rose up and pulled of his Velvet Gown his Black Sattin Doublet and his Velvet Night-cap and gave them to His Apparel given to the Executioner the Executioner and being in a White Fustian Wastcoat he said to Mr. Dean of Pauls this is the White Sattin Doublet I made to die in which the Preacher did speak of and so kneeling down at the Block he laid down himself and did rise again and did lay the Straw and other things in such sort Block as he might in a more convenient manner yield himself for the speedier Execution this done his Eyes and Hands lifted up Mr Dean desired the People of silence and said Now all together with one voice pray for him saying Mr. Dean Lord Jesus receive thy Soul The Duke yielding himself to the Block refusing to have any Hankerchief before his Eyes his Head was by the singular dexterity of the Executioner with the appointed Ax at one Chop cut off and shewed to all the People Head cut off Thus he finished his Life and afterwards his Corps were put into a Coffin appertaining to Barking Church with the Head also and the Burial-Cloath laid over him and so was carried by four of the Lieutenants men and was buried in the Chappel of the Tower by Mr. Dean of Pauls 1572. THE EXAMINATION OF MARY Queen of SCOTS LYING AT Fotheringhay-Castle BY THE LORDS OF Her MAJESTIES most Honourable PRIVY COUNCIL AND OTHER COMMISSIONERS Appointed for that purpose for the Hearing of the same Anno Dom. 1586 VIZ. UPon Wednesday the twelfth of October 1586. the Lords Commissioners for the hearing of the Scotish Queen came to the Castle of Fotheringhay in the County of Northampton about nine of the Clock in the Morning at which time in the Chappel of the said Castle the Dean of Peterborough preached before them And from thence they sent Sir Walter Mildmay and Sir Amias Pawlet Governor of the House to the Scotish Queen to know whether she would appear There was delivered unto her a Letter from Her Majesty to that effect After which Summons she refused to appear and so stood all that day tho often required thereunto by some of the Commissioners sent unto her Upon Thursday they went unto her into her Lodging the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Earls or Oxford Shrewsbury Kent and Worcester Viscount Mountague Lord Zouch Gray and Lomley Sir Ralph Sadler Sir James Acrofter Mr. Vice Chancellor Sir Amias Pawlet the two Chief Justices of England Doctor Dale and Doctor Ford with Barker and Wheeler Notaries who remained with her almost two hours signifying that if she would not come forth before the Commissioners they would proceed against her according to their Commission But that whole day was spent in Council and sending in unto her Upon Fryday in the Morning she resolved to appear And so about nine of the Clock came forth into the Presence Chamber prepared and hanged with Cloth 〈◊〉 â—tate in the upper part and down along both sides stood Forms covered with Green for the Lords first Earls on the right side and Barons on the left Somewhat below the midst of the Chamber was a Bar within which Bar there was set a Form for the Knights of the Privy Council and before their Forms a Chair with a Cushion and a Foot-carpet for the Queen of Scots directly against the State In the middle of the Chamber was a Table whereat sat the Queens Attorney and Solicitor the Queens Serjeants the Clerks of the Crown and the Notaries Directly above that Table in the middle of the Chamber were Forms set whereon sat on the right side the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench the Lord Chief Baron Doctor Dale and Doctor Ford Over against them sat the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Justice Clench and Justice Perrain Below the Bar such Gentlemen as came to see the Action The right side of the Lords The left side of the Lords 1. The Lord Chancellour 14. The Lord of Aburgevenny 2. The Lord Treasurer 15. The Lord Zouch 3. The Earl of Oxford 16. The Lord Morley 4. The Earl of Kent 17. The Lord Stafford 5. The Earl of Darby 18. The Lord Gray 6. The Earl of Shrewsbury 19. The Lord Lomley 7. The Earl of Worcester 20. The Lord Sturton 8. The Earl of Rutland 21. The Lord Sands 9. The Earl of Comberland 22. The Lord Wentworth 10. The Earl of Warwick 23. The Lord Mordaunt 11. The Earl of Lincoln 24. The Lord St. John of Bletsoe 12. The Earl of Penbrook 25. The Lord Compton 13. The Viscount Mountacue 26. The Lord Cheyney Knights Knights 27. Sir Walter Mildmay 29. Sir Francis Walsingham 28. Sir Ralph Sadler 30. Sir Christopher Hatton 31. Sir James Acrofte The Lords being thus sat and all things ready the Queen was brought First day Lords sit Queen of Scots in having a way or Lane made from her Lodging Door which was in the lower Corner of the Chamber with Halberts She was in a black Gown covered over with a white Vail of Lawn a very Her attire tall and big woman being lame and supported by Melvin her Gentleman Supperted and her Physitian one of her Women carried up her Train and three other attended on her one of her Servants brought her a Chair and a Cushion covered with crimson Velvet a little before her coming in her Chair Chair was removed from the bottom of the Chamber to the upper part below the State and set as it were corner-wise towards the Lords and Barons Then silence being made the Lord Chancellour stood up and being uncovered he spake to this effect Silence Lord Chancellour named Sir Tho. Bromeley Madam the Queen being strongly informed of sundry practices by you made against her hath caused this meeting as hath been signified unto you you have read the Queens Letters certifying the same and I must say thus much unto you from her Majesties Mouth that having born so many things at your hands she cannot forbear any longer to proceed against you not for the peril may fall upon her self for God she trusteth who hath ever defended her will still deliver her from them But there dependeth more upon it she seeth that you are made a foundation of all practices against her and if she should forget it she should neglect the cause of God and bear the Sword in vain It is not Malice Madam nor regard of her Person that causeth her to do it And albeit she might otherways proceed against you yet she hath dealt thus in honour towards you that you should be heard and speak for your self The Queen answered to this effect by way of Protestation that Queen of Scots she was a free Prince and born a Queen not Subject to any but to God to whom she must give accompt and therefore that her appearing should not be either prejudicial to Kings or Princes nor Allyes nor her Son and thereupon desired an
