Thomas Randolph (1523–1590) was an English ambassador serving Queen Elizabeth I. Most of his professional life he spent in Scotland at the courts of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son James VI. While in Scotland, he was embroiled in marriage projects and several upheavals. In 1568–1569, he was sent on a special embassy to Russia, visiting the court of Ivan the Terrible.
Randolph was also a Member of Parliament: for New Romney in 1558, Maidstone 1584, 1586 and 1589, Grantham 1559 and St Ives 1558 and 1572.
Exile in France Thomas Randolph was born in 1523, the son of Avery Randolph of Badlesmere, Kent and Anne Gainsford (NOT the lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn). He entered Christ Church, Oxford at the time of its foundation, and graduated B.A. in October 1545, and B.C.L. in 1548. Shortly afterwards he became a public notary; and in 1549 he was made principal of Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College), Oxford. He continued there until 1553, when the Protestant persecutions under Queen Mary compelled him to resign and retire to France. Sir James Melville refers to Randolph's indebtedness to him "during his banishment in France"; Randolph seems to have mainly resided in Paris, where he was still living as a scholar in April 1557. It was probably during his stay in Paris that he came under the influence of George Buchanan, to whom, in a letter to Peter Young, tutor of James VI, he refers in very eulogistic terms as his 'master'. Among his fellow-students and intimates in Paris was Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange.
In the service of Elizabeth I
Soon after the accession of Elizabeth, in 1558, Randolph was acting as an agent of the English government in Germany, but in a few months returned to England; and, probably soon afterwards, bought a farm in Kent—"the house where he was born". Doubtless his acquaintance with the Scottish Protestants in Paris suggested to Elizabeth the employment of Randolph in the task of bringing the Earl of Arran, who had been compelled to flee from France, from Geneva to England.
At this time, Randolph sometimes signed his letters with a Latin phrase "Virtus pro divitiis",Sheila R. Richards, Secret Writing in the Public Records (London: HMSO, 1974), pp. 19–20. and he wrote the phrase in his copy of John Jewel's Apologia ecclesiae Anglicanae (London, 1562), a gift from James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray. The book is now held by the University of Edinburgh."Apologia ecclesiae Anglicanae", Edinburgh University, Special Collections; Dd.2.49
In Scotland
Under the name of Barnabie, and using the codename Pamphilus he was also sent in the autumn of 1559 to secretly conduct James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran into Scotland.'Zurich Letters', (1842), 56–57 citings Forbes, 'Full View', ii,(1740) He left for London on 25 November, but was again sent to Scotland in March 1560, where his representations had considerable influence in encouraging the Protestants against the queen-regent, and in effecting an understanding between them and Elizabeth. The success of his mission suggested his continuance in Scotland as the confidential agent of Elizabeth; but being an ardent Protestant, he was as well a representative of William Cecil, Elizabeth's secretary of state, as of the Queen. Although by no means a match for Maitland of Lethington as a diplomatist, the fact that he possessed the confidence of the Protestant party enabled him to exercise no small influence in Scottish politics. His numerous letters are among the most valuable sources of information for this period; they abound in interesting details regarding the Queen of Scots and her court, and the political plots and social intrigues.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), 375, sums up his Scottish career.
Randolph was hosted in Scotland by the Duke of Châtellerault and his son the Earl of Arran. In February 1561, he wrote to William Cecil that he thinking of finding other lodgings and that he had not received undue gains or gifts from the Hamiltons beyond the customary gold chain. Randolph obtained descriptions of meetings at Craigmillar Castle and Linlithgow Palace, where plans for Mary's return to Scotland were discussed.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561 (London, 1865), pp. 537 no. 968, 581–584 no. 1034.
At the marriage of Lord James Stewart and Agnes Keith in February 1562, on Shrove Tuesday Mary, Queen of Scots toasted Queen Elizabeth from a gold cup and then presented it to Randolph and talked to him of the "amity" between England and Scotland. Randolph described this incident in a letter to William Cecil and it was widely reported in England.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 603 no. 1077: Simon Adams, Ian Archer, George Barnard, 'A Journall of Matters of State', Religion, Politics and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (Cambridge, 2003), p. 97. Mary was sent a portrait of Elizabeth, and Randolph verified the likeness. They talked of a possible meeting of queens.Tracey Sowerby, 'A Memorial and a Pledge of Faith': Portraiture and Early Modern Diplomatic Culture', English Historical Review, 129:537 (April 2014), p. 311. Instead of meeting Elizabeth in England, in the autumn of 1562 Randolph accompanied the Queen of Scots, who professed for him a warm friendship, in an expedition to the north of Scotland. This resulted in the defeat and death of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly; and Randolph even took part in the campaign, "being ashamed to sit still where so many were occupied".Calendar State Papers, Foreign, 1562, no. 648.
