1597 - Cecil, Robert - To Thomas Burgh

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-01. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.

Allusion

[...] The restraint on the making of knights. "Her Majesty is much troubled with the late knights that were made, and surely not well contented that the head of such a base Robin Hood [Feagh M'Hugh] is brought so solemnly into England. It is no such trophy of a notorious victory, and yet of it his friends make here great advantage; but if it be true that his son be still out, his youth will better his father's age." — The Court at Greenwich, 1597, May 26.

Source notes

MS ref.: Vol. CXCIX. Brackets as in printed source. The cited text is a calendar summary or paraphrase of the original.

IRHB comments

The writer of the letter, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563?-1612) was Lord High Treasurer May 1598-24 May 1612, Lord Privy Seal 1598-1612, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 8 October 1597-1599, and Secretary of State 5 July 1590-24 May 1612. His letter is addressed to Lord Burgh: Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh (c.1558-1597), 7th Baron Strabolgi. The allusion has not been noted in previous lists or studies.

Lists

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-11.
• Not included in Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.

Sources

• Atkinson, Ernest George, ed. Calendar of the State Papers, relating to Ireland, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1596, July — 1597, December. Preserved in the Public Record Office (London, 1893), p. 300.

Notes