Nicholas Garlick - Arrest and Trial

Arrest and Trial

He was finally arrested with fellow priest Robert Ludlam on 12 July 1588 at Padley, at the home of the famous recusant family, the FitzHerberts. The house was raided by George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who was looking for John FitzHerbert; the finding of two priests as well was, according to Connelly, "an unexpected bonus". Fathers Garlick and Ludlam, John FitzHerbert, his son Anthony, three of his daughters, Maud, Jane, and Mary, and ten servants were arrested, and taken to jail.

In Derby Gaol, Ludlam and Garlick met with another priest, Richard Simpson, who had been earlier condemned to death but had been granted a reprieve, either, as stated by most sources, including Challoner, because he had given some hope that he would attend a Protestant service, or, as suggested by Sweeney, because the Queen may have given orders to halt the persecution of priests in order to reduce the threat of invasion from Spain. Whether or not Simpson was wavering, he remained firm after his meeting with Garlick and Ludlam.

On 23 July 1588, the three priests were tried for coming into the kingdom and "seducing" the Queen's subjects. Garlick, who acted as spokesman, answered, "I have not come to seduce, but to induce men to the Catholic faith. For this end have I come to the country, and for this will I work as long as I live." A second altercation with the Bench came when Garlick was asked if he wished to be tried by jury or by the Justices of Assize alone. Garlick, knowing that a verdict of guilty was inevitable, replied that he did not wish his blood to be on the hands of poor men. He was, however, persuaded to yield on this point, and the trial proceeded by jury. The three priests were found guilty of treason, and were condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered; the sentences were to be carried out the next day:

That you and each of you be carried to the place from whence you came, and from thence be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and be there severally hanged, but cut down while you are alive; that your privy members be cut off; that your bowels be taken out and burnt before your faces; that your heads be severed from your bodies; that your bodies be divided into four quarters, and that your quarters be at the Queen's disposal; and the Lord have mercy on your souls.

As the three priests left the dock, Garlick exclaimed, "I thought that Cain would never be satisfied till he had the blood of his brother Abel."

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