ANOTHER PROPERTY
[DRAKE, Sir Francis (1543-1596)]. BURGHLEY, William Cecil, Lord (1520-1598). Autograph document signed ("WBurghley"), n.p., n.d. 1 page, an oblong (80 x 173 mm.), mounted to a larger sheet, small losses at top right-hand edge of sheet.
Details
[DRAKE, Sir Francis (1543-1596)]. BURGHLEY, William Cecil, Lord (1520-1598). Autograph document signed ("WBurghley"), n.p., n.d. 1 page, an oblong (80 x 173 mm.), mounted to a larger sheet, small losses at top right-hand edge of sheet.
An interesting autograph pay warrant, tantalizingly undated, probably addressed to a clerk or secretary. It directs the payment of funds to Drake and mentions an otherwise unnamed vessel under Drake's command: "se[e] yt (ie. that) on[e] thousa[n]d pounds be p[ai]d to S[i]r Fr[ancis] Drak for his shipp bouned on o[ne] thousand pounds to hy[m] as p[er]all (i.e. perill)...this in ye pistoletts [a type of coin]."
Even prior to his three epic expeditions to the West Indies (1570, 1571 and 1572) Drake had come to the attention of Burghley and the Queen; after serving for a time in Ireland with the Earl of Essex, he undertook in 1577 his 3-year circumnavigation, for which he was knighted by Elizabeth. In the absence of a date, it is unclear to what ship or voyage the present warrant refers. Burghley had a remarkablly long political career as Secretary of State under Queen Mary (1550-1553) and Secretary of State (1558-1572) and Lord High Treasurer under Elizabeth (1572-1598), becoming the equivalent of Prime Minister. Indisputably the foremost statesman of Elizabethan England, he was instrumental in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and was succeeded by his son, Rober Cecil.
An interesting autograph pay warrant, tantalizingly undated, probably addressed to a clerk or secretary. It directs the payment of funds to Drake and mentions an otherwise unnamed vessel under Drake's command: "se[e] yt (ie. that) on[e] thousa[n]d pounds be p[ai]d to S[i]r Fr[ancis] Drak for his shipp bouned on o[ne] thousand pounds to hy[m] as p[er]all (i.e. perill)...this in ye pistoletts [a type of coin]."
Even prior to his three epic expeditions to the West Indies (1570, 1571 and 1572) Drake had come to the attention of Burghley and the Queen; after serving for a time in Ireland with the Earl of Essex, he undertook in 1577 his 3-year circumnavigation, for which he was knighted by Elizabeth. In the absence of a date, it is unclear to what ship or voyage the present warrant refers. Burghley had a remarkablly long political career as Secretary of State under Queen Mary (1550-1553) and Secretary of State (1558-1572) and Lord High Treasurer under Elizabeth (1572-1598), becoming the equivalent of Prime Minister. Indisputably the foremost statesman of Elizabethan England, he was instrumental in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and was succeeded by his son, Rober Cecil.