Elizabeth Dei Gracia Angli Francia et Hibernia Regina Fidei Defensor Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Queen of England.
Land grant written in Latin on vellum, with the Great Seal of Elizabeth. Hampton: 1560. Vellum leaf (12 1/8 x 21 3/8"; 308 X 543 mm.) and brown wax seal (3 1/2 inches d; 89 mm. d). Twenty lines in Latin, written with brown ink in a bastard secretary hand. Leaf, seal, and a small engraved portrait of Elizabeth by W.T. Fry matted in red velvet in a large wooden frame (39 1/2 x 32 1/4 inches; 1003 x 819 mm.) with a decorative floral design carved along the edges.
The document is folded in quarters and thirds, with Elizabeth's name and three other words on the first line in a larger script with cadel flourishes on risers extending to the upper edge, space allotted for the initial capital, important words written larger throughout, the leaf creased at the foot and laced through with a vellum band to which is attached the circular pendant seal. The embossed seal depicts Elizabeth in robes and crown on a throne beneath a canopy supported by columns, her left hand holding an orb, her right a scepter, to either side escutcheons within garlands beneath a crown, the words REGINA FIDEI distinct along the left rim. The seal with several areas rubbed and slightly damaged, but still an excellent example of the queen's first seal attached to a fine document. Dated ix° die October Anno Regia ij ("the ninth day of October in the second Royal year," i.e. 9 October 1560) at Hampton Palace, and handsomely mounted in red velvet in a beautifully carved wooden frame, this is a fine royal land grant with an excellent example of Elizabeth's first seal, used between her ascension (in 1558) until 1585. Although the pendant seal is worn along the rim (only two words of the legend are legible), still it is an exceedingly scarce and remarkably intact artifact. HBS 61628.
Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A439204/datastre...
