Everard Digby - Trial and Execution

Trial and Execution

Digby was tried on the same day as seven of his surviving co-conspirators, in Westminster Hall, on Monday 27 January 1606. As the king and his family watched in secret, the charges against the plotters were read aloud. Alone amongst them Digby pleaded "Guilty", and was tried on a separate indictment. Dressed in a black satin suit and "tuff taffetie gown", he gave a short and moving speech, defending his actions by explaining his affection for Catesby, and the cause of his religion. He accused King James of reneging on his promises of toleration for Catholics, and told of his fears of harsher laws against recusancy. He also pleaded on behalf of his family, that they should not pay for his actions, before making a final request to be beheaded. His words fell on mostly deaf ears. The prosecution poured scorn on James's supposed perfidy, and ridiculed Digby for asking for leniency where he would have given none. Along with the other plotters, he was found guilty. As they were led from the hall, Digby exclaimed: "If I may but hear any of your lordships say, you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." The reply came back, "God forgive you, and we do."

He spent his last few days in the Tower writing letters to his wife and his sons, urging the two brothers to avoid the examples set by figures such as Cain and Abel. He also wrote poetry:

Who's that which knocks? Oh stay, my Lord, I come:

I know that call, since first it made me know

Myself, which makes me now with joy to run

Lest he be gone that can my duty show.

Jesu, my Lord, I know thee by the Cross

Thou offer'st me, but not unto my loss.

Digby was hanged, drawn and quartered early on Thursday 30 January. Throngs of spectators lined the streets as he was strapped to a wattled hurdle, and alongside Robert Wintour and John Grant was dragged by horse to the western end of Old St Paul's Cathedral churchyard. Thomas Bates was delivered in a similar fashion, but from the Gatehouse Prison. Armed guards interspersed along the route were there to defend against any possible rescue, but did not keep the miscreants' families from witnessing the fate of the four men. Cold and grubby, Digby was the first of the four to face the executioner. He mounted the scaffold and addressed the audience, telling them that he knew he had broken the law, but that morally, and in the eyes of his religion, he had committed no offence. He asked for God's forgiveness, and the country's, and protested the Jesuits' and Father Gerard's innocence. He refused the attentions of a Protestant clergyman, speaking to himself in Latin, before saying goodbye to his friends.

Digby was then stripped of his clothing, except for his shirt. Murmuring "O Jesus, Jesus, save me and keep me", he climbed the ladder and was hanged for a short period. The executioner cut the rope, and Digby fell back to the scaffold, wounding his forehead. Fully conscious, he was taken to the block and castrated, disembowelled, and quartered. Wintour, Grant and Bates followed. The remaining four conspirators suffered similar fates the following day, at the Old Palace Yard in Westminster.