Spanish blanks plot
The Spanish blanks plot was an alleged pro-Spanish Catholic conspiracy in Scotland, discovered in late 1592.
Background
The Spanish Armada had failed in its attempt to conquer England in 1588. The undeclared Anglo-Spanish War continued, however. The Kingdom of Scotland under James VI was divided over religion, despite the formal ascendancy of the Church of Scotland at this time in a presbyterian form. The Scottish nobility were turbulent, while the king was working to assert administrative and political control of the country against factional and religious strife. A Jesuit mission concerned with Scotland included William Crichton and Robert Abercromby; it looked to help from Spain to further the aims of the Counter-reformation in the British Isles.
Discovery
Andrew Knox came across George Kerr,[1] son of Mark Kerr. Kerr was about to sail from the west coast of Scotland, and carried incriminating correspondence; he was arrested on the Isle of Cumbrae.[2] The "Spanish blanks" were documents signed by members of the Catholic nobility of Scotland, and otherwise left to be filled in. Damagingly for James VI, Kerr was also carrying a copy of a position paper by the king on the possible advantages to him in accepting Spanish help.[3] Under torture, Kerr said that the blanks were to be filled in by Crichton, to forward a Spanish invasion.[4]
Investigation
Three prominent Earls were directly implicated:
- William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus[5]
- Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll[6]
- George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly[7]
The fourth signature on the papers discovered was that of Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindoun.[8] Erroll and Huntly were given a date of 5 February to appear and explain themselves: they did not do so, and went to ground in the north. The king was confronted by them on 24 October, on the road from Soutra to Fala, south-east of Edinburgh; they explained that the blanks related to their support for the Jesuits in Scotland.[4]
Others involved were:
- Alexander, Lord Home[4]
- Sir James Chisholm of Cromlix[9]
- David Graham, Laird of Fintry.[4] A Catholic, he was executed on 15 February 1593.[10]
- Hew Barclay of Ladyland[11]
- John Ogilvy[12]
Aftermath
An official account of the plot appeared in February 1593; it is assumed it was edited by John Davidson. It by no means included all the intercepted letters; but it printed a number concerned with William Sempill in 1589; the connection was that when Sempill's servant Pringle was found in England carrying letters to the Duke of Parma, they had included some from Huntly and Erroll.[13][14]
Perceptions of James VI shifted after the discoveries: some assumed the affair showed the king had at least tacitly approved dealings with Spain, and many more put it down to slackness in anti-Catholic measures.[15]
References
- ^ Kirk, James. "Knox, Andrew". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15780. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Thomas M. McCoog; Campion Hall (University of Oxford) (1996). The Reckoned Expense: Edmund Campion and the Early English Jesuits : Essays in Celebration of the First Centenary of Campion Hall, Oxford (1896-1996). Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-85115-590-6. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
- ^ Marion A. Taylor (1 June 1975). Bottom, Thou Art Translated: Political Allegory in a Midsummer Night's Dream and Related Literature. Rodopi. pp. 180–1. ISBN 978-90-6203-038-5. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d Thomas M. McCoog (1 January 2012). The Society of Jesus in Ireland, Scotland, and England, 1589-1597: Building the Faith Saint Peter Upon the King of Spain's Monarchy. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 81–4. ISBN 978-1-4094-3772-7. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
- ^ White, Allan. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7931.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - ^ Saenz, Concepcion. "Hay, Francis". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12715. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Sizer, J. R. M. "Gordon, George". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11036. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ W. B. Patterson (14 September 2000). King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-521-79385-8. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
- ^ Molland, George. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19758.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - ^ P. G. Maxwell-Stuart (2001). Satan's Conspiracy: Magic and Witchcraft in Sixteenth-Century Scotland. Dundurn Press Ltd. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-86232-136-6. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
- ^ Helena Mennie Shire (26 August 2010). Song, Dance and Poetry of the Court of Scotland Under King James VI. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-521-14829-0. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ Loomie, A. J. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20600.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - ^ John Rawson Elder, Spanish Influences in Scottish History (1920), p. 188; archive.org.
- ^ . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ Crawford Gribben; David George Mullan (2009). Literature and the Scottish Reformation. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7546-6715-5. Retrieved 24 May 2012.