?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000
SIGNED AS THROCKMORTON PLOT UNFOLDED MARY; QUEEN OF SCOTS. Vellum Document Signed, "Marie R," in French, appointing John Botz to the prebend at Bitcry. 15 1/2x3 1/2 inches; vertical folds, few tiny worming holes (not affecting text), minor scattered soiling. "Sheffield Castle," February 1582
"Today, on the [blank] day of February, in the year of 1582, the Queen of Scotland, Doweress of France, being at the Castle of Sheffield in England, on the strength of the strength of the recommendation which has been made to her . . . of John Botz, granted and awarded to him the first Prebend which shall fall due hereafter, and a vacancy at Bitcry being in her Majesty's disposal, she desires and orders . . . the letters of Investiture be sent to the said Botz . . . ." The Throckmorton plot was a conspiracy to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and put Mary on the throne of England. The plot was discovered in 1583, when Francis Throckmorton was found to be aiding the French Henri, duc de Guise, to prepare for an invasion of England to free Mary, where she was imprisoned. Throckmorton was executed in 1584.
