The King's Assassin

by Benjamin Woolley

  The despondent and confused … CSPD, 5 Mar 1624, item 81; HoL, 14 Mar 1624; Holles records five subsidies and ten fifteenths; elsewhere the demand is six subsidies and ten fifteenths.

  The queasy archbishop … Baker, 2015: ‘8th March 1624’.

  The following week … Baker, 2015: ‘11th March 1624’; the pithy summary of his letter to Carleton is in CSPD, 20 Mar 1624, item 4; CSPD, 15 Mar 1624, item 77; CPSD, 17 Mar 1624, item 90; Bergeron, 1999, letter B20.

  The endless negotiations … CPSD, 17 Mar 1624, item 90; Baker, 2015: ‘19th March 1624’.

  On Sunday 21 March … Baker, 2015: ‘21st March 1624’.

  A Game at Chess

  In the opening ‘Induction’ … Middleton, 1625, sig. Br.

  ‘This vulgar pasquin’ … Holles, 1983, vol. 2, pp. 288–9.

  Tumbling out of the Globe … Whiteway and Murphy, 1939, p. 18.

  Some speculated that the ‘gamesters’ … Howard-Hill, 1991, pp. 283, 278.

  Humiliatingly, James’s ‘first notice’ … Acts of the Privy Council of England, vol. 39, 1623–1625, ed. J. V. Lyle (London, 1933), pp. 303, 305; British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/actsprivy-council/vol39 [accessed 2 Dec 2016].

  Hobgoblins

  For what the British had not realized … Elliott, 2002, p. 321 ff.

  Their first attempt had come soon … CSPD, 20 Mar 1624, item 4.

  According to Francesco’s own report … Ruigh, 1971, pp. 271–3.

  The most specific and scandalous charge … Bodleian Tanner MSS 82:90 ff206–208; Hacket, 1693, p. 132.

  At around the same time … Ruigh, 1971, pp. 271–2.

  Brett’s brother-in-law and patron … Hacket, 1693, pp. 196–8. For a discussion of the veracity of Hacket’s account of Williams’s involvement, see Nichols, 1828, vol. 4, pp. 961–2, n. 1; Ruigh, 1971, pp. 274–5, nn. 21, 22.

  Meanwhile, there were signs … Ruigh, 1971, pp. 283, 286–7, 291.

  Other accounts capture … Wilson, 1653, p. 271; CSPD, 25 Apr 1624, item 50.

  The duke also provided a stout defence … Ruigh, 1971, p. 291.

  And yet without Steenie … CSPV, 17 May 1624 [NS], item 388.

  To Ride Away an Ague

  On this occasion George was treated … Lockyer, 2014, p. 195.

  The onset of the illness … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 1971; CSPV, 17 May 1624 [NS], item 388.

  By mid-May … CSPD, 15 May 1624, item 86.

  On 25 May, James came to London … Lockyer, 2014, p. 196.

  He had earlier promised … Bergeron, 1999, letter B23.

  No more was needed … Bergeron, 1999, letter J30.

  Of course George was too ill to go … Bergeron, 1999, letters J31 and J32.

  George responds teasingly … Bergeron, 1999, letter B24.

  As George regained his strength … Bergeron, 1999, letter B2.

  The Price of a Princess

  George made his formal return … Lockyer, 2014, p. 198; CSPD, 29 May 1624, item 61.

  The Spanish envoys, meanwhile … Ruigh, 1971, p. 301.

  The efforts of Cranfield’s brother-in-law … Nichols, 1828, vol. 4, p. 984.

  With all immediate threats … Lockyer, 2014, p. 201.

  Early signs were encouraging. Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 568.

  At Windsor, George took Effiat to one side … For contrasting interpretations of Buckingham’s first meeting with Effiat, see Lockyer, 2014, p. 200, and Schreiber, 1984, p. 68.

  They proved to be tough. CSPV, 20 Jun 1624 [NS], item 448; 5 Jul 1624 [NS], item 476.

  Despite these setbacks, George … Lockyer, 2014, p. 200.

  Throughout the negotiations … Bergeron, 1999, letters J33, B5, B33 and B36.

  But George’s letters … CSPD, 7 Jul 1624, item 26; Bergeron, 1999, letter B38.

  Only one letter during this period … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, pp. 439, 573; Bergeron, 1999, letter B39.

  Despite these family distractions … Whiteway and Murphy, 1939, pp. 74–5, 79; Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 588.

  An English agent crossed the North Sea … CSPV, 2 Dec 1624 [NS], item 685.

