#the author said katherine but i've read it as catherine only before this so idk

[fideidefenswhore]

“For Elizabeth, life at Court was becoming a nightmare. Overwhelmed by a sense of her own helplessness, she asked permission to retire to her own estates rather than endure the traumas of family Christmas. Many zealous Protestants had already gone into exile, among them Lady Katherine Knollys, the daughter of Anne’s sister, Mary Boleyn. Elizabeth wrote to wish her cousin Godspeed. Devastated by the happenings at her sister’s court, she signed the letter ‘Cor Rotto’-- Broken Heart.

'Relieve your sorrow for your far journey with joy of your short return, and think this pilgrimage rather a proof of your friends, than a leaving of your country. The length of time and distance of place, separates not the love of friends, nor deprives not the show of good will. An old saying, when bale is lowest boot is nearest; when your need shall be most you shall find my friendship greatest. Let others promise and I will do, in words not more in deeds as much. My power but small, my love as great as them whose gifts may tell their friendship’s tale, let will supply all other want, and oft sending take the lieu of often sights. Your messenger shall not return empty, nor yet your desires unaccomplished. Lethe’s flood hath here no course, good memory hath greatest stream. And to conclude, a word that hardly I can say, I am driven by need to write, farewell, it is which in one way I wish, the other way I grieve. 

Your loving cousin and ready friend,

 Cor Rotto.’”

Perry Maria. 1990. The Word of a Prince : A Life of Elizabeth I from Contemporary  Documents