Autograph letter signed from Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, to Dr. Julius Caesar, Judge of the Admiralty [manuscript], 1602 January 31.
Items
Details
Title
Autograph letter signed from Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, to Dr. Julius Caesar, Judge of the Admiralty [manuscript], 1602 January 31.
Description
1 letter, 3 items.
Associated name
Nottingham, Charles Howard, Earl of, approximately 1536-1624, correspondent.
Pirie, Robert S., former owner.
Pirie, Robert S., former owner.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Folger-specific note
Curatorial file available.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain
Item Details
Call number
V.b.385
Folger-specific note
Sotheby's catalog description: Nottingham, Charles Howard, Earl of (Lord Howard of Effingham) Autograph letter signed ("Nottingham"), to Dr. Julius Caesar, Judge of the Admiralty. Informing him that "at my coming home I found my wife very extreme seke soo as if the world lay on it I wold not goo from her tell I saw her better," and asking him to inform fellow members of the Admiralty that he will not be able to attend a coming meeting but "the cause is gret therfoe it weer good you kept the tyme and day," one page, folio (290 x 195 mm), integral autograph address leaf, "this Sonday the last of Ja" [i.e., 31 January 1602]; neat repairs, slight adhesive residue from former mount. Housed with two other items in a green cloth folding-box and morocco-backed slipcase. Sotheby's catalog note: Both the Earl of Nottingham — best known as the hero of the Armada — and his wife were at the heart of Queen Elizabeth's court; Katherine (née Carey), Countess of Nottingham, was a cousin of the Queen and one of her closest confidantes for more than forty years. The countess died a year after this anxious letter was written, and her death was a cause of great grief to the Queen. In his Memoirs Robert Carey recalls coming to court two weeks after the Countess's death: "I found her in one of her withdrawing chambers, sitting low upon her cushions. She called me to her, I kissed her hand, and told her it was my chiefest happiness to see her in safety and in health, which I wished might long continue. She took me by the hand, and wrung it hard, and said, 'No, Robin, I am not well,' and then discoursed with me of her indisposition, and that her heart had been sad and heavy for ten or twelve days, and in her discourse she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great sighs. I was grieved at the first to see her in this plight; for in all my lifetime before I never knew her fetch a sigh, but when the Queen of Scots was beheaded." Queen Elizabeth herself died two weeks later. Acquired at the Robert S. Pirie sale, Sotheby's, New York, 2-4 December 2015, lot 614. Sotheby's catalog provenance: Enys family of Enys, Cornwall (Bonhams, 28 September 2004, lot 73). acquisition: Purchased at the foregoing sale through Bernard Quaritch. Pirie copy accompanied by a separate, handwritten note and 1etching of Admiral Howard of Effingham, and his coat of arms. Adopted by Carole Levin, Acquisitions Night 2016.
Folger accession
269386