Now! Then! William Dolben, perhaps reluctantly, condemns Thomas Thwing to death at York for his part, without co-conspirators, in a fictitious conspiracy

2 August 1680: William Dolben, perhaps reluctantly, condemns Thomas Thwing to death at York for his part, without co-conspirators, in a fictitious conspiracy – the Popish Plot

H.J. Coleridge, Ed. 1887. St. Mary’s Convent, Micklegate Bar, York, 1686-1887. London: Burnes and Oates. Get it:

Excerpt

Justice Dolben: You say one thing, they swear another, and for aught I know they are honest men; they are lawful men, and not convicted in the main; for I do believe there were many great and dangerous consults held at Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s by several persons, and that there have been many horrid and treasonable things acted there. You have been indicted for high treason, the highest treason any subject was ever guilty of, for attempting to kill the king, for resolving so to do, upon deliberate advice and consultation; and this for no other end or purpose but that you might have your religion set up, for that was your design, to change this religion here, and to settle popery in England, and the better to bring that to pass, you thought to take away the king’s life, knowing that you could not otherwise accomplish it. You are, I am satisfied, a priest of the Romish church: therefore all that I can say to you, in reference to your future state, you will not value, for you account me a heretic, as you do the king, and I am content to be so esteemed in so good company, therefore I shall waive it. As you are a gentleman, I will give some respect to you, and will not pass sentence on you among the rest of the prisoners that are guilty of felony and murder, but will do it by yourself. The law doth command, and the court doth award, that you be carried from hence to the place from whence you came, that is the prison, and from thence you are to be drawn to the place of execution, you are there to be hanged by the neck, you are to be cut down before you are dead, and your entrails are to be taken out of your body, and thrown into the fire before your face, and your head to be parted from your body, and your body separated into four quarters, and your head and your quarters are to be disposed according to the king’s pleasure, and the Lord have mercy on your soul. Prisoner (humbly bowing his head): Innocens ego sum.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

This is a Jesuit hagiography, and I don’t know to what extent the source reflects the substance of Dolben’s remarks. Wikipedia takes a more benevolent view of him:

In the aftermath of the Popish Plot, Dolben tried many of the accused, including Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 2nd Baronet and Sir Miles Stapleton; due to his impartial trait of pointing out inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence, both were acquitted.[4] At the trial of Mary Pressicks, who was accused of saying that “We shall never be at peace until we are all of the Roman Catholic religion”, Dolben saved her life by ruling that the words, even if she did speak them, could not amount to treason.[5] As a result of this and his opposition to Charles II’s removal of the City Corporation’s writs, he was “according to the vicious practise of the time” dismissed on 18 April 1683. Again working as a barrister, Dolben prosecuted Algernon Sidney in November 1683 before being reinstated as a Justice of the King’s Bench on 18 March 1689. Records from 29 April show him “inveighing mightily against the corruption of juries [during the Glorious Revolution]”,[1] and he continued sitting as a Justice until his death from an apoplectic fit on 25 January 1694,[6] and was buried in Temple Church.

Vulgar almanacs glory in death sentences and executions, but I suppose one (1) is called for.

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Original

On the 2nd of August, the future martyr was again brought to the Bar, and was thus addressed by the Clerk.

Thomas Thwing, hold up thy hand: Thou hast been indicted that thou, as a false traitor, didst conspire the death of the King etc. and thereby hast been found guilty: what canst thou say wherefore judgment should not be pronounced against thee?

Prisoner. My Lord as I am now upon my life, I know nothing of these things in the least that these men have sworn against me. And on the other side I say that before Sir Thomas Gascoigne had his trial these men said nothing against me, so I hope your Lordship will take it into consideration.

Mr. Just. Dolben. For your innocency, the gentlemen of the jury are judges of that, and they had found you guilty, so that it is not in my power either to acquit or condemn you; I am only to pass sentence according to that conviction. If you have anything to say wherefore judgment should not be pronounced, I am ready to hear you.

Prisoner. All that I can say is to declare my innocency and that these men are of no credit and reputation. It is very hard that I only should be found guilty, and none of the rest arraigned for the same crimes.

