Cecil Papers: January 1606 | British History Online

Pages 57-60

Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House: Volume 24, Addenda, 1605-1668. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1976.

Citation:

January 1606



	John Harries to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 9, 1605–6].	He is one of the Clerks of the King's Customs. Ten years ago he lent £200 to Robert Winter of Huddington upon his bond, with the expectation of receiving from him the inheritance of a farm called Evelenche, in which petitioner had estate for the term of his wife's life, paying the yearly rent of £20 bequeathed to Thomas Winter during his life. Three years ago petitioner discovered that the payment was not regular, and that there was no likelihood of the bargain being performed as anticipated. He therefore sued Robert Winter for the debt, but now Winter, with other traitors, has been arrested for high treason, with the consequent forfeiture of all his lands and goods. Petitioner requests that he be repaid the debt, and that Salisbury intervene with the King for the money to be paid out of the confiscated lands.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 1588.)
	William Bradley to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 9, 1605–6].	He took great trouble and pains in the apprehension of the traitors Robert Winter and Stephen Littleton, and gives a detailed account of the part he played in their detection and arrest at the house of Mrs Meriall (Muriel) Littleton at Hagley, co. Worcester. He was assisted by John Finwood and Thomas Haselwood, and with their help he was able to raise the town and villages in the vicinity and seize the traitors, before taking the road to London to convey the news of their capture to Salisbury. He requests that he be rewarded for his services and expenses. He is in the service of Sir Henry Bromley. —Undated. ½ p. (P. 342.)
	William Poynter to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 9, 1605–6].	He is of Hartlebury, co. Worcester, and was the means of revealing the whereabouts of Littleton and Winter to the authorities, after being forcibly detained by the two who were hiding in a barn belonging to one Perks, of Hagley, in the same shire. Eventually the two fugitives had been arrested in the house of Mrs Littleton. He had also denounced Margaret Perks, daughter of the above, and Thomas Burford for providing the traitors with provisions. He asks that he be rewarded by the King for this service.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 331.)
	John Ferrer and Gilbert Littleton to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 9, 1605–6].	They beg Salisbury to have compassion on Stephen Littleton who is charged with conspiracy, and to exercise his influence to procure him a pardon. They request that, as brothers, they be allowed access to him whose innocence, if proved, will save him from sentence of death.—Undated. ¾ p. (P. 330.)
	William Poynter to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 13, 1605–6].	He was injured by John, brother of Thomas Burford, and later invited to Stourbridge to come to an agreement on the matter. He returned with Perks with the intention of lodging at his house, but Perks, alleging some altercation between himself and his father, advised petitioner to find accommodation in an alehouse. Instead petitioner went to a barn belonging to Perks, and there came across Winter and Littleton. They seized and kept him prisoner for many days, and during that time they were provided with food by Burford. By a trick he succeeded in escaping from them and immediately made for the house of Sir Richard Walsh, High Sheriff of Worcestershire, where he revealed the hiding-place of Winter and Littleton. Eventually the two were arrested in Mrs Littleton's house. Later, Perks, his sister and Burford were examined by Mr Jones, Mr Fleet and Mr Ingram, J.P.s and denied their offence until openly confronted and accused by petitioner. Inasmuch as he was instrumental, at the risk of his life, in having Winter and Littleton caught, and has attended in London for five weeks at his own expense, he asks that he be granted the King's reward for his loyal services.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 1185.) [See H.M.C. Salisbury MSS, Vol. XVIII, p. 17.]
	The Wherrymen and Watermen of London to the Earl of Salisbury.
