 Only
eight of the original Plot survived.
On a cold Monday,
January 27, 1606, all the prisoners were brought from the Tower of London
through Traitors Gate and onto a barge to go up-river to Westminster. John
Winter was only 19, hardly a part of the plot at all, but he would
be tried with his two other brothers, Thomas
and Robert.
The only account
of the trial is the "True and Perfect" "Kings Book", which is not either.
If at any time you desire to read the original transacript
of the trial-a link to the web page of Philip Allen- then please
click here Help Window
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Once at Westminster the men
sat for a while in the Star Chamber. They told their rosaries while the
mocking public looked on.
There was no
defense-no verbal examination. They had already been condemned several
days before. The Archbishop of Canterbury had summoned a committee to discuss
the manner of their execution.
After a half
hour the prisoners were led from the Star Chamber into Westminster Hall
which was packed with onlookers. The Queen, Prince, and James
were there incognito.
The prisoners
were brought to a high scaffold so that they could be seen and faced their
jury. Not a jury of their piers but a special commission; Robert Cecil,
Sir John Popham, Charles Howard, Thomas Howard, Henry Somerset, Charles
Blount, Henry Howard, Sir Thomas Fleming, Sir Thomas Walmesley and Sir
Peter Warburton, quite a biased group. Counsel for the crown were Sir Edward
Philips and Sir Edward Coke"
Coke
was know as a "savage prosecutor". Philips spent time as a Circuit Judge
responsible for among other things cutting off the ears of Catholics.
Lack of representation
was not unusual for the period nor was the use of torture to force confessions.
Alteration of the evidence was common.
The only evidence
required was very strong: they were Catholics, in close communication with
Jesuits, a part of an underground army of the Counter Reformation working
on behalf of the Pope for the restoration of England to the true faith
and possibly the defeat of England by Spain. This was fact and took precedence
over all else. The Indictment (on right) was Pronounced.
All except Digby
pleaded not guilty. He had been arraigned on a separate indictment in Northamptonshire.
Fawkes
was singled out by Popham. How could he be not guilty when found in a room
full of gunpowder with a pocket full of matches! But Popham had given Fawkes
an opportunity to speak-he did not deny being part of the plot but what
he did say was in relation to the priests: "We never opened the matter
to them." Cokehad
no suitable reply, "All that was put in for form of law, because it must
be presupposed," not very convincing.
To get things
back on track, Sir Edward Phillips got right up and said,
But of such horror and monstrous nature,
That before now the tongue of man never delivered,
The ear of man never heard,
The heart of man never conceived,
Nor the malice of hellish or earthly devil ever practiced.
For if it be abominable to murder the least,
If to touch God's anointed be to oppose themselves against
God,
If by blood to subvert princes,states and kingdoms, be
hateful to God and man, as all true Christians must acknowledge.
Then how much more than too monstrous shall all Christian
hearts judge the horror of this reason , to murder and subvert
Such a king,
Such a queen,
Such a progeny,
Such a state,
Such a government,
So complete and absolute,
That God approves.
The world admires,
All true English hearts honor and reverence,
The Pope and his disciples only envy and malign.
Then Coke
took over. He described the "gentlemen of good houses, of excellent parts,
of very competent fortunes and estates ... who have been most perniciously
seduced, abused, corrupted and Jesuited... The Principal offenders are
the seducing Jesuits men that use the reverence of religion, yea even the
most sacred and blessed name of Jesus, as a mantle to cover their impiety,blasphemy,
treason and rebellion..."
The trial was
only a first step to bringing the priests to justice.
Cecil
had instructed Coke
in how the trial was to take place.
These things I am commanded to renew unto your
memory. First that you be sure to make it appear to the world that there
was an employment of some persons to Spain for a practice of invasion (referring
to the visit of Thomas Winter to Madrid
) as soon as the Queens breath was out of her body. The reason is this
for which the King doth urge it. He saith some men there are that will
give out and do that only despair of the King's courses on the Catholics
and his severity draw all these to such works of discontentment where by
you it will appear that before his Majesty face was ever seen or that he
had done anything in government, the King of Spain was approached through
he refused it, saying 'he rather expected to have peace'...You must remember
to lay Owen as found in this as you can.
In the trial Cecil
noted that gunpowder itself was the invention of a Friar, "one of the Romash
Rabble." Jokes were made. "If the trial had been conducted sooner they
would have hung John Johnson (the alias used by Fawkes)
instead of Guy Fawkes".
From the scriptures he quoted: "the proud have laid a snare for me, and
spread a net a broad yea and set traps in my way."
Cecil
reflected upon the tolerance of James
and then laid out the punishment which was due traitors:
First after a traitor hath had his just trial
and is convicted and attained he shall have his judgment to be drawn to
the place of execution from his prison as being not worthy any more to
tread upon the face of the earth, whereof he was made. Also that he hath
been retrograde by nature, and there fore he is drawn backwards at a horses
tail. And whereas god hath made the head of a man the highest and most
supreme part as being his chief grace and ornament he must be drawn with
his head declining downward, and lying so near the ground as may be being
thought unfit to take benefit of the common air. For which cause also he
shall be strangled being hanged up by the neck between heaven and earth
as deemed unworthy of both or either as likewise that the eyes of men may
behold and their hearts condemn him. Then he is to be cut down alive and
to have his privy parts cut off and burnt before his face, as being unworthy
begotten and unfit to leave any generation after him. His bowels and inlaid
parts taken out and burnt who inwardly had conceived and harbored in his
heart such horrible treason after to have his head cut off which had imagined
the mischief and lastly his body to be quartered and the quarters set up
in some high and eminent place to the view and detestation of men and to
become a prey for the fowls of the air. And this is a reward due to traitors.
The guilty were caught red handed and the Jesuits, who were
captured but absent, were behind it all.
When Cecil
was done the jury retired without a word from the accused.
Digby
was then tried separately and, because of his guilty plea, was allowed
to speak. He was involved for four reasons: first, Loyalty to Catesby;
second, religion; third, James
change from tolerance to intolerance; and finally, the view that even harsher
rules against Catholics were to come.
He asked to be
punished alone and that his family be spared. Cokeanswered:,
from the 109th Psalm, "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
Let his children be carried about vagabonds and beg in one generation may
his name be blotted out"
To which Digby
might well have replied, "The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the
deceitful man is opened against me".
The Arraignment of Sir Everard Digby:
Then was Sir Everard Digby arraigned, and after his Indictment was
read ; wherein he was charged, not only to have been acquainted with the
Powder-Treason, and concealed it, and taken the double Oath of Secrecy
and Constancy therein, but likewise to have been an Actor in this Conspiracy
; and lastly to have exposed, and openly shewed himself in the Rebellion
in the Country amongst the rest of the Traitors. All which after he had
attentively heard and marked, knowing that he had confessed it, and the
strength and Evidence of the Proofs
against him, and convicted with the Testimony of his own Conscience,
shewed his Disposition to confess the principal Part of the said Indictment,
and so began to enter into a Discourse. But being advertised that he must
first plead to the Indictment directly, either Guilty, or not Guilty ;
and that afterwards he should be licensed to speak his Pleasure ; he forthwith
confessed the Treason contained in the Indictment, and so fell into a Speech,
whereof there were two Parts, viz. Motives, and Petitions. The first Motive
which drew him into
this Action, was not Ambition or Discontentment of his Estate, neither
Malice to any in Parliament, but the Friendship and Love he bare to Catesby,
which prevailed so much, and was so powerful with him, as that for his
sake he was ever contented and ready to hazard himself and his Estate.
