Languages, Latin, and the Jacobean Secretariat: William Fowler's Letters in Florence and Venice

This article presents several letters by Queen Anna of Denmark that are currently preserved in the State Archives of Florence and Venice, and that were written by her foreign secretary, Master William Fowler (Edinburgh 1560–London 1612). Fowler is a well‐known presence in Scottish literary history, as a member of James' VI so‐called ‘Castalian band of poets’ in the 1580 s and a translator of Petrarch and Machiavelli into Scots. The letters penned by him and preserved in Italy, mostly postdating the move of the Scottish court to London, offer a new perspective on Fowler's career as Anna's secretary, and provide additional information on the internal workings of the Queen's secretarial establishment in London, prompting us to re‐evaluate both Fowler's professional trajectory and the nature and functioning of the Jacobean secretariat.

French) and foreign protocols (forms of address, foreign politics and official roles), as well as a working knowledge of Latin, the lingua franca of contemporary diplomacy.Foreign secretaries acted as cultural and political mediators between Britain and the world abroad, and between English and foreign languages, and educated laymen saw the secretarial profession as an avenue for social advancement and personal profit.After university, many of them completed their training by travelling to the Continent: this part of their education was key to providing prospective secretaries with direct knowledge of foreign countries, and offering them a chance to learn foreign languages as well as to build a network of professional contacts abroad.As this article will show, and as Fowler's career exemplifies, this knowledge of languages, people and places was a key asset in the making of a prospective secretary.
Master William Fowler (as he used to sign himself, Edinburgh 1560-London 1612) is mostly known today as a champion of Italian influence during the Scottish Jacobean Renaissance, and as a translator of Petrarch's Triumphs and Machiavelli's Prince into Scots. 2Fowler was a member of the 'Castalian band', a poetic coterie active at the Edinburgh court for a short period between 1583 and 1590, which included the 'maister poete' Alexander Montgomerie, the English musicians Thomas and Robert Hudson, and John Stewart of Baldynneis, besides King James VI himself. 3owler was part of the group from the very beginning, joining the poetic coterie after his return from France and England in 1583.His poems appear in the prefatory sections of the works of other Castalian poets, such as James' Essayes of a Prentise and Thomas Hudson's Judith (both published cum privilegio in 1584). 4Fowler's manuscript papers are collected in the last five volumes of the so-called 'Hawthornden manuscripts', which also contain the papers of his nephew, the Scottish Petrarchist poet William Drummond of Hawthornden.His sonnet sequence, The Tarantula of Love, plus a copy of the presentation manuscript of Petrarch's Triumphs and a few of the books 2 The main scholarly sources on Fowler are: Henry Meikle, James Craigie and John Purves (eds.),The Works 3 On the Castalians, see: Priscilla Bawcutt, 'James VI's Castalian Band: A Modern Scottish Myth', Scottish belonging to him are held at the University Library in Edinburgh, amongst the volumes bequeathed by Drummond in the 1620s and 1630s. 5n addition to his literary career, Fowler was employed as a court official for about two decades, a portion of his life that has generally been overshadowed by his poetic works.Whilst literary scholars and critics have studied Fowler's literary production in some depth, including his translations from Italian, his professional life has not been given much consideration. 6owever, his long career as a court official is a relevant point when discussing Fowler's literary production, especially considering that his knowledge of languages, which he demonstrated early on with his translations from Petrarch and Machiavelli, undoubtedly influenced his professional life.In 1590, King James appointed Fowler as 'Master of Requests and [Foreign]  Secretary-depute' to his wife, Queen Anna of Denmark. 7Fowler had been educated in Scotland and abroad and had experience in foreign countries.After graduating from the University of St Andrews, he had been sent to Paris to study Law in 1580, and later resided in England for a short period, where he was in contact with Walsingham and with the circle of the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau.Following that, he had been part of the Scottish delegation that had negotiated James' marriage.Shortly after being appointed as Anna's secretary, he again travelled to the Continent and was in Italy in 1591 accompanying the Laird of Buccleuch.There, Fowler enrolled at the University in Padua and visited Venice, meeting with the noted Italophile Sir Edward Dymoke.The Hawthornden manuscripts contain evidence from this period, in the form of a piece of occasional poetry sent by Dymoke to Fowler, and of a letter by the Venetian librarian Giambattista Ciotti.Fowler's name is also recorded in the registers of the Scottish nation at the University of Padua. 8n 1603, after James' VI accession to the English throne, Fowler followed the court south and settled in London, where he died in 1612.In London, Fowler retained his post in Anna's household, participating in the coronation ceremonies and being allocated meat from the King's table as one of the Queen's servants. 9However, Fowler's literary success in Edinburgh apparently did not translate into the world of the secretariat, and his professional career has often been described by scholars as rather lacklustre.His appointment came with a starting salary of '66li, 13 s and 4d', and the post seems to have brought him a considerable income (about £400 a year); however, he often complained about being in dire financial straits due to the expenses that came with his job. 10Court officials would often supplement their salary by bringing in commissions to secure suits on behalf of other parties; Fowler himself seems to have done so, apparently with little success, as reported by Robert Cecil, Fowler's ally in court.Contemporary documents also witness a legal case brought against him and his brother John Fowler, his partner in business, by one John Newes, allegedly for failing to obtain a commission Fowler had been paid for.11Furthermore, Fowler's relationship with Queen Anna, his main employer, has famously been portrayed as less than friendly, possibly due to religious differences, and his influence at court seems to have been minimal.12Henry Meikle and John Purves, who wrote the first modern account of Fowler's life, cite contemporary evidence showing how Fowler 'from the first had difficulty in maintaining his official position' and was even 'in serious danger of losing his post' around 1608, when the poet John Donne petitioned to be considered as his successor. 13Thomas Dempster, the seventeenthcentury Scottish historian, who might have had access to Fowler's papers through Fowler's son Ludovic, similarly wrote that 'he was shunned and kept his office only in name until the end of his life' due to unspecified divergences with Anna ('subirata, incertum quam ob causa, regina'). 14verall, both near-contemporary and modern accounts suggest that Fowler did not hold much sway at the London court, and that his post as Anna's Secretary and Master of Requests provided him with lower returns (both materially and politically) than he may have hoped for.
