¹ Those tried were Ambrose Rookwood, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bate, John Grant, Robert and Thomas Winter and, on a separate indictment, Sir Everard Digby. See Howell, T. (ed.), State trials, II (London, 1814)Google Scholar, cols. 159–94; Jardine, David, Criminal trials, II (London, 1835), 112–81Google Scholar; Bodl. Lib. MS Add. C 86; Baildon, William P. (ed.), Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata, 1593–1609…of John Hawarde (London, 1894), pp. 251–7Google Scholar. Several other men were tried at county assizes on charges connected with the plot: Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 297, fo. 38V.

² Howell, State trials, II, cols. 217–355; Jardine, , Criminal trials, II, 235–314Google Scholar; B[ritish] L[ibrary], Harley MS 360, fos. 109–25 v; Add[itional] MS 21203. Garnett's part in the plot remains uncertain: Caraman, Philip, Henry Garnet, 1555–1606, and the Gunpowder plot (London, 1964), pp. 348–429Google Scholar; Jardine, , Criminal trials, II, 190–403Google Scholar.

³ BL, Add. MS 11402, fo. 108; Hatfield MS, 113/50, Sir William Lane to Salisbury, 28 Nov. 1605; Jeayes, I. H. (ed.), Letters of Philip Gawdy of West Hading, Norfolk, and of London, to various members ofhis family; 1579–1616 (London, 1906), pp. 162–3Google Scholar: Gawdy to his brother, 26 Nov. 1605.

⁴ Public Record Office, SP 14/23/10.

⁵ SP 14/216/181, 182, examinations of Stourton and Mordaunt, 4 Feb. 1606.

⁶ Baildon, , Howarde'reports, pp. 287–91Google Scholar; Moore, Francis, Reports (London, 1663), pp. 778–80Google Scholar; BL Harley MS 1330, fos. 9V–10V.

⁷ Syon House (at Alnwick Castle) MS N.I. 19, fo. 1.

⁸ SP 14/216/37, 41, 101, 126, 136, 169, 176; HatfieldMS 113/54, examinations and depositions of Fawkes, Keyes, Rookwood and the Winters.

⁹ Hatfield MS 113/54; SP 14/216/37.

¹⁰ Much of what follows is based on my Ph.D. thesis ‘Politics and Percies: the ninth earl of Northumberland, his brothers, and Gunpowder plot’ (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 195–281Google Scholar.

¹¹ SP 14/216/16A, 37, 176; Hatfield MS 113/54; Wormald, Jenny, ‘Gunpowder, Treason, and Scots’, Journal of British Studies, XXIV (04 1985), 141–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Albert, J.Loomie, S.J., ‘Guy Fawkes in Spain: the Spanish treason in Spanish documents’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, special supplement IX (1971), 4–39Google Scholar.

¹² For a summary of the earl's financial position see Batho, G. R., ‘The finances of an Elizabethan nobleman’, Economic History Review, 2nd series, IX (1957), 433–50Google Scholar.

¹³ BL King's MS 123, fos. 11–12, 13V–14, 16–19 (dispatches of the French ambassador in March 1603).

¹⁴ Although, as Nicolo Molin, the gossipy Venetian ambassador, was quick to point out in mid-Nov. 1605, there was a general feeling that such a plot must have been sponsored by some dement among the nobility, and there was no suspicion against anyone else! See Brown, Horatio F. (ed.), State papers and manuscripts relating to English affairs, existing in the archives and collections of Venue, and in other libraries of Northern Italy, 1603–1607 (London, 1900), p. 293Google Scholar.

¹⁵ SP 84/65, fo. 122; BL Stowe MS 168, fos. 264v–5; SP 14/17/2, letters from Salisbury to Sir Ralph Winwood, Sir Thomas Edmondes and Lord Dunfermline, 1 and 2 Dec. 1605.

¹⁶ See ‘Politics and Perries’, pp. 82–104.