tending to the hurt of her Majesties Royal Person by any person or with the privity of any person that shall or may pretend Title to the Crown of this Realm THAT then by her Majesties Commission under her Great Seal the Lords and other of her Highnesses Privy Council and such other Lords of Parliament to be named by her Majesty as with the said Privy Council shall come up to the number of four and twenty at the least having with them for their assistance in that behalf such of the Judges of the Courts of Record at Westminster as her Highness shall for that purpose assign and appoint or the more part of the same Council Lords and Judges shall by vertue of the Act have Authority to Examine all and every the offences aforesaid and all circumstances thereof and thereupon to give sentence or judgment as upon good proof the matter shall appear unto them And that after such sentence or judgment given and declaration thereof made and published by her Majesties Proclamation under the Great Seal of England all persons against whom such sentence or judgment shall be so given and published shall be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or of any her Majesties Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that thereupon all her Highnesses Subjects shall and may lawfully by vertue of this Act and her Majesties direction in that behalf by all forcible and possible means pursue to death every such wicked person by whom or by whose means assent or privity any such Invasion or Rebellion shall be in form aforesaid denounced to have been made or such wicked act attempted or other thing compassed or imagined against her Majesties Person and all their Aiders Comforters and Abettors And if any such detestable act shall be executed against her Highness most Royal Person whereby her Majesties Life shall be taken away which God of his great mercy forbid that then every such person by or for whom any such Act shall be executed and their Issues being any wise assenting or privy to the same shall by vertue of this Act be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or pretend to have or claim the said Crown of this Realm or any other her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that all the Subjects of this Realm and all other her Majesties Dominions shall and may lawfully by vertue of this Act by all forceable and possible means pursue to the death every such wicked person by whom or by whose means any such detestable fact shall be in form hereafter expressed denounced to have been committed and also their Issues being any assenting or privy to the same and all their aiders comforters and abettors in that behalf And to the end that the intention of this Law may be effectually executed if her Majesties Life be taken away by any violent or unnatural means which God defend Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the Lords and others which shall be of her Majesties Privy-Council at the time of such her decease or the more part of the same Council joyning unto them for their assistance Five other Earls and Seven other Lords of Parliament at the least foreseeing that none of the said Earls Lords or Council be known to be persons that may make any Title to the Crown those persons which were Chief Justices of either Bench Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron of the Exchequer at the time of her Majesties death or in default of the said Justices Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron some other of those which were Justices of some of the Courts of Records at Westminster at the time of her Highnesses decease to supply their places or any Four and Twenty or more of them whereof Eight to be Lords of the Parliament not being of the Privy-Council shall to the uttermost of their power and skill examine the cause and maner of such her Majesties death and what persons shall be any way Guilty thereof and all circumstances concerning the same according to the true meaning of this Act and thereupon shall by open Proclamation publish the same and without any delay by all forceable and possible means prosecute to death all their Alders and Abettors and for the doing thereof and for the withstanding and suppressing all such power and force as shall be any way levied or stirred in disturbance of the due execution of this Law shall by vertue of this Act have power and authority not only to raise and use such Forces as shall in that behalf be needful and convenient but also to use all other means and things possible and necessary for the maintenance of the same Forces and prosecution of the said Offenders and if any such Power and Force shall be levied and stirred in disturbance of the due execution of this Law by any person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm whereby this Law may not in all things be fully executed according to the effect and true meaning of the same that then every such person shall by vertue of