Indeed, evidence of Fowler's employment is relatively scarce in British records, which might have contributed to modern scholars' perceptions of his minor role in Anna's service.Continental archives, however, hold several traces that contribute to a deeper understanding of Fowler's part in contemporary foreign relations.By extension, this material contributes to highlight the role of foreign secretaries in shaping and maintaining relations between the Scottish and English courts and their foreign partners.The Italian State Archives in Florence and Venice contain material evidence of Fowler's employment as Anna's secretary in the shape of several letters in Latin and Italian, written by Fowler on behalf of Anna. 15These can be juxtaposed to documentary evidence in the Hawthornden manuscripts, providing a clearer picture of Fowler in his professional capacity; in particular, the documents found in Italy seem to witness a different story from the one that has been traditionally told.On one hand, Anna seems to have employed other scribes for her missives along with Fowler; on the other hand, Fowler was apparently consistently employed in specific circumstances, such as diplomatic communications with the Venetian Republic, a fact that does not seem to be necessarily connected with his knowledge of the Italian language as such.Whilst modern scholars have mostly focused on Fowler's knowledge of Italian, noting that Anna appears to have employed others for their language expertise, such as the writer John Florio and the ambassador Ottaviano Lotti, they seem to have mostly been oblivious to his contribution to her secretariat in other languages (i.e.Latin).Overall, archival evidence in Italy contributes to painting a more complex picture of Fowler as a professional, and at the same time sheds more light on the workings of Anna's secretariat as a Queen consort, and more generally on the functioning of late Renaissance secretarial establishments.Material in Venice and Florence reveals how the establishment relied on different people for different tasks, and whilst some of these people might have been chosen based on their expertise in a specific foreign language, others were arguably employed due to other, less apparent reasons, such as their social contacts and their familiarity with a specific foreign environment.The latter seems to have been the case with Fowler, who was indeed working for Anna both in Scotland and in England, penning letters directed to Italian states on her behalf; these letters were mostly not written in Italian, but rather in Latin, and he appears to have been employed exclusively by Anna when dealing with diplomatic correspondence involving Venice and specifically the ambassadors of the Republic.The connections of Fowler to Venice were close and recent: due to his extensive travels, he had direct knowledge of the area and its people and appears to have been personally connected to several of the Venetian ambassadors in England, a link that left material traces in Fowler's papers in the Hawthornden manuscripts.His remaining books, preserved along with those of Drummond in Edinburgh University Library, also show how whilst in Venice, Fowler had familiarized himself with local culture, acquiring several volumes on emblems connected to the nobility in the Venetian territories. 16This specialized knowledge is probably what made Fowler Anna's choice when dealing with the Serenissima, and the reason why she sometimes preferred him to others who might have had a superior knowledge of Italian.The seeming absence of draft copies of Fowler's secretarial letters in British archives might be the reason why Fowler's specific contribution to Anna's secretariat has been mostly overlooked so far, painting a distorted picture of Fowler's professional life.

FOWLER'S LETTERS IN THE HAWTHORNDEN MANUSCRIPTS
A section of volume 2064 of the Hawthornden manuscripts (ff.99-143) contains several letters and might represent evidence of Fowler's professional employment; this section seems to be almost exclusively made up of drafts, something that is made clear by comparing them with fair copies of official letters that were sent abroad. 17The layout of the texts on the page makes this plausible, as different letters (usually two) with different addressees and senders, are often presented on the same page and appear to have been written consecutively (Hawthornden 2064, f. 123r is an example).This section of the Hawthornden manuscripts contains about forty letters by Anna, James and others, in several languages (Scots, English, French, Italian, and Latin), although most of the missives are in English or Scots.Several of the letters are not in Fowler's hand, and the scripts displayed in this section of the manuscripts vary from secretarial to a mix of secretarial and Italic, with different degrees of formality.This section contains material of different kinds, mostly related to domestic affairs, such as letters of safe conduct on behalf of Anna, like the one for one Richard Gray (Hawthornden 2064 f. 105v, dated from Falkland Palace in 1596) and one for a Scot merchant named 'Jacobus Draggius' (Hawthornden 2064 f. 106r, dated after the Union of the Crowns).Other drafts concern requests for the payment of other court officials and communications with members of the royal household regarding their appointments and duties.Several missives are addressed to Scottish and English nobles (such as the Earl of Caithness, on f. 100v, and the Countess of Derby, on f. 101v), and appear to have been written on behalf of several different people.Material strictly related to international correspondence seems to be absent in the Hawthornden manuscripts.This may seem strange at first, especially considering Fowler's position as a foreign secretary and the evidence found in Venice and Florence.However, Fowler's official papers (along with copies and drafts) may have been either dispersed or destroyed.After the death of a court official, their papers were often either returned to the crown, to whom they legally belonged, or destroyed, since they contained sensitive information.They might also have been lent to other interested parties (such as local historians or antiquarians), and in this case, subsequent dispersal was the most common fate. 18The history of the conservation of Fowler's manuscripts must also be taken into account, as his papers were only collected in the early nineteenth century when the leaves that made up Fowler's collection were bound in separate volumes according to aesthetic criteria.This means that papers belonging to different periods and contexts might now be displayed in the same section, with no guarantee about their provenance.Alternatively, some of them may have been kept as models for future work, as part of Fowler's own letter book or book of precedents. 19If this is the case, these letters contribute to fleshing out the picture of a foreign secretary's job, which may have not been confined entirely to foreign correspondence, but might have also entailed domestic correspondence and the kind of communications internal to the court, such as those concerning payment of wages, communication of appointments, and letters of safe conduct for foreign travel.
