Editing Thomas Overbury (section)

==Trial==
{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2022}}
[[File:Thomasoverburyengraving.jpg|right|thumbnail|150px|Engraving of Overbury in later years]] In the celebrated trials of the six accused in late 1615 and early 1616 that followed, evidence of a plot came to light. It was very likely that Overbury was the victim of a 'set-up' contrived by the Earls of Northampton and Suffolk, with Carr's complicity, to keep him out of the way during the annulment proceedings. Overbury knew too much of Carr's dealings with Frances and, motivated by a deep political hostility to the Howards, opposed the match with a fervour that made him dangerous. The Queen had sown discord between the friends, calling Overbury Carr's "governor".

It was not known at the time, and it is not certain now, how much Carr participated in the first crime, or if he was ignorant of it. Lady Essex, however, was not satisfied with having had Overbury imprisoned; she was determined that "he should return no more to this stage." She had Sir [[William Wade (English politician)|William Wade]], the honest Lord Lieutenant of the Tower, removed to make way for a new Lieutenant, Sir [[Gervase Helwys]]; and a gaoler, Richard Weston, of whom it was ominously said that he was "a man well acquainted with the power of drugs", was set to attend on Overbury. Weston, afterwards aided by [[Anne Turner (murderer)|Mrs Anne Turner]], the widow of a physician, and by an apothecary called Franklin, plied Overbury with [[sulfuric acid]] in the form of copper [[vitriol]].

It cannot have been difficult for the conspirators to secure James's compliance because he disliked Overbury's influence over Carr.<ref>Lindley, p. 145</ref> [[John Chamberlain (letter writer)|John Chamberlain]] (1553–1628) reported at the time that the King "hath long had a desire to remove him from about the lord of Rochester [Carr], as thinking it a dishonour to him that the world should have an opinion that Rochester ruled him and Overbury ruled Rochester".<ref>Willson, p. 342.</ref> Overbury had been poisoned.<ref>Lindley, p. 146.</ref>

Frances Howard admitted a part in Overbury's murder, but her husband did not. Fearing what Carr might say about him in court, James repeatedly sent messages to the Tower pleading with him to admit his guilt in return for a pardon. "It is easy to be seen that he would threaten me with laying an aspersion upon me of being, in some sort, accessory to his crime".<ref>Stewart, p. 275.</ref>

In late May 1616, the couple were found guilty and sentenced to death for their parts in this conspiracy. Nevertheless, they remained prisoners in the Tower until eventually released in 1622 and pardoned.<ref>[http://www.earlystuartlibels.net/htdocs/overbury_murder_section/H0.html The Overbury Murder Scandal (1615–1616)] earlystuartlibels.net. Accessed 29 August 2022.</ref>

Four accomplices – Richard Weston, Anne Turner, Gervaise Helwys and Simon Franklin – were found guilty prior to that in 1615 and, lacking powerful connections, were hanged.<ref>[http://www.earlystuartlibels.net/htdocs/overbury_murder_section/H0.html The Overbury Murder Scandal (1615–1616)] earlystuartlibels.net. Accessed 29 August 2022.</ref>

The implication of the King in such a scandal provoked much public and literary conjecture and irreparably tarnished James's court with an image of corruption and depravity.<ref>[http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=6231 Underdown, David. "Review of Bellany, Alastair, The Politics of Court Scandal: News Culture and the Overbury Affair, 1603–1660"], H-net.org. May 2002.</ref>