The Gunpowder Plot by Sinead Fitzgibbon

Author:Sinead Fitzgibbon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

Trial and Execution

The trial of the eight surviving plotters took place on 27 January 1606. Despite the fact that they had all signed confessions (under duress), all of the plotters entered a plea of not guilty, with the exception of Digby. Their pleas carried little weight with the court, and the outcome of the trial was a foregone conclusion.

Moreover, James took the trial as an opportunity to engage in a little propagandising. He called on an impressive list of ‘commissioners’ to oversee the trial, including the Earls of Suffolk, Devonshire, Worchester, Northampton, Salisbury, and Nottingham, along with the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham and many others. Most significantly, Sir Edward Coke, the incumbent Attorney General, was nominated to preside over the prosecution. Coke, who had been involved in a number of high-profile treason cases in the past, was given to bouts of hyperbole, and had a reputation for delivering lengthy and rousing speeches.

On the morning of the trial, the prisoners were bundled onto a barge and transported along the River Thames to Whitehall. Before entering Westminster Hall, where the trial was to be held, they were retained for a short time in the Star Chamber. This was where the King would have died should the Gunpowder Plot have been successful. They were forced to mount a specially constructed scaffold to endure the jeers of a mocking and sneering audience.

When the trial commenced, Sir Edward Coke, delivered a protracted oration, replete with Biblical and legal references, denouncing the traitors and all they stood for. With due grandeur, he described their crimes as ‘the greatest treasons that ever were plotted in England, and concern the greatest King that ever was of England.’

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