Finally, as suggested by others, some of the letters in Hawthornden may have been collected as specimens for a prospective 'art of secretarye', a book that is listed amongst Fowler's works in Hawthornden 2063 ff.107r and 107v, a 'list of his own works' penned by Fowler himself. 20This work by Fowler has not been identified; its title however points to a genre that was becoming increasingly popular amongst professionals between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Such published books of precedents, mostly in the vernacular and collecting different kinds of documents to serve as examples for private and state secretaries, had been circulating in manuscripts since at least the 1590s.Examples are Thomas Beale's short pamphlet on the duties of the principal secretary, and Nicholas Faunt's work.Martin Billingsley's The pens Excellencie or the Secretaries Delighte was published in print around 1617, testifying to a growing market for such manuals in the British Isles, as the job of a secretary became increasingly more specialized. 21This hypothesis might help to explain why this section of the Hawthornden manuscripts contains material in English or Scots instead of Latin, Italian or French, dealing with domestic circumstances instead of foreign relations and ambassadorial matters, as one would expect from the drafts belonging to a foreign secretary.If Fowler thought about publishing his own 'art of secretarye', he may have chosen to collect from different sources the kind of material that would be most appealing (and useful) to his intended domestic readership, who in turn would have been more interested in examples of letters written in the vernacular and dealing with everyday concerns, rather than in official Latin correspondence of the kind that was the domain of a royal foreign secretary.Volume 2063 (f.209r) contains phrases related to court offices, such as names of offices translated into Latin, and phrases concerning the post of a royal secretary, described as 'memoria regis, cuius officium suggerere principis res obeundas' ('the King's memory, whose job is to remind the prince of the things that must be done'), coupled with the names of two of Fowler's colleagues at the London court, John Murray and (Alexander?) Dickson.Finally, Alessandra Petrina has connected other two letters in Italian (Hawthornden 2064 f. 125r) to the same project, arguing that Fowler might have planned to write a multilingual treatise on secretarial work. 22

LETTERS BY FOWLER IN FLORENCE
More reliable traces of Fowler's employment can be found in the State Archives in Florence, in a volume containing letters addressed to the Medici Princes. 23Significantly, the same gathering also contains material on the English succession, with a detailed explanation of James' right to the English throne (ASF 4183 ff.80-81, dated to 1600).The document is headed 'De Jure Jacobis Regis Scotorum 6 in Angliae Regnum notula' and contains a diagram explaining the dynastic relations between Elizabeth, James, Arabella Stuart, and Henry VIII.This section of the volume contains letters in Italian, as can be expected, but also in Latin and French, proving that communications between the Stuart and the Medici courts took place in any of these three languages, and testifying to the multilingual nature of European political networks in the early seventeenth century.Amongst the letters in this gathering are a few missives addressed to the Medici by the royal family during the Scottish and English reigns of King James.Senders include James, Anna of Denmark, and a young Prince Henry, besides several English and Scottish noblemen.Amongst these letters, there are six letters from Anna that can be associated with Fowler's tenure as her secretary since they were written between 1602 and 1612.The first two letters by Anna are written in Italian and dated 1602, when she was still Queen of Scotland only.These two letters contain an introduction of Robert Crichton, Lord Sanquhar, who was then travelling to Tuscany (ASF 4183 ff.98-99); these do not seem to be written in Fowler's familiar mixed secretarial-Italic hand, but in a calligraphic Italic formata with distinctive decorative traits (such as the weighted lower stroke of 'z'), confirming that Anna employed a variety of scribes for her secretarial needs.The first of these letters (ASF 4183 f. 98r) is directed by Anna of Denmark to Ferdinando de Medici's wife, Christina of Lorraine, witnessing the direct involvement of European consorts in diplomatic affairs. 24The letter is signed by Anna in her own hand and subscribed 'di V.A. Ser.ssima affezionatissima Parente' ('much loving relative'), a personal touch that reminded Christina of their family bond (as she was related to James' mother, Mary Queen of Scots).The second letter, bearing the same date (15 September 1602, ASF 4183 f. 99r) is addressed to Grand Duke Ferdinando, and thanks him for his kind treatment of 'il Barone da sacar'.These letters highlight a distinctive trait in the political character of Anna of Denmark, i.e. the fact that she was ready to offer protection and diplomatic backing to both Scots and Danes abroad, and to exert herself on behalf of her subjects, as is also suggested by the letters of safe conduct mentioned above. 25hree more letters (ASF 4183 ff.106r, 122r and 122v, and 123, all dating from the year 1604) appear to be in Fowler's own handwriting, a mixed hand with few secretarial features (mainly represented by the use of closed 'e') and displaying several decorative qualities (especially evident in the first line of writing) and cursive traits (especially towards the end of the text body).The layout of the text on the page (a rather small quarto format) leaves ample margins on the top, bottom and left side, with the text justified on the right, according to the form taken by most official letters. 26This choice of layout speaks of Fowler's competence, and is indicative of his professional skills, as properly composing, addressing and setting official letters on the page was an integral part of a secretary's job.Two of the three letters are written on the recto side only, with the text of a third (ASF 4183 f. 122) running over on the verso side.Although subscriptions seem to be sometimes the work of the letter's scribe (f.122), the missives appear to have all been signed by Anna herself (as 'Anna R') in a bold Italic hand and a module much larger than the one employed in the letter's text.This is undoubtedly a personal touch, and was sometimes added by noble letter-writers to missives that were otherwise composed and written entirely by secretaries, to signal the sender's personal involvement. 