In January 1563, Randolph went to Castle Campbell in Clackmannanshire to the wedding of James Stewart, Commendator of Inchcolm and Margaret Campbell. He had hoped to meet James MacConnel at the wedding.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1547-1603, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 678. He described his entertainment at the Scottish court, "we passed our time in feasts, banqueting, masking, and running at the ring, and such like".Sarah Carpenter, "Performing Diplomacies: The 1560s Court Entertainments of Mary Queen of Scots", Scottish Historical Review, 82:2 no. 214 (2003), p. 196.
Marriage negotiations with Mary, Queen of Scots
Randolph described the appearance of Mary's entourage including her four Maries at the opening of Parliament in May 1563, writing "a fairer sight was never seen".David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 490. He met a servant of the Catholic priest John Black at St Andrews in June 1563. He bribed the servant to show him Black's correspondence and copied it.Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 10 no. 9. On 5 June 1563 Elizabeth sent him a license to return to England on his private business.Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 12 nos. 10-11.
On 20 April 1563 he was again sent to Scotland with the special aim of entangling the Scottish queen in negotiations for an English marriage. Elizabeth suggested Lord Robert Dudley, her own favourite, as a consort to Mary, whom she thus hoped to neutralise by a marriage to an Englishman. Randolph tried his best to further the project, which was strongly advocated by William Cecil, many of whose instructions to Randolph survive. At first Mary was not enthusiastic about the proposed match, however, when it became clear, that Elizabeth would declare Mary her official heir on condition that she marry Dudley, the proposal was taken very seriously on the Scottish part. In September 1564 Elizabeth bestowed on Dudley the earldom of Leicester to make him more acceptable to Mary. In the beginning of 1565, Mary accepted the proposal.Chamberlin pp. 151–152
To the amazement of Randolph, however, Leicester was not to be moved to comply with the proposal: But a man of that nature I never found any...he whom I go about to make as happy as ever was any, to put him in possession of a kingdom, to make him Prince of a mighty people, to lay in his naked arms a most fair and worthy lady...nothing regardeth the good that shall ensue unto him thereby...but so uncertainly dealeth that I know not where to find him.Chamberlin p. 158 Dudley indeed had made it clear to the Scots at the beginning of the affair, that he was not a candidate for Mary's hand, and forthwith had behaved with passive resistance. This Randolph had repeatedly tried to overcome by his letters.Chamberlin pp. 143–144, 151–152, 158 Elizabeth herself now had second thoughts regarding declarations concerning the succession. But as Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley became a serious candidate for Mary's marriage, Elizabeth wanted to prevent it. Randolph again received instructions to press for a marriage "with the Earl of Leicester or some other; and if he find it so far passed as it cannot be revoked, then he shall...declare, how much it shall miscontent her Majesty".Chamberlin p. 158–159
Randolph had time to report on a Roman antiquity discovered near Edinburgh at Musselburgh where there was an inscribed altar and a hypocaust,Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 142, 144. and to court Mary Beaton, one of Mary, Queen of Scots' companions.Hunter, Clare, Embroidering her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power, Sceptre, London, p. 86, In April 1565 Beaton and Randolph teamed up to play bowls with the queen and Lord Darnley at Stirling Castle.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 7 (London, 1870), pp. 328 no. 1085 They won, and Darnley gave Beaton a ring and a brooch with two agates worth fifty crowns.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 142. One of Randolph's Scottish contacts, Alexander Clark sent him a letter teasing him about their relationship in a joke using nonsense words; "And as to your mistress Marie Beton, she is both darimpus and sclenbrunit, and you in like manner without contrebaxion or kylteperante, so you are both worth little money."Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 148.
Randolph, to his utter chagrin, could not prevent the marriage of the queen to Lord Darnley, and after the marriage, he declined to recognise Darnley's authority.Chamberlin pp. 445–447 Randolph's representations and promises may have contributed to the rebellion of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, known as the Chaseabout Raid. On 16 January 1566 he reported Mary withheld the "Matrimonial crown" from Darnley and was now pregnant:It is now spoken for certain that she is with child; and, as it is said, she felt it stir in her belly upon new year's day. Some ladies affirm that she hath milk in her breasts; and finding all other tokens to concur belonging to women lately married, assure it for certain that it can be no other.Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), p. 146, modernised here.
On 14 February 1566 Randolph wrote to the Earl of Leicester that he was unable and unwilling to commit his opinions on Mary's actions on paper for fear of appearing "malicieus foolyshe and unadvised".V. Smith, 'Perspectives on Female Monarchy', in J. Daybell & S. Norrhem, Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe (Abingdon, 2017), 152. In February 1566 he was accused by Mary of having assisted Moray and her rebellious subjects during the Chaseabout Raid with a gift of three thousand crowns, and was required to quit the country within six days.William Fraser, The Melvilles, Earls of Melville, and the Leslies, Earls of Leven, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 3-5: Leven and Melville Papers', Maitland Miscellany, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1843), pp. 179-183 Ultimately he retired to Berwick upon Tweed, and while there he was, after the murder of Riccio, accused by Mary of having written a book against her, called Mr. Randolph's Phantasy.
Embassy to Russia and Scotland