The Gunpowder Plot (History/16th/17th Century History) Read Online Free Page B

being married to Ranuccio Farnese, one of the sons of the Duke of Parma. Commentators and many politicians did take Doleman very seriously too, and the book naturally became the prized handbook of the Spanish party. James was advised that there was an urgent need for a Protestant pro-Stuart counter to this insidious text, and he was urged as well to woo the common lawyers in England. This was because they were rich and influential in government and held the key to his legal status. Men trained in law had been solid servants of the queen and they had to be convinced of his right to be considered native born, and of a chiming of interests.
    The sustained and sometimes furious bickering of the ‘Spanish’ and ‘Scottish’ factions among the exiled Catholics reached its climax during the years 1596–1601. Each grouping was then busy denouncing the other to the Pope, the archduke and the King of Spain. The whole thing became merged in the deeper-seated strife between Jesuits and seculars which found expression in 1598 in the domestic exchanges known as the Archpriest controversy. Persons and those who thought as he did, infuriated the secular clergy who regarded them contemptuously as a ‘Hispanicized faction’, and who credited them as being the real cause of the harsh laws against Catholics in general. As for Henry Constable, he was evidently a stalwart in the greater diplomatic tug-of-war and gave it his own particular thrust. He had spent some time in Rome before moving to live in Paris as a pensioner of the Duchess of Vendôme, sister of Henri IV. 17 He continued to write to the Pope and Cardinal Baronio, making proposals for the conversion of England by means of France. In his estimation it was possible because Henri IV had himself made the leap from Huguenot to Catholic for reasons of state. Constable’s notion had led to discussions between the cardinal and Persons, but the scorn of the English Jesuit for its lack of a practical basis was enough to convince Baronio that it was flawed. The prelate told Constable that the Pope would not consider the matter.
    The Englishman was phlegmatic about this and his views did find favour with certain other English exiles in Flanders. In Paris, too, men of influence chose to regard it with interest and d’Epernon and de Sancy convinced among others the papal nuncio in France. For his part Constable had contacted Dr Stapleton of Louvain; Dr Barrett, then rector of the Douai seminary and Dr William Gifford, Dean of St Peter’s in Lille, who had a somewhat spotted career and was to be paid by the government agent Charles Paget for supplying the English government with information after the gunpowder plot. This friendly contact was already known to Persons, as was Gifford’s continued correspondence with the French ambassador in Rome. The Jesuit took the understanding that a scheme was evolving for England to be brought into the French sphere of influence – Antonio Perez, exiled from Spain on charges of treason, had already represented Henri IV to Essex, who too had many Scottish contacts and was greatly esteemed by James. So, through the good offices of Henri there were to be negotiations leading to the granting of qualified religious liberty even during Elizabeth’s declining years. On her death the understanding would be that the same religious space and flexibility would continue under the benign rule of James. Persons understood that James had begun already to edge his nobles to a wary agreement and had appointed the Archbishop of Glasgow as his ambassador to France. Further, that promoters of the effort already had their agents in England about Essex and other accessible members of the privy council. Lord Dacre was in Paris with the archbishop and Persons expected him to travel to Scotland for talks with James. As for Constable – he was to be sent to Rome again.
    The Spanish ambassador to the papal court, the Duke of Sessia, forwarded news of all this diplomatic