Queen Elizabeth I--Edward Squire | Signed account of an assassination plot against the Queen, 1598

Edward Squire

Medmorandum signed with an ornamental signature ("Ed: Squier"), entitled "The manner howe ye Englishe Jesuites doe deale with Our Englishmen which are broughte prisoners into Spayne"

explaining how he was subourned by the Jesuits to attempt the assassination of Queen Elizabeth by smearing poison on the pommel of her saddle, with a detailed exposition of the methods by which Jesuits insinuate themselves into the confidence of prisoners in Spain, undermine their faith and instil a desire for revenge against the regime in England, also with some facts about the escape route to France following acts of violence in England, dark hints of deaths at the hands of the Inquisition, Squire's reasoning of how the Devil had worked in him and his plea for forgiveness, 6 pages, folio, endorsed in the hand of a member of Robert Cecil's secretariat, [October 1598]

"...when I tolde him y[e]t I hade noe knowledge howe to doe it; hee answered let not y[e]t truble, nor hinder yo[u]r intencon, for I will p[ro]vide the thinge y[e]t shall doe it; and geve you instruccons w[hi]ch if you ... beare in memorie, you shall not need any other then to studye tyme & place. When hee deliver[er]ed it to mee, hee sayd it is in a blader wrapped about w[i]t[h] manie pap[er]s, & next it is a parchm[en]t all w[hi]ch you muste take a waye, & w[i]th a great pin pricke holes in the bottome, & haveing on a thick glove howlde it in the Palme of yo[u]r hannd, and presse or passe it violently on the Queenes Sadle pumell w[hi]ch may bee done very quickly, & when y[o]u have done it you were beste cast it awaye y[e]t if been not found aboute you and then Tooke to yo[u]r own saftie ...'

THE CONFESSION OF AN ALLEGED WOULD-BE ASSASSIN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH I. Squire had been a scrivener, and also worked in the Queen's stables, before he took to the sea and sailed with Drake on his last voyage in 1595. His barque, The Francis, was separated from the fleet and captured by the Spanish. In Spain he is supposed to have undergone conversion by the Jesuits and been instigated by Richard Walpole to assassinate Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex. After being exchanged for Spanish prisoners, he returned to England in June 1597. He was soon at sea again on the Earl of Essex's "Islands" expedition to the Azores.

In early September 1598, following intelligence from an unknown source, Squire was arrested, and the following month he was transferred to the Tower of London. He was accused of unsuccessfully carrying out the plan of rubbing poison on the pommel of the Queen's saddle and to have attempted to poison Essex during their sea voyage. He was indicted for high treason, examined, confessed under torture, retracted his confession, and was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 23 November. The question of whether Squier was guilty, or a victim of the Elizabethan government's cold-hearted attempts to blacken the reputation of Catholic exiles, remains open to this day.

The signature on the current document - its elaborate nature indicative of Squire's training as a scrivener - is closely comparable to the signed confessions amongst the State Papers (SP/12/268/89 f.l80r and SP/12/268/91 f.l85r). The official endorsement ("1590 Nov. A declaracon of Edw Squyere after his arraignment") is in the hand of Robert Cecil's secretary (cf. B.L. Stowe 167 fols. 36, 38, 55 and 60).

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 18 December 1986, lot 242