"ELIZABETH I (1533-1603, from 1558 Queen of England)] Writ addressed in her name to the Sheriff of Derbyshire (Thomas Griseley), in Latin with transcription and translation, to warn James, Thomas and Francis Barlow (‘Barley’ throughout the document), that they are bound by their concord with Gilbert [Talbot, 7th] Earl of SHREWSBURY (1553-1616), over “the manor of Barlow ... 50 messuages [dwellings], 20 cottages, three watermills for grain, 50 gardens, 50 orchards, 1000 acres of [arable] land, 500 acres of meadow, 1000 acres of pasture, 600 acres of wood, 1000 acres of heath and scrub, 1000 acres of moor, and lands worth £10 rent and common pasture”, in Barlow Lees, Dunston, Dronfield, Chesterfield and Stavely, (all rich in coal or iron), and unless they have performed it or given “triple security for his claim”, they are to be summoned to appear before the Justices [of the Common Pleas] at Westminster on the day after Trinity Sunday, the Sheriff to make sure this writ and the summons are in court, fee paid 20s to the farmer of fines, vellum, 1 x 11”, Westminster, 5th May 1592
The Earl’s step-mother was the famous ‘Bess of Hardwick’ (1518-1608), who inherited Hardwick from her father. At 14 she married John Barlow of Barlow, who died not long after. She persuaded her second husband, Sir Willam Cavendish, to sell his land in the South and buy Chatsworth. Her third was Sir William St. Loe, and her fourth, George, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, with whom she acted as keeper of Mary Queen of Scots. We see here her hand in securing her first husband’s estates, settled (like her second and third’s) on her and her heirs. (Gilbert married his stepsister Mary Cavendish but had no sons).
With on the verso the signatures of: Sir Edward Stanhope (c.1547-1608), Commissioner of the Fines Office from 1589 (signature a little rubbed). For his many offices, see P.W. Hasler, House of Commons, 1558-1603, III, 1981, pp. 437-439. For his signature see BL Egerton 2713, ff.303, 305 (1593).
Thomas Dudley (‘Duddeley’) and William Lambarde (1536-1601, the famous antiquary and topographer of Kent), two of the deputies in the Alienations Office, where fees such as the 20s were collected for writs of covenants and for licences to alienate land held of the Crown, etc.. See R.M. Warnicke, ‘William Lambarde’, 1973, pp. 87ff., and for his signature BL Lansdowne 54, f.172 (1587), and 65, f.191 (1590).
Thomas Griseley , Armiger (Esq.), the Sheriff of Derbyshire. [ref: 19513]"
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