Editing Gunpowder Plot (section)

===Trials===
[[File:Edward coke.jpg|right|thumb|upright|alt=Portrait of a man dressed in black with a white lace ruff|[[Edward Coke]] conducted the interrogations of those thought to be involved with the conspiracy.]]
By coincidence, on the same day that Garnet was found, the surviving conspirators were [[arraignment|arraigned]] in [[Westminster Hall]]. Seven of the prisoners were taken from the Tower to the [[Star Chamber]] by barge. Bates, who was considered lower class, was brought from the [[Gatehouse Prison]]. Some of the prisoners were reportedly despondent, but others were nonchalant, even smoking [[tobacco]]. The King and his family, hidden from view, were among the many who watched the trial. The Lords Commissioners present were the Earls of [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk|Suffolk]], Worcester, Northampton, [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire|Devonshire]], and Salisbury. Sir [[John Popham (judge)|John Popham]] was [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Lord Chief Justice]], Sir [[Thomas Fleming (judge)|Thomas Fleming]] was [[Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer]], and two Justices, Sir [[Thomas Walmsley (judge)|Thomas Walmsley]] and Sir [[Peter Warburton (judge)|Peter Warburton]], sat as [[List of Justices of the Court of Common Pleas|Justices of the Common Pleas]]. The list of traitors' names was read aloud, beginning with the priests: Garnet, Tesimond, and Gerard.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=263–265}}</ref><ref name="Haynespp110111">{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|pp=110–111}}</ref>

The first to speak was the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] (later [[Master of the Rolls]]), Sir [[Edward Phelips (speaker)|Edward Philips]], who described the intent behind the plot in lurid detail.<ref name="Haynespp110111"/> He was followed by the [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney-General]] Sir [[Edward Coke]], who began with a long speech—heavily influenced by Salisbury—that included a denial that the King had ever made any promises to the Catholics. Monteagle's part in the discovery of the plot was welcomed, and denunciations of the 1603 mission to Spain featured strongly. Fawkes's protestations that Gerard knew nothing of the plot were omitted from Coke's speech. The foreign powers, when mentioned, were accorded due respect, but the priests were accursed, their behaviour criticised wherever possible. There was little doubt, according to Coke, that the plot had been invented by the Jesuits. Garnet's meeting with Catesby, at which the former was said to have absolved the latter of any blame in the plot, was proof enough that the Jesuits were central to the conspiracy;<ref name="Fraserpp266269">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=266–269}}</ref> according to Coke the Gunpowder Plot would always be known as the "Jesuit Treason".<ref name=WilsonP136>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2002|p=136}}</ref> Coke spoke with feeling of the probable fate of the Queen and the rest of the King's family, and of the innocents who would have been caught up in the explosion.<ref name="Fraserpp266269"/>

{{Quote box
| quote = I never yet knew a treason without a Romish priest; but in this there are very many Jesuits, who are known to have dealt and passed through the whole action.
| source = Sir [[Edward Coke]]<ref name="Haynespp110111"/>
| width = 33%
| align = left
}}

Each of the condemned, said Coke, would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. He was to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". His genitals would be cut off and burnt before his eyes, and his bowels and heart then removed. Then he would be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of his body displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".<ref name="Fraserpp266269"/> Confessions and declarations from the prisoners were then read aloud, and finally the prisoners were allowed to speak. Rookwood claimed that he had been drawn into the plot by Catesby, "whom he loved above any worldy man". Thomas Wintour begged to be hanged for himself and his brother, so that his brother might be spared. Fawkes explained his not-guilty plea as ignorance of aspects of the indictment. Keyes appeared to accept his fate, Bates and Robert Wintour begged for mercy, and Grant explained his involvement as "a conspiracy intended but never effected".<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=270–271}}</ref> Only Digby, tried on a separate indictment,<ref name="Haynespp110111"/> pleaded guilty, insisting that the King had reneged upon promises of toleration for Catholics, and that affection for Catesby and love of the Catholic cause mitigated his actions. He sought [[death by the axe]] and begged mercy from the King for his young family.<ref name="ODNB Everard Digby">{{Citation | last = Nicholls | first = Mark | chapter = Digby, Sir Everard (c.1578–1606) | title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2004 | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7626 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/7626 |format=subscription required | accessdate = 16 November 2009}}</ref> His arguments were rebuked by Coke and Northumberland, and along with his seven co-conspirators, he was found guilty by the [[jury]] of [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]]. Digby shouted "If I may but hear any of your lordships say, you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." The response was short: "God forgive you, and we do."<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=273}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|p=113}}</ref>

Garnet may have been questioned on as many as 23&nbsp;occasions. His response to the threat of the rack was "{{lang|la|Minare ista pueris}} [Threats are only for boys]",{{efn|Haynes (2005) appears to have misspelt this as ''Min{{sic|hide=y|ute}} ista pueris''.}} and he denied having encouraged Catholics to pray for the success of the "Catholic Cause". His interrogators resorted to the forgery of correspondence between Garnet and other Catholics, but to no avail. His jailers then allowed him to talk with another priest in a neighbouring cell, with eavesdroppers listening.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|pp=116–119}}</ref> Eventually Garnet let slip a crucial detail, that there was only one man who could testify that he had any knowledge of the plot. Under torture Garnet admitted that he had heard of the plot from fellow Jesuit Oswald Tesimond, who had learnt of it in confession from Catesby.<ref>{{Harvnb|Northcote Parkinson|1976|p=103}}</ref> Garnet was charged with high treason and tried in the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]] on 28 March from 8&nbsp;am until 7&nbsp;pm.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|p=120}}</ref> According to Coke, Garnet instigated the plot:

<blockquote>[Garnet] hath many gifts and endowments of nature, by art learned, a good linguist and, by profession, a Jesuit and a [[Superior (hierarchy)|Superior]] as indeed he is Superior to all his predecessors in devilish treason, a Doctor of Dissimulation, Deposing of Princes, Disposing of Kingdoms, Daunting and deterring of subjects, and Destruction.</blockquote> Garnet refuted all the charges against him, and explained the Catholic position on such matters, but he was found guilty and sentenced to death.<ref name="ODNB Garnett"/>{{Clear}}