The next Motive, was the Cause of Religion, which alone, seeing (as he
said) it lay at the stake, he entered into Resolution to neglect in that
behalf, his Estate, his Life, his Name, his Memory, his Posterity, and
all worldly and earthly Felicity whatsoever ; tho' he did
utterly extirpate, and extinguish all other hopes for the restoring
of the Catholick Religion in England. His third Motive was, that Promises
were broken with the Catholicks. And lastly, That they generally feared
harder Laws from this Parliament against Recusants, as that Recusants Wives,
and Women should be liable to the Mulct as well as their Husbands and Men.
And further, that it was supposed, that it should be made a Præmunire,
only to be a Catholick.
His Petitions were, That sithence his Offence was confined and contained
within himself, that the Punishment also of the same might extend only
to himself, and not to be transferred either to his Wife, Children, Sisters,
or others : And therefore for his Wife he humbly craved, that she might
enjoy her Jointure ; his Son the benefit of an Entail made long before
any thought of this Action ; his Sisters, their just and due Portions,
which were in his Hands ; his Creditors their rightful Debts, which that
he might more justly set down under his Hand, he requested that before
his Death, his Man (who was better acquainted both with the Men, and the
Particulars than himself) might be licensed to come unto him. Then prayed
he Pardon of
the King and Lords for his Guilt. And lastly he entreated to be beheaded
; desiring all Men to forgive him, and that his Death might satisfy them
for his Trespass.
To this Speech forthwith answered Sir Edward Coke Attorney-General,
but in respect of the time (for it grew now dark) very briefly :
1.For his Friendship with Catesby, that it was mere Folly and wicked
Conspiracy.
2.His Religion, Error, and Heresy.
3.His Promises, idle and vain Presumptions, as also his Fears, false
Alarms, Concerning Wives that were Recusants, if they were known so to
be before their Husbands (though they were good Protestants) took
them, and yet for outward and worldly Respects whatsoever, any would match
with such; great reason there is, that he or they should pay for it
as knowing the Penalty and Burden before: for volenti & scienti non
sit Injuria; No Man receives Injury in that, to which he willingly and
knowingly agreeth and consenteth. But if she were no Recusant at
the time of Marriage, and yet afterwards he suffer her to be corrupted
and seduced, by admitting Priests and Romanists into his House; good reason
likewise that he, be he Papist or Protestant, should pay for his Negligence
and Misgovernment.
4.Concerning the Petitions for Wife, for Children, for Sisters, &c.
O how he doth now put on the bowels of Nature and Compassion, in the peril
of his private and domestical Estate ! But before, when the publick State
of his Country, when the King, the Queen, the tender Princes, the Nobles,
the whole Kingdom were designed to a perpetual Destruction; where
was then this Piety, this religious Affection, this Care ? All Nature,
all Humanity, all Respect of Laws both divine and human, were quite abandoned;
then was there no Conscience made to extirpate the whole Nation, and all
for a pretended Zeal to the Catholick Religion, and the Justification of
so detestable and damnable a Fact.
Here did Sir Everard Digby interrupt Mr. Attorney, and said that he
did not justify the Fact, but confessed that he deserved the vilest Death,
and most severe Punishment that might be:But he was an humble Petitioner
for Mercy, and some Moderation of Justice. Whereupon Mr. Attorney replied,
that he should not look by the King to be honoured in the manner of his
Death, having so far abondoned all Religion and Humanity in his Action
: But that he was rather to admire the great Moderation and Mercy of the
King, in that for so exorbitant a Crime,
no new Torture answerable thereunto was devised to be inflicted upon
him. And for his Wife and Children, whereas he said that for the Catholick
Cause he was content to neglect the Ruin of himself, his Wife, his Estate,
and all; he should have his desire as it is in the Psalm , Let his Wife
be a Widow, and his Children Vagabonds, let his Posterity be destroyed,
and in the next Generation let his Name be quite put out. For the paying
of your Creditors, it is equal and just; but yet fit the King be first
satisfied and paid, to whom you owe so much, as that
all you have is too little : yet these things must be left to the Pleasure
of his Majesty, and the Course of Justice and Law. Earl of Northamp. You
must not hold it strange, Sir Everard Digby, though at this time being
pressed in Duty, Conscience and Truth, I do not suffer you to wander in
the Labyrinth of your own idle Conceits, without opposition, to seduce
others, as yourself have been seduced, by false Principles, or to convey
yourself by Charms of Imputation, by Clouds of Error, and
by Shifts of lately devised Equivocation, out of that straight wherein
your late secure and happy Fortune hath been unluckily entangled, but yet
justly surprized by the Rage and Revenge of your own rash Humours. If in
this Crime (more horrible than any Man is able to express) I could lament
the Estate of any Person upon Earth, I could pity you ; but thank yourself
and your bad Counsellors for leading you into a Crime of such a kind, as
no less benumbeth in all faithful, true and honest Men, the Tenderness
of Affection, than did in you the
Sense of all Humanity.
That you were once well thought of and esteemed by the late Queen, I
can witness, having heard her speak of you with that Grace, which might
have encouraged a true Gentlemen to have run a better Course. Nay, I will
add further, that there was a time wherein you were as well affected to
the King our Master's Expectation, though perhaps upon false Rumours andReports,
that he would have yielded Satisfaction to your unprobable and vast Desires
; but the Seed that wanted moisture (as our Saviour himself reporteth )
took no deep Root : that
Zeal which hath no other End or Object than the pleasing of itself,
is quickly spent ; and Trajan, that worthy and wise Emperor, had reason
to hold himself discharged of all Debts to those that had offended more
by Prevarication, than they could ever deserve by Industry.
The Grace and Goodness of his Majesty in giving Honour at his first
coming unto many Men of your own Affection, and (as I think) unto yourself
; his Facility in admitting all without distinction of Trojan or of Tyrian,
to his Royal Presence, upon just occasions of Access; his Integrity in
setting open the Gate of civil Justice unto all his Subjects equally and
indifferently, with many other Favours that succeeded by the Progression
of Peace ; are so palpable and evident to all Men, that have either Eyes
of Understanding, or Understanding of Capacity, as yourself and many others
have been driven of late to excuse and countenance your execrable Ingratitude
with a false and scandalous Report of some further Hope and Comfort yielded
to the Catholicks for Toleration and Connivance, before his coming to the
Crown, than since hath been performed, made good or satisfied.
