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Elizabeth I was mystery translator of 17th century Tacitus manuscript, historian discovers

The manuscript has been in Lambeth Palace Library for hundreds of years - Lambeth Palace Library 
The manuscript has been in Lambeth Palace Library for hundreds of years - Lambeth Palace Library

Classics students who have struggled to decipher tricky historical texts can take heart that even English queens sometimes make mistakes.

A late 16th century translation of the Roman historian Tacitus, which has languished in the library of Lambeth Palace for hundreds of years, was written by Elizabeth I, a historian has discovered.

It is the first substantial work by the Tudor queen to emerge in more than a century, and even contains hastily scribbled out words, and additions where she realised she had blundered.

Scholars were uncertain who had produced the 17 page manuscript, although knew that its title had been altered by William Sancroft, who was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1677 and 1690.

But while John-Mark Philo, a fellow from the University of East Anglia, was researching works by Tacitus, he realised that the transcript contained the tell-tale signs of Elizabeth’s distinctive handwriting, including the extreme horizontal 'm', the top stroke of her 'e', and the break of the stem in 'd'.

“The queen's handwriting was, to put it mildly, idiosyncratic, and the same distinctive features which characterize her late hand are also to be found in the Lambeth manuscript,” said Mr Philo.

“As the demands of governance increased, her script sped up, and as a result some letters such as 'm' and 'n' became almost horizontal strokes, while others, including her 'e' and 'd', broke apart. These distinctive features serve as essential diagnostics in identifying the queen's work.”

The almost horizontal 'm' and top line of the letter 'e' in the word 'calme' is distinctive of Elizabeth I - Credit: Lambeth Palace Library 
The almost horizontal 'm' and top line of the letter 'e' in the word 'calme' is distinctive of Elizabeth I Credit: Lambeth Palace Library

Elizabeth was famed for her proficiency in language, regularly speaking to foreign emissaries in their own tongue, and breaking into Latin when visiting Cambridge and Oxford Universities.

The English court historian John Clapham (1666 - 1666) writing in his ‘Observations on the Reign of Queen Elizabeth’ said, “She took pleasure in reading of the best and wisest histories, and some part of Tacitus’ Annals she herself turned into English for her private exercise.

Yet although other works noted by Clapham were found, the Tacitus translation has been missing until now.

The vellum on which it was written was also found to feature watermarks with a rampant lion and the initials 'GB' with a crossbow countermark, which was especially popular with the scribes of the Elizabethan court in the 1590s.

The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I from the Woburn Abbey Collection  - Credit: Woburn Abbey
The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I from the Woburn Abbey Collection Credit: Woburn Abbey

Elizabeth I also used paper with the same watermarks both in her own translation of Boethius, and in personal correspondence.

The manuscript ended up at Lambeth Palace through Thomas Tenison, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1636 to 1715, who was a keen bibliophile and collector and who established London’s first public library.

Tenison was intrigued by Elizabeth and Francis Bacon and turned the library at Lambeth in one of the largest collections of state papers from the era.

Researchers found that Elizabeth made occasional slips of grammatical and meaning and sometimes omits words and phrases entirely. But they said it showed her excellent grasp of politics, language and history.

“I think it is important in terms of how we think of Elizabeth as a ruler,” added Mr Philo. “We know she was studying one of the most shrewd political thinkers of antiquity, and engaging with this material on a very deep level.”

Giles Mandelbrote, Librarian and Archivist of Lambeth Palace Library, said: "This is a very exciting discovery for us.

"No ancient library – Lambeth Palace Library was founded in 1610 –  can undertake the research necessary to identify the authorship of all the anonymous manuscripts in its collections and we are only too pleased to welcome readers with the specialist knowledge to unlock these puzzles.

"John-Mark Philo’s brilliant detective work has deduced Queen Elizabeth’s authorship through his work on other classical translations made in England in this period and has proved her direct involvement by a close examination of the paper and handwriting of this manuscript."

The research was published in the Review of English Studies