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The Golden Falcon |
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Chapter X/1 - Plot |
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GUNPOWDER TREASON "Please
to remember The
Fifth of November The
Gunpowder Treason & Plot I
see no reason Why
the Gunpowder Treason Should
ever be forgot." The Reformation and Counter Reformation caused religious wars in all Europe and persecution of Catholics and Protestants alike. The Lancastrians and the first two Tudor kings burnt heretics at the stake, Henry VIII executed both Catholics and Protestants. His various marriages were attempts by the Catholic and Protestant factions to gain ascendancy. His son Edward, a staunch Protestant and pupil of Sir John Cheke, executed some Catholics. On his death the Protestant faction tried to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne but failed with tragic results. Mary Tudor was a hidebound Catholic and burned 283 Protestants in all and was the cause of the persecution of Catholics for 400 years after she died. Elizabeth was against "making windows in men's minds" but was forced into persecuting Catholics because of the Counter Reformation and plots against her life. In an attempt to crush the Counter Reformation, the Elizabethan establishment passed very severe anti-Catholic laws. Every Catholic priest was ordered to quit the kingdom on pain of death. They were fined 200 marks (about 13s.4d. a mark) for saying mass and imprisoned for life. The penalty for harbouring a priest was hanging (without drawing and quartering). Despite this, many of the Catholic houses, especially in Warwickshire, had special hiding places or "priest-holes", some built by Nicholas Owen, Father Garnett's servant. There was one at Huddington Court, home of the Winters since 1483 when Roger Winter married Joan, the heiress. An Act of 1593 forbade Catholics to move more than 5 miles from their residences and they had to pay heavy fines for recusancy. There were many plots during the Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods. In 1567 Darnley was murdered by being blow up with gunpowder. Although his murder was ostensibly to get rid of an unpopular prince, the plot had religious connotations because Mary was the Catholic hope as heir to Britain and the Calvinist Protestants wanted to get rid of her. Her survival made her the focus of plots against Elizabeth, the first by a Florentine banker and Papal agent Roberto Ridolfi, who using an agent Charles Baillie, planned a Spanish invasion in 1571. This was followed by the Babbington and Thorgmorton plots. James I favoured the Catholics at first as they were on his side. He tried to be friendly to the Pope, to end the Spanish War and marry his heir to the Spanish Infanta. He was lenient to Catholicism but Parliament was against repealing the anti-Catholic laws. He restored the earls of Westmorland, Arundel and Lord Paget and knighted Roman Catholics. In 1603 he wanted to make peace with Spain. In 1604 a rumour was spread that the Protestant Queen Anne of Denmark had converted to Catholicism and Sir John Lindsay went to Rome to report this to the Pope and also said that James would convert while in fact he was actually trying to suppress the Puritans. The Gunpowder Plot forced James to intensify the recusancy laws and exile Jesuits. His son Charles I went to the block, partly for his support of Catholics and the suspicion that he was one. Charles II did not get involved in the religious question during his lifetime but was said to have made a deathbed conversion. His brother James II lost his throne because he married a Catholic as his second wife. James III born in exile and sheltered by the Pope, supported toleration for all religions and his son Charles was supposed to have converted to the Anglican church at St. Mary's in the Strand but his brother Henry, the last of his line, became Cardinal York. Until the arrival of democracy, power remained in the hands of a small group of aristocratic families who intermarried between themselves (often to relatives) to consolidate their properties, wealth and power. Feudal society was rigid and those in power seldom married outside their own circles. This was especially true of families of Flemish descent who married within their own community. After the Wars of the Roses (in which most of the old aristocracy died in battle or were executed on the arrival of the Tudors) the merchant and farming classes took their place but many of them were descended from younger or illegitimate sons of the aristocracy. It was the custom in England for the eldest son to inherit the whole property, second sons sometime entered the church and younger sons became merchants. Nearly all the Gunpowder Plotters (who came from rich and university educated families impoverished by the recusancy laws) were related to each other or connected through marriage.
What is not often realised is that those who opposed them were equally closely related. Fig.
