As the Count Feria had written to King Philip, William Cecil, already a long time adviser to Lady Elizabeth, became the Principal Secretary to Queen Elizabeth and a member of her privy council. The council was officially sworn in, at Hatfield House, three days after her accession, on November 20. The counselors were:
The Earl of Pembroke
Sir William Cecil
The Lorde Admiral
Sir Ambrose Cave
Sir William Howard
Sir Rafe Sadler
Sir Thomas Parry
Sir Richard Sackville.1
Howard was also appointed Lord Chamberlain. Elizabeth's favorite, Robert Dudley, was not on the council but was always close to her person as Master of the Horse. He would be in the place of highest honor during her coronation procession.
It is quite possibly on the 20th that Elizabeth read her instructions to her counselors:
My Lordes, the law of nature moveth me to sorrowe for my sister: the burdaine that is fallen upon me maketh mc amazed; and yet, consydering I am God's creature, ordeined to obay his appointment, I will thearto yelde, requiringe from the bottome of my hearte, that I may have assistaunce of his grace, to be the minister of his heavenlie will in this office nowe committed to me. And, as I am but one bodie naturallye consydered, though, by his permission, a bodie politick to governe ; so I shall require you all, my Lords, (chieflie you of the nobilitie, everie one in his degree and powre) to be assistant to me; that I with my rulinge, and you with your service, maye make a good accompte to Almyghtie God, and leave some comfort to our posteritie in earthe. I meane to direct all myne actions by good advice and counseill, and thearfore, at this present, consydering that divers of you be of the auncient nobilitie, having your beginninge and estates of my progenitors, kings of this realme, and thearbie ought in honour to have the more naturall care for the mainteyning of mye estate and this commonwealth.
Some others have bene of long experience in governaunce, and enabled by my father, of noble memorie, my brother, and my late sister, to bear office : the rest of you being uppon special trust lately called to her service onlie and trust, for your service consydered and rewarded; my meaning is to require, of you all, nothing more but faithfull harts, in suche service as from tyme to tyme shall be in your powers towardes the preservation of me and this commonwealth. And, for counseill and advice. I shall accept you of my nobilitie, and suche others of you the rest, as in consultation I shall thinck mete, and shortlie appointe; to the whiche, also, with their advice, I will join to their aide, and for ease of their burden, others mete for my service ; and they which I shall not appoint, lett them not thinck the same for anie disabilitie in them, but for that I consyder a multitude doth make rather disorder and confusion than good counseill, and of my good will you shall not doubt, using yourselves as appertaineth to good and loving subjects.
These were followed by “words spoken by the Queene to Master Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh:”
I give you this chardge, that you shall be of my Privie Counseille, and content yourself to take paines for me and my realme. This judgement I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with anie maner of guifte, and that you will be faithfull to the state, and that, without respect of mye private will, you will give me that counseile that you thinck best: and if you shall know anie thinge necessarie to be declared to me of secreasie, you shall shew it to myeself onlie, and assure yourself I will not faile to keep taciturnitie therein. And thearfore hearewith I chardge you.2
The exact date is not known.
The first council was convened on the same November 20. During the meeting of the 21st, the Queen's first proclamation was composed. It was not what the contemporary might expect.
a Proclamacion inclosed, signed by the Quenes Majestie, touchinge suche as robbe uppon hope of pardon at the Coronacion.3
As part of a monarch's coronation, a general pardon was traditionally proclaimed and most categories of prisoners released. The proclamation seems to inform us that some clever robbers used the intervening time to freely indulge in their crimes with the expectation that they could not be charged or held for their crimes.
Also on the 21st letters went out to other noblemen of the kingdom requiring their attendance, in London, where the queen would soon remove.
A letter to the Marques of Wynchester, therles of Shrewisbury and Derby, with a schedule inclosed conteyninge the names of suche noblemen as her Hieghnes thinketh good tattende uppon her Majestic to London.4
Most council meetings would show a longer list of attendees than the previous.
On the 23rd of November, however, there would not be a meeting. This presumably because the next meeting was held in London, at the Charter House, which had been chosen as temporary quarters for the counselors until The Tower could be put in order. Elizabeth does not seem to have been present for the Charter House meetings but rather remained at Hatfield. The first meeting in The Tower took place on November 31st.
1 Dasent, John Roche, ed. Acts of the Privy Council (1893), VII.3.
2 Harrington, John. Nugae Antiquae: Being a Miscellaneous Collection of Original Papers,... (1804). 66-9.
3 Acts. VII,4.
4 Ibid.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
So then, What Did Cause the Mysterious Death of the 5th Earl of Derby? October 2, 2023. “So then, we've discounted poison or witchcraft as cause of the mysterious death of Ferdinando Stanley, the 5th Earl of Derby. What then might the cause have been?”
A History of the Tudor Parlor. October 8, 2022. "The parlour appears in the sixteenth century to have been a room the particular use of which was in a state of transition."
- Feast of St. Michael, September 29: Beginning of the English Year. September 29, 2019. "Those who have read my “Thousand Years of English Terms” may recall that the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (a.k.a. “Michaelmas”), on September 29, marked the beginning to the English legal and business year."
- A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603. April 28, 2019. “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the Queen Elizabeth I Biography Page for many other articles.
So then, What Did Cause the Mysterious Death of the 5th Earl of Derby? October 2, 2023. “So then, we've discounted poison or witchcraft as cause of the mysterious death of Ferdinando Stanley, the 5th Earl of Derby. What then might the cause have been?”
A History of the Tudor Parlor. October 8, 2022. "The parlour appears in the sixteenth century to have been a room the particular use of which was in a state of transition."
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