¹⁷ SP 14/216/116, examination of Thomas Winter, 25 Nov. 1605.

¹⁸ SP 14/216/113, 113A, examination of Northumberland at Lambeth, 23 Nov. 1605.

¹⁹ The date on which the original plotters took the oath of secrecy, according to the indictment at the January trial (PRO Deputy Keeper's 5th Report [London, 1843], appendix 2, p. 140)Google Scholar was 20 May 1604; Percy became a gentleman pensioner on 9 or 12 July 1604. (Baildon, , Hawarde's reports, p. 296Google Scholar; BL Add. MS 30305, fo. 19v).

²⁰ SP 14/216/113, 137, examinations of Northumberland, and (2 Dec. 1605) of Sir William Lower.

²¹ See Hatfield MS 113/91, Sir William Waad, lieutenant of the Tower, to Salisbury, 12 Dec. 1605; SP 14/216/129, the official relation of the plot's discovery, later incorporated in the so-called King's Book (STC 14392). His majesties speech… (1605).

²² Bodleian MS Tanner 75, fo. 203, extracts from examinations of Fawkes, 11 and 30 Nov. 1605, the originals of which do not survive.

²³ SP 14/216/16A, examination of Fawkes, 6 Nov. 1605.

²⁴ See McClure, N. E. (ed.), Letters of John Chamberlain (Philadelphia, 1939), I, 212–13Google Scholar.

²⁵ See Bruce, John (ed.), Correspondence of King James VI of Scotland, with Sir Robert Cecil, and others in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (London, Camden Society, 1861), pp. 53–76Google Scholar.

²⁶ Syon House MS (at Alnwick Castle) U.I. 10, fos. 28, 67, household bills, Nov. 1605.

²⁷ SP 14/216/225.

²⁸ Bodleian MS Perrott 7, fos. 200–8.

²⁹ BL Harley MS 589, fos. 111–34, printed in DeFonblanque, E. B., Annals of the House of Percy (London, 1887), II, 600–6Google Scholar; and Gardiner, S. R., History of England 1603–1616 (London, 1863)Google Scholar, II appendix I (omitted from the complete 10-volume history, 1603–42). This is the draft of the decree entered in the now-missing decree books of the court of star chamber. There is a copy of the final version at Alnwick (Syon MS N.I. 19); Baildon, , Hawarde's reports, pp. 292–9Google Scholar (the Hawarde manuscript is now in the Carl F. Pforzheimer Library, New York, MS 36); Cheshire County Record Office, DLT/B 8, pp. 168–74, two reports among the collections of Sir Peter Leycester; Leeds, Yorkshire Archaeological Society MS DD 56/R/4, report in the Slingsby family collection; BL Add. MS 5495, fo. 30-30V and MS 30305, fos. 19–22v, two further reports, the latter among papers once belonging to the Fairfax family of Denton. All these reports, apart from Hawarde's and the official ‘decree’, which was drafted by William Mill, clerk of the star chamber, are anonymous, and all appear to be independently composed. See also Howes', Edmond continuation of Stow's, JohnAnnales (London, 1631), p. 884Google Scholar.

³⁰ The date is wrong, probably the result of misreading the Roman numerals in the original.

³¹ Richard Bancroft.

³² Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Ellesmere.

³³ Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset.

³⁴ Charles Howard, earl of Nottingham.

³⁵ Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk.

³⁶ Gilbert Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury.

³⁷ Henry Howard.

³⁸ Edward Somerset.

³⁹ Robert Cecil.

⁴⁰ Thomas Cecil, earl of Exeter.

⁴¹ Richard Vaughan.

⁴² Edward, Lord Zouche.

⁴³ William, Lord Knollys.

⁴⁴ Edward, Lord Wotton.

⁴⁵ Sir John, Lord Stanhope.

⁴⁶ Sir John Popham.

⁴⁷ Chancellor of the exchequer.

⁴⁸ Sir John Herbert, second secretary.