this Act be therefore excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every the Subjects of all her Majesties Realms and Dominions shall to the uttermost of their power aid and assist the said Council and all other the Lords and other persons to be adjoyned to them for assistance as is aforesaid in all things to be done and executed according to the effect and intention of this Law and that no Subject of this Realm shall in any wise be impeached in Body Land or Goods at any time hereafter for any thing to be done or executed according to the Tenor hereof any Law or Statute heretofore made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas of late many of her Majesties good and faithful Subjects have in the Name of God and with the Testimonies of good Consciences by one uniform manner of writing under their hands and Seals and by their several Oaths voluntarily taken joyned themselves together in one Bond and Association to withstand and revenge to the uttermost all such malicious actions and attempts against her Majesties most Royal Person Now for the full explaining of all such Ambiguities and Questions as otherwise might happen to grow by reason of any Sinister or wrong Construction or Interpretation to be made or inferred of or upon the words or meaning thereof Be it declared and enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that the same Association and every Article and Sentence therein contained as
day sent him a Countermand but he then acquainted her Majesty that the Commission was already made and pass'd the Seal at which the Queen appear'd angry and blam'd him for his haste And indeed he had Communicated the business to several of the Council and perswaded them who were apt enough to believe what they desired that the Queen Commanded that it should be put in Execution without delay And so having obtain'd such Warrant and Commission they without her Majesties privity sent down one Beal with Authority directed to the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent Darby and others to see her Executed Which was perform'd accordingly The Manner and Circumstances whereof the Reader may find in the ensuing Narrative She was put to Death the 18th of February 1587. in the Six and fortieth year of her Age and 18th of her Confinement her Body being Honourably Buried in the Cathedeal of Peterborough and from thence afterwards removed by her Son King Jame's and laid under a Royal Monument in King Henry the Seventh's Chappel at Westminster Variously was this Action censur'd and I shall only say That though the Physick was violent and extraordinary yet it wrought a Cure and preserv'd the Body-politick from those Domestick Paroxisms of Treason and Rebellion that before daily disturb'd and endanger'd it for we do not find after that any or at least very few Conspiracies carried on against the Queens Life or the Government though she lived afterwards between 14 and 15 years For the Spanish Invasion though it happened two years after was not only a thing Foreign but Contriv'd and Design'd before the Queen of Scots Death And as for the Proceedings against the Earl of Arundel the Crimes for which he was prosecuted had their Rise likewise in precedent times For first having been questioned and confined to his House and then set at Liberty he attempted to fly beyond Sea and therefore was Committed to the Tower not only for the same but likewise for Harbouring Priests and Corresponding with Allen and Parsons the Jesuits was fined 10000 Marks and afterwards continuing his Disloyal practises was for the Reasons in the following Papers specified Condemned though by the Queens mercy Reprieved and dyed naturally in the Tower in the year 1595. Two things further I must Remark 1. What a strange Bias and almost prodigious Influence Popery has even on the best dispositions prevailing so far with this unfortunate Earl that even contrary to Nature it self and yet bate but his Religion he is Represented as a good-Natur'd man He rejoyced with hopes of the Ruine of his Countrey 2ly That if you look over the Lists of the Lords Commissionated in these Transactions you will find them to be of great and ancient Houses and though some of their Families have almost ever since been of the Roman perswasion yet they were then so well satisfied with the Proceedings that we meet not with One Voice pronouncing a Not Guilty in all the three Tryals History is one of the best Tutors of Policy whereby the Ingenious will easily perceive how far former Occurrences hold parallel with or may be considered in relation to Modern Affairs THE Reader may be pleas'd to correct the Errata's p. 2. instead of 1588. the year of the Marriage of the Queen of Scots should be 1558. And in other places the Names Gray for Grey Perian for Periam and some other literal mistakes and faults by the Context may easily be rectified or pardoned The whole Discourse of the Duke of Norfolks Arraignement the 17th day of January Anno 1571. in the 14th year of the Raign of our Soveraigne Lady Queen Elizabeth c. FIrst the O yes was made by Littleton a Serjeant at Arms and then Proclamation Cryer Lo. Steward was made as followeth viz. My Lords grace the Queens Majesties Commissioner High Steward of England doth Charge every man to keep silence and hear the Queens Majesties Commission Read The same Commission was read by Mr. Sands Clarke of the Crown of the Kings Bench the Test whereof was the 14th day of February Anno Elizabethoe Sands Reg. 14th then was a large White Rod delivered to my Lord Steward by Garter Principal King at Armes who held the same a while Lo. Steward Garter Norris Serjeant at Armes Call of the Court. and after delivered it to Mr. Norris the Great Vsher who held the same all the time of the Arraignement Then was called Thomas Edwards Serjeant at Armes and willed to return his Writ which being returned was read Then was called all the Earls Vicounts and Barons summoned to appear there that day and every one to answer to their Names the Earls and Lords that sate there that day were these following viz. Earles Vicount Lords 1. Reginald Gray Earl of Kent 2. William Somerset Earl of Worcester 3. Thomas Ratlife Earl of Sussex 4. Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington 5. Ambrose Dudly Earl of Warwick 6. Francis Russel Earl of Bedford 7. William Herbert Earl of Penbroke 8. Robert Dudly Earl of Leicester 9. Edward Seymor Earl of Hartford 10. Walter Devereux Vicount Hereford 11. Edward Fynes Lord Clinton 12. William Howard Lord of Effingham 13. William Cecil Lord Burleigh 14. Arthur Gray Lord Wilton 15. James Blunt Lord Mountjoy 16. William Lord Sands 17. Thomas Lord Wentworth 18. William Lord Borrough 19. Lewis Lord Mordant 20. John Pawlet Lord S. John 21. Robert Lord Rich. 22. Roger Lord North. 23. Edward Lord Chandois 24. Oliver Lord S. John of Bletsoe 25. Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst 26. Lord De-La-Ware Nine Earls One Vicount and Sixteen Lords in all Twenty Six Then was Robert Catlin Chief Justice of England Commanded to return his Precept upon the peril should follow thereof which was returned and read Then was called the Lieutenant of the Tower to return his Lieutenant Duke Precept and to bring forth his Prisoner Thomas Duke of Norfolke Then was the Duke brought to the Bar being held between Sir Owin Hopton on the right hand and Sir Peter Carew on the left hand And next unto Sir Peter stood one holding the Axe of the Tower with the Edge from Axe of the Tower the Duke The Duke immediately at his comming to the Bar viewed all the Lords both on the Right hand and on the left hand of the Lord Steward Then the Lieutenant delivered in the Precept which was Read And then was Proclamation made that every man should keep silence And Mr. Sands spake to the Prisoner in this manner Thomas Duke of Norfolke Proclamation Sands late of Hemming Hall in the County of Norfolke hold up thy Hand which done he Read the Indictment the Effect whereof was That the 26th day of September in the 11th year of the Queens Majesties Reign and before and after he did Traiterously compact and imagine to deprive and destroy and to put to Death our Sovereign Lady the Queen and to raise Rebellion to subvert the Common-Wealth and so stir up Forraigners to invade the
Realm And to raise War against the Queen For that he knew that Mary late Queen of Scotts to have claimed the Crown of this Realm and to have named her self Queen and to have born the Armes of the Queen without difference He did the 24th day of September in the said 11th year without the consent of our said Queen send diverse Letters and Tokens to the said Scottish Queen and lent her diverse great sums of Money and Received tokens of her contrary to the Commandement of the Queen and contrary to his own submission and promise under his Hand and Seal And that he knowing the late Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland Norton Markinfield Traitors and others had levyed War against the Queen and had assembled unto them the Number of four Thousand Persons and that they the 12th day of December in the 12th year of her Majesties Reign fled into Scotland and there were Received by the Duke of Castiles Harolte and the Lord Hume and others and after being pursued by the Earl of Sussex the sixth day of August Earl of Sussex in the said 11th year and before and after did send Mony to them And that he being Adherent to Pius the Pope Enemie to the Queen the 10th day of March in the 13th year of the Reign of the Queen did consent Radolph Pope King Phillip Duke of Alva Queen of Scots Three Letters and consult with Robert Radolphe Merchant Stranger and the Popes Factor to have Money from the Pope King Philip and the Duke of Alva and that they should send an Army to invade the Realm and to deliver the Scottish Queen And further whereas the said Robert had written in the Name of the said Duke three Letters viz. One to the Pope another to King Philip and another to the Duke of Alva And the said Duke sent his Servant to the Embassador of King Philip affirming that the same three Letters were by him allowed and that they should he taken as sent from him which matter was so agreed to by the said Robert Radolph who delivered to the Duke of Norfolke Ciphers whereof he carried one Copy to Rome whereby each might Certifie others likewise he inquired of the said Duke what time the aid shall arise that shall be provided And further the said Duke did Receive Letters from the Pope the 18th day of April in the 13th year of the Queens Reign with Promise of the same aid and that he did also send Comfort and aid unto the Lord Harris and other the Queens Enemies Lord Harris Which Indictment being Read Mr. Sands said to the Duke how saiest Sands thou Thomas Duke of Norfolke art thou Guilty of these Treasons or not Guilty Then said the Duke the hearing of this Indictment giveth me Duke occasion to make suite for a thing I meant not to have done which is to have Councel assigned to me if the Law do permit Then said Catlin Catlin the Lord Chief Justice you must have no Councel The Duke Answered I Duke was told the Indictment was only touching matters contained in the 25th of Edward the Third I have had very short warning not past 14 hours night and all and there be very many Circumstances of Treason in which I must submit my self to the Opinion of the Judges I could not have Books I must fight without a Weapon I have read of a Case of Humphry Humphry Stafford Stafford in the first of Henry the 7th who in Case of Treason had Councel