Wikipedia

John Somers (courtier)

John Somers or Somer or Sommers (died 1585) was an English diplomat, courtier, and cryptographer. He served as joint keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Tutbury Castle with Ralph Sadler.[1] Somers is said to have been Sadler's son-in-law.[2]

Diplomat

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The Somers or Somer family lived at High Halstow, and in the 17th-century their estate was sold to the treasurers of the Chatham Chest.[3]

Somers was a Clerk of the Signet as a successor to Gregory Railton (died 1561).[4] Railton, a Marian exile, who had been a decipherer of coded letters,[5] was a correspondent of John Knox and involved in negotiations with the Duke of Châtellerault and his son the Earl of Arran, Protestant leaders in Scotland in 1559.[6] Railton was for many years Ralph Sadler's servant and "inward man".[7]

As a diplomat, Somers worked for the English commissioners of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, and in March 1559 was sent to Elizabeth I with a summary of the negotiations.[8] Somers worked with Robert Jones and Henry Middlemore for Nicholas Throckmorton, the ambassador in France in 1559.[9]

Somers had discussions with the Cardinal of Lorraine, an uncle of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was Queen of France at this time.[10] Somers looked after Thomas Cecil, eldest son of William Cecil and a student of Gray's Inn, on his first visit to France in June 1559 and taught him some French. Somers also bought books for William Cecil including a gardening manual.[11]

In July 1578, as a depute to Francis Walsingham, he went to Mons to see the Duke of Alençon,[12][13] and in August was involved with William Davison in arrangements to borrow money for the English crown from Benedict Spinola and Horatio Palavicino, in connection with the Second Union of Brussels.[14] In July 1580, he congratulated Henry III of France on making peace with the Huguenots, and in 1581 he was involved in the Anjou courtship.[15][16]

Somers declined Walsingham's invitation to join him in an embassy to Scotland in August 1583 due to illness, and in the same month he wrote a will.[17] The historian and genealogist Edmund Lodge (1756–1839) was unable to discover details of Somers' family, and more recent writers have not yet traced his early career. His will mentions that he was born around the year 1525 and his father was Thomas Somers of Halstow, Kent.[18]

Agnes Strickland characterised him as a "honest-hearted country gentleman" as much concerned with the repair of Rochester Bridge as affairs of state.[19][20] Natalie Mears identifies him as a member of closely-knit second tier or "outer ring" of diplomats and advisers trusted to give counsel to Elizabeth I.[21]

Cipher keys

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Newlands St Mary Hoo (later rebuilt) was one of the houses on John Somers' estate

In May 1560, Throckmorton described Somers' work in Paris with a letter in cipher meant for Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland. By Somers' diligence "the letter was cunningly made up again" and returned to a messenger.[22]

In July 1581, Walsingham sent Somers an intercepted letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, entirely written in code. Elizabeth had requested that Somers decipher it.[23] In October 1582, Walsingham forwarded another letter for Somers to decipher, sent from Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow in Paris.[24] Walsingham wrote from Windsor with his request:

To my very loving frend, Mr John Sommers
Sir, th'enclosed letter in cipher is, as we doe gesse, from the Q of Scottes to the B. of Glasco, which Hir Majesty would have you to have a speciall care to decypher.[25]

Somers was able to determine from an intercepted ciphered text forwarded to him by Walsingham in April 1584 that its author was Scottish, and used to writing with the orthography of the Scots language, even though the source text was in French. Somers made suggestions or "significative notes" on the meanings of symbols used in the text to identify people. Walsingham had also sent this text to another codeworker Thomas Phelippes.[26] Phelippes valued Somers as a senior colleague, on one occasion writing that "Mr Sommer" would be a judge of his "imperfect lines" deciphered from encrypted faulty Latin.[27] When charges were prepared against Mary, Queen of Scots, for her trial at Fotheringhay in 1586, evidence included her "most despitefull letter" deciphered by "Mr Sommer".[28]

