An Unknown Conspiracy against King Henry VII

Abstract

The following paper is to be found in the Record Office, being No. 24 of the Star Chamber Proceedings of the time of Henry VII. It is not, however, a Star Chamber Proceeding in the accepted sense of the term. It forms no part of a litigation, neither is it a proceeding of the Statutory Court of the Star Chamber in virtue of its statutory or other jurisdiction. It probably found its way among the Star Chamber Proceedings proper by accident. It is evidently a fragment of depositions in a political case heard by the Privy Council. It may be that the Council, as was not unusual sat in the Star Chamber for convenience; or that a member of the Council, leaving the Council Chamber for the Star Chamber, took it with him and mixed it with his judicial papers. Possibly Robert Rydon, who acted both as clerk of the Council and of the Star Chamber, and who took these depositions, was the agent of the confusion. The depositions relate the movements of certain conspirators in a mysterious plot against Henry VII. the exact nature of which can only be guessed. In the year 1503, to which these events relate, the centre of political intrigue against the new dynasty was Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. His life is set out in the ‘Dictionary of National Biography,’ and it will only be necessary to recall here so much as will serve to elucidate the story. Edmund de la Pole was the second son of John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk, by Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and sister of Edward IV.