Evening dog walk; sunset glimpsed between the houses

7 August 1583: Elizabeth writes to James VI. We don't have the original but Burghley has added the date on a surviving draft, showing he's paying close attention. As we saw yesterday, the English are really rattled, and Elizabeth is aiming to frighten him into submission. She ... 1/ #earlymodern

Back in London, Burghley is writing one of his scratchy memos. I presume he's spooked by the uncertainty in Scotland and perhaps France. As usual, it's a mixture of the fairly obvious and the easier-said-than-done: find out James's intentions, 'to committ government to persons trusted', reform... 4/

5 August 1583: A significant day today, which many have regarding as the founding of the British empire. The not-universally-popular Sir Humphrey Gilbert has completed his crossing of the Atlantic and arrived at St John's, Newfoundland, where he finds 36 European ships already ... 1/ #earlymodern

I haven't had time to catch up with the continental news yet, but we have a nice image of a (failed) attack on the town of Unkel, near Remagen on the Rhine, late in July, in the ongoing Cologne war. Needless to say it's by our favourite Frans Hogenberg. 5/

4 August 1583: Well, my holidays are over for another summer, so time to return to 1583. Not too much has happened in my absence. The court has moved to Oatlands, near Weybridge; Elizabeth apparently plans a jaunt in Surrey. There's been a scandalous court marriage: Thomas Perrot... 1/ #earlymodern

In Cork, it appears, the earl of Ormond stages a show (I'm guessing he made a show of it) of his success in reclaiming the loyalty of the elite of Munster, receiving pledges today from an earl, two viscounts, three other lords and a host of lesser folk. A quintessential old English approach ... 5/

10 July 1583: Elizabeth apparently makes an excursion from Greenwich up to London, as the churchwardens' accounts at Lambeth record ringing the bells for her passing by. It's been suggested this was for the marriage of Philadelphia Carey, son of Elizabeth's cousin Lord Hunsdon ... 1/ #earlymodern

8 July 1583: The funeral of the earl of Sussex, dead for a month. A grand aristocratic funeral, which Holinshed describes in detail. The procession went through London: 45 poor men in black gowns, 120 servants on horseback, 95 gentlemen in gowns, the heralds, his arms and ... 1/ #earlymodern

Apparently George Carey, Lord Hunsdon's son and a cousin of the queen, is appointed Governor of the Isle of Wight today. Hilliard's miniature makes him look quite an appealing character. 9/

6 July 1583: Edmund Grindal dies today, archbishop of Canterbury for the past seven years. The most puritan-friendly of Elizabeth's three archbishops, he's been suspended from duty for six years for defying the queen's orders to crack down on prophesyings. As we've seen, he's ... 1/ #earlymodern

5 July 1583: Thomas Heneage is at Holdenby, apparently heading home from York, and stops to view his friend Christopher Hatton's new house. He deems it 'the best house that hath been built in this age, and it more showeth the good judgment and honour of the builder' than any ... 1/ #earlymodern

I don't know what the queen is doing today but apparently she lost two pairs of gold aglets (lace ends) from a black striped taffeta gown. They may have been something like this one from the London museum, which was in fact found on the Thames foreshore near Greenwich, where the queen is now. 6/

2 July 1583: James VI, having escaped captivity, is moving with impressive assurance to stabilise his new situation. Today he holds a Privy Council meeting in St Andrews noting the due to 'greit querrellis and deidlie feidis unreconsiliat' among his nobles and his fear of violence... 1/ #earlymodern

27 June 1583: A(nother) dramatic day in Scotland, and indeed a kind of revolution. After nearly a year of quasi-captivity since the Ruthven Raid, we've seen various rumours that change was in the air, and James has ordered a convention of nobles at St Andrews in a day or two. ... 1/ #earlymodern

25 June 1583: In the State Papers are a couple of lists of goods belonging to the recent Scottish ambassadors to England, stolen en voyage by English pirates. Some Bibles and books, a harquebus, and lots of expensive clothes (I dare say they did some shopping in London) ... 1/ #earlymodern

24 June 1583: In London, a man called Ananias Dare, apparently a tiler and bricklayer, marries Eleanor White, daughter of John White. White is a painter and has accompanied a voyage to North America with Martin Frobisher (where he probably produced this image) ... 1/ #earlymodern

22 June 1583: We've not heard much from the duke of Anjou lately as he hasn't been doing much; since his failed attempt to seize power in Antwerp back in January he's mostly been lying low, lately at Dunkirk. Now however he's apparently departed, or in fact had to flee by ship ... 1/ #earlymodern

... fairly humdrum: they meet at the Star Chamber and are mainly dealing with the cases of specific petitioners; one Christopher Payne who's very young and has been tied up in legal knots by one Christopher Humfrey, a tailor of London, various debt cases, a Catholic who was released from ... 2/

The Countess of Ormond writes to Walsingham from 'Kelkeny' asking for a favour for someone, with a nice italic hand and an interesting address of 'good mister secretarie' rather than 'master secretarie', which I think is quite uncommon. 8/

At Mortlake, Count Laski goes to visit Dr Dee again, and he gets a demonstration of Dee and Kelley's abilities; he's introduced to an angel in a white robe, holding a bloody cross in his hand (presumably Laski can't actually see this). They also discuss why Burghley has a grudge against Laski. 4/

19 June 1583: James VI's birthday, his 17th, and not a very good one for him. As Bowes reports, he's at Falkland (pictured) and has finally been told (or decided to believe) the news about the duke of Lennox's death. I think the loss of this friend and perhaps father-figure must ... 1/ #earlymodern

17 June 1583: A slightly surprising item to start. In the Pension Book of Gray's Inn, after noting various legal appointments, there is 'A note of the number of trees standing in & about Greis Inne' today. Apparently there are 'in the grene Courte xi elmes & iii walnut trees', ... 1/ #earlymodern

16 June 1583: Not too much happening today. In Fånö, Sweden, Axel Oxenstierna is born to an aristocratic family. He will live until 1654, rising to be Chancellor of Sweden for over 40 years during its rise to be a major European power and make reforms to many aspects of government. 1/ #earlymodern

15 June 1583: Strangely, another account of actors behaving badly in Norwich today. This time it is the Queen's Men, the newly-formed all-star company, touring the provinces, with permission, and performing at an inn called the Red Lion, probably in the yard. We don't know what ... 1/ #earlymodern

12 June 1583: In Cambridge, one Robert Taylor sells a piece of land on the east side of Cambridge to Richard Culverwell, a London merchant, and Laurence Chaderton, an eminent theologian and academic, for £550. The site had formerly been a Dominican house, but Sir Walter Mildmay ... 1/ #earlymodern

10 June 1583: The earl of Sussex, who died yesterday, was apparently giving away some of his books on his deathbed. Today, this copy of Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the famous atlas of 1570, is inscribed as a gift from Sussex to François Rasse des Neux, a Huguenot surgeon. ... 1/ #earlymodern

Golden hour dog

9 June 1583: Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex dies today, after a long illness. Not an especially well-known figure now, but he was a close councillor to Elizabeth, as well as serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord President of the North during the rebellion of 1569-70, and ... 1/ #earlymodern

The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, writes to Elizabeth about some trade dispute to do with the Hanseatic towns. I have to say, I would have hoped that the emperor would have slightly more impressive-looking letters. 8/