Agnes, Viscountess Wenman (died 1617) was an English Roman Catholic woman, under suspicion of involvement at the time of the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

of 1605. She is correctly referred to either as Agnes Wenman or as Lady Wenman.

Life

She was the eldest surviving daughter of Sir George Fermor of

Easton Neston Easton Neston is situated in south Northamptonshire, England. Though the village of Easton Neston which was inhabited until around 1500 is now gone, the parish retains the name. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish remained le ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, by his wife Mary, daughter and heiress of Thomas Curzon. She came of a Catholic family, and was identified by the Rev. John Morris with the lady at whose house

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 ...

, the Jesuit missionary, while disguised as a layman, had a keen discussion with George Abbot, the future archbishop; it was on the eternal state of a puritan who threw himself from a church steeple because he was assured of salvation. She was a friend of Mrs Elizabeth Vaux, the sister-in-law of

Anne Vaux Anne Vaux (c. 1562 – in or after 1637) was a wealthy Catholic recusant. Background Vaux was the third daughter of William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1535–1595) and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John Beaumont of Grace Die ...

, the ally of

Henry Garnet Henry Garnet (July 1555 – 3 May 1606), sometimes Henry Garnett, was an English Jesuit priest executed for his complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Heanor, Derbyshire, he was educated in Nottingham and later at Winchester Colle ...

. In consequence of some correspondence between them, suspicion fell on Lady Wenman at the time of the Gunpowder Plot, and she and her husband

Richard Wenman, 1st Viscount Wenman Richard Wenman, 1st Viscount Wenman (1573–1640), was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1625. He was created Viscount Wenman in the Peerage of Ireland in 1628. Life Wenman was the eldest son of ...

, were separately examined in December 1605. Sir Richard testified that he "disliked their intercourse, because Mrs. Vaux tried to pervert his wife." She was set at liberty after a short confinement in custody. She was buried at Twyford on 4 July 1617. She is noted as the translator of the works of Johannes Zonaras from the French of Jean de Maulmont. The translation is preserved in manuscript.In the Cambridge University Library, in two large folio volumes, and is entitled 'The Historyes and Chronicles of the World. By John Zonaras. . . . Digested into three Books. Done out of Greek into French. . . . With Aduertisements and Index of the most memorable things ... for John Parent in Saint James Street ue St. Jacques, Paris M.D.LXXXIII. And done into English by the noble and learned lady Agnes Wenman, sometime wife of ... Richard Lord Vis-Count Wenman deceased.' The volumes appear to have been transcribed from Lady Wenman's autograph, of which a portion (corrected by the person who made the transcript) is in another manuscript in the library.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wenman, Agnes Year of birth missing 1617 deaths People associated with the Gunpowder Plot English translators Irish viscountesses