I am not ignorant, that this seditious and false Alarm hath awaked and
incited many working Spirits to the prejudice of the present State, that
might otherwise have slept as before with silence and sufferance ; it hath
served for a Shield of Wax against a Sword of Power : it hath been used
as an Instrument of Art to shadow false Approaches, till the Trojan Horse
might be brought within the Walls of the Parliament, with a Belly stuffed,
not as in old time with armed Greeks, but with hellish Gunpowder. But howsoever
God had blinded you and others in
this Action, as he did the King of Egypt and his Instruments, for the
brighter Evidence of his own powerful Glory ; yet every Man of Understanding
could discern, that a Prince whose Judgment had been fixed by Experience
of so many Years upon the Poles of the North and the South, could not shrink
upon the sudden : no nor since with fear of that Combustion which Catesby
that Arch-Traitor, like a second Phaeton, would have caused in an instant
in all the Elements. His Majesty did never value Fortunes of the World,
in lesser Matter than Religion, with the Freedom of his Thoughts : he thought
it no safe Policy (professing as he did, and ever will) to call up more
Spirits into the Circle than he could put down again ; he knew, that
omne regnum in se divisum desolabitar, Philosophy doth teach, that
whatsoever any Man may think in secret thought, that where one doth hold
of Ciphas, another of Apollo, openly Dissension ensues, Quod insitum alieno
solo est, in id que alitur natura vertente degenerat ; and the World will
ever apprehend, that Quorum est commune symbolum, facillimus est transitus.
Touching the Point itself of promising a kind of Toleration to Catholicks,
as it was divulged by these two Limbs of Lucifer, Watson and Percy, to
raise a ground of Practice and Conspiracy against the state and Person
of our dear Sovereign, let the Kingdom of Scotland witness for the space
of so many Years before his coming hither, whether either Flattery or Fear
(no, not upon that Enterprize of the 17th of November, which would have
put the patience of any Prince in Europe to his proof) could draw from
the King the least Inclination to this dispensative Indifference, that
was only believed, because it was eagerly desired.
Every Man doth known how great Art was used, what strong Wits sublimed,
and how many Ministers suborned and corrupted many Years both in Scotland
and in foreign Parts, to set the King's Teeth an edge with fair Promises
of future Helps and Supplies, to that happy End of attaining his due Right
in England, when the Sun should set, to rise more gloriously in the same
Hemisphere, to the wonder both of this Island and of the World. But all
in vain ; for jacta erat alea, the King's Compass had been set before,
and by a more certain Rule, and they
were commonly cast off as forlorn Hopes in the King's Favour, that
ran a Course of ranking themsleves in the foremost Front of foreign Correspondency.
Upon notice given to his Majesty from hence some Years before the Death
of the late Queen, that many Men were grown suspicious of his Religion,
by Rumours spread abroad, that some of those in foreign Parts, that seemed
to be well-affected to his future Expectation, had used his Name more audaciously,
and spoken of his Favour to the Catholicks more forwardly than the King's
own Conscience and unchangeable Decree could acknowledge or admit (either
with a purpose to prepare the Minds of foreign Princes, or for a practice
to estrange and alienate Affections at home) not only utterly renounced
and condemned these Encroachments of blind Zeal, and rash Proceedings,
by the Voices of his own Ministers, but was careful
also for a Caution to succeeding Hopes, so far as lay in him, that
by the Disgrace of the Delinquents in this kind, the Minds of all English
Subjects chiefly might be secured, and the World satisfied.
No man can speak in this Case more confidently than myself, that received
in the Queen's time, for the space of many Years, Directions and Warnings
to take heed, that neither any further Comfort might be given to Catholicks,
concerning future Favours, than he did intend, which was to bind all Subjects
in one Kingdom to one Law, concerning the Religion established, howsoever
in Civil Matters he might extend his Favour as he found just cause : nor
any Seeds of Jealousy and Diffidence sown in the Minds of Protestants by
Semcis and
Achitophels, to make them doubtful of his Constancy, to whom he would
confirm with his dearest Blood, that Faith which he had sucked from the
Breast of his Nurse, apprehended from the Cradle of his Infancy, and maintained
with his uttermost Endeavour, Affection and Strength : since he was more
able out of reading and disputing, to give a reason of those Principles
which he had now digested and turned to Nutriment.
He that wrote the Book of Titles before the late Queen's Death, declares
abundantly by seeking to possess some Foreign Prince of the King's Hereditary
Crowns, when the Cause should come to the proof, and may witness instead
of many ; what hope there was of the King's Favour or Affection to Catholicks
in the case of Toleration or Dispensation, with Exercise of Conscience.
For every Man may guess that it was no slight or ordinary degree of Despair,
that made him and other of his Suit renounce their Portion in the Son and
Heir of that renowned
and rare Lady, Mary Queen of Scotland, a Member of the Roman Church
; as some did in David, Nulla nobis pars in David, nec hæreditas
in filio Isai : For hereof by Letters intercepted in their Passage into
Scotland, the Records and Proofs are evident. His Majesty, so long as he
was in expectation of that which by the Work and Grace of God he doth now
possess, did ever seek to settle his Establishment upon the Faith of Protestants
in generality, as the most assured Sheet-Anchor. For tho' he found a number
on the other side, as faithful and as well-affected to his Person, Claim
and Interest, as any Men alive, as well in respect of their dependency
upon the Queen his Mother, as for the taste which they had of the sweetness
of
himself ; yet finding with what strength of Blood many have been over-carried
out of a Fervency in Zeal in former Times, observing to what Censures they
were subject, both in Points of Faith, and Limitation of Loyalty : And
last of all, forcasting to what end their former Protestation would come,
when present Satisfaction should shrink ; he was ever fearful to embark
himself for any further Voyage and Adventure in this Strait, than his own
Compass might steer him, and his Judgment level him.
If any one green Leaf for Catholicks could have been visibly discerned
by the eye of Catesby, Winter, Garnet, Fawkes, &c. they would neither
have entred into Practice with foreign Princes during the Queen's time
for prevention of the King's Lawful and Hereditary Right, nor have renewed
the same both abroad and at home by Missions and Combinations, after his
Majesty was both applauded and entred.
It is true, that by Confessions we find, that false Priest Watson, and
Arch-Traitor Percy, to have been the first Devisers and Divulgers of this
scandalous Report, as an accursed Ground, whereon they might with some
Advantage, as it was conceived, build the Castles of their Conspiracy.
Touching the first, no Man can speak more soundly to the point than
myself : for being sent into the Prison by the King to charge him with
this false Alarm, only two days before his Death, and upon his Soul to
press him in the presence of God, and as he would answer it at another
Bar, to confess directly whether at either of both these times he had access
unto his Majesty at Edinborough, his Majesty did give him any Promise,
Hope or Comfort or Encouragement to Catholicks concerning Toleration ;
he did there protest upon his Soul that he could never win one Inch of
Ground, or draw the smallest Comfort from the King in those degrees, nor
further than that he would have them apprehend, that as he was a Stranger
to this State, so till he understood in all Points how those matters stood,
he would not promise Favour any way ; but did protest that all the Crowns
and Kingdoms in this World, should not induce him to change any jot of
his Profession, which was the Pasture of his Soul, and Earnest of his eternal
Inheritance. He did confess that in very deed, to keep up the Hearts of
Catholicks in Love and Duty to the King, he had imparted the King's words
to many, in a better Tune, and a higher kind of Descant, than his Book
of plain Song did direct; because he knew that others like sly Bargemen
looked that way, when their stroke was bent another way. For this he craved
Pardon of the King in humble Manner, and for his main Treasons of a
higher Nature than these Figures of Hypocrisy ; and seemed penitent,
as well for the Horror of his Crime, as for the Falshood of his Whisperings.
