XVI
WILLIAM HUNNIS, GENTLEMAN OF THE CHAPEL ROYAL
It has hitherto been a matter of surprise to the students of Elizabethan literature, that a writer who seemed to them so commonplace should have held such a high position in the opinion of his contemporaries as William Hunnis evidently did. This apparent anomaly set me seeking for something in the man that did not appear in his works, or appeared there only suggestively. Every dictionary that included his name added, “of his life very little is known.” When I grasped the meaning of his association with the Kenilworth festivities, I realized that his life was worth working out in relation to that of Shakespeare. One thing I have been fortunate enough unexpectedly to find: the William Hunnis of Elizabeth was only a survival of the William Hunnis of Mary. Throughout the earlier reign he was the centre of a group of dissatisfied subjects, whose souls were stirred within them by the miseries of their country, and who kept plotting in a haphazard and disconnected manner until their final discovery in 1556, when severity silenced them. The Protestant doctrines and the Protestant spirit of individual independence could, no doubt, find some means of reconciling treason to a Catholic sovereign and faithfulness to a distressed fatherland, crushed under a detested Spanish oppression. His was a period of unrecognized incongruities. An imitator of Sir Thomas Wyatt the poet (d. 1542) in his first literary effort, a metrical translation of the Psalms published in 1550, it is evident that he shared in the feelings of Thomas Wyatt the son about the Spanish marriage, even if he did not join in his “plot” in 1553-4.
He was a friend of John Rogers, once Prebendary of St. Paul’s, the co-worker with Tyndale in editing “Matthews’ Bible,” and he had seen his friend burned at Smithfield on 4th February 1554-5. A few days after he had been implicated in a plot “to kill the King and after him the Queen,” while they were witnessing the “Juego de Cañas,” the Moorish game of throwing cane lances on horseback, brought over here by the Spaniards, at the wedding festivities of Lord Strange and the Lady Margaret Clifford.[42] Whether the “gentlemen of the Chapel Royal” were to be among the mounted performers, and thereby veil their purpose, or whether they expected to take advantage of the excitement and confusion prevailing, I know not. Nothing happened. Caution overcame their courage.
It is probable this was the real foundation of the rumour of what Rapin calls “the forged conspiracy pretended to be discovered before Philip left” in September 1555. (Bk. xvi, p. 242, ed. 1733.)
The burning of four Bishops, thirteen clergymen, and sixty-seven persons this year for religion; the increasing unpopularity of Philip, his neglect of the Queen and infringement of his marriage articles; the patriotic dread of seeing England overrun with Spaniards and its troops and money drawn into the Spanish wars; all these causes had combined to deepen the general discontent. Patriotic unity was even stronger than religious bonds; and a wider conspiracy, including many Catholics, was formed at the end of the year, aided by the shifty policy of the French King, also bitterly anti-Spanish. In January 1555-6 there was a close meeting of the chief conspirators, to plan how best to remove from the treasury the money destined for Philip, and to use it in a national war against the Spaniards, the Queen among them. One of their number, John Dethicke of Westminster, proposed they should invite to join them “William Hunnis, a very handsome man.” Thomas Whyte, “he who afterwards betrayed them,” made a difficulty about admitting a stranger to their secrets, “for fear of disclosing” (doubtless the others already knew his name), and then John Dethicke answered Whyte, “We shoulde not nede to dowt this man, because before at the Jugo de Cano or Barryers, he, Allday, Cornwalle and others to the number of twelve, were appointed to have slayen the Queen’s Majestie, and after that the King’s Majestie.” Being asked how this took not effect, he said: “There was such a cowardness and fear in their stomachs when they sholde have done it, that they made scrupulnes who sholde begynne—knowing that whoever should have been ruler afterwards would have been bound to have made an example of them.” This at least proved William’s inclination to action (tempered though it was with prudence), and prepared the conspirators to welcome him. But the matter was clinched by Dethicke’s telling them that Hunnis had already “been aboute to counterfeit the Keys of Brigham, and stele away the treasure.” When asked how he could have come to the handling of them, Dethicke said Hunnis was very familiar with Nicholas Brigham, the Keeper of the Treasure House at Westminster, and with his wife. His special knowledge, skill, and opportunities made him a valuable acquisition.