Assigned unto him Then said the Lord Dyer the Case you speak of Henry 7th Lord Dyer was touching the pleading of a Sanctuary whether he might Claim the Sanctuary there by Prescription but upon the point of Treason he was put to Answer without Councel Then said the Duke I must submit Duke my self as you shall adjudge I must plead for my Life Goods Lands and Children and for that I esteem most my Honesty and to let Honour pass my blood will ask Vengeance if I be Condemned unjustly yet one suite I have to the Judges to tell me whether the Indictment be perfect in all or in part and to which Part I may Answer unto Then said Catlin the Causes being true the Indictment is sufficient Then said the Duke I would know if they be all Treasons for I have heard of a Case Catlin in Henry the Fourth of the Lord Scroop Then said Mr. Sands to the Duke Duke how saist thou Thomas Duke of Norfolke art thou Guilty of these Sands Treasons or not Guilty The Duke Answered not Guilty how wilt thou be Duke Sands Duke Tryed by God and by my Peeres I am abashed said the Duke by these Treasons but yet comforted again by the graciousness of the Queen in granting me my Tryal which the Laws do admit me and it is as much as I can require but yet this suit I shall make to you my Lords Grace that I may have Justice and not be over-laid my Memory is evil of it self and worse by evil usage since my Imprisonment I pray God I may forget it And touching you my Peers I account my self happy that I shall be tryed by you into whose hands I dare put my life nay into the single hands of a great many of you I know that you have Religion and will not burthen your Consciences contrary to Law and Right for trusting to my Innocency I would never take needless or cowardly flight I have that is wished for and crave that with favour and Justice yet I must confess I have neglected my Duty in matters under Treason and yet no part of Treason I desire that in these things my Offences be not mixed with Treason Then said Mr. Barnham the Queens Serjeant at Law This Indictment Barnham contains three several matters of Treason The first is the Deprivation of the Queens Majesty The second is the Relief of Rebels The third is the Relief of the Scots the Queens Enemies To prove the first there be two matters of one fact declared in the said Indictment First that knowing the Scottish Queen to have Claimed the Crown he hath attempted Marriage with her Secondly the Conspiracy to procure Foreign Forces to invade the Realm doth prove him Guilty of these Treasons The Duke interrupting him said Mr. Serjeant you begin as though you would in laying the Marriage and other things which are not Treason Duke to my Charge and exasperate the matters which be not Treason you may do your Duty yet conscionably and then somewhat smiling he said I had almost forgotten a man suspected is half condemned I have been charged with an Oath I protest I took the Oath but to part and that I shall prove I pray you lay it not to my Discredit Then said Serjeant Barnham He that will marry one that Claimeth the Crown meaneth to Barnham aspire to the same This matter begun at the same time as
than consenting to that therefore if he loved his Life he should take heed whom he accused Mr. Bromley the Queen's Sollicitor General shewed Letters of Radolphe Bromley sent by Rosses Servant to Charles Bayliffe by the which it appeared how the Duke of Alva liked the matter and how he enquired how far Harwich was from London Also he shewed the Pope's Letters dated the fourth day of May containing Answer of the Letters sent by the Duke And he further opened how the whole Course of Conspiracy was opened in Antwerp to an Ambassador of a Forein Prince who thereof certified his Lord and that Forein Prince brought the whole Discourse to the Queen's Majesty which because it touched others as well as the Duke it should be opened to the Peers when they were assembled together by those that were of the Queen's Council Then Mr. Wilbrome made an excellent Discourse for the Credit of the Depositions of Rosse and other the Servants of the Duke Wilbrome To which the Duke answered That he could hardly come after so smooth a Tale as the Attorney of the Court of Wards could tell But yet said he Duke in all his Tale he touched nothing what Fear could do And further cited Bracton for the disproof of those Witnesses Catlin the Lord Chief Justice answered that in such Cases and matters Catlin of Treason the Depositions of Strangers might be taken and it lay in the Peers to credit the same Then they proceeded to the second Point of Treason contained in the Indictment Which was to prove the Aid of the Rebels after they fled Which was proved by Order given by the Duke to distribute amongst them his great Reward whereof the Earl of Northumberland had part and the Countess of Northumberland and the residue had other parts Then was shewed a Letter of the Countess of Northumberland of thanks A Letter for the same Then the Third Point of Treason was the Aiding of the Scotish Rebels the Queen's Enemies Which was proved by a Letter written by the Duke to Banister and also by the Examination of Banister and the Delivery Banister of the Money to Browne of Shrewsbury and the Earls Letter with the same Browne To which the Duke required the Opinion of the Judges whether the Subjects of another Prince that Prince being in League with the Queen may Duke be accounted the Queen's Enemies The Lord Catlin answered that they might well enough as the Queen Catlin may War with any Duke in France and have Peace with the King Then said the Lord Steward to the Duke Have you any thing else to Lord Steward say Then said the Duke I trust to Law and Right Duke Then said the Lord Steward Lieutenant of the Tower withdraw your Prisoner