It hindered not the Satisfaction which may be given to Percy's Shadow
(the most desperate Boutefeu in the Pack), that as he died impenitent,
for any thing we know ; so likewise he died silent in the Particulars.
For first, it is not strange that such a Traitor should devise so scandalous
a Slander out of the Malice of his Heart, intending to destroy the King
by any Means, and to advance all Means that might remove Obstructions and
Impediments to the Plot of Gunpowder. The more odious that he could make
him to the Party Malecontent, and the more sharply that he could set the
Party Malecontent upon the Point and Humour of Revenge ; the stronger was
his Hope at the giving of the last Blow, to be glorified and justified.
But touching the Truth of the Matters, it will be witnessed by many, that
this Traitor Percy after both the first and second return from the King,
brought to the Catholicks no spark of Comfort, of Encouragement, of Hope
; whereof no stronger Proof of Argument doth need, than that Fawkes and
others were employed both into Spain and other Parts, for the reviving
of a Practice suspended and covered, after Percy's coming back ; as in
likelihood they should not have been, in case he had returned with a Branch
of Olive in his Mouth, or yielded any Ground of Comfort to resolve upon.
Therefore I thought it thus far needful to proceed, for the clearing
of those Scandals that were cast abroad, by these forlorn Hopes and graceless
Intruments. It only remains that I Pray for your Repentance in this world
for the Satisfaction of many, and Forgiveness in the next World, for the
saving of yourself ; having had by the King's Favour so long a Time to
cast up your Account, before your Appearance at the Seat of the great Auditor.
Then spake the Earl of Salisbury, especially to that Point, of his Majesty's
breaking of Promise with Recusants, which was used and urged by Sir Everard
Digby, as a Motive to draw him to participate in this so hideous a Treason.
Wherein his Lordship, after Acknowledgement that Sir Everard Digby was
his Ally, and having made a zealous and religious Protestation concerning
the Sincerity and Truth of that which he would deliver ; shortly and clearly
defended the Honour of the King herein ; and freed his Majesty from all
Imputation and Scandal of Irresolution in Religion, and in the constant
and perpetual maintaining thereof ; as also from having at any time given
the least Hope, much less Promise of Toleration. To which purpose
he declared how his Majesty, as well before his coming to this Crown,
as at that very Time, and always since, was so far from making of Promise,
or giving Hope of Toleration, that he ever professed he should not endure
the very Motion thereof from any.
And here his Lordship shewed what was done at Hampton-Court at the time
of Watson's Treason, where some of the greater Recusants were convented
: And being found then not to have their Fingers in Treason, were sent
away again with Encouragement to persist in their dutiful Carriage, and
with Promise only of thus much Favour, That those mean Profits which had
accrued since the King's time to his Majesty for their Recusancy, should
be forgiven to the principal Gentlemen, who had both at his Entry shewed
so much Loyalty, and had kept themselves so free since from all Conspiracies.
Then did his Lordship also (the rather to shew how little Truth Sir
Everard Digby's Words did carry in any thing which he had spoken) plainly
prove, that all his Protestations wherein he denied so constantly to be
privy to the Plot of Powder, were utterly False, by the Testimony of Fawkes
(there present at the Bar) who had confessed, that certain Months before
that Session, the said Fawkes being with Digby at his House in the Country,
about what time there had fallen much wet; Digby taking Fawkes aside after
Supper, told him that he was much afraid that the Powder in the Cellar
was grown dank, and that some new must be provided, lest that should not
take Fire.
Next, the said Earl did justly and greatly commend the Lord Mounteagle
for his Loyal and honourable Care of his Prince and Country, in the speedy
bringing forth of the Letter sent unto
him; wherein he said, that he had shewed both his Discretion and Fidelity.
Which Speech being ended, Digby then acknowledged, that he spake not that
of the Breach of Promise out of his own Knowledge, but from their Relation
whom he trusted; and namely from Sir Tho. Tresham.----Source:A Complete
Collection O F S T A T E -
T R I A L S, A N D P R O C E E D I N G S F O R H I G
H - T R E A S O N,A N D O T H E R CRIMES and MISDEMEANOURS;
T H E F O U R T H E D I T I O N ;
COMMENCING WITH The Eleventh Year of the Reign of KING RICHARD II.
AND ENDING WITH The Sixteenth Year of the Reign of KING GEORGE III.
WITH TWO ALPHABETICAL TABLES TO THE WHOLE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
A N E W P R E F A C E, By FRANCIS HARGRAVE,
ESQUIRE. V O L U M E T H E F I R S T.
L O N D O N : Printed by T .WRIGHT, Essex-Street, Strand;And Sold by G.
KEARSLY, NO. 46, near Serjeant's-Inn, Fleet-Street.MDCCLXXVI.-XIX. The
Trials of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes,
John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, and
Sir Everard Digby, at Westminster for High-Treason, being Conspirators
in the Gunpowder-Plot. 27 Jan. 1605. 3 Jac. l.
As the account
above indicates -promises of toleration struck a sore point. However those
promises had not been given to Digby
personally but to Percy,
who was conveniently dead. Henry Howard stated that such promises could
not and would not have been made. Digby
admitted that he had received the information concerning tolerance second
hand from Sir Thomas Tresham.
The Verdict:
The Jury returned
and gave their verdict: Fawkes;
Thomas,Robert and John Winter; Rookwood;
Grant;
Bates
and Keyes were all guilty. Digby
was of course guilty and asked to be beheaded instead of drawn and quartered.
The prisoners
were asked what they could say wherefore judgment of Death should not be
pronounced against them.
The
Winters "... accounted themselves not guilty of any crime in the sight
of God, Whom they sought to serve and please in the action and would not
for any other respect have attempted it." Had it not been such a high crime
the younger Winter could be spared but
not in this case, although all sensed the tragedy.
"Thomas Winter only desired, that he might be hanged both for his Brother
and himself. "- Trial Transcript
Rookwood
cited friendship with Catesby
and loyalty to the Catholic religion.