⁴⁹ Sir Thomas Fleming, lord chief baron of the exchequer. All English members of the privy council were present. This list agree with that given by Hawarde (Baildon, , Hawarde's reports, p. 292)Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Sir William Waad.

⁵¹ Sir Edward Coke.

⁵² There seems to have been some misunderstanding as to what had been decided at a hastily convened council meeting on the morning of 5 Nov. While his colleagues seem to have thought that Northumberland had agreed to stay in his house for the time being, the earl himself had thought that it had only been suggested, and that he had remained free to do as he pleased. He had attended parliament that afternoon (Alnwick MS 101, fo. 14, Northumberland to the council, 24 Nov. 1605).

⁵³ Lambeth Palace.

⁵⁴ This, in fact, was not quite true. Lists of questions drawn up for Winter, Fawkes and the Jesuit Thomas Strange included direct questions about Northumberland, but no answer to these has survived, so it is just possible that they remained unasked (SP 14/16/116; Hatfield MS 113/34).

⁵⁵ The attorney was here, perhaps, not telling the whole truth. Fawkes had almost certainly been tortured on 8 or 9 Nov., in accordance with the king's orders (SP 14/216/17). The alteration in Fawkes' signature between his examinations of 7 and 9 Nov. suggests that his health had taken a sudden turn for the worse (SP 14/216/37, 54). On the other hand, his colleagues do not seem to have been subjected to such treatment. Torture was again used, apparently, on the men captured with Garnett at Hindlip House (BL Add. MS 11402. fos. 109V, no, privy council warrants for the use of torture, 19 and 22 Feb. 1606).

⁵⁶ A reference to the star chamber proceedings against Northumberland's brother-in-law Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, in June 1600 See Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Calendar of manuscripts of the marquis of Bath, preserved at Longleat, Wiltshire, V (London, 1980), 269–76Google Scholar

⁵⁷ A similar explanation had been given by Coke for the delay in bringing the Gunpowder plotters and rebels to trial (Bodleian MS Add C86, fo 3–3V)

⁵⁸ 3 James, I, c 2, Statutes of the Realm, IV, 2 (London, 1819), 1068–70Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Lords Mordaunt and Stourton

⁶⁰ Northumberland had criticized Coke's conduct in a case over the Perrott inheritance, a part of which was claimed by his wife See case papers in Syon MS Y III 1, bundle 6

⁶¹ The earl's trial was, as might be expected, a great public spectacle, and several sources comment on the press of spectators (Baildon, , Hawarde's reports, p. 292Google Scholar; Hatfield MS 119/151, John Wodenothe's information). The exact order in which Coke presented his information is impossible to follow from the surviving reports, since all in some way rearrange the material.

⁶² Philip III.

⁶³ Joseph Creswell, S.J.

⁶⁴ Oswald Tesimond, S.J.

⁶⁵ Francis Tresham, the last man to have been admitted to the Gunpowder plot, and the most probable author of the warning letter to Lord Monteagle, died in the Tower on 23 Dec. 1605, of a strangury. See Wake, Joan, ‘The death of Francis Tresham’, Northamptonshire Past and Present, II, 1 (1954), 31–41Google Scholar; SP 14/17/56, Waad to Salisbury, 23 Dec. 1605.

⁶⁶ On the Spanish treason see Loomie, , ‘Guy Fawkes in Spain’, 4–39Google Scholar; Wormald, , ‘Gunpowder, treason, and Scots’, 154–7Google Scholar; Dodd, A. H., ‘The Spanish treason, the Gunpowder plot, and the catholic refugees’, The English Historical Review, LIII (10 1938), 632–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hatfield MS 112/91, Thomas Winter's confession, 26 Nov. 1605. See above, note 11.

⁶⁷ Christopher Wright, but Coke was here the victim of a mendacious confession (Loomie, , ‘Guy Fawkes in Spain’, pp. 44–6)Google Scholar.

⁶⁸ Guy Fawkes.

⁶⁹ Sir William Stanley.