from us a while Lord Steward Lieutenant Then was O yes made and Silence proclaimed and the Lord Steward said O yes You my Lords here have heard how that Thomas Duke of Norfolk hath been Lord Steward indicted of divers Points of High Treason and he hath hereunto pleaded Not Guilty and did put himself upon the Tryal of God and You his Peers You are now therefore to consider of his whole Indictment which you have heard whether he be Guilty or not Guilty and thereon say your minds upon your Honours and Consciences And so he willed them to depart together and return so soon as they could and so they departed to a place for that purpose where the Chancery is kept and there they conferred in the sight of all that were in the Hall and when they returned to sit in their places the Earl of Shrewsbury commanded the Duke to be had further out of hearing Earl of Shrewsbury Then he asked the youngest Lord how say you my Lord De Laware is Thomas Duke of Norfolk Guilty of these Treasons that he hath been Indicted of yea or no and he standing up in his place answered Guilty and the like question was asked of all the Lords severally one after another and every one answered Guilty Then was the Lieutenant willed to bring his Prisoner to the Bar again Lieutenant who being put in his place The Lord Steward said Thou Thomas Duke of Norfolk hast been Indicted Lord Steward of several points of High Treason and hast pleaded thereunto not Guilty and hast put thy self upon Tryal of God and thy Peers who have all found thee Guilty what canst thou say why Judgment should not be given accordingly The Duke answered the Lords will be done God be Judge between Duke me and my false accusers There was made a pawse a good while and forthwith the edge of the Ax of the Tower was turned towards him Then said Mr. Barnham to the Lord Steward may it please your Grace to understand how Thomas Duke of Norfolk hath been Indicted of several Barnham Treasons and hath pleaded not Guilty and did put himself upon Tryal of the Peers who have found him Guilty I am therefore in the behalf of our Sovereign Lady the Queen to pray Judgment Then said the Lord Steward whereas thou Thomas Duke of Norfolk Lo. Steward hast been Indicted of several Treosons and hast pleaded thereunto not Guilty and didst put thy self upon Tryal of thy Peers who have found thee Guilty Therefore the Court doth award That thou shalt be had from hence to the Tower and from thence to be laid upon a Hurdle and drawn through the midst of the City to Tyburn and there be Hanged until thou be half dead and then thy bowels to be taken out and burned before thy Face thy Head to be cut off and thy Body to be quartered and thy Head and Quarters to be at Queens Majesties pleasure and the Lord have have mercy on thy Soul Then said the Duke You have said to me as unto a Traytor but I Duke trust to God and to the Queen and forasmuch as I am excluded your company I trust to be where I shall find better company I am at the point I will never sue for mercy Yet one suit I have to you my Lords that it will please you to move the Queens Majesty to be good to my poor Children and to my Servants and to pay my Debts Then the Lieutenant was commanded to have him away and Proclaamation Lieutenant was made that every man should depart in Gods Name and the Peace of the Queens Majesty And then the Lord Steward brake his Rod and so all ended 1571. Lord Steward The Confession and End of Thomas Duke of Norfolk beheaded at the Tower-Hill the Second Day of June Anno Dom. 1572 as followeth c. IT is not rare good People to see a man come to die although thanks be to God since the beginning of the Queens Majesties Reign in this Duke place hath not been any But since it is my Fortune to be the first I pray God I may be the last
about the Scaffold went a Rail half a Yard high round covered with black Cotton so was her Stool the Boards and the Block and a Pillow to kneel upon There did sit upon the Scaffold the two Earls the Sheriff stood and the two Executiones When they were placed Mr. Beale Clerk of the Council did read her Majesties Commission aforesaid under the great Seal after which the Dean of Peterborough by direction of the Lords being provided began to speak unto her for her better preparation to die as a penitent Christian in the true faith of Christ But when he began his exhortation she staid him immediately refusing to hear him and said she had nothing to do with him nor he with her for she was settled in the Catholick Roman Faith which she would die in Then the Earl of Kent willed Mr. Dean to pray for her that if it might stand with Gods Will she might have her heart lightned with the true knowledg of God and die therein which was pronounced by him accordingly and followed of the beholders All which while she having a Crucifix of white bone between her hands prayed in Latin very loud prayer being ended she kneeled down and prayed to this effect for Christs afflicted Church and an end of their troubles for her Son for the Queens Majesty that she might prosper and serve God and confessed that she hoped to be saved only by the blood of Jesus Christ at the foot of whose Crucifix she would shed her blood that God would avert his plagues from this Island that God would give her grace and forgiveness of her sins Then she rose up and was by both the Executioners disrobed She said she was not wont to be undressed by such Grooms and desired to have two of her Gentlewomen to unrobe her the which was granted and being stripped into her Petticoat which being done she kissed her women and willed them not to cry for her but to rejoice and lifted up her hand and blessed them and also her men not standing far off Then she kneeled down most resolutely without all fear of death and after one of her