Throgmorton

'...He glanced over the parchment, and instantly replied,--"Oh! my dear and royal mistress, only treason itself could give you other advice than Lord Seyton has here expressed. He, Herries, Huntly, the English ambassador Throgmorton, and others, your friends, are all alike of opinion, that whatever deeds or instruments you execute within these walls, must lose all force and effect, as extorted from your Grace by duresse, by sufferance of present evil, and fear of men, and harm to ensue on your refusal. Yield, therefore, to the tide, and be assured, that in subscribing what parchments they present to you, you bind yourself to nothing, since your act of signature wants that which alone can make it valid, the free will of the granter."...'

Ambassador Throgmorton in Walter Scott "The Abbot" or Sir Nicholas Throckmorton as he is better known, first served Henry VIII of England.  Throckmorton accompanied Henry in battle against France.  After Henry's death, he served Katherine Parr and Princess Elizabeth.  Throckmorton supported Mary Tudor's claim to the throne, and later worked for Elizabeth when she became Queen.  Elizabeth commissioned Throckmorton to negotiate with Mary Queen of Scots not to marry Lord Darnley.  He also worked in an official capacity to restore Mary to power when Scottish Barons imprisoned her at Lochleven.  Nicholas Throckmorton died on February 12 1571.