#william davison

CORRESPONDENCE SERIES 47/

William Davison to Robert Dudley 6 November, 1586

My very good lord, her majesty having two or three days past received some advertisement of your lordship purpose to repair home as much speed as you could, and finding by some letters of yours to sir Thomas Henneage, that you found yourself ill-disposed for the state of your health, besides your affection for the loss of your dearest nephew, was pleased to dispatch Mr. Thomas Gorge with a few lines of her own hand, in the which, amongst other things, she made some mention of her pleasure to license your lordship to return when you should think good, but finding, upon some deeper consideration of the estate wherein you should leave both those afflicted countries and her own people, in case there were not all the better order taken before your departure, [both for] the one and other, and how dangerous the consequence might be to her own service to have them, as it were, left to themselves in such a time as this, it pleased her to give order to signify unto you the next day, that, for as much as she had resolved to send over the Lord Gray to succeed in the charge of her lieutenant-general in your lordships absence to that end, she thought it no way fit, either for her honour or the surety of the cause, that your lordship should depart thence before the said lord Gray’s arrival, as by the said letters, sent after Mr. Gorge, your lordship shall perceive at more length. Now, hearing from Middleburgh, that your lordship should be expected there as on Thursday last, and that you had given order to the treasurer to provide your shipping for the next day, she hath commanded me again to [reiterate] her former order unto you by this bearer, for your continuance on that side till you hear further from her in this behalf, and that, in the mean time, you take the best order you can to prepare things against [the arrival] of my said lord Gray, whom she is resolved to hasten thitherwards with all the expedition that may be, which is that I have presently to signify unto your lordship, of whom I do humbly, and in haste, take my leave.

Well, something along these lines but not quite. It’s more complicated.

This is how Elizabeth explained her actions to JamesVI of Scotland via her special envoy Robert Carey:

“First, then, she commanded me to assure your Majesty that shenever had thought to put the Queen your mother to death; no, notalthough the daily persuasions of her council wearied her earscontinually with these unpleasant speeches, the nobility, knights andgentlemen, with prayers, supplications, and incessant suite urgingher thereunto. And the hourly outcries which her poor people andcommynalty made were such, that she was wearied with all and greavedat the heart, to see all there determinations.

Besides this, she commanded me to declare unto your Majesty thatshe had these new occasions to move her mind to their minds,bot yit they had no force to alter her determination which was stillto preserve the Queen your mother’s life. First then, of lateshe had news every day both out of Spain and France, of ships and menpreparing for the overthrow of her Majesty and the delivery of yourmother.

Secondly, by some seditious and discontented persons were givenout in divers parts of her Realm and in her own court, reports ofmen landing in sundry parts thereof. And of such force were thereintelligences as that it moved her people to disquiet in such sort,that some ado there was to appease them.

Lastly, a six days after these rumors there was new reportsgiven out, how that Fothringham was broken open and the Queen escapedaway. These reports were of force, to bread jelosie in herMajesty’s head and to suspect the worse. Whereupon, because that inane extremity she would not be unprovided of a remedy, she commandeda warrant to be made, which warrant was to give leave to her councilto do with the Queen your mother what they thought best. Thewarrant being made, seald and signed, she delivered it to herSecretary, Mr. Davison to keep, minding that of there should anyrescue come for the delivering of her, or any other escape made forher here in England, to the imminent danger of the Queen my Mistresslife, that then this warrant to be delivered to her council to givethem free liberty to use there discretion, rather than she shouldescape out of prison. Her Secretary having it in his possession(with charge to keep it secret till she commanded the contrary)(otherwise then her mind or determination) showed this warrant to twoor three of her council, which when they see, without more questionsasking, called the whole council together, straight determined herdeath, and sent present expedition for the performing of it, whichwas done (she protests to God) before she knew of it. Her secretary is new in the Tower and will hardly escape her high displeasure.”