A collection of cipher keys in the National Archives, attributed to John Somers by the archivist Robert Lemon (1800–1867), includes a key for a code used by the French diplomat Antoine de Noailles during Wyatt's rebellion in 1554.[29] There are also keys for the correspondence of Mary of Guise and Henri Cleutin during the crisis of the Scottish Reformation and the siege of Leith.[30][31][32][33][34] Robert Lemon was Senior Clerk of the State Paper Office, and involved in arranging the British state papers and the publication of calendars summarising their contents.[35]

Conversation at Sheffield

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Sheffield Manor Lodge

Somers was appointed to be Ralph Sadler's assistant as custodian of Mary, Queen of Scots, on 12 August 1584. He called Sadler "Mr Chancellor", referring to his office for the Duchy of Lancaster. They were to take the place of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was to come to the royal court in London.[36]

In conversation at Sheffield, Somers told Mary that Queen Elizabeth was troubled by Scots landing in Ireland to fight the English, encouraged by "great ones" in Scotland. Somers thought that this was an impediment to Mary and her son James VI receiving Elizabeth's favour. Mary said she knew nothing about the landings, but if James VI knew he had Elizabeth's good will, he would do his best to help and even send troops to support the English in Ireland.[37] The conversation was made in the context of Mary's hopes that she would be recognised as a joint ruler of Scotland with her son, a scheme known as the "Association".[38] Somers wrote to William Cecil, describing Mary's expressions of despair at her long predicament and failing health on their "removing day" from Sheffield.[39]

Journey to Wingfield

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Wingfield Manor

In September, Somers accompanied Mary, Queen of Scots, as she travelled from Sheffield to Wingfield Manor.[40][41] He wrote a report of their conversations on the way.[42] Somers asked her about the "enterprise", rumoured plans for her rescue and the invasion of England,[43] which were mentioned in the letter he had deciphered for Walsingham back in April.[44] According to Somers, she replied:

"And as to the enterprise you spoke of, by my troth, I knew not nor heard any thing of it; nor so God have my soule, will ever consent any thing that shulde truble this state, wherof I seek the quiet with all my heart; for if any unquietnes shuld happen heere; it wold be layd to my charge, and so I might be in greater danger.[45]

On 7 September, Mary wrote to French ambassador in London, Michel de Castelnau, mentioning that she was pleased that Elizabeth had appointed Sadler and Somers during the Earl of Shrewsbury's absence in London.[46]

The carrier's man

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Tutbury Castle

Mary's Scottish secretary Gilbert Curle set up a code for correspondence apparently disguising Sadler's name as "the carrier" and Somers as "the carrier's man", the Earl of Shrewsbury was "the peddler".[47] Curle could then write letters to Thomas Baldwin, a servant of the Earl of Shrewsbury, that might pass as unsuspicious mercantile correspondence.[48]

Sadler inspected an intercepted letter in October 1584 and thought the identifications were not entirely correct.[49] Somers seemed to be implicated in the secretary's schemes, and Curle claimed the "carrier" and "carrier's man" disliked Bess of Hardwick. Sadler reported to Walsingham that he and Somers were angry with Curle for letting them down or betraying them, and Somers had not been turned or compromised, but was "a perfect honest faithful and good servant to her majesty (Elizabeth), whereof he hath showed a good proof and trial by his former service".[50] Baldwin was sent to the Tower of London.[51]

Somers himself wrote to Walsingham, as a conceit taking on the persona of the "carrier's man" and entering his soul. In his letter, Somers described his discussion with Mary in the Great Chamber at Wingfield, on various topics including sending her French secretary Claude Nau as her diplomat to the English court, and the potential marriage of James VI to candidates including the "second daughter of Lorraine" (Antonia of Lorraine rather than Christina of Lorraine) and other possible brides.[52]

At Tutbury

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Tutbury Castle

Mary found her bedding at Tutbury was old and stained, and she exchanged her mattress with Somers.[53] He was involved in furnishing a bedchamber for Mary. He wrote to William Cecil about the requirements. Mary wanted a pavillon, which was a tent of tapestry over her bed, "doble lyned with canvas for her chamber".[54] There was some confusion in their correspondence over this tapestry tent and the French words Mary used for it. Somers drew a diagram of the room for Cecil.[55][56] The bed chamber, heated by a fireplace to the left of Mary's bed, was at the top of timber-framed building built against the curtain wall with a view over the internal court. It no longer exists.[57]

