46 Longleat Papers, No. 3. 



j 



at that time give tho sayd Lady Lcticc for wife unto the sayd Earle of Leycester, | 

 at the solemnizing of w ch mariadge as he sayeth were then and ther present and | 

 sawe and hearde the same, beside the parties married and this deponent, the R 1 . 

 Hon. the Earle of Penbrook, the Earle of Warwick, the Lord Northe, S r . Francis J 

 Knowlles, and one Mr. Richard Knowlles as he remembreth, and no more. And I 

 otherwise he cannot depose, saving that he this deponent was at y* time full | 

 minister and had bin ordered by the Rev. father in God the L. Bishop of Peter- 

 borough in A 0 . 1572 : for profe whereof he exhibited at the time of his examina- I 

 tion his letters of orders under the authenticall seales of the sayd Bushop, the 1 1 

 tenor whereof ensueth, &c. ' Tenore presentium, &c.' 



"Umphey Tendall" 



1589, March 7th. — Countess of Leicester, (widow of Robert \ 

 Dudley, Earl of Leicester) to Lord Treasurer Burleigh, about 

 her Husband's Debt to the Queen. 



" My very good Lord. I receved of late from Mr. Fanshawe and Mr. Bayn- 



hame, a book or charge (as thay tearme it) of my late lord's debts unto hur II 



magestye, wherin allthoughe thay offer to charge me with very manye thousands t] 



(I mene mor then xx) contrarye as I am parswaded to sum of ther knowledges or j 1 



coney ences, yet I fynd not that cours so strange as that they would alowe me but fi 



surne v or vi dayes ether to cleare or confes that imposed charge, and wher as I i 



thay havinge all possyble assystance from hur magestys offycers to thys ther I 



rygoro searche and syftynge, have not bene able to fynyshe thys charge under n 



at the least iij or iiij monethes worke, thay would inforce me being dysfavored H 



therin to furnyshe my defence in lesse then vij days ; wher-upon thynkinge- my I 



self very stranglye oppressed, I am dryven to appeale unto your honorable (1 



favoure, besechinge you to alowe me such competente tym therein as that my U 



solycytors and sarvants may be able to parews and searche all such offyces books I 



and accounts as shall be thought most fyte for manyfestynge of a truth in thys I 



behaulf e ; and becaus thys charge now layde on me doth in sum sort consarne I j 



sondrye other parsons wich were put in trust by my late L., my humble desyre I 



is that by order from your lp. a commyssyone may be awarded out of the ex- 1 1 



cheker (to sume such as your lp. shall thynk fytt) that by vertue thereof thay H 



may caule before them and examyne all such parsons as were any ways accompt- || 



able unto my late lord or which ar uppone any caus to aunswer any thyng towards II 



the dyscharge of hys debts, to the ende that all such sums as shall be f ounde dew I 



in ther hands may be in dewe sort aunswered unto hur magyestye, wich if your j 



lp. shall vouchsafe to doe and allso to move the marchants to whom Denbighe * | 



* Meaning the lordship of Denbigh, which had been granted along with Kenilworth and other |1 



manors to the Earl of Leicester, 9th June, 5 Eliz. lie had mortgaged it. One of the " Debts " I 



claimed from the deceased Earl of Leicester amounted to £3619. That was stated to be the amount I 



drawn by him in excess of his allowance wben Lieut.-General in the Low Countries. The answer 11 



upon this point made by his widow was that in the patent of his appointment he had been authorized j j 



to ask for any sums at his pleasure : and that he did but take £10 14s. a day after the precedent set I 



by the Earl of Pembroke, Lieut.-General for Queen Mary at St. Quintin's. (From original document \i 

 at Longleat.) 