97 -
Cooke, Cecil, Bacon & Fitzwilliam: Anthony
Cooke, tutor to Edward VI = Ann, daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam of
Milton, Northamptonshire. She
died in 1584 and was buried at Marholm in the Soke of Peterborough (5
daughters and 4 sons) >: (a)
William Cooke. (b)
Elizabeth Cooke = (1) Thomas Hoby > Thomas Posthumous Hoby.
Eliz.Hoby = (2)
Lord John Russell, the earl of Bedford's heir. (c)
Katherine Cooke = Sir Henry Killigrew. (d)
Margaret Cooke = Ralph Rowlett. (e)
Anne Cooke, 2nd d. = as his 2nd wife, Nicholas
Bacon, widower, Lord Keeper of the
Seal to Elizabeth I = (1) Jane, daughter of a London mercer.
By (1) >:
1. Nicholas Bacon.
2. Edward Bacon.
3. Nathaniel Bacon =
Anne, natural d. of Thomas Gresham. by (2)
4. Susan Bacon 5. Francis Bacon.
6. Anthony Bacon. 7. Mary Bacon. (f)
Mildred Cooke, eldest d. = as his 2nd wife William Cecil,
Secretary of State to
Elizabeth I = (1) d. of John Cheke of Burghley, Northamptonshire
and sister of Sir
John Cheke, Edward IV's tutor.
By 1 >:
1. Thomas Cecil
2. Richard Cecil
3. Elizabeth Cecil = (1)
William Hatton, nephew of Sir Christopher Hatton = (2) Edward Coke = (1) Bridget Paston.
By (2)
4. Elizabeth Cecil.
5. Anne Cecil = Edward
de Vere, earl of Oxford.
6. Robert Cecil = d. of
William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham Anthony Cooke went to prison after the attempt to place the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne. William Cecil, Edward VI, Roger Ascham (Elizabeth's tutor) and Thomas Smith (Edward's Secretary of State) were pupils of the ultra-Protestant Sir John Cheke. Cecil began his career in Edward Seymour, Lord Hertford's household which Cheke obtained for him and he married Cheke's sister Mary. Cecil obtained a property at Wimbledon and Theobalds in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire through John Cheke and his title originated from Burghley in Northamptonshire from where Cheke came. The manor of Burghley belonged to Ralph, Lord Cromwell through whom it passed to the Wykes family who sold it in 1573 to David Cecil, William's grandfather. William Cecil built his London residence, Exeter House on the Strand, which passed to his eldest son Thomas Cecil, earl of Exeter. William Cecil, a pronounced Protestant, was first employed by Henry VIII and became Secretary of State to Edward IV. When his patron Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset fell, Cecil was imprisoned in the Tower of London with Lord and Lady Somerset but later became secretary to his erstwhile enemy, John Dudley (then earl of Warwick). On 11.10.1551 he was knighted by Edward VI with Cheke, Henry Sidney, Amyas Paulet (created earl of Winchester), John Dudley (created duke of Northumberland), Thomas Grey, earl of Dorset (created duke of Suffolk) and William Herbert (created earl of Pembroke). Cecil signed the Letters Patent making Lady Jane Grey Queen but went over to Mary, conforming to Catholicism during her reign. When Mary died, he was one of the first to go to Hatfield House where the Princess Elizabeth had been imprisoned. He was created Lord Burghley in 1572 by Elizabeth I and died in 1598. His second wife Mildred was buried in St Nicholas chapel, Westminster abbey so was her daughter Anne de Vere, countess of Oxford on whose tombs their children and grandchildren are depicted. According to John Stow, William Cecil had a house in Westminster: "Drury
turneth north toward St. Giles-in-the-Field: from the south end of this
lane in the high street are divers fair buildings, hosteries and houses
for gentlemen and men of honour; amongst the which Cicile House is one;
which sometime belonged to the parson of St. Martin's-in-the-Field.