Somers bought a plain hard-wearing wool and linen fabric called dornick or dornix at Coventry in February 1584 for hangings and curtains in the lodgings.[58] The cloth was suitable to cover a billiard table for Mary.[59] He created a garden for Mary at Tutbury, an enclosure made with wooden palings. Mary complained to the diplomats Castelnau and Châteauneuf that Somers's work was more like a pig run than anything that might be called a garden, "plus propre à garder des pourceaux qu'à porter le nom de jardin".[60]

In March 1585, Somers, (or Sadler),[61] delivered a letter to Mary brought from Scotland by Lewis Bellenden, in which her son James VI declined to join her in the "Association", a plan for her to return to power with him as a joint ruler.[62][63]

Sadler and Somers both wrote to Walsingham in March, defending their decision to allow Mary to ride and fly her hawks outside the castle.[64] In April, Walsingham wrote to Somers reminding him of the need to intercept and examine letters arriving at Tutbury, especially from Scotland. Somers replied that carriers delivering letters were searched. Mary's French secretary Claude Nau inspected the seals of incoming packets of letters, to check if they had been tampered with. Somers obtained and deciphered at least one outgoing letter from Mary considered to be incriminating.[65]

 
Susanna Temple, John Somers' granddaughter, Cornelius Johnson

While he remained at Tutbury, Somers gave the new keeper Amias Paulet details of routines and the backgrounds of the servants, including the three English laundrywomen.[66] Somers received the brunt of Mary's more serious complaints as Paulet began to make changes in April 1585.[67] Mary's servants told him that she suffered by Paulet's "rigours and alterations", including the removal of her cloth of estate, symbolic of majesty, from the Great Chamber used for dining.[68][69][70]

Paulet wrote to Walsingham that he had discussed the cloth of estate with Claude Nau in the presence of John Somers, and offered that Mary could have it set up in the dining room she regularly used,[71] (which was next to her attic bed chamber).[72] Paulet wrote that the blame for the controversy lay with himself, "Mr Somer beareth the blame in words, but the grudge and displeasure is against me".[73]

Death

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Somers seems also to have been involved with Amias Paulet in making an inventory of Mary's jewels and apparel, according to an endorsement on a letter of Paulet's.[74]

John Somer's will was proved in November 1585. Somers left half a dozen spoons with big knops to the diplomat Thomas Randolph.[75] John Somers was buried at Rochester Cathedral.[76] John Manningham noted some details from the inscription of the now destroyed tomb.[77]

Family and children

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John Somers had a brother, William, who died in 1607 and was buried at Halstow.

Somers married Martine Ridge,[78] daughter of Edward Ridge and widow of Thomas Colepeper. His sister Margaret was married to Derrick Anthony of Chertsey. John Somers had two daughters who survived to be co-heirs to the family estate at Halstow and St Mary Hoo:

