Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

charged, and howe much he hym selfe had confessed in the Towre; and, beyng written in certayne leaues of paper, had subscribed with his owne hande wrytyng; refused to haue any tryall made therof, alleaging that he ought not to answere, nor woulde answere, because he was subject to the Kyng of Spayne, and not subiect to the Queenes Maiestie, and the Crowne of Englande: and so, although he was charitably, earnestly, and reasonably required at his arraignment, to answere to the matters wherewith he was charged by indytement, as a borne subiect of this realme; yet he woulde not, but traytorously refused to answere thereto, in such sort, as if he had been indyted of felonie, as he was of hygh-treason, he should, for his not answeryng, haue suffred the payne of pressyng to death, which maner of iudgement is not vsed in cases of treason by the lawes of the realme, bnt was adjudged gyltie of the treasons conteyned in the indytement, as of necessitie and iustice he ought to be, for other judgement coulde not be geuen: and so, by iustice of lawe, he was iudged to the death which he suffred. But, for that it may serue to the satisfaction of all men, to consyder howe farre he was gyltie of the treasons conteyned in his indytement, hereafter foloweth a true, iuste, and playne report of the matters, both wherof he was accused and examined, and which also he did confesse in the Towre.

He was to be charged, that he dyd traytorously conspire agaynst the Queenes Maiestie, with one Prestall, an Englyshe man, who was a fugityue, and principall deuisor of the first treason intended by the young Pooles xi yeres past, and therof was indyted and outlawed: and afterwarde, of late tyme, he practised an other great treason with certayne persons, wherof one disclosed the same to the Duke of Norfolke, who also verye dutifullye reucaled the same to the Queenes Maiestie, wherevpon the sayde Prestall, beyng sought for to be apprehended, fledde into Scotlande, where also he ioyned hymselfe with the Englyshe rebelles, and there attempted sundry treasons against her Maiestie, and from thence he fledde into Flaunders. With this maner of traytor had this D. Storie a continuall intelligence to further his treasons, insomuche as he sayde, not long before he came into Englande, to one that for Dueties sake disclosed it, and is redy to proue it, that Prestall shoulde, or it were long, be the leader of xl thousand men into Englande, agaynst that woman which toke vpon her to be Queene; and sayde the same Storie, I woulde be God she were in the bottome of the sea; with other vile and reprochful wordes, not meete to be reported. With which traytorous speeches he should haue ben charged, yf he woulde haue abyden Tryall accordyng to the lawes of the realme.

The sayde Storie sayde also, in the presence of two persons of English byrth, who were redy to haue charged hym therewith, yf he woulde haue stande to tryall, that he had written letters to Bruxels, that, yf the matters conteyned therein shoulde be reucaled, where he shoulde be charged therewith, he shoulde be hanged, drawen, and quartered. And immediately after this speeche he went to Bruxels with Prestall, where he and Prestall were rewarded with money; and there Prestall declared to certayne persons, redy also to haue auowed

the same, that he had opened his whole purposes to D. Story, whereto D. Story was sworne to kepe the same secrete. But, of the thynges intended by Prestall and Story at that tyme, neyther of them woulde be then knowen; but yet Prestall affirmed, that he had an art to poyson any body a farre of, beyng not present with them, and that none coulde do it but he. And, to shew some taste of their mischiefes, a gentleman belongyng to Courteuile, a secretarie to the Duke of Alua, tolde an Englyshe man, redye also to auowe the same, that D. Story and Prestall were about such matters, and such vyle treason, as the saide partie sayde, that no man coulde deuise worse, and that D. Story was such a wicked man, as could not be found the like, and that he thought veryly they were about murdring of some great persons in Englande.

The sayde Story also receaued certayne letters from Prestall out of Scotland, being written in Scottyshe, whiche are also to be seene, and myght haue ben shewed at the arraignement, yf he woulde haue ben tryed which letters Story translated into Latin, and caryed the same to Bruxels, by whiche it was required, that meanes should be made to the Duke of Alua, to sende into Scotland certayne horsmen, and a number of dagges, to make an entry and inuasion into Englande, with the Scottes; and by the same letter Prestall wrote, that, the thyng, whiche he tolde D. Story in secrete, woulde cost a thousande markes, and that yf the regent and the foolyshe boy, the young kyng, were dispatched and dead, the Scottyshe Queene were a marriage for the best man lyuyng. Al which wordes are conteyned in the letter, translated by D. Story.