Written statement of Robert Carey’s credit

It’s not forgotten by historians; it’s just that genuineness ofElizabeth’s words has been questioned. But there are other sources too that pointthat Elizabeth was spurred into signing the death warrant by falsenews, and it seems that the French ambassador Guillaume ded’Aubespeine was involved too to add more credence to informationconveyed to Elizabeth.

However, there’s more to the story. There are differences between Elizabeth’s version and that of her secretary William Davison. Davison didn’t say that Elizabeth had specified that the warrant should have beeen used only in the event of Mary’s escape or a foreign invasion. He claimed that Elizabeth didn’t command him to retain the warrant after it was signed and sealed, and that after signing it instead of theexecution she suggested to quietly murder Mary, which if true leads me to thinkthat Elizabeth, however averse to the idea, at this point recognized thatMary has to go but was concerned about the damage Mary’s executionwill do to her reputation abroad and the precedent of executing amonarch (although Mary had abdicated) would set.

You can check:

Discourse by Mr. William Davison

Relation by Mr. William Davison

According to Simon Adams:

“Davison’s attendance on Elizabeth in these months [sinceOctober 1586] (he was present at almost every recorded privy councilmeeting) is the key to his prominence in Mary’s last days. Most ofwhat is known of the events surrounding the dispatch of the warrantfor Mary’s execution comes from the three accounts he draftedlater. Two of them, a discourse and a relation of the events of 1 to14 February 1587, he prepared for Walsingham in the Tower on 20February. They agree on most of the circumstances, but the relationomits some important issues (CSP Scot., 1586-8, arts. 284-5). The third is an undated paper defending his innocence that appears to have been drafted after his trial on 28 March 1587 (ibid., art. 360). The last paper reflects the resentment Davison shared with Robert Beale at being singled out as the instruments of Mary’s death and the possible targets of James’s revenge when he succeeded Elizabeth. He emphasized that he played no role in either her trial or the parliamentary proceedings. He was responsible only for the custody of the warrant for her execution after Burghley drafted it about 10 December 1586, so that it would be on hand when Elizabeth wanted it. He had no particular interest in Mary’s death. In this context he made some interesting claims: he had refused to sign the bond of association despite pressure from Elizabeth (presumably just before he left for the Netherlands in 1584), he had gone to Bath deliberately to avoid involvement in the investigation of the Babington plotters, and he had been instrumental in preventing the sentence being pronounced at Fotheringhay. With regard to the last, he was not entirely honest. When he forwarded to Walsingham the queen’s instruction to delay pronouncing sentence until the commissioners had returned to London on 14 October 1586, he had expressed the hope that his letter would arrive too late.

Davison’s narrative of the events between 1 and 14 February is straightforward and very detailed. He had retained the warrant for six weeks because he would not present it to Elizabeth until ‘she sent a greater councillor to him for the same’. This took place at Greenwich on 1 February when the lord admiral, Charles Howard, second Baron Howard of Effingham, told him Elizabeth was ready to sign. Elizabeth signed the warrant having specifically asked for it; it was then to go to the lord chancellor, Sir Thomas Bromley, to pass the great seal. Davison attended to this later that day, telling Burghley (who had Leicester with him at the time) and Walsingham (who was at home) on the way. On the 2nd Elizabeth told him to delay the sealing of the warrant, but he replied that it had already passed. This was a key, for according to Davison she said nothing further. He then went to see Sir Christopher Hatton to tell him it was signed, that he feared Elizabeth would behave as she had done over the execution of Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk, and that he was unwilling to proceed on his own. Together they saw Burghley, who then decided to summon the privy council for the following day. On the 3rd the privy council met and Burghley proposed that they take the burden from Elizabeth by sending the warrant under their authority, and to appoint Beale to carry it. Nine privy councillors (presumably all those present), including Davison, signed the letter accompanying the warrant, together with Walsingham, to whom it was sent for signature in his sickbed. From then until news of the execution arrived from Fotheringhay on the 9th Davison saw Elizabeth on several occasions about other business, but did not mention the dispatch of the warrant, on the assumption (so he claimed in the discourse) that she knew about it from more senior privy councillors.