References

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  1. ^ John Hosack, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers, 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), pp. 287, 303.
  2. ^ John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 455.
  3. ^ Newlands Farm, St Mary Hoo: Exploring Kent's Past
  4. ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1560–1563, 2 (London: HMSO, 1948), p. 100
  5. ^ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1865), p. 37 no. 76.
  6. ^ Jane Dawson, John Knox (Yale, 2016), pp. 184–188: Christina Hallowell Garrett, The Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabethan Puritanism (Cambridge, 1938), pp. 265–266: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), p. 516 no. 1290
  7. ^ Simon Adams, Ian Archer, George W. Bernard, "A Journall of Matters of State", Religion, Politics, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Camden Society, 2003), p. 61 fn. 43: James Gairdner & R. H. Brodie, Letters & Papers, Henry VIII, 20:1 (London, 1905), p. 331 no. 631.
  8. ^ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), pp. 187–188 no. 1290
  9. ^ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 70: Christopher Andrew, The Secret World: A History of Intelligence (London: Allen Lane, 2018), pp. 162–164: Gary M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives: 1509–1688 (London, 1990), p. 85.
  10. ^ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1558–1559 (London: Longman, 1863), p. 540 no. 1316: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1 (London: Bettenham, 1740), pp. 222, 470: Philip Yorke, Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. 1 (London, 1778), pp. 126–128.
  11. ^ Stephen Alford, Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I (Yale, 2011), p. 113: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1, p. 124: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), p. 308 no. 831: Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561 (London: Longman, 1865), p. 584 no. 1035.
  12. ^ Conyers Read, Mr Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth, 1 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1925), pp. 395, 402–403
  13. ^ Arthur John Butler, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1578–1579 (London: HMSO, 1903) pp. 88–89 no. 109.
  14. ^ Arthur John Butler, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1578–1579 (London: HMSO, 1903) pp. 55 no. 77, 195 no. 255:John Gage, The History and Antiquities of Suffolk: Thingoe Hundred (London: Bentley, 1836), pp. 189–193.
  15. ^ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 44: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 2 (London, 1791), p. 308 footnote citing Dudley Digges, The Compleat Ambassador (London, 1655), pp. 378–384, 397, 400, 410, 441.
  16. ^ Arthur John Butler, Calendar of State Papers Foreign: Elizabeth, 1581–1582, 15 (London, 1915), no. 303.
  17. ^ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 46: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 576 no. 593: TNA PROB 11/68/621.
  18. ^ Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 2 (London, 1791), p. 308 footnote: Armel Dubois-Nayt and Valérie Nachef, "Developing the Art of Secret Writing across Borders: The Journey of Marie de Guise's Ciphers between France and Scotland", 37 Études Épistémè (2020), fn. 31. doi:10.4000/episteme.6713
  19. ^ Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London, 1844), pp. 99–106.
  20. ^ Nigel Yates & James M. Gibson, "The Elizabethan Statutes", Traffic and Politics: The Construction and Management of Rochester Bridge (Boydell, 1994), p. 150.
  21. ^ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 50.
  22. ^ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561 (London: Longman, 1865), pp. 9–10 no. 1316: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1, p. 427.
  23. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 39 no. 45: John Markham Thorpe, Calendar of the State Papers, Relating to Scotland, 2 (London, 1858), p. 930: S. Tomokiyo: "Ciphers of Mary, Queen of Scots", SP53/11 nos. 35, 50
  24. ^ Conyers Read, Mr Secretary Walsingham and the policy of Queen Elizabeth, 2 (Archon, 1967), p. 375.
  25. ^ Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 5, pp. 308–309 (British Library Cotton Caligula C/III f.426)
  26. ^ Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London, 1844), pp. 99–106: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 375–379
  27. ^ Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580–1625 (London, 1872), p. 68.
  28. ^ Conyers Read, The Bardon Papers: Documents relating to the imprisonment and trial of Mary Queen of Scots (London: Camden Society, 1909), p. 72
  29. ^ Sheila R. Richards, Secret Writing in the Public Records (HMSO, 1974), pp. 18–19, SP 53/23 f.2: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), no. 605 (2).
  30. ^ Armel Dubois-Nayt and Valérie Nachef, "Developing the Art of Secret Writing across Borders: The Journey of Marie de Guise's Ciphers between France and Scotland", 37 Études Épistémè (2020). doi:10.4000/episteme.6713
  31. ^ George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia 47:2 (February 2023), p. 109. doi:10.1080/01611194.2022.2160677
  32. ^ Lisa M. Barksdale-Shaw, "That You Are Both Decipher'd: Revealing Espionage and Staging Written Evidence in Early Modern England", Katherine Ellison & Susan Kim, A Material History of Medieval and Early Modern Ciphers: Cryptography and the History of Literacy (Routledge, 2017), pp. 118–136. doi:10.4324/9781315267449
  33. ^ Valérie Nachef, Jacques Patarin, Armel Dubois-Nayt, "Mary of Guise's Enciphered Letters", Peter Y. A. Ryan, David Naccache, Jean-Jacques Quisquater, The New Codebreakers: Essays Dedicated to David Kahn (Springer, 2016), pp. 1–24. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-49301-4_1
  34. ^ Robert Hutchinson, Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the secret war that saved England (Daedalus, 2006), pp. 34, 290.
  35. ^ C. S. Knighton, "The Calendars and their Editors, 1856–2006", The National Archives/Gale
  36. ^ John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 584–585.