27The last letter in this series is undated (ASF 4183 f. 127) and written in French, and displays an entirely different hand from Fowler's; the presence of another letter in French in the same collection (ASF 4183 f. 102, by James and dated February 1603), written by a different scribe from the one employed to pen James' letters in Latin and Italian, suggests a degree of specialization within royal secretarial establishments, which seemingly employed different people for writing in different languages.Overall, these letters highlight the complex nature of the early modern secretarial machine, an environment involving several different people with a varied range of professional skills.
The first two of the three letters penned by Fowler in the Florentine archives (ASF 4183 ff.106, 122) are both in Latin and deal with Alfonso di Montecuccoli, the Tuscan extraordinary ambassador to James' court, who visited England between September 1603 and March 1604 to congratulate James on his accession to the English throne.The first of these two letters (dated 6 February 1604) expresses Anna's appreciation for the ambassador, 'dignissimi et gravissimi viri', and for his 'aperta et splendida legatione' (ASF 4183 f. 106r) in rather conventional terms.The second letter (dated 20 August 1604) is rather more personal; it explicitly mentions Montecuccoli's secretary ('minister fidus et probe providus secretarius', ASF 4183 f. 122r) Ottaviano Lotti, and contains a request for him to be employed further in dealings with the English Crown.The request was successful, and Lotti stayed behind as a resident ambassador after Montecuccoli's departure, becoming especially close to Anna and her court. 28The third letter in the series, also in Fowler's hand, is dated July 1604 (ASF 4183 f. 123) and deals instead with the half-brother of Duke Ferdinando, Don Giovanni de' Medici, who spent a short period in England seeking advancement at Anna's court. 29This letter is in Italian, a language which Fowler uses with confidence and appropriateness in its most formal features; nonetheless, the text contains the occasional mistake (cf.'che mi S(ua) E(minenza) porta', with its incorrect word order).Only this last of Fowler's letters in Florence has been composed in Italian, confirming that the description of Fowler's job as 'Italian secretary' that has been often quoted by scholars is not quite descriptive of his actual work in the service of Anna, at least not from a strictly linguistic point of view.They also suggest that a secretary's employment did not depend solely on his knowledge of a specific language.The letters preserved in Venice give further backing to these initial impressions.

LETTERS BY FOWLER IN VENICE
More letters from Anna can be found in the State archives in Venice, in a gathering containing missives from the English court to the Doge, the head of state of the Venetian Republic. 30As far as Fowler's professional life is concerned, these letters offer a useful counterpoint to the letters preserved in Florence.In the Venetian gathering, a total of six letters in Latin can be found, five of them accompanied by an Italian translation executed by the Venetian chancery offices.All of the letters, dating from November 1603 to May 1611, are directed to the current Doge and strictly concern diplomatic duties, dealing mostly with the comings and goings of Venetian ambassadors at the English court.The series begins with a letter thanking Doge Marino Grimani for his congratulations on the English succession delivered by Giovanni Scaramelli 'officiosissime et amicissime' and by Pietro Duodo and Nicolò Molin ('senatores munificentissimos dignissimos viros', amongst other things, ASV 33 ff.35r quarter, 36v).The following two letters, dated, respectively 15 July 1605 and 2 February 1606 (ASV 33 ff.46r, 55r) deal with Nicolò Molin, who remained in England as an ordinary ambassador after Scaramelli.The letters speak of his departure after two years of service ('cum per biennium et ultra in hoc regno moraretur', ASV 33 f.55r) and of the expected arrival of his successor, Giorgio Giustinian.These two letters are addressed respectively to Marino Grimani and to Grimani's successor, Leonardo Donato.One more letter (ASV 33 f.88r, dated November 1608) deals with Giustinian, 'eques auratus, dignissimus Serenissimae Vestrae Reipublicae Legatus' who was leaving his post, and with his successor Marcantonio Correr.This letter reproduces almost exactly the wording found in the text on f. 55, which deals with a similar exchange between Molin and Giustinian and contains commendation of their service ('probe perimpleti muneris'), testifying to the extremely formulaic nature of diplomatic communications, which have been described as 'highly conventional public forms of address'. 31The letter on ASV 33 f.81r (dated 25 February 1610) deals with the return to Venice of the extraordinary ambassador Francesco Contarini, who was sent to England on account of James' book An Apology for the Oath of Allegiance, a work defending his decision to impose the Oath on his subjects that had caused extensive controversy in Britain and Europe.James' Apology was published in English, Latin and French, and copies of it had been sent personally by James to foreign heads of state; the volumes were not unanimously well received, especially by Catholic princes. 32Contarini, the extraordinary ambassador ('missus est ut legationis extraordinariae munus perimpleret'), was officially received by the King and his family along with Correr, the ordinary ambassador, on 2 February, when he presented a letter to the Queen. 33The last letter in the series (ASV 33 f.108r, dated 26 May 1611) concerns the departure of Correr from England, who exchanged places with his successor, Antonio Foscarini.Although this letter employs a structure similar to the other two letters dealing with departing ambassadors, this last missive does away with the commendatory remarks, and uses a slightly different lexicon ('nostram benevolentiam constantiamque vegetatura', lit.'our benevolence and everliving constance'), suggesting a different scribe from Fowler. 