  Not everyone was convinced. CSPV, 6 Dec 1624 [NS], item 687.

  A formal event was organized … CSPV, 3 Jan 1625 [NS], item 730.

  Finally, on 31 January 1625 … Lockyer, 2014, p. 227.

  As James’s secretary put it … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2028; Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 584.

  The fortified city of Breda … CSPV, 7 Mar 1625 [NS], item 842; Lockyer, 2014, pp. 227–8; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2039.

  When he heard the news … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2028.

  Meanwhile, agents arriving in London … Schreiber, 1984, pp. 85–6; CSPV, 26 Feb 1625 [NS], item 818.

  Confirming suspicions … Lockyer, 2014, p. 224.

  Rumours swirled … CSPV, 14 Mar 1625 [NS], item 853; Cecil, 1663, pp. 237–8.

  William Whiteway, the Dorchester merchant … Whiteway and Murphy, 1939, p. 84.

  What an Age We Do Live In

  ‘Dear Dad’ … Bergeron, 1999, letter B40.

  The king’s mood was further lowered … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 604; CSPD, 12 Mar 1625, item 48; Birch, 1848, vol. 2, p. 504.

  A range of treatments were prescribed … Culpeper, 1653, pp. 182, 166.

  ‘A tertian in the spring … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 606; CSPV, 28 Mar 1625 [NS], item 869.

  Around this time, the ‘cunts’ turned up … Bergeron, 1999, p. 211.

  Remington was not a member … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2263.

  Mayerne, the king’s chief physician … Trevor-Roper, 2006, pp. 273–5.

  The number at Theobalds … Holles, 1983, vol. 2, p. 302.

  For all their eminence … Margaret Pelling and Frances White, ‘PADDY, Sir William’ and ‘MOORE, Dr John’, in ‘Physicians and Irregular Medical Practitioners in London 1550–1640 Database’, London, 2004; British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-physicians/1550-1640 [accessed 2 Dec 2016]; Munk’s Roll, http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/3174 [accessed 2 Dec 2016].

  George was at Theobalds on 11 March … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2128; CSPV, 28 Mar 1625 [NS], item 869.

  The king started to suffer a violent fit. Hacket, 1693, p. 222; Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 3, pp. 57–8, 68–9.

  In the midst of this melee … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 1923.

  On Friday 25 March … Nichols, 1828, vol. 4, p. 1032; Stewart, 2003, p. 346.

  ‘I ascended the pulpit … Laud, 1695, p. 15.

  Recovering himself, George … Wotton, 1672, p. 219.

  Charles’s succession was proclaimed … Howell, 1726, p. 174.

  Not everyone was pessimistic. Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 618.

  ACT IV: WE THE COMMONS

  Poisonous Applications

  His charcoal moving across the paper … Held, 1976, p. 547; Brotton, 2006, p. 10; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 3393; Martin, 1966.

  It was May 1625 … Memegalos, 2013, p. 18; DNB, Henrietta Maria [Princess Henrietta Maria of France] (1609–69); Plowden, 2001, p. 20.

  One, a complex work by the celebrated poet Hugh Holland … Holland, 1625; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, ch. 2.

  The procession was enormous … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, p. 16; Nichols, 1828, vol. 4, p. 1036 ff.

  George, barely recovered from his sickness … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 615; CSPD, 16 May, item 50 (postscript); http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/howard-sir-thomas-1587–1669#footnote25_w2ubkci.

  Later that day, he was visited … Memegalos, 2013, p. 18.

  During James’s final weeks … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 4532.

  George and his company galloped … CSPD, 25 May 1625, item 88.

  George’s formal introduction … Petitot, 1824, p. 403.
/>   Vain or not, tout le monde … Lockyer, 2014, p. 236.

  The one person who did not … Wotton, 1672, pp. 220–1; Charles, 2011, pp. 114–17.

  George would not allow … DNB, John Tradescant the elder (d.1638).

  Anne of Austria

  George’s love life … Lockyer, 2014, pp. 152, 160.

