Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Question from Tracey - Erik of Sweden's letters to Elizabeth I

Erik of Sweden expended a lot of effort over quill and paper wooing Elizabeth I during the early years of her reign. He really seemed interested in having her as his wife, much more so than the Archduke Charles and other members of the Hapsburg family.

Are his letters still around? Perhaps in the British Library?

Thanks! Tracey

2 comments:

PhD Historian said...

If you want to know whether or not any letters from Erik of Sweden are in the British Library, Tracey, you can search their online catalogue. On the BL main page, under "What's On," choose "Online Catalogues." Then scroll down a bit and choose "Manuscripts." Next, go to "Descriptions Search," and use the keyword "Sweden." That will produce 331 results. From there, you have to weed through them to see whether any are letters to or from Erik of Sweden (the search term "Sweden" will appear in red, making is easier to scan the results).

The more likely repository is the National Archives. They too have a searchable website, though the descriptions of the results are somewhat less detailed.

Good luck!

kb said...

I suspect there are also some amongst the Cecil Papers preserved at Hatfield House. There are references throughout the calendars that should get you started. The calendars of the Cecil Papers are available at large research university libraries.