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Raleigh's name was first mentioned by
Brooke, when he accused Cobham. Brooke offered
no evidence against Raleigh directly, but
named him as a person whom the conspirators
in the Main Plot regarded as a "fit
man" to join with them. This meant
nothing in itself: even under the oppressive
treason laws of the day, a man could not
be convicted merely because others mooted
him as one who might be approached to join
a conspiracy. And anyone seriously contemplating
an armed insurrection would have been stupid
not to consider Raleigh's name, given his
(by this time) well-known fall from grace
under the new King, his vast military and
administrative experience, and his significant
connections with people of influence. But
even the fact that Brooke had mentioned
Raleigh's name was sufficient ground to
interrogate him.
At their initial interrogations, both
Raleigh and Cobham denied any knowledge
of the Main Plot. A few days later, a merchant
from Antwerp, Matthew la Renzi (or Laurency)
came forward, and admitted carrying correspondence
between Aremberg and Cobham. He also deposed
to a secret meeting between Aremberg and
Cobham. More significant, so far as Raleigh
was concerned, was the claim that Raleigh
was present when a letter from Aremberg
was delivered, and that Cobham and Raleigh
had gone "into a chamber privately"
to read the correspondence.
Raleigh was again interviewed, and again
denied any knowledge. But, in an apparently
genuine attempt to assist the investigation,
he sent a letter to the Privy Council, stating:
"If your honours apprehend the
merchant of St Helen's, the stranger
will know that all is discovered of
him, which perchance you desire to conceal
for some time. All the danger will be
lest the merchant fly away. If any man
knows more of the Lord Cobham, I think
he trusted George Wyet [Wyatt] of Kent."
There can be little question about Raleigh's
sincerity in writing this letter. The "merchant
of St Helen's" was obviously la Renzi;
"the stranger" was obviously Aremberg;
Raleigh was making the helpful suggestion
that la Renzi should not be arrested, lest
it serve as a "tip off" to Aremberg
and other conspirators. He was also suggesting
that useful information about Cobham could
be obtained from Wyatt.
Lord
Cobham
Cobham was shown this letter during a
subsequent interrogation, and immediately
"broke out into passion", believing
that Raleigh was determined to implicate
him. Cobham cried out: "Oh villain!
Oh traitor! I will now tell you all the
truth", and then admitted to the negotiations
with Aremberg, but claimed that it was all
Raleigh's idea, and that he (Cobham) would
not have become involved but for Raleigh's
influence.
Raleigh was arrested, and imprisoned
in the Bloody Tower pending trial. Normally,
and for obvious reasons, treason trials
were held very swiftly. But Raleigh's imprisonment
continued from the end of July until early
November. Possibly this was due, in part,
to an outbreak of plague in London; but
more likely, the Privy Council knew how
weak was the case against Raleigh - based
on the testimony of a single witness, and
him a co-conspirator - and determined to
wait in the hope that further evidence would
turn up.
Far from producing further evidence to
implicate Raleigh, the delay weakened the
case against him, as Cobham recanted of
his allegations. Then, at a further interview,
Cobham repeated the allegations, claiming
that he had retracted them only because
of his fear of Raleigh.
This was itself a bizarre claim, given
that both Cobham and Raleigh were imprisoned,
and facing trial for their lives. What greater
risk could Raleigh pose to Cobham, than
the risk which his own confession had called
upon himself: the risk of the gruesome punishment
then meted out to convicted traitors, of
being drawn on a hurdle through the streets
of the capital, hanged, disembowelled, castrated,
decapitated, then to have one's body hacked
into quarters, with the four parts being
displayed on the gates to the City, and
the head left to rot on a staff over London
Bridge - added to which was the penalty
of attainder or "corruption of the
blood", by which all of the convicted
traitor's worldly goods were forfeited to
the Crown, and the traitor's family were
denied any inheritance from or through the
traitor? And even if it could be supposed
that Raleigh was in a position to do Cobham
any greater harm than that, Cobham's best
protection was to have Raleigh kept in secure
confinement.
The suggestion that Cobham withdrew his
allegations against Raleigh out of fear
does not bear scrutiny. If anyone was in
a position, either to terrify or to reward
Cobham, it was the Privy Council - Cecil,
in particular. Though Cobham had no hope
of escaping conviction as a traitor, it
was unusual for a member of the nobility
to suffer the full rigours of the punishment
prescribed by law, and Cobham could at least
hope merely to be beheaded. But, were he
to make himself useful to the King (and
Cecil), there was even some chance of his
sentence being commuted to one of imprisonment
- and of his family continuing to enjoy
his hereditary title and property. The suspicion
that a deal was done with Cobham is strengthened
by the fact that, following his and Raleigh's
convictions, Cobham immediately received
a full pardon.
In the lead-up to Raleigh's trial, Cobham
again sought to withdraw his allegations
against Raleigh, writing to the Governor
of the Tower to arrange an interview with
the Privy Council, saying: "God is
my witness, it doth touch my conscience
… . I would fain have [back] the words that
the Lords used of my barbarousness in accusing
him falsely". But the Governor withheld
the letter until after Raleigh's conviction.
Due to the continuing plague in London,
the trial was held in the Great Hall of
Winchester Castle - to this day, apart from
the great Gothic Cathedral, Winchester's
main tourist attraction, where credulous
Americans are shown King Arthur's Round
Table, and the equally apocryphal nook from
which James I is said to have eavesdropped
on Raleigh's trial (James was in fact nowhere
near Winchester at the time).
On a charge of treason, the prisoner
was committed to trial by the Privy Council
- not its Judicial Committee, which evolved
in later years, but the council of the King's
Ministers of State - so there were no committal
proceedings in the modern sense.
Raleigh had never been a popular figure,
and the mere accusation of treason was sufficient
to turn the mob against him. Raleigh was
despatched from the Tower to Winchester,
in his own coach, with an escort of 50 horsemen,
led by Sir William Waad and Sir Robert Mansell.
He was pelted with sticks, stones and mud
- and with tobacco pipes - and Waad wrote
that it was "hob or nob" whether
Raleigh "should have been brought out
alive through such multitudes of unruly
people as did exclaim at him". The
75 mile trip took five days, leaving Raleigh
less than 48 hours to prepare for his trial
on 17 November 1603.
Thus Raleigh came to trial for his life,
on the accusation of a single witness, a
confessed co-conspirator, who had everything
to gain and nothing to lose from implicating
Raleigh, and who had twice retracted his
accusations against Raleigh.
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