The Second Great Seal: Queen Elizabeth I Approves of Her Lord Chancellor Christopher Hatton Acquisition of Lands, in a Document Still Bearing Her Great Seal

A remarkable Elizabethan document connecting the Queen with one the great figures of her era

Christopher Hatton was one of the great figures of the Elizabethan era, a close confidant of the Queen akin to her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh. Hatton enjoyed a meteoric rise to power, eventually becoming Lord Chancellor in 1587. He was made a Knight of the Garter and Chancellor of the University of Oxford the following year. The queen visited him on his deathbed in 1591.

Nicholas Hilliard was appointed Court Miniaturist and Goldsmith by Elizabeth I about 1570. He was head and shoulders above his contemporaries and dominated the field in his era. His finest artistic creation and the one he is best remembered for today is his Great Seal of Queen Elizabeth, which was appended to significant documents to indicate the Queen’s assent. His was the second of three seals she had made during her long reign, and by all accounts the best.

The Seal is three-dimensional. Its recto shows the Queen circa 1584 on her Renaissance-era throne, the ruff curving up to support the face, the skirt thick with folds, the crown surmounting her curls, the full hands holding the royal insignia, and the royal coat of arms besides. The verso illustrates the Queen in profile riding on horseback.

Alienation was the transfer of a holding by sale rather than by inheritance. A licence was required from the lord, who would of course collect a fee. If the holding was from the Crown there were also licences and fees and fines for ‘pardons’. The functions of the Alienation Office were eventually transferred to the Treasury.

William Doddington, a party to the transaction, was a member of Parliament. The Convent and Monastery of Crowland were great old religious institutions that were dissolved by Henry VIII.

Document, November 1, 1590, Pardon of Alienation for Sir Christopher Hatton, from the Queen for a great estate. The document was issued by Edward Bacon, in charge of such alienations and evidently signed by him on the verso. In small part: “ELIZABETH, by the grace of God, England, France, and Hibernia, Queen, and of the faith, defender, etc. Salutations to all the courtiers and their faithful, to whom the present has now reached. Since our beloved and faithful counselor Christopher Hatton, Knight of the Noble Order of the Case of the Garter, Lord Chancellor of England, by a certain Indenture dated the twenty-fifth day of May in the thirteenth year of our reign, has acquired for himself and his heirs and assigns from Richard Knowlys the Armiger and William Doddington the Generous (among others) the whole that domain and manor of Wenlingborough…in our county of Northampton, and the recently dissolved convent of Crowland, in our county of Lincoln, pertaining to or belonging to, and the parcel of possessions formerly existing therefrom; now all that rectory and The Church of Wenlingborough, alias Wellingborough, alias Wendlingborough, alias Wedlingborough, with its members and appurtenances, in the said rectory, and formerly belonging to the said lately dissolved monastery of Crowland, and parcels of possessions of the same lately existing, I will remove all that known and capital messuage of the manor of Wenlingborough… and all the houses, buildings, structures, barns, stables, dovecots, orchards, Sunday lands, rivers, fishing grounds, ready pastures, pastures, and hereditaments, whatever are commonly called Sunday lands, of the said Manors of Wenlingborough, otherwise Wellingborough, otherwise Wendlingborough, otherwise Wedlingborough, in our said county of Northampton, which are held of us in chief, as it is said to have and to hold to the same Christopher and to his heirs and assigns, since the alienation was made by our royal license not having been previously obtained.”

The verso reads: “A pardon of alienation for the right honourable Sir Cristofer Hatton of the most noble order of the Garter Knight Lord Chancelor of Englande”, and signed “Bacon”.

Still attached to the document is an original Hilliard Seal in good condition, the relief still strong, the elements clear, but with age-toning and some loss of detail in the surrounding text and at a few points within the body.