women had knit a Kerchew before her eyes she spake aloud the Psalm in Latin In te Domine confido non confundor in eternum Justitia tua libera me Then lay she down and stretched out her body and her neck upon the Block she cryed In manus tuus Domine c. and so received two stroaks The people cryed God save the Queen and so perish all Papists and her Majesties enemies All things were taken from the Executioners and not suffered to have so much as the Aprons before they were washed the Blood and Cloaths and whatsoever was bloody was burned in the fire made in the Chimney in the Hall and by the Scaffold The whole discourse of the Arraignment of Philip Howard Earl of Arundel the 18th day of April 1589. and in the 31st year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth FRom the outward Bar in the Kings-Bench was there a Court made of Thirty Foot square within which was a Table of Twelve Foot square The form of the Scaffold covered with Green Cloth and in the same Court were Benches to sit upon covered with Green Say in the midst of the same Court at the upper end was placed a Cloth of State with a Chair and Cushion for the Lord Steward from the midst of the same Court to the midst of the Hall was built a Gallery for the Prisoner to come upon to the Court in length One Hundred and Ten Foot and in breadth Fifteen Foot and in height from the ground Six Foot railed round about and going down with Seven Steps Between Eight and Nine of the Clock in the morning the Earl of Derby Earl of Derby Lord Steward Lord Steward his Grace entered the Hall attended on by divers Noblemen and Officers Four Serjeants at Arms with their Maces waiting before him next before his Grace the Earl of Oxford Lord great Chamberlain of England My Lord of Derby's Grace being seated in his Chair of State every Nobleman was placed in his degree by Garter King of Heraults At his Graces feet did sit Mr. Winckefield one of her Majesties Gentlemen-Ushers holding a long white Wand in his hand being accompanied with Mr. Norris Serjeant of the Garter Before them did sit Mr. Sands Clerk of the Crown of the Kings-Bench Opposite against my Lord's Grace did sit the Queens Majesties Learned Council viz. 1. Sejeant Puckering 2. Serjeant Shettleworth 3. Mr. Popham the Queens Attorney-General 4. Mr. Edgerton the Queens Solicitor The Names of the Commissioners on the right hand sitting upon a lower Bench under the Lords of the Jury 1. SIR Francis Knowles Knight Treasurer of the Houshold Commissioners on the right hand 2. Sir James Acrofte Knight Controler of the Houshold 3. Sir John Parrat one of her Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council 4. Mr. Woolley Secretary of the Latin tongue of the Privy-Council 5. John Fortescue Master of the Wardrobe and of the Privy-Council 6. Dr. Dale one of the Masters of Request to her Majesty 7. William Fleetwood Serjeant at Law and Recorder of London 8. Mr. Rockby Master of Requests and Master of St. Katherines The Names of the Comissioners on the left hand 9. THE Lord Chief Justice of England 10. The Master of the Rolls Commissioners on the left hand 11. The Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. 12. The Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer 13. Justice Perryman of the Common Pleas. 14. Justice Gamdy of the Kings Bench. The Serjeant at Arms usually attendant on the Lord Chancellor named Roger Wood was commanded to make on O Yes Three times Roger Wood. Cryer Then Mr. Sands Clerk of the Crown read the Commission And Sir Francis Knowles Knight gave up the Verdict of the great Assize Verdict Then was called Mathew Spencer Serjeant at Arms to return his Precept which was returned and read After that the Noblemen and Peers of the Jury for his Tryal were severally called by their Names as followeth 1. William Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England 2. Edward of Oxford Lord great Chamberlain of England 3. William Lord Marquess of Winchester 4. Henry Earl of Kent 5. Henry Earl of Sussex 6. Henry Earl of Pembrook 7. Edward Earl of Hartford 8. Henry Earl of Lincoln 9. Henry Lord Hundsdon Lord Chamberlain of her Majesties Houshold 10. Peregrin Lord Willoby and Earsby 11. Lord Morley 12. Lord Cobham 13. Arthur Lord Gray 14. Lord Darcy of the North. 15. Lord Sands 16. Lord Wentworth 17. Lord Willoughby of Parham 18. Lord North. 19. Lord Rich. 20. Lord St. John of Bletsoe 21. Lord Buckhurst 22. Lord De La Ware 23. Lord Norris Then the Lieftenant of the Tower was called to return his Precept and to bring forth his Prisoner Philip Earl of Arundel The Earl came into Lieftenant the Hall being in a wrought Velvet Gown furred about with
procure the Estates of Scotland to confirm them by publick Authority 7. The King himself also should ratifie them by Oath and by writing 8. And that Hostages should be given But these Consultations proved Abortive the Scots rejecting them and besides Queen Elizabeth had notice that Holt an English Jesuit was sesecretly sent into Scotland not without the Scottish Queens privity as was suggested to use means there for an Invasion of England And indeed the Queen of Scots was too much addicted to and influenced by the Jesuites and their Councils who as they made use of her name to colour their traiterous designs against Queen Elizabeth and therefore gave out as if they had acted out of pure zeal to the Family of the Stuarts as many of them will boast to this very day yet 't is plain that in all these stirs they really minded nothing but their own Interest for when they met with so many disappointments in their Plots to bring the said Scottish Queen before her time to the English Crown and withal despaired of turning her Son King James to their Religion they presently began to start variety of new Titles witness