34rom a point of view of their social and political context, these letters all show close connections to Fowler's own social milieu, backed by material evidence in the Hawthornden manuscripts.The names of all of the ambassadors mentioned in these missives, except for Scaramelli, can be found amongst Fowler's personal papers, where they are the subject of a series of anagrams (Hawthornden 2063, ff.147r, 134v, 150r, and 191v), mostly in Latin. 35In particular, a single sheet (Hawthornden 2063 f. 191v) contains the names of both Giustinian and Correr, who are also present together in the text of Anna's letter dated November 1608 (ASV 33 f.88r).Correr and Giustinian's duties seem to have overlapped in London for a few weeks, which offers a possible time-frame for the composition of the material in the Hawthornden manuscripts.On f. 191v, Correr is addressed the anagram 'Marcantonius Corrarus -Marcus turcas conculcavit' ('Mark stamped the Turks under his feet'), with a reference to the patron Saint of the Republic, St Mark; the phrase is then transposed into a chronogram reading 'MCCCCCLVVVVI' (1571 in Roman numerals), the year of the battle of Lepanto, where the forces of the Holy League, headed by Venetian commanders, defeated the fleet of the Ottoman empire.The events of Lepanto were known to the English audience: James had published a poem on the battle, which was printed in his Poeticall Exercises of 1591, for which Fowler had written a prefatory sonnet. 36 copy of the work, in the French translation by du Bartas, is amongst the books in the Drummond Collection, and might represent Fowler's own copy. 37On the same leaf, Giustinian's name is rearranged as 'augusto insigni vires' in an anagram allegedly composed by himself.The leaf seems to have initially been intended as a fair copy, or at least a fair draft.The names of Giustinian and Correr are written in an italic fully formata book-hand belonging to Fowler, large in module and artfully disposed on the top half of the page.Similarly, the name of Niccolò Molin, in its Latinized form of 'Nicolaus Molinus' is transposed as 'uno culmina solis' (putting his name in relation to the sun's zenith) on both ff.151r and 191v, and the name of Contarini is made into the words 'confractis scrinia' and 'cresco' on f. 134v.When coupled with the evidence offered by Anna's diplomatic letters, the material found in the Hawthornden manuscripts suggests that these pieces may represent manuscript evidence of social interactions between Fowler and the Venetians (as the phrase 'de se ipse composuit' may indicate that the anagram had been made by Giustinian and communicated to Fowler), whom Fowler might have met whilst the ambassadors were residing 34 'Venetian Diplomatic Agents in England', in CSP Venice, cxxii-cxxix.Retrieved from: British History Online http://www.british-histo ry.ac.uk/cal-state -paper s/venic e/vol1/cxxii -cxxix (accessed 9 November 2021). 35 in London.These texts might also have been intended as textual gifts of ephemeral literary material, composed by Fowler to entertain the Venetian ambassadors during the time that they spent in London.Fowler is known to have composed such pieces for Anna and several other members of her and James' court, and he appears to have somewhat specialized in occasional material in his later years, with a shift in his literary activity from learned translation and poetry in Scots to occasional compositions in Latin focusing on anagrams, chronograms and emblems.The material in Hawthornden offers more evidence of a direct connection between Fowler and the diplomatic environment involving Venetians in London and lends further credibility to the idea that these connections, rather than his language expertise, were what made Fowler the most suitable person in Anna's household when dealing with the Republic.All of the letters in Venice seem to have been penned by Fowler, who often signed himself on the bottom right of the sheet, very close to the edge of the leaf, as 'Guilielmus fouler secr(etarius)' (ASV 33 ff.35 quarter, 55r, 88r, 108r).Fowler's subscriptions as Anna's secretary are found in her letters to Venice and their placing at the very bottom of the letter, with a conspicuous amount of blank space separating the secretarial signature from the text of the letter and the royal signature, follow a custom that was rather common amongst contemporary secretaries, who sometimes put their own signature on a letter sent by their masters, placed in the same position.Similar examples occur in the correspondence of Elizabeth I preserved in Florence; here, a few letters are signed by Peter Vannes (or Pietro Vanni, ASF 4183 ff.3r, 4r, 5r) and Roger Ascham (ASF 4183 f. 9r), who added their own signature after Elizabeth's, similarly placed at the bottom right of the sheet and very close to the margin.Angel Day and William Fulwood, two contemporary authors of letter-writing manuals, offer advice on the positioning of the signature on the page that helps us interpret the position of Fowler's secretarial signature on Anna's letters as a show of deference and a profession of humility. 38Fulwood writes that 'to our superiors wee must write at the right side in the neither end of the paper', matching Fowler's usage.Day's instructions are more detailed, advising that, 'if the state of honour of him to whome the Letter shall be directed doe require so much', 'the verye lowest margent of paper shall doe no more but beare it, so be it the space be seemelye for the name, and the roome fayre inough to comprehende it'. 39At the same time, signing these letters might also have been Fowler's means of asserting his own professional worth.Fowler's subscriptions are only present in the Venetian letters, and not in the ones held in Florence, suggesting that he attached more value to these latter products, but also that he might have thought it more appropriate to identify himself as the material writer of Anna's missives in the context of the Venetian letters.This may have something to do both with his past connection to the area of Venice and Padua, where he had travelled a decade earlier, and with his closer relationships to the Venetian ambassadors that can be evinced on the basis of the material found in the Hawthornden manuscripts.