Shortly after, in the beginning of February, as Hunnis himself narrates in his examination, John Dethicke, “understanding that I had some skyll and practice in the syens of alchemy, and more, knowing me to be, by means of certain suites in Ireland, in many men’s dangers, debated with me in this wise, ‘Mr. Hunnis, I have but small acquaintance of you, and that which is, came of my friend, Mr. Rogers, for whoes sake and yor own, I should be glad ye should do well ... for I take you to be a constant young man.’” Thereupon Mr. Dethicke tempted him to exercise his skill in “coining” in Dieppe Castle, as the French King had promised £100,000 to aid the conspirators. Through an amusing series of conversations, in which the acuteness as well as the caution of Hunnis is evident, the various plans of the conspirators were explained, further than the “oath” of Dethicke should have allowed to a member yet unsworn. “Thereunto,” quod he, “Beshrew that head. Thou hast a cursed brain, and forasmuch thou hast so truely gessed, I put thee out of dowte that same is our intention, for the French Kinge hath promised our gents on the other syde to ayd them with shippes and vitalls and ordenance, and all that we shall require shallbe to ayd them withall.” “This,” quod I, “doth lyke me very well.” Nevertheless Mr. William Hunnis very sensibly saw the possible dangers, and desired to know what friends they were likely to have. Dethicke told him of some thirty knights, and a great many noblemen, of Mr. Bethell and Mr. Thomas Whyte, and notably of Sir Peter Carew, the fellow of Wyatt in his ill-fated rising. “He is as sure on our syde, as I have you by the arm.” Suddenly Dethicke recollected himself, and warned Hunnis that if he disclosed the names and plans he had now heard, he would soon be despatched by a dagger from an unknown hand. “Why Sir,” quod I, “what nedeth ye thus to dowt of me?” “No, fayth,” quod he, “I dowt thee not, but as friend, I willed wysh thee fyrst to be slaine so that they might have their enterprise.”
Through further examinations we find that shortly after, Bethell, preparing a ship by the aid of John Benbow, of the Chapel Royal, and others, invited Hunnis to “go a-fishing with him.” Here, too, his humour and acuteness seem to have forced Bethell to lay bare the plans of his department of the conspiracy. “I would be loth to spend my time in fishing, I would rather go a piracying,” which remark Bethell seemed to disapprove of. Nevertheless Hunnis concluded, “I would very faine go with you, only I shall not be ready so soon.” Another time he asked Bethell “Do ye here of any news abrod that certen men should arrive in this land from beyond the seas?” Says he, “In faith I car not what I hear, but for myself I will be sure to serve my country truely.” “And howe?” “To kepe that no stranger shall land!” “Captain, that is well said!” answered Hunnis. This was at the very beginning of March, when they met at Fleet Bridge, and the Captain, having been to buy an ensign, told Hunnis that his boat was due by this tide at St. Katharine’s, and that he had harnesses and coats of mail aboard for over 109 men.
Hunnis was also consulted about the transcript of King Henry’s will made by Henry Peckham for Sir Anthony Kingston, who believed that this will, properly read, and also the laws of the realm, would support the plan of the Western conspirators “to send the Quenes Highness over the seas to the King, to make the Lady Elizabeth Queen, and to marry her to the Earl of Devonshire.” Kingston encouraged them all, saying, “I tell you true that the Lady Elizabeth is a goodly liberall dame, and nothing so unthankfull as her sister is, and she taketh this liberality of her mother, who was one of the bountifullest women, but you have served the unthankfullest mistress on the erth, and all she has done, has been agaynst her father, and her brother, or else to our sweet Lady Elizabeth.”
Allday attempted also to win Roger Carter, one of the King’s servants at Westminster, saying that Dethicke had sent him to open matters to him and to tell him that “Hunnis also was privie to the plot”; but Carter after a sleepless night had told Allday that he would have nothing to do with it, and willed both Dethicke and Hunnis “to leave all such practises, or he would turn Displayer.”
Nevertheless they worked on, without telling him any more.