PRIVY COUNCIL DOCUMENT OF ELIZABETH I
Warrant addressed to Lord Burghley as Lord Treasurer, 1 page folio, Greenwich, 29 June 1598, countersigned by Burghley at the foot. Signed by Sir Robert Cecil, George Lord Hunsden, Sir William Knollys, Sir John Fortescue, Roger Lord North and Lord Buckhurst, the warrant orders payment of £2000 for vitualling 4000 men for two months in Ireland.
On the 7th of the month, Lord Tyrone had renewed his rebellion on the expiry of a truce and was engaged in laying siege to the crucial fort on the river Blackwater. The gravity of the situation is indicated by this order, coming only two weeks after a similar order for £8000 for the same purpose. These troops may have constituted part of the relief force led by Sir Henry Bagenal which was all but annihilated by Tyrone on 14 August at Beal-an-athabuidhe, the high point of Tyrone's resistance.
[No: 6252]