  However, what George did not realize … The report is contained in Peuchet, 1838, p. 27 ff. A translation of the section of the work relating to Buckingham appeared in the Morning Chronicle (Anon., 1839). Jacques Peuchet (1758–1830), who was described as the archivist of the Paris police, is a curious but probably reliable source. The original documents from which he quoted are not known to have survived, and the picaresque quality of his narrative was to have more impact on the world of literature than history, inspiring a number of Dumas’s works, including The Three Musketeers. However, Peuchet produced a number of collections of police statistics and archives which appear to be historically credible, e.g. Collection des lois, ordonnances et règlements de police depuis le 13e siècle jusqu’à l’année (Paris, 1818). See Hoefer, 1862, vol. 39, pp. 770–1. The Marquis de Bautru (also spelled Beautru or Botro), the agent mentioned in Peuchet’s account, turns up in a number of contemporary sources and was associated with Anglo-French negotiations at the time. See for example CSPV, 17 Dec 1625 [NS], items 371 and 373, where ‘Botro’ is described as ‘a servant of the queen mother and consequently a dependant of the cardinal, a friend of Buckingham and who knows the secrets of the Cabinet and the intentions of the Duke of Chevreuse and of the queen herself’. See also Leveneur, 1863, pp. 84–5.

  George and the duchess … Mademoiselle de Flotte is probably Marie de Hautefort, who may have got the name ‘Maiden of the Fleet’ through her grandmother, Catherine Le Voyer de Lignerolles, known as ‘la Dame de la Flotte’. Hautefort was known to be close to Louis XIII. See, for example, La Porte, 1755, p. 202.

  Anne now flouted the king’s orders … Michaud and Poujoulat, 1838, p. 15 ff.

  In London, a lack of news … Plowden, 2001, p. 22–3.

  The party set off on its long journey … CSPD, 9 Jun 1625, item 48.

  That evening she was introduced … Cecil, 1663, pp. 253–4.

  Later that day, the weather deteriorated … Michaud and Poujoulat, 1838, pp. 19–20; Petitot, 1824, pp. 404–6.

  And So the Devil Go with Them

  Since King James’s death … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 2314, 2326.

  George was made first gentleman … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, pp. 3, 6; CSPV, 25 Apr 1625 [NS], item 25.

  There was a slackening … Birch, 1848, vol. 1, pp. 12, 10.

  The orderliness left … CSPV, 2 May 1625 [NS], item 38.

  The king’s nuptials … Birch and Gamache, 1848, pp. 24–5.

  Henrietta’s twelve-hour Channel crossing … Leveneur, 1863, pp. 89–90; Birch, 1848, pp. 29–31; Plowden, 2001, pp. 25–7.

  Lord Keeper Williams, responsible for helping … CSPD, 13 Jun 1625, item 62; Bidwell and Jansson, 1987, pp. 641–2; CSPV, 24 May 1625 [NS], item 73.

  As always, the parliamentary session … Bidwell and Jansson, 1987, p. 28.

  The following week, the ‘ceremony … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, p. 23.

  Meanwhile, the mood in the House … Sharpe, 1996, p. 3.

  In this hostile environment … Bidwell and Jansson, 1987, pp. 28, 361.

  Instead George appointed Sir Edward Cecil … http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/cecil-siredward-1572–1638 [accessed 2 Dec 2016].

  The Spanish were making moves … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, p. 22.

  While she was staying at Hampton Court … Leveneur, 1863, pp. 93–4.

  The king gave a short opening address … Bidwell and Jansson, 1987, p. 402.

  On 9 August, George … Bidwell and Jansson, 1987, p. 435 ff.

  Soon after, George went to the Hague … Wotton, 1672, p. 223.

  George suggested she would get … Leveneur, 1863, pp. 118–20.

  Henrietta relented … Cornwallis, 1842, p. 143.

  As the wet, miserable spring … CSPV, 21 Aug 1626 [NS], item 705. According to Garnett’s entry in the DNB, he was executed in St Paul’s Churchyard, not at Tyburn.

  Such antics had left Charles … Halliwell, 1848, pp. 262, 270.

  As this was going on, Charles revealed … Ellis, 1825, vol. 3, p. 244; Plowden, 2001, p. 49.

  All Goes Backward

  Two weeks later, Eliot wrote … CSPD, 9 Dec 1625, item 44; 22 Dec 1625, item 38.

  A sense of gloom descended … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 626.

  The vice admiral had long been … Hulme, 1957, p. 81.

  Where George admired audaciousness … Forster, 1872, vol. 1, p. 69.

  When he was released … http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/eliot-john-1592-1632 [accessed 2 Dec 2016].

  The Knot Draws Near

  Henrietta Maria’s dowry … CSPD, 18 Dec 1625, item 10; CSPV, 3 Jul 1626 [NS], item 640.

  Opposition was poorly organized … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 4657.

  On 15 January 1626 … Forster, 1872, vol. 1, pp. 277–9.

