In what has become known as Gerard's conspiracy, a group of
Royalists
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
conspired to assassinate England's
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
in May 1654. It was discovered before an assassination attempt could be made and the Protectorate arrested about forty men. Three were tried for high treason. A ring-leader,
John Gerard
John Gerard (also John Gerarde, c. 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular gard ...
, was found guilty and executed, as was
Peter Vowell.
Somerset Fox pleaded guilty and was sentenced to transportation. The view of the Royalists and their sympathisers was that the conspirators had fallen into a trap set by Cromwell.
History
Early in 1654 John Gerard went over to France, where he was presented to
Charles II by his cousin,
Charles Gerard, Lord Brandon. Soon after his return to England in May 1654,
[ cites ''State Papers'', Dom. 1654, pp. 219, 233–40, 274–436.] a scheme to assassinate the Lord Protector
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
on his way to
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
was discovered. About forty people, among whom were
Aubrey, Earl of Oxford, the two Ashburnhams (
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
and
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
),
Sir Richard Willis, John Gerard and his elder brother Sir
Gilbert, were arrested.
It was alleged that in company with a Royalist major, one Henshaw (whom Gerard had met in France), Gerard with 30 other mounted men were to attack the Lord Protector, as he rode to
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
, and, after overwhelming his bodyguard and killing him, to besiege Whitehall,
seize the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
, and proclaim Charles II king.
Trial and punishment
Only three men, John Gerard, Peter Vowell (a schoolmaster) and Somerset Fox were brought to trial before the High Court of Justice.
The trial began on 3 June. Fox pleaded guilty (and was sentenced to transportation to
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
). The other two were convicted on the evidence of ten of their accomplices, one of whom was Gerard's brother Charles, a youth of nineteen, he himself being but twenty-two. Gerard declared that he had been to Paris on private business, and that Charles II had desired his friends not to engage in plots. The reluctant evidence of his younger brother Charles, to whom he sent his forgiveness from the scaffold, pointed to treasonable conversations with Henshaw and the rest in taverns.
Gerard and Vowell were sentenced to death by hanging. Vowell was hanged, but Gerard successfully petitioned to be beheaded instead. Gerard died with undaunted courage on 10 July 1654 at
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
, avowing his Royalism, but denying all participation in the conspiracy.
The Royalist writers published a copy of his prepared speech, and affirmed that he fell into a trap set by Cromwell. This view has been elaborately restated by Reginald Palgrave in the ''English Historical Review'' for October 1888, in the course of a controversy between that writer and
C. H. Firth. However, no certain proof has been adduced of Cromwell's complicity.
Notes
References
*
*
;Attribution
*
*
Further reading
*
* {{Cite ODNB , last=Porter , first=Stephen , year=2004 , title=Gerard, John (1632–1654) , id=10557
1654 in England
Conspiracies
Plots, conspiracies and insurrections during the Interregnum (England)