Of later time it hath been far more beautifully increased by the
late Sir William Cecile, baron
of Burghley, lord treasurer and great councillor of the estate." Elizabeth I gave him the advowson of St Clement Danes which was inherited by his eldest son Thomas, earl of Exeter and passed to his descendant, the Marquess of Exeter. William Cecil protected the Puritan parson Henry Smith, lecturer at St. Clements. Burghley's eldest son, Thomas Cecil (d. 1622-3), was Lord Lieutenant of Northampton. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Neville, Lord Latimer (d. 1577). He had a London house in St. Martins-in-the Fields: "A continual new building of divers fair houses, even up to the earl of Bedford's house, which is a goodly house, lately builded nigh to Ivy bridge over against the old Bedforde house, namely called Russell House and Dacres House, now the house of Sir Thomas Cecile, Lord Burghley; and so on the north side to a lane that turneth to the parish church of St. Martin-in-the-Fielde and stretcheth to St. Giles-in-the-Fielde." ["Survey of London" - John Stow]. Thomas received one of the 3 manors of Cardington, Bedfordshire and was succeeded by his son William (d. 1640) whose heir and nephew David Cecil, Earl of Essex died 3 years later seised of the lands in Cardington [Chan Inq. p.m. Ser 2 dccixxiv 8]. The manor of Cardington was the inheritance of Beatrice, youngest sister of John de Beauchamp and passed to her son-in-law John de Botetourt, then to the Latimers and Nevilles of Raby until the death of Air John Nevill. Ñord Lagtimer in 1577 [Placito de Quo Warranto Rec. Com, 2, 58, 59, p. 335, Chan. Inq.p.m. 17 Henry VI, No. 19] when his Cardington propery passed to his 2nd daughgter Dorothy, wife of Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter (d. 1622-3). Burghley's second son Robert, earl of Salisbury was baptised at St. Clement Dane's on 6.6.1563. Robert Cecil's house in Ivy Lane, later Salisbury House, was opposite Durham House where Walter Raleigh lived and Robert was given Hatfield in exchange for Theobalds in 1607. Elizabeth made him Lord Treasurer (between 1572 and 1598), 1st Baron Burghley and knighted him in 1591. He wrote to James I whilst Elizabeth was still alive and ingratiated himself into the King’s favour. He kept his post as Principal Secretary and Privy Councillor, and James made him Baron Cecil of Essendon (1604), Viscount Cranbourne, Earl of Salisbury and Lord Treasurer (1608). In 1613 James was given the names of Spanish pensioners by the English ambassador to Spain but did nothing. Cecil was one of them so was Henry Howard, earl of Northampton. Cecil was saved from trial because he had died in May 1612. He built a London house , which Stow described near the Palace of Savoy, Essex House, Somerset House, Arundel House and Bedford or Russell House: "Liberties
of the Duchy of Lancaster: Ivie Bridge where Sir Robert Cecill, principal
secretary to her majesty hath lately raised a large and stately house of
brick and timber, as also levelled and paved the highway near adjoining,
to the great beautifying of that street and commodity of passengers.
