Editing Thomas Overbury (section)

==Beginnings of scandal==
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The Howards won James's support for an annulment of Frances's marriage to [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex]], on grounds of impotence, to free her to remarry.  With James's assistance, the marriage was duly annulled on 25 September 1613, despite Devereux's opposition to the charge of impotence. The commissioners judging the case reached a 5–5 verdict, so James quickly appointed two extra judges guaranteed to vote in favour, an intervention which aroused public censure. When, after the annulment, Thomas Bilson (son of Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester, one of the added commissioners) was knighted, he was given the nickname "Sir Nullity Bilson".<ref>Lindley, pg. 120.</ref> There were also rumours that the commission was tricked into believing that Frances was still ''virgo intacta''.<ref>Weldon, Anthony, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A65393.0001.001/1:5?rgn=div1;view=fulltext ''The Court and Character of King James'', 1650, pp. 73–74.]
Accessed 30 July 2020.</ref>

The marriage two months later of Frances Howard and Robert Carr, now the [[Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset|Earl of Somerset]], was the court event of the season, celebrated in verse by [[John Donne]]. The Howards' rise to power seemed complete.

Rumours of foul play in Overbury's death began circulating. Almost two years later, in September 1615, and as James was in the process of replacing Carr with new [[favourite]] [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|George Villiers]], the governor of the Tower sent a letter to the King, informing him that one of the warders had been bringing the prisoner "poisoned food and medicine."<ref>Barroll, ''Anna of Denmark'', p 136.</ref> 

James showed a disinclination to delve into the matter, but the rumours refused to go away. Eventually, they began hinting at the King's own involvement, forcing him to order an investigation. The details of the murder were uncovered by [[Edward Coke]] and Sir [[Francis Bacon]] who presided over the trial.