[80] Quadra to the King of Spain, November 30, 1562. Spanish State Papers, Elizabeth, vol. i.
[81] This order only exists in the State Papers as a draft in Cecil’s handwriting. The full text of it is as follows:—
“Rt. Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you well. Whereas we be informed that the (plague) [the words in brackets are crossed out] places near that our Tower are much visited with the plague, and yourself not without great fear that the same may enter into our said Tower, we (have thought meet upon earnest suit made unto us to license) are contented the lady Catharyne and ye Earl of Hertford for ye time of this danger of the plague shall be placed in some other several and convenient places out of ye Tower. Wherefore (we will that you shall let either of them know of this our contentation that the lady Catharyn shall be removed to And for the places of their abode) we will that the lady Catharyne shall be removed to ye house of Ld. John Grey in Essex, there to remain (within his house) with him and his wife during our pleasure; and ye Earl of Hertford to be removed to his mother’s house in Middlesex, there also to remain during our pleasure; and for their behaviour our pleasure is that ye shall command them in our name under pain of our indignation and such fine as we shall please to assess, that neither of them shall depart from ye said places without our leave, (neither attempt to have any converse together) otherwise than to take ye air near to ye same and not without the company of his mother or Newdegate. (Endorsed) 21 Aug. 1563. From the Queen’s Majesty to the Lieutenant of the Tower for the removal of the Lady Katherine and the Earl of Hertford.”
[82] Lord John Grey, the Duke of Suffolk’s brother, had himself been imprisoned in the Tower for eight months in 1554, for his alleged share in Suffolk’s rebellion in favour of Lady Jane Grey. His was a courtesy title, and he was sometimes called “Sir” John. Pirgo was granted to him by the queen on April 24, 1559, but he evidently found some difficulty in keeping it up, for shortly afterwards he wrote to Cecil begging him “to acquaint the queen with his embarrassed circumstances, as they affect her former grant.”
[83] It is a curious fact that the grandmother of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, whom we have had occasion to mention in these pages, was of the family of “Nudigate,” her brother being that Sebastian Newdigate, a monk of the Charterhouse, London, who was executed under Henry VIII for denying the royal supremacy. The Duchess of Somerset’s husband, Sergeant Francis Newdigate, was of this same family. These Newdigates had a fine house in Charterhouse Square, which they occasionally let, furnished, for the season to Lord Latimer, Katherine Parr’s third husband.
[84] This list runs as follows, the disparaging comments, here printed in brackets, being those written by Warner himself:—
“Stuff delivered in August, 1561, by the Queen’s commandments and the Lord Chamberlain’s warrants, by William Bentley, out of the Wardrobe in the Tower, to Sir Edward Warner, Knight, then levetenant of the Tower, for the necessary furniture of Lady Katherine Grey’s chamber.
“First: six pieces of tapestry to hang her chamber. (‘Very old and coarse.’) Item: a spavier (?) for a bed of changeable damask. (‘All to-broken and not worth tenpence.’) One silk quilt of red striped with gold. (‘Stark naught.’) Two carpets of Turkey matting. (‘The wool is all worn.’) Item: one chair of cloth of gold with crimson velvet, with two pommels of copper gilt, and the Queen’s arms in the back. (‘Nothing worth.’) Item: one cushion of purple velvet. (‘An owld cast thing.’) Item: two footstools covered with green velvet. (‘Owld stools for King Henry’s feet.’) One bed, one bolster, and a counterpane, for her women. (‘A mean bed.’)”
It is not improbable that the chair of cloth of gold, of which Warner speaks so scathingly, was the “Throne” used by Katherine’s sister, Lady Jane, during her nine-days’ reign.
[85] The text of this letter is as follows:—