage half-hidden as a result.

The statesman and Queen had known one another since childhood. Although Leicester failed to win Queen Elizabeth’s hand in marriage, they remained close friends until his death.

Experts at Lyon & Turnbull traced just two other autographed letters from Leicester to Elizabeth. One is now at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C and the other, at the National Archives in London, was written by Leicester a few days before his death.

Meanwhile, a letter written and signed by Henry VIII’s elder daughter, Mary I, (1516-1558), Queen of England and Ireland, known as Bloody Mary, fetched £37,700, more than double the asking price.
Signed ‘Mary the quene,’ it was written to William, Lord Paget, on the outbreak of Wyatt’s Rebellion, 28th January 1554. 
Wyatt’s Rebellion was intended by its leaders, members of parliament alarmed by Mary’s imminent marriage to Prince Philip of Spain, as a series of four coordinated uprisings to take place in Devon, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, and Kent. Mary, who was avowedly Catholic, hoped the marriage would produce a son and heir and re-establish the Catholic faith across England and Ireland. 
In addition, a handwritten notebook filled with remedies and recipes sold in the auction for £10,080, more than double its estimate.

This fascinating snapshot into the life and times of mid-seventeenth century England reflects a period when the country was gripped by civil war and beset by the plague.
It contains 82 pages of remedies, at least 25 of them written by Dr William Fyffe, who was Honorary Physician to the King for the County of Lancashire. Many were for treated for the plague, which was rife during this period, and for wounds caused by sword or gunshot.
Dominic Somerville-Brown, Specialist in Rare Books & Manuscripts at Lyon & Turnbull said: 
“The letter to Elizabeth from her lifelong favourite Robert Dudley provides a window onto one of history’s most famous love stories. 
“Mary’s letter is a vivid snapshot of her thinking at a pivotal moment in her rule. This was a stunning pair of results for two documents of first-rate importance. 
“Bidders were drawn to the contrasting portraits of England’s two Tudor Queens and came together to produce a succession of dramatic saleroom battles. 
“There was also substantial interest and correspondingly strong prices for other historical manuscripts in the sale, including the seventeenth century English cookery book.”