Description:

Edmund Sheffield
England, October 4, 1595
Reign of Queen Elizabeth Signed by Sheffield 1595, Early Supporter of American Colonization
DS

EDMUND SHEFFIELD, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, Manuscript Document Signed, Indenture to John Woodie, October 4, 1595, England. 1 p., 19" x 12". On vellum; expected folds; some soiling; signature and wax seal intact.

Baron Edmund Sheffield signed this indenture for a lease of property for an initial sum and an annual peppercorn rent of one penny for the term of 1,000 years. The lease effectively gave the recipient, John Woodie, freehold possession of the property. Edmund Sheffield, 3rd Baron Sheffield, and later 1st Earl of Mulgrave, had an early interest in the American colonies, as a member of both the Virginia Company and the New England Company. In 1621, he was one of five signers of the Plymouth Patent, which allowed the Protestant separatists, or pilgrims, who arrived on the Mayflower, to remain where they had landed, rather than relocating to their original destination at the mouth of the Hudson River (modern New York City).

Excerpt
"This Indenture made the [fouth?] daye of October in the [seaven?] and thirtith yeare of the raynye of our sovraigne Ladie Elizabeth by the grace of god of England and Irelande Quene Defendr of ye Faith Between the right honourable the 3d Earl of Sheffield Knight Lord of Sheffield...And John Woodie...."

Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, 3rd Baron Sheffield (1565-1646) was born in England and educated at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1574 to 1579. In 1581, he married Ursula Tyrwhitte (d. 1619), and they had seventeen children. Queen Elizabeth commanded Sheffield to accompany the Duke of Anjou when he returned to the European mainland. He also volunteered for service in the Netherlands in 1585. He served as captain of several ships under his uncle against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He was knighted in 1588 for valiant services in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604. In 1591, Queen Elizabeth granted him the Manor of Mulgrave in Yorkshire. Two years later, she made him a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. He later served in the Nine Years' War (1593-1603) in Ireland, and in 1598, the Queen appointed him as Governor of Brill, Holland. In 1603, King James I made Sheffield Lod Lieutenant of Yorkshire and President of the North, both of which he resigned in 1619. After his first wife's death, he married Mariana Irwin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of his dancing master, and they had five children. He joined the Virginia Company in 1609 and the New England Company in 1620. On June 1, 1621, he was one of the signers of the first Plymouth patent. King Charles I made Sheffield the 1st Earl of Mulgrave in 1626, but he took the side of Parliament during the English Civil War. Ill health prevented him from attending the House of Lords frequently, but his proxy vote allowed his grandson, Sir Thomas Fairfax, to be commissioned as the Captain-General of the New Model Army in 1645.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 19" x 12"
  • Medium: DS

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