Description:Order from Queen Elizabeth 1 to John Fortescue Master of the Great Wardrobe in London to supply materials for four Groomsof the Litter and four Grooms of the Coaches. 2 June 1594.
This document, written on vellum has an autograph signature of Elizabeth 1. unfortunately we have no information about how it was acquired by Birmingham Archives and Collections.
Elizabeth 1 was a patron of Shakespeare's theatre company and they performed at court for her several times. She is generally held to be alluded to here in Midsummer's Night's Dream:
"That very time I saw - but thou couldst not-
Flying between the cold moon and earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce a hundred- thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation fancy free" - Act 11, Sc1