[588] Baga de Secretis, pouch 8. The discovery of these papers sets at rest the controversy whether the Earl of Wiltshire took part in the trial. He was absent at the trial of his children; he was present at the trial of the other prisoners.
[589] Baga de Secretis, pouch 9.
[590] The Duke of Richmond was under age.
[591] Baga de Secretis, pouch 9.
[592] Constantyne, Archæologia, Vol. XXIII. p. 66.
[593] Baga de Secretis. When the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out four months later, Northumberland was the only nobleman in the power of the insurgents who refused to join in the rebellion. They threatened to kill him; but "at that and all times the earl was very earnest against the commons in the king's behalf and the Lord Privy Seal's."—Confession of William Stapleton: Rolls House MS. A 2, 2. See Vol. III. of this work chap. xiii.
[594] I know not whether I should here add the details which Meteren gives of these trials. His authority, a Flemish gentleman, was in London at the time, but was not present in the court. The Lord of Milherve (that was this gentleman's name) was persuaded that the queen was unjustly accused, and he worked out of the rumours which he heard an interesting picture, touched with natural sympathy. It has been often repeated, however. It may be read elsewhere; and as an authority it is but of faint importance. If we allow it its fullest weight, it proves that a foreigner then in England believed the queen innocent, and that she defended herself with an eloquence which deeply touched her hearers. His further assertion, that "Smeton's confession was all which was alleged" against her, is certainly inaccurate; and his complaint, which has been so often echoed, of the absence of witnesses, implies only a want of knowledge of the forms which were observed in trials for high treason. The witnesses were not brought into court and confronted with the prisoner: their depositions were taken on oath before the grand juries and the privy council, and on the trial were read out for the accused to answer as they could.
[595] Two grand juries, the petty jury, and the twenty-seven peers.
[596] Constantyne's Memor., Archæol., Vol. XXIII. pp. 63-66. Constantyne was an attendant of Sir Henry Norris at this time, and a friend and school-fellow of Sir W. Brereton. He was a resolute Protestant, and he says that at first he and all other friends of the gospel were unable to believe that the queen had behaved so abominably. "As I may be saved before God," he says, "I could not believe it, afore I heard them speak at their death." ... But on the scaffold, he adds, "In a manner all confessed but Mr. Norris, who said almost nothing at all."
[597] Kingston to Cromwell: Singer, p. 459.