Edwardes, Roger

Manuscript in a single attractive secretary hand with italic for emphasis, with title page then a dedicatory epistle "To the Queenes Highnes" (2 pages), 76 pages, plus blanks, 4to (200 x 145 mm), epistle signed by the author dated January 1568 [i.e. 1569]; occasional light spotting and staining. Contemporary calf gilt with frame and oval decorative centrepiece; rubbed, small portions of leather eaten away at corners, base of spine, and lower cover, weak at hinges.
[with:] Autograph manuscript notes by Philip Bliss on Roger Edwardes and the Castra Regia, including transcripts of letters and documents, together with related correspondence (including an autograph letter signed by Sir Thomas Phillipps) and a draft of Bliss's introduction for his Roxburghe Club edition, c. 50 pages, 4to (215 x 170 mm), 1840s. Calf-backed marbled boards; scuffed.
[with:] Historical Papers I [including Castra Regia, printed from this manuscript], for the Roxburghe Club, presented by Philip Bliss and Bulkeley Bandinel (London, 1846). Morocco-backed boards by Clarke and Bedford; rubbed.

"of Parker, oxon. From Mr Hyde's books, of Witney" (note on endpapers in the hand of Philip Bliss) — Philip Bliss (Sotheby's, 21 August 1858, lots 109 and 110, lot labels on upper cover) — Sir Thomas Phillipps (MS 18328; Sotheby's, 11 November 1946, lot 53) — Bernard Quaritch, Ltd (Catalogue 645, 1947, item 801) -- JPR Lyell (Quaritch catalogue 699, 1952, item 58). acquisition: Bernard Quaritch

Victoria Smith, "The Elizabethan Succession Question in Roger Edwardes's 'Castra Regia' (1569) and 'Cista Pacis Anglie' (1576)," Historical Research, Vol. 87, issue 238 (2014), 633-654

An exceptional rarity: an original manuscript copy of an important and early contribution to the great political question of Queen Elizabeth's reign—the succession. Queen Elizabeth was, of course, the last Tudor: from the moment of her accession to the throne England was a heartbeart away from a crisis in leadership that could easily lead to civil war (as had happened in the previous century). The Queen came under enormous pressure from Parliament and indeed her council to name a successor but she resolutely refused to do so, knowing that this would immediately lead to a court in waiting that would be a natural magnet for disaffected courtiers. Debate over the succession continued throughout the reign, becoming increasingly febrile as Elizabeth aged and remained without children.

Edwardes's argument is striking. Whilst most contributions to the debate argued in favour of one or other successor, or — like Peter Wentworth (see lot 884) — argued for the importance of establishing a succession in Parliament, Edwardes emphasised the personal nature of monarchical rule and the importance of strong monarchical authority. After surveying the rule of English monarchs since the conquest, he argued that Parliament had no business expressing a view on the succession and it was the Queen's right not to name a successor, especially if doing so would weaken her authority.

An early draft of Castra Regia survives (BL, Lansdowne MS 95), as does another presentation copy dated March 1569 (BL, Add. MS 36705). This manuscript is of particular importance as the signature at the end of the epistle is Edwards's own, as is revealed by comparison with the two signatures in BL, Lansdowne MS 95, fols 4 and 5.

The tract, perhaps unsurprisingly, found royal favour: "Never prince accepted any bookke better then the queene doth this" (quoted in Smith, p. 640). Edwardes revised the text later in the year after the Northern Rebellion (in which he fought) and this revised text enjoyed some circulation amongst Elizabethan politicians and councillors (Smith identifies six manuscripts including copies in the papers of Lord Burghley, Walter Mildmay, and Robert Beale). The current manuscript, despite the date of the preface, is an example of this revised text.

Although more has come to light about Edwardes since Bliss wrote about him in the 1840s, many details of his life remain murky. His origins were in the Welsh gentry, he counted the Herberts of Pembroke amongst his relatives and John Dee amongst his friends, and he was employed as both a soldier and also a government spy amongst the Marian exiles in France. He followed Castra Regis with another tract on the succession, Cista Pacis Anglie (a copy of which has only recently come to light), in which he changed his mind about the need to establish the succession and found himself in the Tower for his trouble. He seems to have had a religious revelation in prison and devoted the rest of his life to the Biblical providential narrative on the conversion of the Jews.