⁷⁰ William Baldwin.

⁷¹ Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, granted by James to the countess of Northumberland as widow of Sir Thomas Perrott in Feb. 1605 (Public Record Office C66/1653/39; SP 14/60, p. 36). The Welsh lands were passed to her uncle, Lord Knollys, to hold in trust for her and for her daughter by Perrott.

⁷² SP 14/4/91, examination of Lord Cobham, 22 Nov. 1603. See below, note 101.

⁷³ A question about his augmentation of the stables appears in a list of questions which the earl was to answer in writing, dated 29/30 Nov. 1605 (SP 14/216/125). No set of answers survives, although the earl added to one of his answers in a letter written on 13 Dec. (SP 14/17/39). See also below, note 103.

⁷⁴ See SP 14/216/204, 205, examination of Edward Oldcorne, 13 Mar. 1606, and deposition of Garnett, 23 Mar. 1606.

⁷⁵ SP 14/19/44, examination of Garnett, 14 Mar. 1606.

⁷⁶ Nathaniel Torporley. See his examination, 27 Nov. 1605 (SP 14/216/122).

⁷⁷ Thomas Harriot. In receipt of a pension from Northumberland since the 1590s, Harriot had helped Ralegh plan his defence in 1603. At that trial his religious beliefs had been condemned by Popham. Harriot was arrested and his house at Syon searched, in November 1605. See Shirley, John W., Thomas Harriot (Oxford, 1983), pp. 210–11, 316–17, 327–57Google Scholar.

⁷⁸ No such written confession survives. It may have appeared in the missing answers to the questions of 30 Nov. 1605 or it may be implied in SP 14/216/113A.

⁷⁹ An informer, Ralph Radclyff, claimed that he had overheard a remark to this effect in a conversation between Hugh Owen and William Baldwin in the army camp of the archdukes, in Flanders. See Hatfield MS 113/34, h'st of questions for Thomas Strange; BL Add. MS 30305 fo. 20 v.

⁸⁰ Henry, fifth Lord Windsor, died in 1605. Northumberland insisted that he had dutifully given the names of every petitioner to the council, and that he had acted honourably in the matter (Alnwick MS 101, fo. gv, letter to the council, 14 Nov. 1605).

⁸¹ A reference to the grandiose schemes of the Bye plotter, William Watson, in 1603 (SP 14/3/16, Watson's confession, 10 Aug. 1603). Watson, of course, was no Jesuit, rather he was one of the society's most bitter critics.

⁸² Bodleian M S Tanner 75, fo. 203, Fawkes' confession, 11 Nov. 1605.

⁸³ Syon House, Middlesex, granted in freehold to Northumberland by the king in July 1604.

⁸⁴ SP 14/216/100, 126; Hatfield MS 113/54, examinations, confession of Fawkes, Keyes and Thomas Winter.

⁸⁵ Bodleian MS Tanner 75, fo. 203.

⁸⁶ SP 14/216/113. In a letter to the king written late in 1603, Northumberland referred to Percy as 'this ancient Mercury of myne, my cousin Percy, whoe could not before tyme looke yow in the face but by owghlight' (SP 14/4/85).

⁸⁷ Usually given as ‘wind and work’ (Syon MS N.I. 19 fo. 7).

⁸⁸ Bruce, , Correspondence, p. 56Google Scholar.

⁸⁹ Ibid. pp. 61–3.

⁹⁰ In May 1603 the king has specifically required Northumberland to ensure that all pensioners had taken or would take the requisite oaths (SP 14/1/86).

⁹¹ Sir Allan Percy, sixth son of the eighth earl of Northumberland. See ‘Politics and Percies’ pp. 168–82.

⁹² SP 14/216/113, 220, examinations of Northumberland, 23 Nov. 1605 and 23 June 1606.

⁹³ SP 14/216/220.