Parsons alias Doleman's Book of Succession and other Pamphlets by them flung abroad about those times Nay 't is more than suspected that as they egg'd on the Scottish Queen to ill practises against Queen Elizabeth so when they had done imitating their Father the Devil who first tempts and then accuses they betray'd her too by making a secret discovery of those very Conspiracies in which they themselves had engag'd her and so were treacherously instrumental to hasten her death hoping to take off Queen Elizabeth and put by King James and play a new Game more for their advantage with some other Pretender as will more fully appear by and by But to return in the mean time to our History King James being as you heard in little better Condition than that of a Prisoner to Earl Gowry and his Confederates or at least esteeming himself as such on a sudden with a small Company conveyed himself to the Castle of St. Andrews being then about 18 years of Age to whom several of the Nobility with armed Troops repaired and then he began to exercise his Royal Authority of himself and declared in a great Assembly of the States the Force before upon him to have been traiterously imposed yet thought it most safe not to proceed with Rigour against his Surprizers only advising them to depart the Court and promised them pardon if they would ask it within a time limited which they declining fled some into England and others into other parts only Gowry attempting a new Conspiracy soon after lost his life It was now the year 1584. And in England divers lewd Books were spread by the Jesuits and other Popish Factors asserting that Princes Excommunicated as Queen Elizabeth for sometime before had been by the Pope were not to have any Allegiance paid unto them but ought to be deposed c. These Seeds soon ripen'd into rank fruits of Treason and Rebellion and had so far intoxicated one Sommervile a Popish Gentleman that coming privately to Court and full of rage against all Protestants he with his drawn Sword assaulted several persons and being apprehended declared like a stout Roman Champion that he would murder the Queen with his own hands whereupon he and one Arden an ancient Warwick-shire Gentleman his Father in Law were executed but Hall a Priest that excited them to this madness got a Reprieve Likewise one Throgmorton eldest Son of John Throgmorton Chief Justice of Chester was discovered by intercepted Letters directed to the Queen of Scots to have entertain'd Treasonable correspondencies with Popish Princes beyond the Seas and chiefly with the Guises who had resolv'd to invade England and free the Queen of Scots And for raising of money to carry on the work here one Paget under the counterfeit name of Mope was sent into Sussex where the Forreiners were first to Land and to facilitate their purposes he had prepar'd two Catalogues found in his Chests one of the names and descriptions of all the Ports of England the other of the Nobilitry and Gentry that favoured the Romish Religion and that he had communicated all this to Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador then in England whereupon he was condemned and though he had twice confess'd the fact yet like our Modern Popish Traitors at the Gallows he stoutly deny'd all and would needs be thought to dye as innocent as the child unborn However Mendoza having thus violated and forfeited the Priviledg of an Ambassador was commanded forthwith to depart with shame at which the Spanish Court being dissatisfied the Queen sent over Sir William Wade to justify the Action But the King of Spain not admitting him into his presence but slightingly putting him off to his Ministers he in disdain refus'd to communicate it at all and so returned home unheard whereby a greater animosity arose between the two Crowns Nor were the Popish party less busy in fomenting disturbances in Ireland where Dr. Saunders that had wrote several Pestilent Books having drawn in the Earl of Desmond to Rebellion and finding him defeated and his Head sent into England died miserably of famine as he roamed up and down the Mountains guilty and desperate as Cain fearing each man he met would deservedly slay him Likewise about the same time Providence was pleas'd in a wonderful manner to make a discovery of some other practises in agitation against Queen Elizabeth for one Creighton a Scottish Jesuit sailing in a small Vessel from the Low-Countries to Scotland certain Sea-rovers of Holland which then was revolted and at enmity with the rest of the Subjects of the Spanish King happening to come up with them took the said Ship and though the Jesuit to conceal his Instructions and mischievous errand tore several of his Papers to pieces and flung them over-board yet the wind miraculously as he himself confest afterwards drove them back again and cast them upon the Deck which the Hollanders perceiving and imagining that they might be of consequence gather'd them up carefully and sent them to England where by the great skill and industry of Sir William Wade they were so join'd together again that the Contents were legible and the Conspiracies on foot detected The good Subjects of England finding their Country in this danger from abroad and the life of their Queen whereon the safety of their Religion and Liberties did seem at that juncture wholly under God to depend daily attempted by various Plots and Machinations at home all carried on by Papists out of a prospect of a Popish Successor did think fit of their own accord solemnly to oblige themselves each to other for her safety and to revenge her death on any that should occasion it which agreement they call'd an Association and was entred into by abundance of persons of all ranks and conditions throughout the Nation The Tenor whereof was