November 23 - A plot to poison Elizabeth i’s saddle and Essex’s chair

On this day in Tudor history, 23rd November 1598, scrivener and sailor Edward Squire was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn for treason after being accused of plotting with Jesuits in Seville to poison Elizabeth I's saddle and the Earl of Essex's chair.

 

Squire, who ended up in Seville after being captured by Spaniards while on a voyage with Sir Francis Drake, confessed under torture, but claimed his innocence at his trial and execution.

 

But what exactly happened, and how and why did a Protestant scrivener and sailor end up accused of treason?

 

Find out all about Edward Squire and the alleged plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and her favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/eTmUVXqPlUU

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 23rd November 1499, in the reign of King Henry VII, pretender Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn after allegedly plotting to help another claimant, Edward, Earl of Warwick, escape from the Tower of London. Warbeck had claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower, and had even been proclaimed King Richard IV, but his rebellion and claim failed. Find out all about Warbeck in last year’s video -  https://youtu.be/Kdfrn8bj7yA