ROYALTY ELIZABETH I Parchment Warrant with signature of HM Q...

Estimate

£18,000 - £25,000

ROYALTY ELIZABETH I Parchment Warrant with signature of HM Queen Elizabeth I in 1591.
The document is signed Elizabeth R at the top and is a direction to authorise the make up of various garments for Anthonie Wingfelde upon his appointment as Gentleman Usher to the Order of the Garter.
The Order of the Garter was established by King Edward III in 1348 as the most senior order of Chivalry of which there are 24 members, still to this day.
King Edward III, who was King from 1327-1377 was fascinated by the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
The Order was established when King Edward III decided to commemorate an incident when he was dancing with a partner when one of her blue garters dropped to the floor.
The motto of the Order of the Garter is 'Honi soit qui Mal y pense'(shame on him who thinks evil of it). Anthony Wingfield was the son of Sir Anthony Wingfield who was knighted by King Henry VIII in 1513 having captured territory in France who was later appointed Chamberlain of the Exchequer for King Henry VIII.Sir Anthony, the father, attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, King of France in 1520, a famous meeting which aimed to end warfare between England and France.
Anthony Wingfelde(Wingfield) later became Black Rod in 1591, As Gentleman Usher to the Black Rod, he controlled access to the House of Lords.
The Wingfield family were a most eminent Suffolk family, based at Wingfield, a village in Suffolk.
Their family motto is 'Posse Nolle Nobile'(To have the power without the wish is noble). A relative of Anthony, Edward Wingfield, was President of the Council of the first English Colony in the United States of America landing at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.