  37. ^ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 380, 386.
  38. ^ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 257–258.
  39. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 308–309 no. 291.
  40. ^ David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), pp. 205–206.
  41. ^ Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots: Her Environment and Tragedy, 2 (London: Hutchinson, 1905), p. 583.
  42. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 313–317 no. 295.
  43. ^ John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 592–597: John Hosack, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers, 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), pp. 287–288.
  44. ^ Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London, 1844), pp. 99–106.
  45. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 315 no. 295: John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 594: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 389–394 at 390.
  46. ^ Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 6 (London, 1844), pp. 7–8
  47. ^ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 402–403.
  48. ^ James Daybell, "Secret Letters in Elizabethan England", James Daybell & Peter Hinds, Material Readings of Early Modern Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 53: James Daybell, The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practice of Letter Writing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 158.
  49. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 368 no. 342, 373 no. 347.
  50. ^ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 422–423.
  51. ^ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 115.
  52. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 374 no. 348.
  53. ^ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 386: George Chalmers, The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots: Drawn from the State Papers, 1, p. 299.
  54. ^ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, p. 503.
  55. ^ Michael Pearce, "Chapel beds in 16th-century Scottish inventories", Regional Furniture, 27 (2013), pp. 87–88, Somer's sketch, TNA SP 53/15 f.48.
  56. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 556 no. 530, 574 no. 553, 581–584 no. 561: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2 (Edinburgh: Archibald Constable: 1809), pp. 490, 493―4, Ralph Sadler describes the bed chamber, schedule of fabrics
  57. ^ Howard Colvin, The History of the King's Works, 3:1 (London: HMSO, 1975), p. 296.
  58. ^ Clive Edwards, "Dornix", Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings and Home Furnishing Practices, 1200–1950 (Lund Humphreys, 2007), p. 79: Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 359.
  59. ^ Jade Scott, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2024), p. 144: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 551―552 no. 526, "brode dornex, most greene": Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 511–512
  60. ^ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 379: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 6 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 217–218.
  61. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 595 no. 573.
  62. ^ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), pp. 367–368: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 6 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 125–131: Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Stuart, vol. 2 (London, 1842), p. 66.
  63. ^ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 257–258: David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), p. 213: John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Paulet, Keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 1874), pp. 27–28
  64. ^ David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), p. 214: John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 456: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), nos. 578, 580.
  65. ^ Conyers Read, The Bardon Papers: Documents relating to the imprisonment and trial of Mary Queen of Scots (London: Camden Society, 1909), p. 72: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 541–542
  66. ^ John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Paulet, Keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 1874), pp. 50–51
  67. ^ Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots: Her Environment and Tragedy, 2 (London: Hutchinson, 1905), p. 596.
  68. ^ Jade Scott, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2024), p. 238: Clare Hunter, Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power (Sceptre, 2023), pp. 290–291.
  69. ^ Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, (Oxford, 2014), p. 343 fn. 278: Michael Bath, Emblems for A Queen: The Needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Archetype, 2008), p. 5.
  70. ^ John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 457.
  71. ^ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 624 nos. 598.
  72. ^ John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 615.
  73. ^ John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Paulet, Keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 1874), pp. 10-11, 14
  74. ^ John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Paulet, Keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 1874), pp. 366–368
  75. ^ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 57: TNA PROB 11/68/621.
  76. ^ Edward Hawkins, "Notes on some monuments in Rochester Cathedral", Archaeologia Cantiana, 11 (London, 1871), pp. 5–6.
  77. ^ John Bruce, Diary of John Manningham (Westminster, 1868), p. 24.
  78. ^ Ricard Hovenden, The Visitation of Kent: Taken in the Years 1619–1623 (London, 1898), p. 21.
  79. ^ Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, 2 (Canterbury, 1782), p. 576.
  80. ^ R. H. D'Elboux, "Coats of Arms in Queenborough Castle", Archaeologia Cantiana, 58 (London, 1945), pp. 14–15.
  81. ^ Temple, Sir Alexander (1583-1629), of Longhouse, The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
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