The author of
the Kings Book responded, "He would fain have made his bringing up and
breeding in idolatry to have been some excuse to his villainy but a fair
tale could not help a foul deed"
"But Ambrose Rookwood first excused his denial of the Indictment, for
that he had rather lose his Life than give it. Then did he acknowledge
his Offence to be so heinous, that he justly
deserved the Indignation of the King, and of the Lords, and the Hatred
of the whole Commonwealth ; yet could he not despair of Mercy at the Hands
of a Prince, so abounding in Grace
and Mercy : And the rather, because his Offence, tho' it were incapable
of any Excuse, yet not altogether incapable of some Extenuation, in that
he had been neither Author nor Actor,
but only persuaded and drawn in by Catesby, whom he loved above any
worldly Man : And that he had concealed it not for any Malice to the Person
of the King, or to the State, or for
any ambitious Respect of his own, but only drawn with the tender Respect,
and the faithful and dear Affection he bare to Mr. Catesby his Friend,
whom he esteem'd dearer than any thing
else in the World. And this Mercy he desired not for any fear of the
Image of Death, but for grief that so shameful a Death should leave so
perpetual a blemish and blot unto all Ages,
upon his Name and Blood. But howsoever that this was his first Offence,
yet he humbly submitted himself to the Mercy of the King, and prayed that
the King would herein imitate God,
who sometimes doth punish corporaliter, non mortaliter, corporally,
yet not mortally.
Then was related how that on the Friday immediately before this Arraignment,
Robert Winter having found opportunity to have Conference with Fawkes in
the Tower, in regard of the
nearness of their Lodgings, should say to Fawkes, as Robert Winter
and Fawkes confessed, That he and Catesby had Sons, and that Boys would
be Men, and that he hoped they would
Revenge the Cause ; nay, that God would raise up Children to Abraham
out of Stones : Also that they were sorry, that nobody did set forth a
Defence or Apology of their Action, but yet
they would maintain the Cause at their Deaths.
Here also was reported Robert Winter's Dream, which he had before the
blasting with Powder in Littleton's House, and which he himself confessed
and first notified, viz. That he thought
he saw Steeples stand awry, and within those Churches strange and unknown
Faces. And after, when the foresaid Blast had the Day following scorched
divers of the Confederates, and
much disfigured the Faces and Countenances of Grant, Rookwood, and
others ; then did Winter call to Mind his Dream, and to his Remembrance
thought, that the Faces of his
Associates so scorched, resembled those which he had seen in his Dream.
"-Trial Transcript
John Grant
admitted his guilt of a conspiracy intended but never carried out.
"John Grant was a good while mute ; yet after, submissively said, He
was guilty of a Conspiracy intended, but never effected. "-Trial Transcript
Guy Fawkes
again spoke of the innocence of the Priests. He was much tortured and in
pain and not well. He acknowledged his own guilt and stated that he was
ready to die for it.
"Guy Fawkes being asked, Why he pleaded Not Guilty, having nothing
to say for his Excuse : answered, That he had so done in respect of certain
Conferences mention'd in the Indictment, which he said that he knew not
of : Which were answered to have been set down according to Course of Law,
as necessarily pre-supposed before the Resolution of such a Design."- Trial
Transcript
Robert Keyes
made a spirited speech which was quite defiant. He discussed the persecution
which had motivated the plot and personal experience. He was glad of the
occasion of the trial and was not afraid of the sentence of death. There
could be for him no better cause than to die for freedom.
"Keys said, That his Estate and Fortunes were desperate, and as good
now as at another time, and for this Cause rather than for another. "-
Trial Transcript
Bates,
the serving man, had little to say. He said it was done for love of master.
Popham Lord Chief
Justice then defended the Recussancy Laws passed by Elizabeth and that
they were "necessary mild equal moderate and to be justified to all the
world." He then pronounced judgment and read the description of the penalty
once again.
There was a pause.
All eyes turned to Digby,
who bowed to the Lords and said, "If I may but hear any of your Lordships
say you forgive me I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." The Lords
said, "God forgive you and we do." It was however only a verbal forgiveness.
They were taken
out from Westminster Hall into the cold and by boat to the Tower.
Cecil
wrote later: "Most of them confessed their offense against God and this
State, some few and especially Grant did
obstinately hold that this late action was no sin against God but all died
true Roman Catholics." The conspirators probably would have taken this
as the highest compliment.
Execution:
There was a considerable
delay between judgment and execution. The trial was on Monday the 27th
of January 1606. Tuesday and Wednesday they remained in the Tower, but
not to prepare for death. There were no visitors, only Father Strange who
ministered to them. The delay instead was for the construction of a scaffold,
arrangement of the butchering blocks and issue of plans for crowd control.
The Gala was to begin....
There might be
protests. Sheriff Verneys house had been set on fire twice when holding
prisoners from Holbeach. The Lord Mayor ordered that one able person with
halberd in hand stand at every door of every dwelling house in the open
street along the way that the traitors were to be drawn towards the place
of execution. Sir Arthur Gorges wrote a complaint to Cecil:
The gate of Paul's Churchyard was not the place for the executions. But
they took place there, the location only changed on the second day to the
Old Palace Yard.
On January 30,
a Thursday first conspirators were drawn behind horses, heads downward,
on a framework of poles through crowded streets of London toward St. Paul's.
They were Digby,
Robert Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates.
It is said that a he passed one of the Digby boys shouted
"Tata, tata" to his father. Marthat Bates broke free of the guards
to jump onto her husband's hurdle protesting his fate. Bates told his wife
where he had stashed the money given to hikm by Jack Wright. (She eventually
found it and was allowed to keep it!)
The executions
wre planned for 8:00 A.M. .It would have been dark. The hangman was ready
for them there,at the western end of the churchyard of St. Pauls, next
to the Bishop of London's house, waiting beside his ladder on the scaffold.
The butcher stood beneath at his block with his knives and cleavers for
the quartering. The fire was already burning to receive their privates
and entrails. The hangman's skill was not to kill them instantly by breaking
their necks. It was far more entertaining to deliver them to the block
when still alive. The prisoner mounts the ladder to the gibbet arm, the
rope is placed around his neck, then the hangman would turn him off the
ladder. The prisoner was instantly cut down and sent to the block very
much alive.
Digby
went first. He grew pale and eye heavy. He spoke briefly, noting that he
held no offense having been directed by his religion and conscience. but
asked forgiveness of God, the king and the whole kingdom for breaking the
law. Sir Everard would not pray with the Protestant preachers. He
crossed himself and prayed his Latin prayers. He gave great satisfaction
to the standers by. The hangman did not kill him but cut him down fully
consious. He made no resistance to the block whilst he was in quartering
and his bowels and heart were cast into the fire and his head cut off,
the hangman holding it up as is usual. It was noted that there was no alteration
at all in his countenance. It was also said by Anthony á Wood
that "When the executioner pluckt out his heart holding up saying 'this
is the heart of a traitor,' that Digby"
Sir Everard made the statement, 'Thou Liest.'"
Winter went next,
making no call for mercy, just a few prayers. Then John Grant,
with a short speech excusing himself by his dedication to religion.It was
"No Sin against God"Grant had been blinded at Holbeach and was helped up
the ladder. Then came Bates, who noted
again that it was done only for the love of his master Catesby.
He asked forgiveness of God, King and kingdom. Bates makes an interesting
statement which contrasts with that of Grant. Bates was aware that
he had forgotten his patriotic duty to god king and country. Unlike Grant
Bates clearly felt the importantce of his responsibilities to the nation
being more important than those to church.
