Notices of expenses incurred by Thomas
Knyvett, a messenger sent to
Jonson
by
Sir Robert Carey
(first earl of Monmouth,
?1560-1639, courtier)
on behalf of Prince Charles
, December 1617 , from
Whitehall
to the Blackfriars
. The
document is within a sub-bundle of Thomas Knyvett's bills for
1617. The bill occupies page 7 of this sub-bundle.
Eugene Giddens
Anno decimo quinto Iacobi Regis Mensis Decembris 1617 .
[Trans.: In the fifteenth year of
James
's reign in the month of December 1617]
Thomas Knyuett ordinary Groome of
the Prince
his Highnes Chamber being sent by the Commaundment of
Sir
Robert
Cary
knight Chamberlaine to
the Prince
his Highnes from Newmarkett to Chelsey parke to Sir Iohn Cotton to seeke Mr Eliott to warne him to
attend
the Prince
with his Hawke after dinner. Also another time sent by
Mr Gray
from White hall to Blackfriers to Mr Iohnson the Poet to
come to
the Prince
For which severall seruices hee prayeth to haue allowance for his paines and
charges of his horse and his botehire too and fro, and to bee rated by the
Honourable Sir
Robert
Cary
Knight Chamberlayne to his Highnes; And paied by the
Worshipfull Mr Adam Newton
Receiuor generall of his Highnes Treasure
iiijs
Ro:
Cary
WAlexander:
Bibliography
JAB, 109
H&S, 1.232-3
Carey was the seventh and youngest son of Henry , first Lord Hunsdon , and brother of George Carey. He was an emissary to the Low Countries in his teens, fought there in 1587, and against the Armada. He was knighted by Essex in 1591. As he was on good terms with James VI, he managed, by careful planning, to be the one to bring the king the news of Elizabeth 's death, riding from London to Edinburgh (where he arrived on 26 Mar. 1603) in the space of two days. His reward was to be appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber; his wife gained a position in the queen 's household and his daughter became a maid of honour to Princess Elizabeth . Carey became governor of Prince Charles 's household in Feb. 1605, and in 1611 his master of the robes. When Charles was created Prince of Wales in 1617, Carey became his chamberlain. He followed Charles and Buckingham to Spain in 1623, on James 's instructions. He was created earl of Monmouth in Feb. 1626 and died in Apr. 1639.
Charles I (1600-49) was the second son and third child of James I and VI and Anne of Denmark . He was created Prince of Wales in 1617, following the death of his brother Prince Henry in 1612.
Whitehall, originally the name given to the palace in York Place, Westminster , which subsequently gave its name to the street it stood on and the surrounding area. It was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a royal palace, having been rebuilt for Cardinal Wolsey. The Banqueting House (1619-22), built by Inigo Jones on the site of an earlier banqueting house, survives.
Blackfriars was the former location of the Dominican foundation in London , south-west of St Paul's. It retained the right of sanctuary, and in the early seventeenth century was home to many fashionable people (including, for example, the earl and countess of Somerset , and Jonson 's patron and friend Esmè Stuart, Lord Aubigny), many of whom lived in converted monastic buildings. Two parts of the former monastery housed the first and second Blackfriars theatres, in 1577-1584 and 1596- respectively; a number of Jonson 's plays were first performed here by the resident boys' companies.