Queen Elizabeth I--Privy Council | Letters patent, signed, encouraging horsebreeding in Cambridgeshire, 1584

Queen Elizabeth I--Privy Council

Letters patent of the Queen's Commissioners for Horsebreeding,

signed by Lord Burghley, the Earl of Leicester (Master of the Queen's Horse), Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord Hunsdon, and the Earls of Lincoln, Warwick and Bedford, appointing Roger, Lord North, and others, as Deputies for the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely for the encouragement of horse breeding in Cambridgeshire, following the Queen's general commission for horsebreeding, two pages, oblong folio, with eleven seal tags and the remains of seven red wax seal impressions, endorsed ("Camebridge & the Isle of Ely"), 1 March 1584, folded in a box, wear and tear at folds

"...Wee findinge [...] the nomber of horse [...] to be much lesse then we cold anie way have Imagined considering the greate welth that oure subiectes are growne into thorough Godes goodnes [...] especially seinge the keepinge of the said horses tendeth to the publique defence of the realme [we] have thought meete for the redresse thereof [...] to appoint certeine speciall commissioners [...] to serch and inquire [...] of all manner of persones that [...] ought by the lawes of this oure Realme to have and keepe horses or mares for increase and breed [...] and every of them to be furnished therewith accordinge to such order and forme..." 

This document, signed by several of the Queen's leading ministers, shows Elizabeth I's concern for horsebreeding. Horseracing was increasingly popular and the Queen herself attended races and had her own royal paddocks. Also, the deteriorating relationship with Spain made it increasingly important for the military to have access to sufficient horses.

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 18 July 1991, lot 386