The first executions
ended. The air must of smelled of burning human flesh and pitch. Their
quarters were dipped in tar to preserve them whilst on display and their
heads set up on display at London Bridge.
Garnet
writes, "Many of the beholders returned full of pity and compassion towards
so worthy minded men...especially Sir Everard Digby
whose fortitude of mind they did so much admire and had so great opinions
of his devotions that for all that day and some time after they could talk
almost of nothing else."
Then the crowds
came back the next day in their thousands lining the three mile route between
the Tower and Old Palace yard in Westminster. The site was appropriate-
right next to the building that was to have been blown up. They were hanging
from upper story windows and rooftops. The day was Friday the 31st of January
1606.
It was now the
turn of Thomas Winter, Ambrose Rookwood,
Robert Keyes and Guy Fawkes.
Rookwood
knew he would be drawn past the house where his wife was staying. He asked
to be told when that was. He paused and could see her standing in a window.
He shouted, "Pray for me!" She answers that she would. He then shouts,
"I will and be of good courage and offer thyself wholly to God. I for my
part do as freely restore thee to God as he gave thee unto me."
Thomas
Winter, the only survivor of the original inner ring, was the first.
He was asked to speak but replied that he had already told all to the Council.
He had come to die and noted that the priests were not to blame. In the
tradition of those who will not confess he was cut down quickly while still
conscious.
Rookwood
followed making a long speech asking forgiveness from King and State. He
prayed for James,
the Queen and their Children .He prayed to God to make James
a Catholic, as the historian noted : "a line which was to mar all the potage
with one filthy weed." Rookwood received a longer hanging following
his request for forgiveness.
Then next was
Keyes.
He tried to jump from the ladder but the rope broke. He was quickly taken
to the block and divided into four parts.
The last was
the one to become the most famous. Already tortured into ill health, Guy
Fawkes
could hardly go up the ladder. He asked a kind of forgiveness of the King,
prayed and then jumped off the ladder, breaking his neck. He was spared
the pain of the inevitable butchery.
John
Winter was left in the Tower for a few weeks but was taken to Worcester
and executed at Red Hill on April 7 1606. He was executed there along with
Father Oldcorne, Humphrey Littleton and Ralph Ashley. Wintour was buried
at Huddington in the Chancel under plain stones with his sister in law
Geretrude.
Father Oldcorne prayed to St. Winifred as he died.
Humphrey Littleton said that he deserved his death for turning in the two
priests. Stafford was the site for the execution of Stephen Litleton and
Henry Morgan.
They all were
convinced that they died serving religious freedom. But in such a way,
however, which was against the law and threatened a state for which Catholic
causes were linked to empire building on the part of Spain and reconquest
of souls by the Rome.
Digby
wrote a beautiful epitaph:
Who's that which knocks? O stay, my Lord I come
I know that call since first it made me know
My self, which makes me now with joy to run
Lest he be gone that can my duty show
Jesu my Lord I know Thee by the Cross
Thou offerst me, but not unto my loss.
This was found in his papers in the Tower after his death.
Consequences
On the 6th of
February 1606,Cecil
addressed a joint session of Parliament which he was pleased to find had
come prepared with articles containing suggestions for harsher laws concerning
the priests and papists. He was happy to encourage them.
Yet Henry Garnet remained alive...
That very day
Father Garnet
was on the final portion of his journey from Worcester to London. Cecil
wrote to Lord Dirleton, "Thus have you in effect the true state of Parliament
causes to which I will only make this addition, that we are sure of Hall
and Walley (Garnet)
in the Gatehouse to which place we have this night committed them themselves
not sticking now to acknowledge their dignities."
Cecil's
enemy of more than 20 years was now being brought into his grasp. Yet Garnet
proved a very difficult nut to crack.......
As we continue we shall learn of the miracle and of the
brave Jesuit...
End Of Part 4 Click
here for Part 5
|
The Indictment
THAT whereas our Sovereign Lord the King had, by the Advice and Assent
of his Council, for divers weighty and urgent Occasions concerning, his
Majesty, the State, and Defence of the Church and Kingdom of England, appointed
a Parliament to be holden at his City of Westminster; That Henry Garnet,
Superior of the Jesuits within the Realm of England, (called also by the
several names of Wally, Darcy, Roberts, Farmer, and Henry Philips) Oswald
Tesmond Jesuit, otherwise called Oswald Greenwell, John Gerrard Jesuit,
(called also by the several names of Lee and Brooke) Robert Winter, Thomas
Winter, Gentlemen, Guy Fawkes Gent. otherwise called Guy Johnson, Robert
Keyes Gent. and Thomas Bates Yeoman, late Servant to Robert Catesby Esquire;
together with the said Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy Esquires, John Wright
and Christopher Wright Gentlemen, in open Rebellion and Insurrection against
his Majesty, lately slain, and Francis Tresham Esq; lately dead; as false
Traitors against our said Sovereign Lord the King, did traitorously meet
and assemble themselves together; and being so met, the said Henry Garnet,
Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other Jesuits, did maliciously, falsly,
and traitorously move and persuade as well the said Thomas Winter, Guy
Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as the said Robert Catesby, Thomas
Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham, That our said
Sovereign Lord the King, the Nobility, Clergy, and whole Commonalty of
the Realm of England, (Papists excepted) were Hereticks; and that all Hereticks
were accursed and excommunicate; and that none Heretick could be a King;
but that it was lawful and meritorious to kill our said Sovereign Lord
the King, and all other Hereticks within this Realm of England, for the
Advancing and Enlargement of the pretended and usurped Authority and Jurisdiction
of the Bishop of Rome, and for the restoring of the superstitious Romish
Religion within this Realm of England. To which
traitorous Persuasions, the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert
Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher
Wright, and Francis Tresham traitorously did yield their Assents: And that
thereupon the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and divers
other Jesuits; Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates,
as also the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher
Wright and Francis Tresham, traitorously amongst themselves did conclude
and agree, with Gunpowder, as it were with one Blast, suddenly, traitorously
and barbarously to blow up and tear in pieces our said Sovereign Lord the
King, the excellent, virtuous and gracious Queen Anne, his dearest Wife,
the most noble Prince Henry, their eldest Son, and future Hope and Joy
of England; and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, the Reverend Judges of
the Realm, the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses of Parliament, and divers
other faithful Subjects and Servants of the King in the said Parliament,
for the Causes aforesaid, to be assembled in the House of Parliament; and
all them, without any respect of Majesty, Dignity, Degree, Sex, Age or
Place, most barbarously, and more than beastly, traitorously and suddenly
to destroy
and swallow up. And further did most traitorously conspire and conclude
among themselves, That not only the whole Royal Issue-Male of our said
Sovereign Lord the King should be destroyed and rooted out; but that the
Persons aforesaid, together with divers other false Traitors, traitorously
with them to be assembled, should surprize the Persons of the most noble
Ladies Elizabeth and Mary, Daughters of our said Sovereign Lord the King,
and falsly and traitorously should proclaim the said Lady Elizabeth to
be Queen of this Realm: And thereupon should publish a Proclamation in
the name of the said Lady Elizabeth; wherein, as it was especially agreed
by and between the said Conspirators, That no mention should be made at
the first, of the alteration of Religion established within within this
Realm of England; neither would the said false Traitors therein acknowledge
themselves to be Authors, or Actors, or Devisers of the aforesaid most
wicked and horrible Treasons, until they had got sufficient Power and Strength
for the assured Execution and Accomplishment of their said Conspiracy and
Treason; and that then they would avow and justify the said most wicked
and horrible Treasons, as Actions that were in the number of those, Quae
non laudantur, nisi
peracta, which be not to be commended before they be done: but by the
said feign'd and traitorous Proclamation they would publish, That all and