The sayde Story beyng at Bruxels, and receauyng a letter from olde Norton, a very olde rebell, beyng arryued at Antwerpe, dyd sollicite certayne of the counsell about the Duke, for money for the relicfe of the same Norton, and his company; and wrote to hym to comfort hym by expresse wordes, that, where he and his company were before but worshipfull, nowe they were an honourable state, and had wonne double honor, and perpetuall fame, for their late enterprise in Englande, and that he woulde come shortly, to geue them their welcome to Antwerpe; and immediatlye he procured, that one D. Saunders, with certayne Englyshe fugityues harboured in Louain, went to Antwerpe to the rebelles, and there Saunders made to them a solemne long oration in prayse of their

actes.

Story also declared in Antwerpe, in presence of such as shoulde haue auowed it ar his arraignement, yf he woulde haue denyed it, that the rebellion shoulde be renewed in Englande, and that, at the same instant also, Irelande shoulde rebell, whereof he sayde he was well assured by aduertisement from an Iryshe bishop, that hadde scaped out of the Towre of London, and that, at the same instant also, the Scottes shoulde, with an ayde out of Fraunce, inuade Englande, and set vp the Scottyshe Queene.

The sayde Story also vsed commonly this maner of prayer after his meates, whereof there are diuers persons redy to witnes the same, that haue hearde hym, and lastly, euen in the hoy wherein he was before he came last into Englande, in the presence of diuers persons, that yf the Queenes Maiestie, whom he woulde neuer tearme, but by the

name of Dame Elizabeth, that tooke vppon her to be Queene, woulde not speedyly turn to Queene Maries religion, he prayed that she myght be ouercome with sworde and fyre, and all that woulde take her part.

And though he myght haue ben charged with sundry other traytorous and haynous conspiracies in the Lowe Countreys, and with aydyng of the rebelles there, whereof out of the saide Lowe Countreys aduertisement was geuen by sundry of good credite; yet of set purpose no more is aboue recited, but suche thynges only, as wherwith he shoulde haue ben charged openly by witnesses, at his arraignement, who, yf he woulde haue denyed the same, shoulde haue auowed the whole to his face, and in the hearyng of the jury, that shoulde haue tryed hym. And howe many of the thynges before recited are to be iudged true and probable, it is to see by these thynges folowyng, whiche are worde by worde extracted out of his owne confessions, subscribed with his owne hande, and vttered upon interrogatories, without any maner of torture, or offer of torture, although at the place of execution he vsed speeche to the contrary, very vntruly, as the worshipfull persons that examined hym can well testifie, which were,

Sir Thomas Wroth, Knight, Maister Wilbraham, then Recorder of London, and Maister Peter Osborne, the tresorers Remembrancer in the Exchequer, and so can also the Lieuetenaunt of the Towre, as touchy ng any torture.

Extracted out of D. Stories Confessions.

ix. December. 1570.

JOHN STORY, the day and yere aboue written being examined, saith, that John Prestall dyd wryte a letter to the sayde John Story, of three sydes of a sheete of paper, as he remembreth, and directed to the sayde Story, which letter was inclosed in a letter, wrytten to one Hamelton, a Scot, that lay at Bruxels, for hym to peruse and scale the same, and then to delyuer it to the sayd Story. And the same letter the sayde Hamelton read, and sealed it vp, and told this examinat the effect therof, and he bad hym open it, and reade it; and so the sayde Hamelton dyd, vntyll he came to a word, Boy or Chylde,' meanyng the King of Scottes, to be made away, as the said Story tooke it.

xii. December. 1570.

Item, He sayth, that Hamelton tolde hym, that Prestall had written, that the matter which Prestall had tolde Story, and the sayd Hamelton, that an Englyshe man nowe in Irelande coulde do, woulde not be done without a great summe of money, whiche matter was to make the Kyng of Scottes away; for Prestall had told this examinat and Hamelton, that the Scottes woulde hardlye be reduced to obe

VOL. I.

D d

dience, as long as the Queene of Scottes was without an husbande, and no man of estimation woulde haue her, so long as the boy lyued; and yf he were dead, he hoped the Emperours brother woulde haue her, and wyshed he myght be an entreater in that matter. And further Prestall said, that the said man, nowe in Irelande, had tolde the Pooles, and hym, the very month, the daye, and houre, that the Queene of Englande shoulde be in hazarde of her lyfe, and that the same Englishe man could dispatch the King of Scottes for money: and beyng asked what the same Englyshe mans name was, Story sayth of trouth he knoweth not, but hath forgotten it, yet Prestall told it him; but whither he is in Irelande, or of what estate, degree, or condition he is of, he knoweth not. And further, that Prestall tolde him, he coulde do much with that Englyshe man in Irelande, wherein this examinat discouraged hym. And the sayde Story sayth, he thynketh of his conscience that Prestall would do all the harme that he coulde to this realme ot Englande.