This liberty is governed by the chancellor of that duchy at this
present, Sir Robert Cecil,
knight, principal secretary to her majesty and one of her majesty's most
honourable privy councillors." Robert Cecil's wife, sister of HenryBrooke, Lord Cobham and George Brooke, died in January 1597. Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, and his brother George were involved in Ridolfi's conspiracy. In 1568 the Spanish ambassador to England Guzman de Silva (who had worked for peace) was replaced by Guerau de Spes. The replacement coincided with the arrival of Mary, Queen of Scots. Spes was a fanatic who wanted a Catholic England and urged Catholic families to revolt, to exploit Mary’s claims, assassinate Cecil and compel Elizabeth to conform or abdicate. In 1569 there was a Rising in the North in which the Catholic earls of Northumberland and Westmorland took part - their aims were the same as de Spes’s - elimination of Cecil, restoration of Catholicism, friendship with Spain, the coronation of Mary Stuart as Queen or her recognition as Elizabeth’s heir. Failure of the Rising did not stop the conspiracies against Elizabeth and Cecil. In 1570 encouraged by a Papal Bull, the Catholics plotted to release Mary and overthrow Elizabeth. Those implicated were Mary, her ambassador, the Bishop of Ross, Gerau de Spes and some English nobles but nothing came of it. Pope Pius V then sent his agent Roberto Ridolfi, a Florentine banker, to England. Ridolfi had been in England before and came from Paris to Burghley with a recommendation from Francis Walsingham. Ridolfi made Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk (who had been married 3 times) promise to take part, Mary promise to marry Norfolk and share the throne with him and Don Guerau to promise Spanish aid. Ridolfi went to Brussels to arrange for Spanish aid but the Duke of Alba would not agree until Elizabeth was assassinated. Cecil then called on John Hawkins for help. In March 1571 Hawkins offered the services of his fleet, lying at Plymouth, to the Spanish ambassador. George Fitzwilliam went to Madrid in April as Hawkins’s representative and was interviewed by Philip II. Fitzwilliam’s contact, the Duke of Feria1 gave him a letter for Mary Stuart written in invisible ink. 1The Dukedom was conferred by Philip II on 26.9.1567 on Gome Suárez de Figueroa who married Jane Dormer, grand daughter of Edward VI’s Chamberlain Sir William Sidney. In July Ridolfi´s Plot was complete. Elizabeth would be assassinated in September or October. This would be the signal for Alba to invade from the Netherlands and the duke of Medina Celi from Spain whilst Norfolk would lead the rebellion in England. Hawkins wrote to Cecil on 4.9.1571 from Spain and 3 days after, the Duke of Norfolk was arrested and sent to the Tower. Mary’s ambassador, the Bishop of Ross confessed everything. The Duke was executed the follow year (1572.). In December the Privy Council confronted de Spes with evidence implicating him in the Ridolfi Plot and he had to leave the country. Cobham and George Brooke were really William Cecil's agents and Phelipes, another conspirator, his secretary. Richard Topcliffe (1532-1604), jailer of the Gatehouse Prison, died before the plot in which Kenelm Berney and Edmund Mather were also involved. William Brooke, 10th lord Cobham had a house at Blackfriars. He was sent over with Walsingham to the Netherlands to try and prevent the Dutch Protestant States General falling into to the French and met Don Juan of Austria at Louvain. His son Henry Brooke, 11th lord Cobham was a close friend of Sir Walter Raleigh and Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury who warned James I against Cobham, Raleigh and Percy whom he called the "unholy triplicity" although Cecil, Raleigh and Robert Devereaux, earl of Essex had met and discussed sharing booty from any future voyages Raleigh should make. The Bye Plot which ruined Cobham and Raleigh (both Protestants) was a conspiracy against James I by two priests William Watson and William Clarke in which Cobham's brother, George Brooke, Griffin Markham and Lord Grey de Wilton were involved. Markham was related to Anthony Babbington (who had been involved in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth) and Lord Vaux of Harrowden (whose family was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot). The priests were executed, Cobham, Grey and Markham were reprieved at the scaffold. When Raleigh was tried, Cobham was called as witness and implicated his erstwhile friend in his confession. Cecil's spies Davies, Henry Wright reported to Thomas Challoner and Justice Popham. The Howards were used as decoys for the Catholics as many believed them to belong to that religion - Suffolk and Nottingham were Protestants and Northampton's religion was a matter for conjecture. Thomas Arundell of Wardour was a Catholic who was favourable to James I and was made a peer by him. Raleigh was kind to Robert Cecil's sickly son William, whom he took to Sherborne. Both Cecil and Essex were in contact with the Scots king James I (the heir to England) during the last years of Elizabeth's life and Cecil had a secret understanding with James during whose reign Cecil and the Howards got Spanish pensions. Durham House, formerly property of Sir Walter Raleigh, was granted by James I to Robert Cecil after Raleigh was executed. Cecil built the New Exchange called Britain's Bourse near it, Salisbury House and Little Salisbury House in New Adam Street in the Strand near Exeter House which his father William Cecil built. Robert Cecil