¶Touching the imprisonment of the foresaid ladie Elizabeth, & the lord Courtneie, Abr. Fl. ex Ioh. Fo [...]i ma [...]|tyrologio. thou shalt note here for thy learning (good reader) a politike point of prac|tise in Stephan Gardiner bishop of Winchester, not vnworthie to be considered. This Gardiner being alwaies a capitall enimie to ladie Elizabeth, & thin|king now by the occasion of maister Wiat to picke out some matter against the lord Courtneie, and so in the end to intangle the ladie Elizabeth, deuised a pestilent practise of conueiance, as in the storie here following maie appeare. The storie is this. The same daie that sir Thomas died,A point of practise of Stephã Gar [...]diner against the ladie E|lizabeth. he desired the lieutenant to bring him to the presence of the lord Courtneie, who there before the lieutenant and the shiriffes, knéeling downe vpon his knées, besought the lord Courtneie to forgiue him, for that he had falselie ac|cused both the ladie Elizabeth and him: and so being brought from thence vnt [...] the scaffold to suffer, there openlie in the hearing of all the people cleared the ladie Elizabeth, and the lord Courtneie, to be free and innocent from all suspicion of that commotion. At which confession, doctor Weston there standing by,Doctor West [...] against the l [...]die Elizabet [...] cried to the people, saieng: Beléeue him not (good people) for he confessed otherwise before vnto the councell.

After the execution doone of sir Thomas Wiat, which was the eleuenth daie of Aprill, word was brought immediatlie to the lord maior sir Thomas White a little before dinner, how maister Wiat had cleared the ladie Elizabeth and lord Courtneie,The lord ma|iors iudgme [...] of D. West [...] and the words also which doctor Weston spake vnto the people. Wherevnto the lord maior answering; Is this true quoth he? Said Weston so? In sooth I ne|uer tooke him otherwise but for a knaue. Upon this the lord maior sitting downe to dinner (who dined the same daie at the Bridgehouse) commeth in sir Martine Bowes with the recorder, newlie come from the parlement house, who hearing of the maior and shiriffes this report of Wiats confession, both vpon the scaffold and also in the tower, maruelled thereat, declaring how there was another tale con|trarie to this, told the same daie in the parlement house, which was, that sir Thomas Wiat should de|sire the lord Courtneie to confesse the truth, so as he had doone before.

Upon this it followed not long after, that a cer|teine prentise dwelling in saint Laurence lane, na|med Cut, as he was drinking with one Denham a plaisterer being one of quéene Maries seruants, a|mongst other talke, made mention how sir Thomas EEBO page image 1102 Wiat had cleared the ladie Elizabeth, and the lord Courtneie, to be no consenters to his rising. Which words being brought to Gardiner (by what means I know not) incontinent vpon the fame, sir Andrew Iud was se [...]t by the said bishop to the lord maior, [...] commanding him to bring the said prentise to the Starchamber, which was accused of these words, that he should saie that Wiat was constreined by the councell to accuse the ladie Elizabeth, & the lord Courtneie. Which fellow when he was come to the Starchamber, the aforesaid Gardiner letting passe other matters that were in hand, began to declare to the whole multitude, how miraculouslie almightie God had brought the quéens maiestie to the crowne, the whole realme in a maner being against hir, and that he had brought this to passe for this singular in|tent & purpose,S [...]phã [...] tale in [...] Star|chamber a|gainst the la|die Elizabeth. that this realme being ouerwhelmed with heresies, she might reduce the same againe to the true catholike faith. And where she tooke the ladie Elizabeth into hir fauour, and loued hir so tenderlie, and also the lord Courtneie, who of long time had béene deteined in prison, and by hir was set at liber|tie, and receiued great benefits at hir hands; and not|withstanding all this, they had conspired most vn|naturallie and traitorouslie against hir with that heinous traitor Wiat, as by the confession of Wiat (said he) and the letters sent to and fro maie plainlie appeare: yet there was some in the citie of London, which reported that Wiat was constreined by the councell to accuse the ladie Elizabeth, and the lord Courtneie, & yet you my lord maior (quoth he) haue not seene the same punished.