The Bardon papers : documents relating to the imprisonment & trial of Mary Queen of Scots / edited for the Royal Historical Society by Conyers Read ; with a prefatory note by Charles Cotton.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Bardon papers : documents relating to the imprisonment & trial of Mary Queen of Scots / edited for the Royal Historical Society by Conyers Read ; with a prefatory note by Charles Cotton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Proffe. Thes 2 lettres are prouid by Babyng[ton], Balia[rd], Savage, Tychbourn and Dun. 1 Babyngton did voluntaryly subscribe too eche page of bothe lettres.* The Proffes. Bothe the lettres written by the Scotes Queen scyphre and his lettres in euery point assueryd by hir. The very sciphere fond in hir cabenet at Chartley and after veryfiid and subscribed by B[abington].3 The lettre was empartid with his companions in ther jolitez which the[y] after affarmid soo longe as the lyuid.4 Nau and Curie, by ther declaracions, confessions and subscrip- tions and othes, doo witnes all thes lettres &c.5 1 Some parts of Savage’s confessions are preserved in the Record Office (S.P. Mary Q. of S. xix, no. 38). A summary of his confession is also in the Record Office (S.P. Mary Q. of S. xix, no. 91). A full copy of Babington’s several confessions is among Lord Calthorpe’s MSS. (Vol. xxxi f. 218 seq.). Ballard’s, Tichbourne's and Donn’s confessions are missing in their original forms, but summaries of them will be found in the Record Office (S.P. Mary Q. of S. xix, no. 91). 2 The two letters referred to here are those of Babington to Mary informing her of the plot and of hers to him encouraging him to proceed in it (cf. Docu- ment XI b. d.). 3 This cipher, attested by Babington, is missing in the original. It appears to have been laid before the Commissioners at their session in the Star Chamber (cf. Hardwicke Papers i, p. 234) and probably it was the paper to which Burghley referred in his “ Brief Plot for the course of proceedings against the Scottish Queen ” (Cotton MSS. Cal. C. ix f. 507) when he wrote, “ Note that the cipher be carried with us. ” But cf. Morris, p. 233 for another interpretation of Burghley’s note. 4 Tichbourne and Donn both confessed that Babington had shown them Mary’s letter, Tichbourne adding that he had assisted Babington in deciphering it (cf. Summary of Confessions cited above). s Both Nau and Curie, Mary’s secretaries, bore testimony on several occasions to the fact that Mary had written to Babington encouraging him in his conspir- acy to kill Elizabeth. Considerable doubt has been thrown upon the value of their testimony. Thev certainly gave it under some pressure and Nau retracted
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