And further sayth, that Prestall tolde hym, he woulde take any thyng in hand to inuade Englande, so he might haue good assistance, and not to be vsed as an vnderlyng. But Prestall neuer tolde hym by what deuice Englande shoulde be inuaded.

And more he sayth, that Jenny and Markenfelde hath made suite to Courtcuile, and to Northcarne, as Northcarnes secretarie tolde hym, for the reliefe of the Nortons and Neuyls; and after this Courteuile called this examinat, wyllyng hym to byd Markenfelde to come to hym that day, at two of the clocke, and then this examinat prayed, that yf he shoulde come about the money, for the reliefe of the Nortons, and others, that then one Parkar myght be payed for theyr charges, and so it myght be delyuered to Parkar.

He sayth, he wrote a letter to the elder Norton from Bruxels, and shewed the sayde elder Norton, that he woulde be glad to do for hym, euen the best that lay in the sayde Stories power to do, and that he woulde rather stay his owne suites to the Duke, then not to do the best he could for hym, and this was all the effecte of his letter to the sayde eldest Norton; but, afterwarde he called to remembrance, he wrote vnto him, that he was glad, that he and his company were so well come into the Catholyke realme, and safely arryued there. He sayth, he doth not remember, that he wrote to the sayde Nortons, and the reste, that where they were before but worshipfull, they were nowe worthy double honor; but he sayth it may be he dyd write so, because he thought so; and thynkes he dyd wryte vnto them, that he woulde come shortly to Antwerpe, and geue them their welcome, because he meant so to do.

After Markenfelde, and Jenny came ouer, and one Leedes with hym, and first they came to Parkars house, where the sayde Jenny declared openly at the boorde, in the presence of this examinat, and others, the order of the sayde late rebellion.

And hereupon this examinat made reporte to Northcarnes secretarie, that the sayde Ienny was a frende to the Catholykes, and the Earles, and is a very trusty frende, and hath ventured his life for the Catholykes. But afterwarde, this examinat perceauyng the contrary of

Ienny by a Scotte, he gaue Northcarnes secretarie warning to take heede of Ienny.

Shortly after this, the sayde Story came to Antwerpe to Parkars house, where syttyng at dynner, the sayde elder Norton and some other of his company came in from the churche, and one saide, this is Norton, and thereupon this examinat rose, and gaue hym place, and bad him welcome; and so the elder Norton sate downe in the said Stories place.

After old Norton shyfted his lodging, and this examinat, with one Shawe, Nortons sonne in lawe, went to the sayde olde Nortons lodging to dyner, and there dined with hym; and that day al their talke was of the suspition that Norton had of lennys firste commyng to the rebelles in Englande, from the Earle of Sussex, and so he tooke hym styl but a spyc, and to couer hym selfe with, to the Duke, with labouryng for them.

He sayth, that he hearde by Markenfeldes report, that the sayde Nortons and Neuyls, and their company, had two-hundred crownes geuen them from the Duke, at their first commyng, and shoulde haue two-hundred crownes more afterwarde.

More he sayth, that, before the dukes last commyng to Antwerpe, the saide Story and Sir Iames Shelley, beyng at Louain, were there sent for to come to D. Saunders, to heare a certayne booke read (of the reasons that the bull late sent over into Englande should be obeyed, as he suspected) and thither the sayde Story promised to come, but that after noone he was dryuen to go to Bruxels; and so Sir James Shelley went thyther, and brought worde to this examinat, being with one Leedes at dyner, that, yf he had come, he shoulde haue hearde goodly reasons, that he would haue wel lyked, about the booke that Saunders had made.

Further, the sayde Story doth say, that he was neuer sworne to King Philip, nor to the Duke of Alua, nor neuer by any meanes was made Kyng Philippes subiecte or denizen, or otherwyse naturalized to be Kyng Philippes subiect, but remaynes only styll a subiect to the Queene of Englande..

Thus subscribed, though he sayd otherwyse at Tyborne,

xx. December, 1570.

IOHN STORY.

The sayde John Story, this xx. day of December, beyng examined, sayth, that about two yeres sence he dyd deale by wrytyng with Courteuile, shewyng vnto hym, that the Catholykes in Englande dyd dayly decay, and the scismatykes dyd there daylye encrease; and thertore, yf the King of Spayne had any meanyng to wryte to the Queene of Englande, or otherwise to helpe to restore religion in Englande, he shoulde do it betyme, or els it woulde be to late. eyther he dyd wryte further, or sayde by mouth to the sayde Courteuile, that, yf the Kyng of Spayne dyd but come into the Low Countreys out of Spayne, with a number of shyppes, the catholykes of Englande would thynke, as this examinat thought, that he were come to restore

And

« ZurückWeiter »