[ELIZABETH I/MANUSCRIPT]

Privy Council Document, one leaf [32 x 21.5 cm], written in a chancelry hand in ink on paper, 32 lines, dated September 23, 1599, signed by seven members of the Queen!s Privy Council. With a contemporary leaf folded as an envelope and annotated with

      1599. *Ronald, The Pirate Queen: Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire, 2007.. Highly evocative manuscript document from the reign of Elizabeth I, signed by her entire Privy Council with the exception of Essex, who was directing the ill-fated Irish Campaign. The text authorizes payment for a successful spying expedition against the Spanish: !a Bark sent out from Plymouth to ye coast of Spayne for discoveries.! While spying on Spain, Elizabeth I engaged wholeheartedly in a secondary use for her fleet!to intercept all Spanish ships on their return from the New World. Although the Queen pleaded ignorance of this tactic during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War: !The rules of these naval engagements had been well defined by the English Admiralty: the queen received a one-third share of the registered plunder, the investors a third, and the crew a third. The Admiralty would get a 10-percent slice off the top.! (Ronald, p 295.) In 1599, the Privy Council!a secretive cabinet body of Elizabeth!s closest and most powerful advisors!included some of the greatest names in English history. Nottingham, commander of the British Fleet which defeated the Armada and the statesman Robert Cecil were among those whom the Queen selected carefully for the posts. On the day after this document was signed, the missing Council-Member Essex would set out on his voyage back to England, where he would be greeted by imprisonment for his mismanagement of the Irish Campaign, and eventually, execution. In this missive, the Privy Council reconsiders the seemingly exorbitant fee (over 164 pounds) charged for the use of ships sailing between Plymouth and Spain, verifies the cost with the mayor of Plymouth, and eventually allows an expense of 200 pounds. The reason given for this change of heart is that !good service was donne at that tyme wch he by interrupting certaine letrs of the enemyes, wch served to good purpose for discovery of their intentions.! The enemies in question were of course the Spaniards, who would continue to wage war against England until 1604, despite the devastating blow Elizabeth I had dealt them by defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588.