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Catalogue description Secretaries of State: State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth I
| Reference: | SP 70 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Secretaries of State: State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth I |
| Description: |
Letters and papers relating to foreign countries, of the reign of Elizabeth I to the year 1577 (other than the final piece in the series, SP 70/148). The majority of the volumes are composed of individual letters and papers except where stated. |
| Date: | 1558-1577 |
| Arrangement: |
The records were rearranged and numbering in chronological order for the most part prior to calendaring. Any original context has almost wholly been overlaid by their rearrangement and numbering in date order throughout the series (other than SP 70/146-148) as published in the 'Calendar of State Papers Foreign Series of the Reign of Elizabeth I for the period November 1558 to June 1577' edited by Joseph Stevenson and Allan James Crosby (London 1863-1880). Pencil notes on many documents identify particular documents as 'Flanders', 'Germany', 'Denmark' etc; these may perhaps indicate that the papers had previously been arranged in country order. |
| Separated material: |
Many state papers from the reign of Elizabeth can be found among the Salisbury Manuscripts at Hatfield House. These papers were calendared by the Historical Manuscripts Commission: see Calendar of the manuscripts of the Most Honourable The Marquis of Salisbury, KG (London, 1883-1976). |
| Held by: | The National Archives, Kew |
| Legal status: | Public Record(s) |
| Language: | English |
| Physical description: | 148 volume(s) |
| Access conditions: | Available in digital format |
| Custodial history: | The provenance of the letters and papers contained in this series is difficult to discover, except that the papers were kept in the custody of the State Paper Office and were not in general added to from other repositories. SP 70/1-145 were bound up, apparently in the early 1860s, in approximately the same size and style (except for SP 70/99 and SP 70/129A). Nearly all of these volumes contain a note dated June 1893 stating that the papers formerly bound up in the volumes relating to the affairs of the Borders of Scotland were restored to the series of Border Papers from which they were originally taken (series SP 59). SP 70/146-148 were added to the series later. |
| Publication note: |
Most of the records are described in the 'Calendar of State Papers Foreign Series of the Reign of Elizabeth I for the period November 1558 to June 1577' edited by Joseph Stevenson and Allan James Crosby (London 1863-1880). Please speak to staff at the Map and Large Document Room enquiry desk for the precise location. |
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