[Quick setup: James VI of Scotland has just been proclaimed successor to Elizabeth I following her death. There are all sorts of rumors flying around that the succession will be violently contested, and Lord Beauchamp is one of those that gets his hand caught in the cookie jar. Fortunately, he is ready with the silly excuse.]
By Monday 28 March rumors were rife that Lord Beauchamp had taken Portsmouth with 10,000 men, that he had French backing and that Catholics had risen in his support all over the country [James VI was Protestant].
As the hours passed, however, no Frenchmen appeared and that evening John Manningham was making light of the panic: “ ‘He is up,’ said one, ‘He is risen,’ said another. ‘True, I think,’ said I, ‘he rose in the morning and means to go to bed at night.’ “
An embarrassed Lord Beauchamp explained that the rumors had sprung from a misunderstanding. He claimed that he had loyally taken a large band of men to proclaim James king at the High Cross in Bristol and the people had wrongly assumed he was gathering support for himself.
Not everyone was convinced. A friend of Manningham’s argued that “to muster men in these times is as good a colour of sedition, as a mask to rob a house.”
The fact remained, however, that no one had rallied to Beauchamp’s colors – or those of any other of James’s rivals.
Source:
Lisle, Leanda De. "Lots Were Cast Upon Our Land" After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England. New York: Ballantine, 2005. 132. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Manningham, Diary, pp. 211, 212.
McCullough, Sermons at Court, p. 102.
Further Reading:
Elizabeth I / The Virgin Queen / Gloriana / Good Queen Bess
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