died aged 49 on 24.5.1612 at Lady Sherington's house in Marlborough on his way from Bath. Nicholas Bacon came from a family of Redgrave, Suffolk where Sir Edmund Bacon continued as head of family and where there are brasses to the Bacon family with their coats of arms. There was also a branch at Baconsthorp, Norfolk - Nicholas held lands in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Middlesex and London. After he became Lord Keeper and was given the Great Seal, he lived at York House on the Strand on the banks of the Thames, near Charing Cross where his son Francis was born on 22.1.1561. During Lord Egerton’s time as Keeper, Robert Devereaux, earl of Essex was imprisoned there in 1599 and in 1600 and a special commission on him was held there. Both Francis and Anthony Bacon were baptised at St. Martin’s-in-the Fields; their family was strongly Protestant. Sir Nicholas Bacon's first wife Jane was probably the grand daughter of Sir William Butts who held the manor of Great Ryburgh, Norfolk. Sir William Butts, Henry VIII's physician, died on 22.11.1545 and was buried in All Saints, Fulham - his tomb has a Latin verse by Sir John Cheke. It was Sir William Butts who suggested to the king that Edward VI's tutor Dr Cox be replaced by Sir John Cheke, fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge university. Nicholas Bacon's second wife, Anne Cooke, was lady-in-waiting to Mary Tudor and governess to Edward IV. Nicholas bought Gorhambury from his brother-in-law Ralph Rowlett after Margaret Cooke died and York House. He also had a house called Bedfords at Gidea Hall and another in London in Noble Street, Foster Lane. His son Francis Bacon was Sir Francis Walsingham's spy. He and his brother Anthony Bacon were lawyers of Gray's Inn and Francis became MP for Wallingford. He wanted to marry Elizabeth Cecil, widow of William Hatton but she married Edward Coke instead. He was jealous of his cousin Robert Cecil but wormed his way back into his favour. Henry Percy was coachman and bedfellow of Francis Bacon, who, with Essex, was a friend of Henry Howard (brother of the Duke of Norfolk executed in 1752). Undergraduates and men of the Inns of Court were amateur actors and Francis Bacon, John Lancaster, Francis Flower, Anthony Rolston and Antonio Perez mimed in plays. After Nicholas Bacon died, York House was leased to subsequent Lord Keepers until 1617 when Francis Bacon came back to live there and was created Viscount St. Albans. Three months later he fell into disgrace for taking bribes and was tried before the House of Lords, dismissed from all offices, banished from London and fined 40,000. He married at St. Marylebone and when he died, was buried at St. Paul’s Cathedral besides Christopher Hatton, Sir Philip Sidney and Francis Walsingham. Edward Bacon (who had stayed with Theodore Beza in Geneva) had a house at Twickenham called Ferie Meade opposite Richmond Palace where Anthony Bacon, his half-brother, visited him. His other half-brother Francis owned Twickenham Park. Anthony owned Redbourn Place House (built on the site of a Priory) and became a tenant of Sir William Cornwallis at Bishopsgate. Anthony Bacon spent many years abroad gathering information for Walsingham and then in the 1590s for Essex (executed, February 1601) who had taken Walsingham’s place as spy master. The spy headquarters was at the Papey, Bishopsgate (Walsingham's house) and Essex House which Bacon left in 1601 to stay with William Cornwallis at Bishopsgate and probably died at Lady Walsingham’s house in Seething Lane. Sir William Cornwallis, knight of Broom, was married to Lucy Neville, daughter of John, 4th Baron Latimer by his wife Lucy, daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd earl of Worcester. The 3rd baron Latimer was involved in Ridolfi's plot in 1571. Neville's sister Dorothy was wife of Thomas Cecil, 1st earl of Exeter (Salisbury's brother) and her sister Katherine was wife of Henry Percy, 8th earl of Northumberland and duke of Atholl. Sir Charles Cornwallis was ambassador in Spain 1605-1609. In 1613 he was imprisoned in the Tower and died in December 1629. In 1579 Anthony travelled to Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseilles, Bearn and Montauban - all Huguenot strongholds. Bacon still had friends amongst lawyers; one of whom was Edward Selwyn of Gray's Inn. In 1585 William Parry, a Catholic of the Inner Temple and Walsingham's spy, was executed for a plot against the Queen and Tom Lawson, another Catholic friend of Bacon's was imprisoned in 1587. In 1585 the Huguenot house of Navarre was in conflict with Henry III of France and the Guises (Mary Queen of Scot's mother was Mary of Guise). In 1586-7 Anthony Bacon was accused of sodomy in France and Henry of Navarre (a former Huguenot) came to his rescue from La Rochelle. In 1588 the Spanish Armada was defeated, Guise was killed, Henry of Navarre assassinated three months later and Catherine dei Medici died. Anthony Bacon sold the manor of Barley in Hertfordshire and Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate to Edward Spencer, son of Alderman John Spencer (who became lord mayor of London). John Stowe described Crosby Hall in his "Survey of London": "Bishopsgate
Ward: Then have you one great house called Crosby Place, because the same
was built by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman, in place of certain
tenements with their appurtenances, letten to him by Alice Ashfed,
prioress of St. Helen's and the convent for ninety-nine years from the
year 1466 unto the year 1565, for the annual rent of 11.6s.8d.