⁹⁴ Possibly Josceline Percy, son of Thomas' eldest brother Allan Percy of Beverley. Josceline was living in the earl's household at the time of Gunpowder plot, and his information on his uncle's movements on 3 and 4 Nov. 1605 is in the Gunpowder plot book (SP 14/216/59).

⁹⁵ For summaries of what the various judges said see Baildon, , Hawarde's reportes, pp. 298–9Google Scholar; BL Add. MS 5495, fo. 30V. The Leycester collection at Cheshire CRO contains copies of two reports on the trial. Of these, the second adopts a far more blatantly hostile attitude towards the earl than was reported in any other source. It is very short, and appears to reflect gossip and rumour rather than the observations of an eyewitness, listing several charges which, had they been pressed, could have been construed as nothing other than treason. Northumberland was accused of making Percy a pensioner knowing that he had sworn to kill the king. He was also said to have ‘absentted himself from the parliment by leaue before the daie’ in order to take physic. However, it does include short versions of what Popham and Ellesmere were supposed to have said: ‘The lord cheefe justice said himselfe would speake to his maiestie that he [Northumberland] might never come forth, for it could not be but his lordships hande was as deep as any other in the powder treason, though it did not yet evidentlie appeare. The lord chancelor said this censure was not a full punishment for all his offences but for those knowne; and if heareafter any other thinge should appeare, his lordship should answere it els where in a higher nature’ (DLT/B 8, pp. 173–4). The tone of these speeches is very unlikely: another report insists that the lords ‘vsed him with great respect and comisseration, omitting no commendations that was due vnto him but acknowledgeing his noble birth and virtues in verry ample manner’. They imposed a heavy sentence in order that ‘his majestys clemencie…might apeare the more glorious; that where sin had abounded, grace might superabound’ (BL Add. MS 5495, fo. 30v).

⁹⁶ See appendix 2. Northumberland also lost his Lieutenancy of Sussex.

⁹⁷ Hatfield MS 112/91, deposition dated 26 Nov. 1605.

⁹⁸ SP 14/216/116, examination dated 25 Nov. 1605.

⁹⁹ Bodleian MS Tanner 75, fo. 203, examination dated 11 Nov. 1605.

¹⁰⁰ SP 14/216/100.

¹⁰¹ SP 14/4/91, examination of 22 Nov. 1603. some of Cobham's depositions are known to be missing, for example those of 18 and 20 July 1603 (Howell, State trials, 11, col. 17; BL Harley MS 39, fo. 267V (277V)). See also Hatfield MSS 102/25, 47, letter of Ralegh to various lords, printed in Edwards, Edward (ed.), Life and letters of Sir Walter Ralegh (London, 1868), II, 274Google Scholar, and letter from the bishop of Winchester to the privy council, 4 Dec. 1603.

¹⁰² SP 14/19/44, examination dated 14 Mar. 1606.

¹⁰³ SP 14/216/113, 220, examinations dated 23 Nov. 1605 and 23 June 1606. See also SP 14/216/125, list of interrogatories for the earl, 30 Nov. 1605, and BL Add. MS 30305, fo. 19, which records the answer to one of the questions. No complete set of answers has been preserved.

¹⁰⁴ This examination has not been traced.

¹⁰⁵ SP 14/3/16, confession dated 10 Aug. 1603.

¹⁰⁶ SP 14/216/122, examination dated 27 Nov. 1605.

¹⁰⁷ Harriot's examination has not been traced, see above, note 77. St Saveur, Carleton's Parisian correspondent, was apparently also examined (BL Add. MS. 30305, fo. 20v).

¹⁰⁸ None of these confessions has been found, see above, note 91. Thomas Stapley was clerk of the check in 1604–5 (PRO E407/1/36, 37, gentlemen pensioners' rolls).

¹⁰⁹ Knollys, the countess of Northumberland's uncle, may have feared the likely effects of such a fine on the fortunes of his niece and her young family. Northumberland sent him a letter of thanks for suggesting the lesser fine (Alnwick MS 101, fo. 25, letter dated 20 July 1606).