  Meanwhile, and presumably with the help … Bodleian Rawlinson, C674 ff22–24; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 4685.

  Hogg’s interrogator … CSPD, 26 Dec 1625, item 54; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 1867.

  Charles opened Parliament … HoL, 6 February 1626; British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/lords-jrnl/vol3/pp492–494 [accessed 2 Dec 2016].

  The initial response was muted … Forster, 1872, vol. 1, pp. 285–9.

  Commenting on the debacle … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, p. 48.

  Common Fame

  He attended the House of Lords sporadically … Lockyer, 2014, p. 97.

  The proposal may have reflected … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 630.

  Nevertheless, in a summary … Lockyer, 2014, p. 296.

  One of the bones of contention … http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/eliotjohn-1592–1632 [accessed 26 Jan 2017]; Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 165, 170.

  On 11 March, members of the king’s Council … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 256–7.

  Then Dr Samuel Turner got to his feet. Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 268–9.

  The following day, the royal secretary … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 4, p. 333.

  The Bottomless Bagg

  In early March 1626 … http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/bagg-james-ii-1592-1638 [accessed 26 Jan 2017].

  As part of these efforts, Bagg … Gardiner, 1872.

  Meanwhile, Turner was to receive … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 284–5, 288, 299, 316–17.

  Turner’s talk of public … Coast, 2016, pp. 23–6; Anon., 1691, pp. 255–7.

  The following day, at a joint meeting … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 392, 404 ff.

  And so the wrangling continued … Coast, 2016, p. 32.

  Concerned that the case … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 3, p. 39.

  The Forerunner of Revenge

  On 18 April 1626, Rubens … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 3386; Eglisham, 1626a.

  Eglisham was a colourful figure … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 4, p. 335.

  In the early 1600s, Eglisham … Chadwick, 1941, p. 571.

  Reflecting the fringe existence … CSPD, 18 Jan 1630, item 60; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 3058.

  On Sunday, 16 June 1622, Hamilton … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 441.

  Eglisham affirmed … Eglisham, 1626b.

  Great Matters of Weight

  On Monday, 24 April 1626 … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 4787.

  In fact, what was afoot … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 3, pp. 53, 56.

  However, copies of Eglisham’s tract … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 4829.

  Besides the v
ivid details … Eglisham, 1626b.

  The committee at least was up … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 3, pp. 53–87; HoL, 17 May 1644.

  What about the testimony … Keynes, 1966, p. 147.

  A Silly Piece of Malice

  Little is known about Butler. CSPD, 27 May 1625, item 57; Bergeron, 1999, p. 211; CSPD, 28 Apr 1626, item 86; Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 5156.

  Whatever his relationship to George … Eglisham, 1626b.

  Charles instructed Henry Wotton … Smith, 1907, vol. 2, pp. 291–3.

  Dissolution

  ‘The arraignment of the Duke … Salvetti and Skrine, 1887, p. 61.

  Still under house arrest … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 4, pp. 150–1; vol. 2, p. 108.

  In the hush that followed … CSPV, 29 May 1626 [NS], item 596.

  In a characteristically abrupt … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 1, pp. 328–39.

  The following day, the finalized list … The full text is contained in HoL, 15 May 1626.

  On the same day, a letter … Proceedings of the House of Lords, 2 May 1626 (Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, p. 202).

  As the official record of the event … John Rushworth, ‘Historical Collections: The impeachment of Buckingham (1626)’, in Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 1, 1618–29 (London, 1721), pp. 302–58; British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rushworth-papers/vol1/pp302–58 [accessed 23 Oct 2016].

  In the Commons there was uproar. Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, p. 239.

  Carleton’s speech … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, p. 241.

  Yet even as Carleton tried to intimidate … Bellany and Cogswell, 2015, loc. 5645.

  The night of the MPs’ arrests … Birch, 1848, vol. 1, p. 104.

  At three that afternoon … John Rushworth, ‘Historical Collections: 1626, June–1627 (March)’, in Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 1, 1618–29 (London, 1721), pp. 374–422; British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rushworthpapers/vol1/pp374–422 [accessed 21 Oct 2016].

  An MP who had kept … Bidwell and Jansson, 1992, vol. 2, p. 449.

  The Devil and the Duke

  Like all of London’s theatres … Bellany, 2008, p. 44.

  On Friday, 13 July 1628, Dr John Lambe … Goldstein, 1979.

  This is when Lambe’s name … Chamberlain and McClure, 1939, vol. 2, p. 601; Birch, 1848, vol. 1, p. 296.