KENTISH MUSTER SIGNED BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE'S PATRON WALSINGHAM (Sir Thomas, 1561-1630, of Scadbury, Chislehurst, Courtier to Queen Elizabeth I and literary patron to Christopher Marlowe and other poets)

Extremely Rare Letter Signed 'Thos Walsingham', at the foot of an Autograph Letter by Sir John Scott of Kent, being a Kentish Muster addressed to Sir William TWYSDEN (1566-1639, 1st Baronet, Politician), requiring Twysden to have his company in full effect, that it "may be fitt to appeare before the muster maister at Cockesheath, uppon the fivetenth day of October, by eight of the clock in the morning ...", the text almost certainly in the hand of Sir John Scott, signed by Scott, Walsingham and John Levyt, 1 side folio with integral autograph address leaf with remnant of a small seal, no place, 28th July

Sir Thomas Walsingham is best remembered as being the literary patron to Christopher MARLOWE (1564-1593, amongst the most famous Elizabethan Playwrights and Poet). He was the first cousin once removed to Elizabeth's spymaster Sir Francis WALSINGHAM(c. 1530-1590, Diplomat and Spy Master, from 1573 Secretary of State to Elizabeth I).
Walsingham was a patron of literature; Marlowe was his servant and was living with him in May 1593 when summoned before the Privy Council for atheism. In 1598 Marlowe's posthumous poem, Hero and Leander, was dedicated to Walsingham by his publisher, 'knowing that in his lifetime you bestowed on him many kind favours'. The poem was completed by George Chapman, who also enjoyed Walsingham's patronage.
He was also the employer of Marlowe's murderer Ingram FRIZER (died 1627, Businessman notable for killing Marlowe in 1593). The killing took place at the house of Eleanor Bull, the widow of a local official. Also in attendance were Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, both of whom had been associated with Sir Francis Walsingham's intelligence operation. This connection is one of the reasons offered for suggesting that Marlowe's death may have been linked with intelligence work and not a dispute over a bill for food and accommodation, as in the coroner's verdict.
The first poet to seek Walsingham's patronage was Thomas WATSON(1555-1592, Poet and Translator), an old acquaintance from the time when both men had been engaged on Sir Francis Walsingham's secret business in France. His timely dedication to Thomas Walsingham, newly come into money through his inheritance, prefaced A Lament for Meliboeus, an elegy on the death of Sir Francis. It is probable that Watson introduced Marlowe, a friend from the London literary circle, (with whom he was arrested for brawling in September 1589), to Thomas Walsingham; although their paths may have crossed earlier, during Marlowe's own service to the late Sir Francis. Walsingham appreciated the dedication, and the introduction, with Marlowe becoming a frequent house-guest at Walsingham's home in Scadbury, Chislehurst, Kent.
From about 1594 there are numerous references to Walsingham as an official in Kent. In November 1596, during the preparations for defence against the second Armada, he and five other captains were ordered to conduct men to Upnor castle, to man boom defence ships across the Medway. In July 1597 the Queen visited him at Scadbury, where she planted oak and fig trees which survived to the present century. She knighted him after the visit.
Sir John SCOTT (c.1564-1616) of Scot's Hall and of Nettlestead Place in Kent, was an English soldier and Member of Parliament for Kent from 1604 to 1611 and an early investor in Virginia. In 1601, Scott was implicated in The Earl of Essex's Rebellion but succeeded in clearing himself and in the same year was a parliamentary candidate for Kent. He was unsuccessful on this first attempt, but was elected its MP in the Parliament of 1604 and for Maidstone in the Addled Parliament of 1614. He became a member of the Council for Virginia in 1607, the year when that colony was re-established and was a councillor of the Virginia Company of London in 1609. He died in 1616 and was buried at Brabourne in Kent.

Item Date:  1608

Stock No:  41602      £2750

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