The GODFATHER Scudamore Provenance of the BARDON PAPERS [1572-1586] Discovered in 1830s By the WINGS of SNOW WHITE DOVE God sends his pure sweet love, A SIGN from above, On the wings of a Dove. Robert SCUDAMORE was relative to John Scudamore a CLERK of the Council of Queen Elizabeth Tudor. Scudamore became the Godfather of LAWYER Robert Leigh in whom the possession of the Bardon Papers related to the Trial of Marie Queen of Scots/ MQS came to be. By Charles Cotton c. 1909 p.176-177 in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society To come to the time of the Bardon Papers, as they have always been called in the family, Robert Leigh (who came to St. Decumans in 1595) had for godfather at his baptism one Robert Scudamore, a friend of his fathers and of Sir John St. Leger. It is within the bounds of possibility that this Robert Scudamore was a relative of John Scudamore was Clerk of the Council at the time when these papers were written. The latter, we know, was an inmate of Walsinghams house in Westminster when a letter was received from the Privy Council enjoining a closer watch on the conspirator Babington, the INVITED GUEST of Walsingham, who wished for reasons of his own to be more intimately acquainted with Babington and his treasonable practices. ...If we may suppose this connection of the Scudamores with the Leigh family, it is not difficult to understand the manner in which the Bardon Papers came into the hands of the Leighs. Thomas, the son of Robert Leigh, of St. Decumans, who came into possession of Bardon soon after 1595, brought with him these papers, which were deposited together with other papers and documents, in an attic over the drawing-room at Bardon. This attic is lighted only by a small WINDOW in a gable. Here they were left and seemingly FORGOTTEN. ...We are told of a white dove which used to fly against the window of the attic, and break it as often as it was mended. After the discovery of the papers this dove was looked upon as the spirit of Queen Mary. ...I will merely relate the fact that since the papers were discovered and removed by Mr. William Leigh in 1834 no white dove has been seen haunting the house, nor has any window been broken in that particular room so far as I have been able to learn. Motivation of the Scudamores for saving these Bardon House documents and giving them to godson Leigh, may be related to the fact that Mary Scudamore was one of Queen Elizabeths Ladys-in-Wait. In one of the many manifestations of QE1s wild temper she lashed out at Lady Scudamore breaking her hand. QE1, never one to take responsibility for her actions, falsely reported it was an accident caused by the fall of a candlestick. youtube/watch?v=3usXFCh56iA
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 21:55:18 +0000
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