This house he built of stone and timber, very large and beautiful
and the highest at the time in London.
He was one of the sheriffs and alderman in the year 1470, knighted
by Edward IV in the year 1471 and deceased in the year 1475; so short a
time enjoyed he that his large and sumptuous building; he was buried at
St. Helen's, the parish church a fair monument of him and his lady is
raised there. He gave towards
the reforming of that church five hundred marks, which was bestowed with
the better, as appeareth by his arms, both in the stonework, roof of
timber, and glazing. Richard,
Duke of Gloucester and lord Protector afterwards king by name of Richard
III, was lodged in this house; since the which time, among others, Anthony
Bonvice, a rich merchant of Italy, dwelt there; after him Germain Cioll,
then William Bond, alderman, increased the house in height, with building
of a turret on the top thereof: He deceased in the year 1576 and was
buried in St. Helen's church. Divers
ambassadors have been lodged there; namely, in the year 1586 Henry
Ramelius, chancellor of Denmark, ambassador unto the Queen's Majesty of
England from Frederick II, the king of Denmark; an ambassador of France
etc. Sir John Spencer,
alderman lately purchased this house, made great reparation, kept his
mayoralty there and since built a most large warehouse near
thereunto." Prosperous City merchants resided in Bishopsgate such as Sir Paul Pindar, Sir Thomas Gresham and Sir John Crosby (knighted in 1470 by Edward IV for defending London from Thomas Neville, Bastard of Falconbridge) whose house still stands; Richard, Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed king there. The house became the property of St. Thomas More in 1513-4, subsequently of the Countess of Pembroke, Sir Philip Sidney's sister. It was moved and rebuilt in Danvers Street on the site of the garden of St Thomas More's country house (now the Federation of University Women). Anthony Bacon died on 17.5.1601 and was buried at St. Olaves, Hart Street. His name was omitted from State Papers between December 1600 and February 1601. Thomas Winter (who would have been 22 years old at the time) may have been a friend of Anthony Bacon or alternatively been in the household of Lady Bacon at Gorhambury, Hertfordshire under Edward Spencer, Bacon’s attendant who alternated between his households at Redbourn(+), Gorhambury in Hertfordshire and Bishopsgate in London. Spencer reported that Anthony’s mother Lady Bacon who lived at Gorhambury, fell out with everybody. She took away Winter's cloak and quarrelled with both the brothers Knight. Thomas Winter was at Gorhambury in 1594; Spencer’s letter dated July 1594 (at Lambeth Palace) says Lady Bacon complained about "his Welshman Winter and his cloak". Thomas was once described as often wearing a pearl-coloured cloak and a light blue doublet with a blue lining. (+) Elizabeth Winter had the lease of the Manor of Redbourne, Herts. for 21 years from 5.5.1559 at a rent £15.6s.8d [Calendar of Patent Rolls Eliz. I, Vol I, No. 108: 5.5.1559]. Sir Richard Reade terminated her lease in 1568 [Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, Vol 4 No. 1821]. Elizabeth was probably Sir William Winter’s daughter and sister of Eleanor who married Sir George Huntley (d. 23.9.1622), knight of Frocester. Francis Walsingham (1530-1589) was principal Secretary in 1574 and formed the secret service in 1580. Both Bacon and Walsingham resided in Bishopsgate -Walsingham lived in a house called the Papey which he sold and moved to Seething Lane. John Stow in his "Survey of London" wrote: "Aldgate
Ward: then come you to the Papey, a proper house, wherein sometime was
kept a fraternity or brotherhood of St. Charity and St. John Evangelist
called the Papey for poor impotent priests (for in some language priests
were called papes) founded in the year 1430 by William Oliver, William
Barnabie, and John Stafford, chaplains or chantry priests in London, for a
master, two wardens, chaplains, chantey priests, conducts and other
brethren and sisters, that should be admitted into the care of St.