Just. Dolben. No it is not impossible: it is possible you may be guilty and the rest innocent.

Prisoner. For my part I told your Lordship that I was but once or twice in a year at Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s, being my uncle, and I do protest I know no thing of the consult these men do charge me with.

Just. Dolben. You say one thing, they swear another, and for aught I know they are honest men; they are lawful men, and not convicted in the main; for I do believe there were many great and dangerous consults held at Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s by several persons, and that there have been many horrid and treasonable things acted there. You have been indicted for High Treason, the highest treason any subject was ever guilty of, for attempting to kill the King, for resolving so to do, upon deliberate advice and consultation; and this for no other end or purpose but that you might have your religion set up, for that was your design, to change this religion here, and to settle Popery in England, and the better to bring that to pass, you thought to take away the King’s life, knowing that you could not otherwise accomplish it. You are, I am satisfied, a priest of the Romish Church: therefore all that I can say to you, in reference to your future state, you will not value, for you account me a heretic, as you do the King, and I am content to be so esteemed in so good company, therefore I shall waive it. As you are a gentleman, I will give some respect to you, and will not pass sentence on you among the rest of the prisoners that are guilty of felony and murder, but will do it by yourself. The law doth command, and the court doth award, that you be carried from hence to the place from whence you came, that is the prison, and from thence you are to be drawn to the place of execution, you are there to be hanged by the neck, you are to be cut down before you are dead, and your entrails are to be taken out of your body, and thrown into the fire before your face, and your head to be parted from your body, and your body separated into four quarters, and your head and your quarters are to be disposed according to the king’s pleasure, and the Lord have mercy on your soul.

Prisoner (Humbly bowing his head). Innocens ego sum.

The king reprieved the execution of the sentence, but was constrained by the remonstrance of the House of Commons to issue the death-warrant on the day after the meeting of Parliament; and on the 23rd of October the last of the English martyr-priests was drawn on a hurdle from York Castle, past the house in which he had been arrested, and in which the sisters of the Institute dwelt; through the streets and Micklegate Bar, a road which nearly forty priests, bound on the same errand, had travelled before him, to the place of public execution, for them and for him the Mount of sacrifice, between the high road and Knavesmire. Arrived thither, and having full time allowed him, with a remarkably cheerful countenance, and in a clear voice, he delivered an address which he had carefully prepared. He declared his innocence as to any plot, his loyalty to the King and his charity to his neighbour. He gloried in acknowledging that he was a priest and that he had exercised his sacerdotal functions for fifteen years. He begged of God to bless the king, the queen, the duke of York, and all other good Christians; he forgave from his heart his accusers, the jury and all who had concurred in his death; he desired all true Catholics if any such were there present, to pray for him; and after expressing his own love and piety towards God in fervent prayers and ejaculations, he concluded with these prophetic words: “Though I know the affairs of the kingdom are in a bad posture, yet I hope they will be cleared ere long, and then the actors thereof will be fully known.” Just as he was turned off the ladder he was heard distinctly to say. “Sweet Jesus, receive my soul.” After the horrid butchery prescribed by the law had been perpetrated on his body, his mangled remains were given to his friends, and reverently interred by them in the Churchyard of St. Mary, Castlegate. Some years later, in making another grave on the same spot, a copper-plate which they had placed within his coffin was found, and given by Dr. Stubbs who was present to the celebrated Yorkshire antiquary, Thoresby, who had been present at the trial. It bears the following inscription:

R.D. Thomas Thwing de Heworth Collegii Anglo-Duacensis sacerdos post annos 15 in Missione Anglicana transactos Eboraci condemnatus et martyrio affcctus est Octob. 23, 1680, a duobus falsis testibus ob crimen conspirationis tunc Catholicis malitiose impositum.

Linen steeped in his blood, and some of his hair are preserved in the convent of the Institute at York and at St. Mary’s College Oscott. Vestments worn by him, are in the possession of Mrs. Herbert of Upper Helmsley Hall, York.

1155 words.