| Collection | GB 0231 University of Aberdeen, Special Collections |
| Level | Fonds |
| Ref No | MS 1009 |
| Title | Robert Beale, administrator, diplomat and Clerk of the English Privy Council: collection of letters |
| Date | 1550 - 1600 |
| Extent | 1 box: 0.33 linear metres |
| Creator Name | Bale/Beal/Beale; Robert (1541-1601); administrator and diplomat |
| Administrative History | Robert Beale was Clerk of the English Privy Council in the reign of Elizabeth I. During the reign of Queen Mary he lived on the continent, where he studied at the universities of Strassburg and Zürich. He subsequently assisted in diplomatic work at Paris and elewhere, and in 1572 became one of the clerks of the Privy Council of Elizabeth I (a post he held for 29 years until his death). In this office he was closely involved in the decision-making leading to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. He frequently deputised for Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, in various diplomatic missions to European courts. |
| Custodial History | Listed as Shuttle 44, numbers 22 and 23, 'papers of curiosity' in Inventory of new Charter Chester, 1771 (MSK 105). Later referenced as MSK 257 and then extracted out of King's College papers to be MS 1009 (in the c.1920s/30s). |
| Source | Dr James Fraser (1645-1731), alumnus of King's College, book trader to members of the royal court, one of the Royal Librarians to James VII and a renowned benefactor to King's College, particularly in the years 1723-30, was very likely the person who donated Beale's papers in the late 1600s - c.1730. |
| Description | Collection of letters (in different hands) between Elizabeth I and foreign nobles, etc., some concerning ambassadors, including some letters patent (2 series: 1st series 41, 2nd series 54: 95 papers). The letters are from a wide range of correspondents, and not all are addressed to Beale, although virtually all contain endorsements and annotations in his hand that demonstrate his engagement with these materials. They encompass the business of states in the form of the diplomatic correspondence of Elizabeth, and a variety of statesmen and estates across Europe including the Dukes of Brunswick and of Saxony, The Lord Treasurer of Poland, and the Council of State of the United provinces. Amongst them are particular groups of material relating to Beale’s time in Paris, as secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, as well as correspondence of the 1580s from the time of Earl or Leicester’s appointment as Lieutenant Governor/Governor General of the United Provinces. These items provide examples of official channels of state diplomacy in the period but, in the Beale Papers, they sit alongside letters that demonstrate Beale’s personal connections across Europe, with letters from scholars and counsellors such as David Chytraeus, Lutheran Professor of Greek at the University of Rostock, and the reforming printer André Wechel. The international nature of Beale’s connections is demonstrated by the range of languages here. While the majority of letters are in Latin or French, there are others in German, Italian, and Scots, as well as in English.
(With the original papes are the research of James D. George (1906–1977), depute secretary of the University of Aberdeen and palaeographer, who prepared a hand list of items in the Beale papers and made partial transcriptions and notes on various items). |
| Arrangement | The sequence retains the historical arrangement of the two original bundles; there is no chronological order. Letters from the same person are sometimes, but not always, found together. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Language | English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Scots |
| Related Material | James George, administrator and paleographer: research papers relating to Robert Bale/Beal/Beale, administrator, diplomat and Clerk of the English Privy Council (MS 2870)
The Beale papers (a catalogue and digitised copies of the letters) are available on the website Early Modern Letters Online:
http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Yelverton Manuscripts/papers of Robert Beale (British Library MSS 48000-48196) |
| Copies | Microfilm copy. |
| Finding Aids | Calendar entries with some transcriptions are held with the original letters. |
| Related Record | MS 2870 |