Dr Julius Caesar: A Stately Measure of Advancement
As judge, patron, landowner and courtier-administrator, Caesar successfully pursued his own ambitions. By Alan Haynes.
The last years of Elizabeth I’s reign were a time of acute financial difficulty both for the Queen and her courtiers. Many of the politicians who made up the administrative hierarchy complained bitterly of the paucity of royal gifts and titles, though Elizabeth’s fiscal prudence was certainly necessary. Doctor Julius Caesar was no exception, and throughout the 1580s and 90s he deluged the Queen, Burghley, Walsingham, Essex and others with lengthy protestations of his loyalty, efficiency, and with details of the large sums of money he had spent while holding the position of Judge of the Admiralty Court. He also pointed out that his attendance on the Queen involved him in heavy expenditure on servants and horses when travelling to Greenwich or Whitehall or wherever else the Queen happened to be.
Even more galling was the fact that his visits to court were frequently a waste of time since he often failed to see the ageing sovereign. In a letter to the Earl of Essex he wrote:
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