The Venetian letters are all in Fowler's hand, proving that Anna employed him exclusively when communicating with the Republic.The only exception to this is the last letter of the series (ASV 33 f.108r, dated 26 May 1611), employing a different abbreviation system for the common word 'vestra' and a different lexicon.This letter is written in a different hand showing features that might associate it with a younger writer (cf. the smaller module, more compact cursus, and more decisively Italic features).This hand displays several different traits from Fowler's, such as the looped form of 'long s' and the use of 'ff' to indicate a capital 'F', both absent in Fowler's own handwriting (cf.ASV 33 f.108r 'ffranciae' and 'ffoscarini').Fowler's difficult personal circumstances in the last years of his life may have required him to make use of a scribe for secretarial work; this letter is dated to mid-1611, almost a year before Fowler's death, who had been complaining of extremely bad health starting around 1610, when he had written several versions of his own epitaph. 40The letter on f. 108 is also signed on the bottom by Fowler, in what is unmistakably his own hand, in a different ink from the body of the text, confirming his role as supervisor.The fact that Fowler signed this letter in his own hand suggests that he wanted to be acknowledged as the person in charge and the one ultimately responsible for the tone and setting.The presence of this signature witnesses the fact that the person in charge of the composition of a diplomatic letter was always the secretary, even when the material author of the text (the scribe) was one of the secretary's collaborators.In this case, responsibility for the form and content of a diplomatic missive rested with the secretary, whilst the scribe of a letter (whose name does not appear) would have much less significance, as they would be simply following the secretary's instructions.
Similar to the letters in Florence, the ones in Venice seem to be signed personally by Anna, the signature's main features being identical.All of the Venetian letters are written in a competent and officially-sounding, if rather formulaic, Latin that mirrors the style and lexicon of the two letters written by Fowler in the same language and directed to Florence, with several phrases repeated almost verbatim from one letter to another.The exclusive use of the Latin language to communicate with the Serenissima may reflect a different view of these missives on the part of Anna, who might have wanted her correspondence to Venice to sound somewhat more polished than the letters she sent to Florence.This seems to be supported by the content of the Venetian letters themselves, which can be described as rather dry when compared to the ones held in Florence, and by their language, which, although similarly repetitive and verbose, is however higher in tone than the one employed in the Florentine missives.Letters held in Florence make use of more informal modes of address ('Serenissimo Principe', ASF 4183 ff.122r, 123r, compared to the more elaborate address present in all of the Venetian letters) and shorter, less detailed closing formulae.