The relation differs from the discourse in two key areas. First, it greatly abbreviates Elizabeth’s discussions with Davison over the assassination rather than execution of Mary. Second, it omits a long denial by Davison that the queen had ever told him on the 2nd to retain the sealed warrant in confidence until she ordered him otherwise and not to inform the rest of the privy council. The latter was to be another crucial point. Burghley told Elizabeth about the execution in the evening of the 9th, and after brooding on it overnight she announced to Hatton the next morning in ‘some heat and passion’ that Davison had abused her trust by allowing the sealed warrant to leave his possession (CSP Scot., 1586-8, 293). Davison himself was told at a privy council meeting later that morning and advised to make himself scarce for a day or two. He was not in good health anyway and returned home. There he learned on the 11th that Elizabeth had decided to send him to the Tower. Owing to his illness this was put off until the evening of 14 February.”

CORRESPONDENCE SERIES 46/

William Davison to Robert Dudley 4 November, 1586

My singular good Lord, her Majesty was so much afflicted with sorrow when she dispatched Mr. Gorge, for the loss of her dear servant, and your Lordship’s dearest nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, as she forgot to touch some things in those her letters, which since it hath pleased her I should remember unto you. One is the care she hath that, before your Lordship’s return thence, you should take such provident order for the settling of that government in your absence, as may be most for the surety of the cause and her own particular service; wherein, because she doubteth how it may stand with the one or other, that the government martial should be committed to any one of her servants there, and the civil left to the disposition of the estates, (a thing bruited here,) she would wish, notwithstanding the leave she hath by her letters given your Lordship to return when you think good, that if your health may permit wise stay the arrival of my Lord Gray, whom her Majesty promised very faithfully, and is resolved to dispatch thither with all the expedition that may be for your releasement.

CORRESPONDENCE SERIES 28/63

Robert Dudley to William Davison 10 February, 1586

I trust by this you have done some good for the satisfying her Majesty touching this place I have, or else I must curse all causes and means that brought me to it; country, people and all. [The next six lines much damaged by damp.] Both by her Majesty’s authority over her people as by the like authority over these soldier people, I was thought, being her Majesty’s lieutenant, fittest to take it upon me, and except I did so, all would be nothing, considering the confusion among these governors and the diversities among them also for opinions; some to run a course for peace, others to make their own way, whereof there was good store, which confusion to be stayed this way till her Majesty might have better means to strike a stroke among them, also made me with those other reasons you had, to yield to this service, because it is only and chiefly her Majesty’s service, and so will it fall out, whether she make war or peace. As for myself I care not. I would I had my charges again and I would never serve more whilst I live, that having done such a service, as all wise men so account of it, and a notable service, it doth bring [a line destroyed by damp] without either her own name used, or one groat of charge more than was before. Well, I see my fortune hard, and therefore will leave all to God; I will only pray you to testify with me to her Majesty how careful I was to observe her commission, and how dangerous it had been for her service and the whole cause if I had refused or declared to them that her Majesty had forbidden me to take it. You know what was said and how long we debated it, and what other shifts I found to prolong it, by examining what their state of their revenue was and what their forces were and how they were planted. All these and more ways found I to defer what I could, and made as many objections as our wits could find out to have taken discouragement for myself rather than to seem her Majesty would not have [been] served by any of hers. [The paper here decayed by damp.]

Whereby … the way of war or peace may be taken, and in the mean time no course taken but such as her Majesty shall direct and the enemy driven to seek at her hands for favour and not at these men’s. And if this be ill service, well, I am content to suffer for it. And as you are like to bear your part, so I pray you let the truth be known, that her Majesty’s service was and is cause, and none in the world else that I know, nor, as I believe, you know, unless your two pieces of linen cloth have corrupted you.

As for myself, I take God to record I am 4,000. in ‘arreges’ with them, and never had farthing or farthing’s worth yet at any of all their hands. If for them I lose her Majesty’s favour and my goods too, I have [paper destroyed] but it is the least I care for.