Bernard Quaritch Ltd.

BACON, Francis (1561-1626), Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans, Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. Letter, subscribed and signed (‘assured / fr. verulam canc[ellarius]’) to Edward, Lord Zouch, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, informing him that the Attorney General, Sir Henry Yelverton, was issuing a process [of subpoena as a witness] ‘against Hugh Hugginson & Josias Ente concerning the busines against the Dutchmen in Starchamber’, and not wishing ‘to serve such processe within your jurisdiction without your leave’, Bacon asks him to send up the two men ‘to answere Mr Attorneyes Bill’ voluntarily. Gorhamburie [Hertfordshire], 3 August 1619.

1 page, folio, with integral address leaf (seal tear repaired, trace of seal, endorsement ‘R[eceived] 6 August’), old foliation at head, trace of former hinge; the main text written by a clerk in a clear secretary hand with names and valediction in italic; in fine, fresh condition.

As Lord Chancellor Bacon presided over the Star Chamber, while as Attorney General Yelverton was responsible for prosecuting cases pro Rege before the Court. The ‘busines against the Dutchmen’ was a celebrated case with more than forty defendants, London merchants and foreigners, who had been charged with subversion of the realm by exporting gold and silver coins, bullion, plate, and other treasure in violation of statutes that went back to the fourteenth century and of the King’s proclamation of 23 November 1611. This was a serious matter in the troubled economic climate of 1619, and probably explains why the Attorney General was prepared to ride roughshod over ‘the auncient priviledges & customes’ of the Cinque Ports where he did not have the jurisdiction to issue subpoenas.

As usual the records of Star Chamber do not show the outcome, the Decree and Order Books having been lost. Working from Exchequer records, however, Thomas G. Barnes was able to determine that ‘twenty alien merchants (though no Englishmen) were fined in sums from £1500 to £20,000 for a total of £151,500 – the largest amount of fines ever imposed in a single case’ (Barnes, p. 302).

The National Archives, STAC 8/25/19 (and later related cases STAC 8/25/20-23); William Hudson, ‘A Treatise of Star Chamber’, Collectanea juridica, II (1792), 1240; Thomas G. Barnes, ‘Mr Hudson’s Star Chamber’, Tudor Rule and Revolution: Essays for G. R. Elton from his American Friends (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 285-308, especially pp. 302-3.

£17500

This item is listed on Bibliopoly by Bernard Quaritch Ltd.; click here for further details.