From the point of view of their material features, it is especially useful to compare the letters in Venice to the ones in Florence, given the differences in their presentation that represent tell-tale signs of their different status.The Venetian letters look extremely uniform, with the same kind of paper being used and the same layout.ASV 33 f.46r, which is smaller than the other letters and displays a somewhat messier layout, is an exception; this leaf is more similar to the letters held in Florence in its layout and presentation than to any of the letters in Venice.In the Venetian correspondence, excluding f. 46, the paper is of extremely good quality, creamy and heavy, of the kind of big folio format (measuring ca.360 × 300 mm) that was often associated with official correspondence and that, according to Daybell, conveyed a meaning of wealth and status. 41Sometimes, two whole sheets of paper were used, with the recto side of the first page of the resulting booklet containing the text of the letter, and the verso of the second leaf containing the address (ASV 33 ff.35 quarter, 36).This choice of layout leaves two whole pages empty, and is highly significant since the good quality paper was expensive and empty space was associated with respect for the addressee and with the wealth of the writer.The paper used in the Venice letters by Anna displays a consistent set of watermarks, depicting a flag and pennant, sometimes accompanied by the letters 'G3' (ASV 33 ff.35 quarter, 36, 42, 81, 101, 112), which makes it possible to ascribe the letters to a known paper stock.This watermark and its counter-mark have been connected to expensive paper manufactured in Italy and are associated with the correspondence produced at the English court between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. 42The same watermark is also found in Fowler's personal collection (Hawthornden 2063 ff.98, 101, 177, 18, 226, 261; Hawthornden 2065 f. 151).This is not surprising, considering that documented users of this specific paper stock in the same period include, besides English nobles and contemporary writers, also people connected with the court secretariat and several of Fowler's allies in England, such as Robert Cecil and the Earl of Shrewsbury.In the letters preserved in Venice, the text is laid out horizontally on the page and carefully justified on the left margin, leaving a large amount of blank space around three of the four margins (top, bottom and left).In contrast, Anna's letters to Florence are smaller, written on lower quality paper in a smaller format, and show less care put into their presentation, although they also show a similar layout and proportionally ample spacing on the margins.Fowler's hand is similar to the one displayed by the Florentine letters, a mixed hand with some cursive features and few secretarial traits (mainly represented by a closed 'e'), with a definite slant to the right.However, the impression given by the Venetian letters is of a more polished secretarial product: the text is neatly laid out and amply spaced, the whole letter fitting onto the recto side of a sheet.The writing displays a regular cursus with some decorative features, especially evident in the shapes of initials, in the exaggerated decorative descenders of 'g' and 'p', and finally in the presence of many otiose strokes punctuating the text.There are also very few deletions and corrections, suggesting the text was set out from carefully prepared drafts.The material features of Anna's letters addressed to the Doge and showing conspicuous consumption can be read alongside the exclusive use of Latin as a communication language signifying the important or prized nature of the communication.These choices, coupled with the timing of the letters, which for the most part were sent to Venice along with departing ambassadors, were meant to offer tangible proof of the respect owed to the representatives of the Republic on the part of the British Crown, according to rules of letter-writing that saw social meaning 'registered spatially on the page'. 44On the contrary, the layout and language choices in the letters addressed to Florence point to familiarity and personal closeness on the part of the sender.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, Fowler's letters in Florence and Venice allow us to re-evaluate his personal role in Anna's secretarial establishment, and to counter some of the less-than-positive remarks made on this issue by previous scholars.First of all, we can confidently claim that Fowler's role in Anna's household was not the position of someone who was 'officio dejectus' ('deprived of his office') as claimed by Dempster; on the contrary, Fowler appears to have played an active part in Anna's diplomatic relationships, penning and composing letters on behalf of his employer until close to the end of his life.Moreover, Fowler seems to have been more active in the Latin language than previously thought, a fact that is confirmed by both his secretarial and occasional unpublished production.This is also something that was noted by Dempster when he described Fowler as one who 'Latinae elegantiae aliarum linguarum peritiam addidit', but has mostly been ignored by modern scholars.Indeed, his abilities in Latin, rather than his facility with the Italian language, appear to be Fowler's main strength when it came to his secretarial duties, and his main linguistic professional domain seems to have been diplomatic Latin.Almost all of his secretarial production seems to have taken place in Latin, rather than Italian (with the exclusion of the letter on ASF 4183 f. 123r), a fact that is easily explained with the status of Latin as a lingua franca in the context of contemporary European diplomacy.Finally, Fowler's employment as Anna's secretary seems to have been closely connected to his familiarity with the Venetian environment, his personal connections with Venetians in London, and his direct knowledge of the area, given that Anna made exclusive use of his talents when dealing with diplomatic correspondence involving the Serenissima, whilst she appears also to have employed others when writing to Florence.This also suggests a degree of specialization in Anna's secretariat, where different people seem to have been assigned different tasks, depending both on their personal qualities (knowledge of languages, geographical provenance) and on the nature and extent of their network of personal contacts.Fowler's letters in Florence and Venice highlight how such social knowledge and personal connections to foreign people and places played a major role in the work of a secretary, along with (and possibly above) more conventional language competence.These documents also witness the internal workings of the secretarial machine, which involve different kinds of collaborators, such as scribes; if the main responsible for diplomatic communications was always the secretary, it seems that scribes could be granted some leeway in the wording of the letters themselves, as shown by the different lexical choices in ASV 33 f.108r.The presence of the same paper stock in Anna's letters and in the private documents and correspondence of several political and literary figures of the times proves the permeability of the secretarial court environment, which intersected with other political and social milieu (that of high court officials, but also nobles and literary authors), who had access to the same material implements.
The letters preserved in Italy also call our attention to the important role that secretaries had in the shaping of the material aspects of diplomatic correspondence: as they were in charge of penning letters and setting them on the page, they were able to display different degrees of formality and to tailor the presentation according to both circumstances and intended audience, adding several layers of nuance to diplomatic communications and variously indicating familiarity, affection, deference, etc.In doing so, secretaries expressed both the verbal and non-verbal content in their employer's messages, thus contributing greatly to the success of the communication, a fact that made a secretary's post a delicate and important appointment in the economy of a royal household.This is not at all surprising: quoting Bajetta, the relatively high salary associated with the post of Foreign Secretary certainly justified extending one's services 'beyond the mere translation of documents'. 45Accordingly, the title of Robert Beale's contemporary work, A Treatise of the Office of a Councellor and Pincipall Secretarie to her Majestie, published in 1592, closely links the role of a political councillor to that of secretary, insisting on the political significance of secretarial employment. 46Indeed, the post seems to have required a fair amount of social and personal skills and the kind of expertise that went beyond familiarity with foreign languages and good handwriting.Fowler's job probably depended on these talents, and he surely managed to put his past experience and his writing expertise to a fairly good use, which entitled him to a privileged, albeit restricted, role in the economy of Anna's household.The fact that he apparently considered publishing his own 'arte of secretarye', whether in print or manuscript form, as suggested by the list of his works, acquires more credibility, given the fact that, far from being a disgraced member of the court, he appears to have had a specific competence and an established role in Anna's household.
