ELIZABETHAN EXCHEQUER: D.S. by three members of Queen Elizabeth I´s Exchequer (two of them also members of the Privy Council), one page, 4to, n.p., 18th February 1562. The manuscript document, in an Elizabethan secretary hand, is addressed to the Tellers of the Exchequer and is a warrant for them to ´paye unto Robt Hare gent forte pounde for writing of sondry extractes of fynes and amerciamentes to the highe treserers use last past´. Signed at the conclusion by William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester (c.1483/85-1572) Lord High Treasurer 1550-72 and previously Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 1547, Sir Richard Sackville (c.1507-1566) Chancellor of the Exchequer 1559-66, and Sir Walter Mildmay (1523-1589) Chancellor of the Exchequer 1566-89. Beneath the signatures appears a three-line autograph receipt by Robert Hare, ´Which sume of fortie pounde I Robt Hare have received by this.....written by me Robert Hare´, with two of the lines neatly struck through. A rare document signed by the three primary architects of the Elizabethan fiscal system. Some light staining to the left half of the document, only very slightly affecting the text and signatures (which remain perfectly legible) and with some light, minor creasing and fraying to the edges, and a repair to a central horizontal split to the verso. G

Robert Hare (d.1611) English official, antiquary, and politician who was appointed a clerk of the pells by William Paulet in June 1560.

At the time of the present document, the Exchequer was under significant pressure to organize the Queen’s finances, and the ´extractes of fynes and amerciamentes´ (transcripts of court-ordered penalties) were critical for auditing royal revenue.