Exeter Conspiracy

The Exeter Conspiracy, 1538, was a supposed attempt to overthrow the Henry VIII, who had taken control of the Church of England away from the Pope. and replace him with a devout Catholic and Yorkist, Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, KG who was 1st cousin to the King. An Act of Attainder was brought against the Marquess of Exeter and he was found guilty of treason by his peers in Westminster Hall, along with other supposed conspirators.[1] Some sources suggest the 'conspiracy' was largely exaggerated by Thomas Cromwell, at this point Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich. Victorian historian J. A. Froude, however, writes that the Courtenays were 'petty sovereigns in Devonshire and Cornwall',[2] which may go some way to explaining the true nature of the conspiracy. Yet there is no evidence to suggest that Courtenay ever had the means to or intended to muster any kind of rebellion against the King, the charges brought against Lord Exeter were based on the correspondence he had with Reginald Pole, who was a Catholic Church official, and the testimony of Geoffrey Pole.

The incensed king, with Pole himself out of his reach, took a terrible revenge on Pole's family for engaging in treason by word against the king. The leading family members and even Pole's mother were executed, and all their properties seized. The action destroyed the Pole family.[3] Sir Geoffrey Pole was arrested in August 1538; he had been corresponding with Reginald, and the investigation of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter (Henry VIII's first cousin and the Countess of Salisbury's second cousin) had turned up his name; he had appealed to Thomas Cromwell, who had him arrested and interrogated. Under interrogation, Sir Geoffrey said that Henry Pole, his eldest brother, Lord Montagu, and Exeter had all been parties to his correspondence with Reginald. Montagu, Exeter, and Lady Salisbury were arrested in November 1538, together with Henry Pole and other family members, on charges of treason, although Cromwell had previously written that they had "little offended save that he [Reginald Pole] is of their kin". They were committed to the Tower of London, and in January, with the exception of Geoffrey Pole (who was in Europe), they were executed.

In January 1539, Sir Geoffrey was pardoned, and Montagu and Exeter were tried and executed for treason, while Reginald Pole was attainted in absentia. In May 1539, Montagu, Exeter, Lady Salisbury, and others were also attainted, as her father had been; this meant that they lost their lands – mostly in the South of England, conveniently located to assist any invasion – and titles, and those still alive in the Tower were also sentenced to death, so could be executed at the King's will. As part of the evidence given in support of the Bill of Attainder, Cromwell produced a tunic bearing the Five Wounds of Christ, symbolising Lady Salisbury's support of Roman Catholicism and the rule of Reginald and Mary; the supposed discovery, six months after her house and effects had been searched when she was arrested, is likely to be a fabrication.

Margaret Pole, as she was now called, was held in the Tower of London for two and a half years under severe conditions; she, her grandson (Montagu's son), and Exeter's son were held together and supported by the King. In 1540, Cromwell himself fell from favour and was himself executed and attainted. Margaret Pole was finally executed in 1541 (her execution was dreadfully botched and horrifying even for those brutal times), protesting her innocence until the last – a highly publicised case which was considered a grave miscarriage of justice both at the time and later. Pole is known to have said that he would "...never fear to call himself the son of a martyr". Some 350 years later, in 1886, Margaret was beatified by Pope Leo XIII.

Theatrical Depictions

References

  1. ↑ J. P. D. Cooper, 'Courtenay, Henry, marquess of Exeter (1498/9-1538)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004
  2. ↑ Froude, James Anthony (1893). "The Exeter Conspiracy". History of England. 3. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. p. 131. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. ↑ Ronald Fritze, ed., ''Historical Dictionary of Tudor England, 1485-1603 (1991) pp. 191-92.

Further reading


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