In the end, and despite his frequent lamentations on the subject, Fowler died a wealthy man, leaving the property in England and Scotland and substantial bequeaths to his children.Amongst the people mentioned in his will are characters connected with the highest echelons of the court, suggesting that his lifelong efforts in seeking advancement as a 'burgess humanist', counting on his intellectual talents and social connections, were not entirely misspent. 47

APPENDIX Letters by Fowler in Italian Archives
This Appendix contains a selection of the letters written by Fowler and found in Florence and Venice, for the purpose of evaluating Fowler's Italian and Latin diction.The original text is accompanied by my own translation into modern English.The transcription is offered in the semi-diplomatic form: line breaks and layout are not reproduced, and abbreviations are expanded within (round brackets).Capitalization and punctuation are retained; Fowler had a habit of using both commas and slashes for punctuation, which has been reproduced.

1.
ASF 4183 f. 123r Letter in Fowler's hand (Italic cursive, decorative traits represented by initials, descenders of p, g).The subscription and signature are in Anna's own hands.Format: quarto, written on the recto only, verso is empty.
Di V(ostra) A(ltezza) Aff(ezionatissi)ma amica Anna R Translation: Most Serene Prince.The merit of the most Excellent Lord Sir Giovanni brother of your Highness, and the proof that Your Highness has pleased to give of it through letters on the occasion of the coming here of His Excellence, have made his presence appreciated and welcome to the Majesty of the King, and have given me particular pleasure.Since I have had the possibility of knowing him in person, and since His Excellence offers me an opportunity to prove to His Excellence some signs of the affection and esteem that is owed and that I carry affectionately towards Your Highness, which was to offer His Excellence during his brief stay my own same will, to be conformed to the affection [towards you] whenever I will be able to employ myself to his satisfaction and pleasure, and in those occurrences that may assure of this both His Excellence and Your Highness, to whom I recommend myself and for whom I pray from God happiness and every good thing.In London on the 2 July 1604.
Of Your Highness most affectionate friend, Queen Anna.

ASV 33 f. 55r
The letter is in Fowler's most formal Italic cursive hand, with several decorative traits (initials, descenders of p and g, otiose strokes Anna by the grace of God Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.To the Most Serene Prince and Lord Leonardo Donato Doge of Venice, Greetings.Since the Most Eminent Nicolò Molino Knight, the most worthy ambassador of the Most Serene Venetian Republic has resided in this kingdom for two years and more with great honour and integrity, and finally [since his] successor the Most Eminent Giorgio Giustiniani has been sent to us, and [as the first] is leaving and making a return to his homeland, we have sent this to praise him for having discharged his duties well.So that you can embrace more firmly the man whom, not long ago, you have chosen and delegated on account of your judgement and for the weight of his virtues, and that was loved by us with the same respect.To whom we also gave instructions, that he refers to you more eloquently our most sincere affection and our great benevolence towards the Most Serene Venetian Republic and the Most Serene senate, which we cannot suffer to grow sluggish, whenever the occasion shall arise, to use them to the advantage of the Most Serene Venetian Republic or to exert them in your personal favour. 49And finally we pray the Most High and Mighty Lord that he may preserve you together with the Most Serene Venetian Republic, flourishing and unharmed for the longest time.Given at our royal palace in Westminster on the 2 February 1606.
Of your serenity the most loving, Queen Anna William Fowler Secretary 3. ASV 33 f.88r 48 The phrasing denotes Fowler's taste for verbal ars combinatoria and linguistic variatio, which is a feature of his Latin occasional production. 49The meaning of the phrase is similar to the one found in ASF 4183 f. 123r, albeit in another language.
The letter is in Fowler's formal Italic cursive hand, with several decorative traits (initials, descenders of p and g, otiose strokes).It employs a formal mode of address and an elaborate closing formula.Format: folio.The subscription is in Fowler's hand, while the signature is in Anna's own hand.The letter is also signed on the bottom by Fowler.Anna by the grace of God Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland.To the Most Serene Prince Leonardo Donato Doge of Venice, Greetings.Since the Eminent Lord Georgio Giustiniani Knight, most worthy ambassador of the Most Serene Venetian Republic, has remained for two years and more in this kingdom with much praise and integrity.And finally, [since his] successor, the Most Eminent Marco Antonio Correr, has been sent to us, and [as the first] is leaving and making a return to his homeland, we have sent this our letter to praise him for having discharged his duties well so that you will want to embrace more strongly him whom, not so long ago, you chose according to your judgement and delegated due to the weight of his virtue and his thoughtfulness, and that was by us loved with the same respect.To whom we also gave instructions, that he refers to you [more] eloquently our most sincere affection and our benevolence towards the Most Serene Venetian Republic and your Most Serene Senate, which we cannot suffer to grow sluggish, whenever the occasion shall arise to employ them for the help and advantage of the Most Serene Venetian Republic.Finally, we pray the Most High and Mighty Lord that he may preserve your Serenity together with the Senate of the Venetian Republic unharmed.Given at our royal palace of Westminster on the 12 November 1608.
Of Your Serenity most affectionate, Queen Anna William Fowler Secretary