Augustine Papey in the walls. The
brethren of this house becoming lame or otherwise into great poverty, were
here relieved, as to have chambers with a certain allowance of bread,
drink and coal and one old man and his wife to see them served and to keep
the house clean. This
brotherhood among others was suppressed in the reign of Edward VI since
the which time in this house hath been lodged Master Moris of Essex, Sir
Francis Walsingham, Principal Secretary to her Majesty, Master Barrett
of Essex etc Tower
Street Ward - by the west end of this parish church (All Hallows by
Barking), lieth Sidon Lane, now
corruptly called Sything Lane, (Seething
Lane) from Tower Street up
north to Hart Street. On this
Sidon Lane divers fair and large houses are built, namely one by Sir John
Allen, sometime mayor of London and of the Council to King Henry VIII, Sir
Francis Walsingham knight, Principal Secretary to the Queen's Majesty
that now is, was lodged there and so was the earl
of Essex" (Robert
Devereaux, Walsingham’s son-in-law). Bishopsgate was in the area of playhouses - Sir Edward Alleyne, founder of Dulwich College and manager of the Fortune Theatre (between Whitecross Street and Golden Lane) was baptised at St. Botolphs, Bishopsgate; Shakespeare and the Burbages resided there. In 1596 Richard Burbage, a protégé of William Shakespeare, rented the fraters' rectory in Upper Frater Street (now Printing House Square) leased to actors as the Blackfriars Theatre which Burbage sub-let to the Blackfriars Children's Company who played there until 1608 when his son Richard Burbage moved in with his Company, also backed by Shakespeare and performed there till 1642 when the theatre was closed by the Puritans. William Burbage was the Bacons' tenant at Pinner Park, Middlesex; his brother Robert (who sold Theobalds to William Cecil), had a lawsuit against John Shakespeare the playwright's father. His son Edward Burbage was Bacon's courier. James Burbage and his sons Cuthbert and Richard (probably related to Edward Burbage, Bacon's employee) were the Earl of Leicester's players and built two theatres one was the Curtain at Shoreditch where Cuthbert was manager and his grandson Richard, an actor. Professional actors had to become part of the retinue of great men who were their patrons or else be classed as vagabonds. One such patron was the earl of Worcester whose actors played at the Boar's Head Inn, Eastcheap where Shakespeare's plays first opened in 1559. The earls of Essex had their players as early as 1468 and Robert and Ambrose Dudley, earl of Warwick in 1560. The children of St. Paul's used to take part - one was John Underwood. The playwright Christopher Marlowe was killed at a Deptford Inn probably by Walsingham's spies because he was a Catholic. Shakespeare himself may have been a Catholic; his friend Thomas Russell of Strensham (descendant of the Huddington heiress Agnes) tried to buy Clopton House but Ambrose Rokewood purchased it instead. Sir Francis Walsingham investigated the Throckmorton Plot Treason of 1584 and was succeeded by Robert Cecil (1563-1612), earl of Salisbury, cousin of Francis Bacon and younger son of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Soon after Walsingham died in April 1590, Robert Devereaux, earl of Essex married his daughter (Philip Sidney's widow) in secret without Queen Elizabeth's consent or knowledge. |