[After January 24, 1605–6].	In the Parliament held in the first year of the King's reign, a statue was passed prohibiting wherrymen and watermen from keeping apprentices or servants to row, the only exceptions being those who had been apprenticed to the trade for five years. A bill has now been presented to Parliament for the repeal of this prohibition by the company, since it threatens to destroy the livelihood of its members, "who were free before anie law was limitinge how longe a waterman should serve". The opposition is being organized by a minority of contentious members of the company, who have no credit and who are incapable of holding positions of trust and responsibility, "such as havinge bene servants now seeke the utter undoinge of their aged masters that brought them upp". These have found means to get the bill altered in the House of Commons to the effect that none shall keep servants or apprentices but such as have rowed on the Thames, and were free and kept servants for a period of 15 years before the making of the act. If the bill should pass in this form, it would prejudice the interests of the company, and petitioners ask that the bill be not made retrospective further than the beginning of the King's reign.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 2097.) [See The Journals of the House of Commons, Vol. I, p. 259.]
	Thomas Landale to the Earl of Salisbury.
[Before January 30, 1605–6].	He is of Tilton, Leicestershire, and is a tenant to Sir Everard Digby. (fn. 1) He occupied a tenement and two yardlands in Tilton, which had been leased to him by Mr Erdeswick, deceased, who married Sir Everard Digby's mother, and whose son is now a King's ward. For this lease petitioner paid £80, and of the term of 21 years there are still 16 to run. Sir Everard, however, compounded with Erdeswick and enclosed the property, but refused to allow petitioner any allowance or compensation for the land which he forcibly took from him, despite the fact that petitioner's wife was his old nurse. Petitioner has pressed his suit for relief in the Court of Chancery, where the Lord Chancellor is now trying it, but Sir Everard's participation in the late conspiracy and his arrest signify that there is little hope for petitioner to obtain any. He therefore requests that his case be examined by Salisbury and that his former land be restored to him.—Undated. ½ p. (P. 1458.)
	John Winch to the Earl of Salisbury.
[Before January 30, 1605–6].	Sir Everard Digby, one of the conspirators in the late plot, owes him £400 for which he can obtain little remedy. In the circumstances and in view of the fact that he lent the late Queen Elizabeth £100 in 1598 upon the warrant of the then Lord Mayor, Sir Stephen Soames, which was never repaid, besides later loans to the King, he asks that Digby's debt to him be repaid out of his forfeited goods and estates.—Undated. ½ p. (P. 349.)
	Arthur Mainwaring to the Earl of Salisbury.
[? January, 1605–6].	The King has recommended Hugh Mainwaring, counsellor-at-law, to be Recorder of Chester, but some of the Aldermen have objected on the grounds that he is not a freeman of that city and is therefore, according to its charter, not eligible for the post. A petition to that effect has been forwarded to Salisbury, and petitioner requests that the whole matter be determined by fit persons of Salisbury's choice. He mentions Justice Warburton as being an Alderman of Chester and well acquainted with the candidates for the office and with the privileges of the city.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 334.) [See H.M.C. Salisbury MSS, Vol. XVIII, p. 22.]
	The Earl of Salisbury to the Society of the Middle Temple.
[Before February, 1605–6].	He is writing on behalf of Lord Windsor, the King's ward, who has been deprived of the chamber in the Middle Temple which his ancestors have possessed for almost 150 years. In his capacity as Master of the Wards, it is incumbent upon him to protect the interests and rights of all wards. He therefore advises the Society to reconsider their decision and allow Lord Windsor his chamber, at least during his minority, so that none of his friends may complain of injustice done to him. He requests to be informed of their compliance with his proposal, or else of the reasons which impel them to withhold the chamber. (fn. 2) — Undated. Endorsed: "Minute to the Bench and Society of the Middle Temple in the behalf of the Lord Wyndsor." Draft. 2 pp. (P. 1955.)
	John Morgan to the Earl of Salisbury.
[Before February, 1605–6].	There recently happened a riot in Cardiff in which Thomas Lewis was killed, by whom it is not definitely known. Nevertheless, Edward Kemys, High Sheriff of Glamorganshire, (fn. 3) arrested petitioner for murder out of sheer malice, and placed him in irons although he had been grievously wounded in the affray. The Sheriff is a kinsman of the dead man and intends to bring petitioner to trial in the next Glamorganshire Assizes. He proposes to return his own jury, and petitioner feels his life to be in danger. He denies the charge or that any quarrel existed between him and the murdered man. He asks that a letter be sent by Salisbury and the Privy Council to Sir John Croke and Mr Tate, the Justices of Assize, to stay the trial at the next sessions and to examine the case before petitioner be committed for trial.—Undated. 1 p. (P. 656.)