singular Abuses and Grievances within this Realm of England, should, for
satisfying of the People, be reform'd. And that as well for the better
concealing, as for the more effectual accomplishing of the said horrible
Treasons, as well the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and
Thomas Bates, as the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher
Wright, and Francis Tresham, by the traitorous Advice and Procurement of
the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other Jesuits,
traitorously did further conclude and agree, that as well the said Thomas
Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as the said Robert
Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham,
thereupon severally and traitorously should receive several corporal Oaths
upon the holy Evangelists, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist, That they
the Treasons aforesaid would traitorously conceal and keep secret, and
would not reveal them, directly or indirectly, by Words or Circumstances,
nor ever would desist from the Execution and final Accomplishment of the
said Treasons, without the consent of some three of the aforesaid false
Traitors first in that behalf traitorously had: And that thereupon as well
the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as
the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christ. Wright, and
Francis Tresham, did traitorously take the said several corporal Oaths
severally, and did receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist aforesaid, by
the Hands of the said Henry Garnet, John Gerrard, Oswald Tesmond, and other
Jesuits. And further, that the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes,Robert Keyes,
and Thomas Bates, together with the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy,
John Wright,Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham, by the like traitorous
Advice and Counsel of the said Henry Garnet, John Gerrard, Oswald Tesmond,
and other Jesuits, for the more effectual compassing and final execution
of the said Treasons, did traitorously among themselves conclude and agree
to dig a certain Mine under the said House of Parliament, and there secretly,
under the said House, to bestow and place a great Quantity of Gunpowder
; and that according to the said traitorous Conclusion, the said Thomas
Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomes Bates, together with the said
Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Christopher Wright, afterwards
secretly, not without great labour and difficulty, did dig and make the
said Mine unto the midst of the Foundation of the Wall of the said House
of Parliament, the said Foundation being of the thickness of three yards,
with a traitorous Intent to bestow and place a great Quantity of Gunpowder
in the Mine aforesaid, so as aforesaid traitorously to be made for the
traitorous accomplishing of their traitorous Purposes aforesaid. And that
the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, together
with the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Christopher
Wright, finding and perceiving the said Work to be of
great difficulty, by reason of the Hardness and thickness of the said
Wall ; and understanding a certain Cellar under the said House of Parliament,
and adjoining to a certain House of the said Thomas Percy, then to be letten
to farm for a yearly Rent, the said Thomas Percy, by the traitorous Procurement,
as well of the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other
Jesuits, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as
of the said Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Christopher Wright, traitorously
did hire the Cellar aforesaid for a certain yearly Rent and Term: and then
those Traitors did remove twenty Barrels full of Gunpowder out of the said
House of the said Thomas Percy, and secretly and traitorously did bestow
and place them in the Cellar aforesaid, under the said House of Parliament,
for the traitorous effecting of the Treason, and traitorous Purposes aforesaid.
And that afterwards the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard,
and other Jesuits, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes and ThomasBates,
together with the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Christopher
Wright traitorously did meet with Robert Winter, John Grant, and Ambrose
Rookwood, and Francis Tresham, Esquires; and
traitorously did impart to the said Robert Winter, John Grant, Ambrose
Rookwood, and Francis Tresham, the Treasons, traitorous Intentions and
Purposes aforesaid ; and did require the said Robert Winter, John Grant,
Ambrose Rookwood, and Francis Tresham, to join themselves as well with
the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, Thomas Winter, Guy
Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as with the said Robert Catesby,
Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Christopher Wright, in the Treasons, traitorous
Intentions and Purposes aforesaid; and traitorously to provide Horse, Armour,
and other Necessaries, for the better Accomplishment and effecting of the
said Treasons. To which traitorous Motion and Request, the said Robert
Winter, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, and Francis Tresham, did traitorously
yield their Assents, and as well with the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond,
John Gerrard, Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and
Thomas Bates, as with the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright,
Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham, in the said Treasons, traitorous
Intentions and Purposes aforesaid, traitorously did adhere and unite themselves:
And thereupon several corporal Oaths, in form
abovesaid, traitorously did take, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
by the hands of the said Jesuits did receive, to such intent and Purpose,
as is aforesaid; and Horses, Armour, and other Necessaries for the better
effecting of the said Treasons, according to their traitorous Assents aforesaid,
traitorously did provide. And that afterwards all the said false Traitors
did traitorously provide, and bring into the Cellar aforesaid ten other
Barrels full of Gunpowder, newly bought, fearing lest the former Gunpowder,
so as aforesaid bestow'd and placed there, was become dankish; and the
said several Quantities of: Gunpowder aforesaid, with Billets and Faggots,
lest they should be spy'd, secretly and traitorously did cover. And that
afterwards the said false Traitors traitorously provided, and brought
into the Cellar aforesaid, four Hogsheads full of Gunpowder, and laid divers
great Iron Bars and Stones upon the said four Hogsheads, and the aforesaid
other Quantities of Gunpowder: And the said Quantities of Gunpowder, Bars,
and Stones, with Billets and Faggots, lest they should be espy'd, secretly
and traitorously did likewise cover. And that the said Guy Fawkes, afterwards,
for a full and final Accomplishment of the said Treasons, traitorous Intentions
and Purposes aforesaid, by the traitorous Procurement, as well of the said
Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other Jesuits, Robert Winter,
Thomas Winter, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John Grant, and Ambrose
Rookwood, as of the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher
Wright, and Francis Tresham, traitorously had prepared, and had upon his
Person Touchwood and Match, therewith traitorously to give fire to the
several Barrels, Hogsheads, and Quantities of Gunpowder aforesaid, at the
time appointed for the Execution of the said horrible Treasons. And further,
that after the said horrible Treasons were, by the great Favour and Mercy
of God, in a wonderful manner discover'd, not many hours before it should
have been executed, as well the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John
Gerrard, Robert Winter,Thomas Winter, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John
Grant, and Ambrose Rookwood, as the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy,
John Wright, and Christopher Wright, traitorously did fly and withdraw
themselves, to the intent traitorously to stir up and procure such Popish
Persons, as they could, to join with them in actual, publick and open Rebellion
against our said Sovereign Lord the King; and to that end did publish divers
feigned and false Rumours, that the Papists Throats should have been cut;
and that thereupon divers Papists were in Arms, and in open, publick, and
actual Rebellion against our said
Sovereign Lord the King, in divers Parts of this Realm of England.--Source:A
Complete Collection
O F S T A T E - T R I A L S, A N D
P R O C E E D I N G S F O R H I G H - T R E A S O N,A N D
O T H E R CRIMES and MISDEMEANOURS; T H E
F O U R T H E D I T I O N ; COMMENCING WITH The
Eleventh Year of the Reign of KING RICHARD II. AND ENDING
WITH The Sixteenth Year of the Reign of KING GEORGE III. WITH
TWO ALPHABETICAL TABLES TO THE WHOLE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A
N E W P R E F A C E, By FRANCIS HARGRAVE, ESQUIRE.
