Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/139

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CHAPTER XII
TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE CONSPIRATORS

OUT of the original number of thirteen, only eight of the conspirators survived to be committed for trial. These eight, namely, Thomas Winter, Guy Faukes, John Grant, Robert Winter, Ambrose Rookewood, Thomas Bates, Robert Keyes, and Digby, were arraigned at Westminster Hall, on January 27, 1606, before a Commission consisting of the Lord Chief Justice (Sir John Popham), the Lord Chief Baron (Sir Thomas Fleming), Sir Peter Warburton (a Judge), and the Earls of Salisbury, Northampton,[1] Nottingham, Suffolk, Worcester, and Devonshire. Sir Everard Digby was separately arraigned, and tried and sentenced immediately after the conclusion of the case against his friends. The Counsel for the Crown were Sir Edward Philips and Sir Edward Coke.

The prisoners were not represented by counsel. All of them, however, with the sole exception of Sir Everard Digby, pleaded 'Not Guilty.' This bold policy of refusing to plead 'Guilty' was

  1. Northampton was a Roman Catholic, although by no means a strict or devout member of that religion.

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