CH/20/47

CH/20/47

File

Covering letter to a petition of the Earl of Pembroke

Letter from the Earl of Pembroke

4 May 1641

1 sheet

Letter dated "Whitehall the 4th May 1641", addressed to "the Reverend and my loving and worthy ffriends the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedrall Church of Sarum" and signed "Your very affectionate friend Pembroke & Montgomery" (Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery, 1584-1650). The letter refers to "this Petition", which presumably originally accompanied the letter but is no longer present.The Petition was "intended for the House of Peeres" and represented Pembroke's attempt to "endeavour a Composure of the within mentioned difference"; he says he has also "writt to the Maior and Aldermen". The "within mentioned difference" must be explained only in the now absent Petition, so it is not known what it related to. Pembroke says he is "unwilling as Matters now stand to let passe any thing that might incease the present distemper and disaffeccion to the Clergie". (On 3 May 1641 members of the House of Commons swore an oath of allegiance to Charles I, the Church of England and "the true Reformed Protestant Religion" as against "all Popery and Popish Innovations"; members of the House of Lords did likewise on 4 May, the date of this letter. The oath, which all men over 18 were to be required to swear, was an attempt to reduce the tensions which led eventually to the Civil Wars starting in August 1642). For a full transcript see Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on Manuscripts in Various Collections, Volume 1 (London: HMSO,1901), p.380.

English

Material: paper, wax