V O L U M E T H E F I R S T.
L O N D O N : Printed by T .WRIGHT, Essex-Street, Strand;And Sold by G.
KEARSLY, NO. 46, near Serjeant's-Inn,
Fleet-Street.MDCCLXXVI.-XIX. The Trials of Robert Winter,
Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose
Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir Everard Digby,
at Westminster for High-Treason, being Conspirators in the Gunpowder-Plot.
27 Jan. 1605. 3 Jac. l.
The Verdict
The Conclusion shall be from the admirable Clemency and Moderation
of the King, in that howsoever these Traitors have exceeded all others
their Predecessors in Mischief, and so Crescente Malitia, crescere debuit
& Pæna; yet neither will the King exceed the usual Punishment
of Law, nor invent any new Torture or Torment for them; but is graciously
pleased to afford them as well an ordinary Course of Trial, as an ordinary
Punishment, much inferior to their Offence. And surely worthy of Observation
is the Punishment by Law provided and appointed for High-Treason, which
we call Crimen læsæ Majestatis. For first, after a Traitor
hath had his just Trial, and is convicted and attainted, he shall have
his Judgement to be drawn to the place of Execution from his Prison, as
being not worthy any more to tread upon the Face of the Earth whereof he
was made: Also for that he hath been retrograde to Nature, therefore is
he drawn backward at a Horse-Tail. And whereas God hath made the Head of
Man the highest and most supreme Part, as being his chief Grace and Ornament,
Pronaque cum spectent Animalia cætera terram, Os homini sublime dedit;
he must be drawn with his Head declining downward, and lying so near the
Ground as may be, being thought unfit to take
benefit of the common Air. For which Cause also he shall be strangled,
being hanged up by the Neck between Heaven and Earth, as deemed unworthy
of both, or either; as likewise, that the Eyes of Men may behold, and their
Hearts contemn him. Then he is to be cut down alive, and to have his Privy
Parts cut off and burnt before his Face, as being unworthily begotten,
and unfit to leave any Generation after him. His Bowels and inlay'd Parts
taken out and burnt, who inwardly had conceived and harboured in his heart
such horrible Treason. After, to have his Head cut off, which had imagined
the Mischief. And lastly, his Body to be quartered, and the Quarters set
up in some high and eminent Place, to the View and Detestation of
Men, and to become a Prey for the Fowls of the Air.
And this is a Reward due to Traitors, whose Hearts be hardened: For
that it is Physic of State and Government, to let out corrupt Blood from
the Heart. But, Pænitentia vera numquam, sera sed pænitentia
sera raro vera: True Repentance is indeed never too late; but late Repentance
is seldom found true: Which yet I pray the merciful Lord to grant unto
them, that having a Sense of their Offences, they may make a true and sincere
Confession both for their Souls Health, and for the Good and Safety of
the King and this State. And for the rest that are not yet apprehended,
my Prayer to God is, Ut aut convertantur ne pereant, aut confundantur ne
noceant; that either they may be converted, to the End they perish not,
or else
confounded, that they hurt not.
After this by the Direction of Master Attorney-General, were their several
Examinations (subscribed by themselves) shewed particularly unto them,
and acknowledged by them to be their own, and true, wherein every one had
confessed the Treason. Then did Master Attorney desire, That albeit that
which had been already done and confessed at the Bar, might be all-sufficient
for the Declaration and Justification of the Course of Justice then held,
especially seeing we have Reos confitentes, the Traitors own voluntary
Confessions at the Bar; yet for further Satisfaction to so great a Presence
and Audience, and their better Memory of the Carriage of these Treasons,
the voluntary and free Confessions of all the said several Traitors
in writing subscribed with their own proper Hands, and acknowledged
at the Bar, by themselves to be true, were openly and distinctly read;
By which, amongst other things, it appeared that Bates was absolved for
what he undertook concerning the Powder-Treason, and being therein warranted
by the Jesuits. Also it appeared, that Hammond the Jesuit, after that he
knew the Powder-Treason was discovered, and that these Traitors had been
in actual Rebellion, confessed them, and gave them Absolution: And this
was on Thursday the 7th of November.
Here also was Mention made by Master Attorney of the Confessions of
Watson and Clarke, Seminary Priests, upon their Apprehension; who affirmed,
that there was some Treason
intended by the Jesuits, and then in Hand; as might appear.
1.By their continual negotiating at that Time with Spain,
which they assured themsleves tended to nothing but a preparation for a
foreign Commotion.
2.By their collecting and gathering together such great
Sums of Money, as then they had done, therewith to levy an Army when Time
should serve.
3.For that sundry of the Jesuits had been tampering with
Catholicks, as well to dissuade them from Acceptance of the King at his
first coming, saying, That they ought rather to Die, than to admit
of any Heretick (as they continually termed his Majesty) to the Crown;
and that they might not, under pain of Excommunication, accept of any but
a Catholick for their Sovereign; as also to dissuade Catholicks from
their Loyalty after the State was settled. Lastly, In that they had
both bought up store of great Horses throughout the Country, and conveyed
Powder and Shot, and Artillery secretly to their Friends; wishing them
not stir, but keep themselves quiet until they heard from them.
After the reading of their several Examinations, Confessions, and voluntary
Declaration as well of themselves, as of some of their dead Confederates,
they were all by the Verdict of the
Jury found guilty of the Treasons contained in their Indictment. ---Source:A
Complete Collection
O F S T A T E - T R I A
L S, A N D P R O C E E D I N G S F O R H I G H - T R
E A S O N,A N D O T H E R CRIMES and MISDEMEANOURS;
T H E F O U R T H E D I T I O N ;
COMMENCING WITH The Eleventh Year of the Reign of KING RICHARD II.
AND ENDING WITH The Sixteenth Year of the Reign of KING GEORGE III.
WITH TWO ALPHABETICAL TABLES TO THE WHOLE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
A N E W P R E F A C E, By FRANCIS HARGRAVE,
ESQUIRE. V O L U M E T H E F I R S T.
L O N D O N : Printed by T .WRIGHT, Essex-Street, Strand;And Sold by G.
KEARSLY, NO. 46, near Serjeant's-Inn,
Fleet-Street.MDCCLXXVI.-XIX. The Trials
of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John
Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir
Everard Digby, at Westminster for High-Treason, being Conspirators in the
Gunpowder-Plot. 27 Jan. 1605. 3 Jac. l.
|
The
Plot, Part 4
