1594: Rodrigo Lopez, Shylock inspiration?

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

1594: Rodrigo Lopez, Shylock inspiration?

Add comment June 7th, 2008 Headsman

On this date in 1594, a 70-year-old Portuguese physician was torn apart at Tyburn before a jeering London mob for attempting to poison Queen Elizabeth I.

Born around 1525 to a family of conversos — Jewish converts forcibly converted to Christianity — Rodrigo Lopez (alternatively, Lopes) went abroad because the Spanish Inquisition menacingly suspected him of secretly maintaining the faith of Abraham.*

For us, the man's true doctrines might be a matter for his god. In the 16th century, Lopez never could outrun his Jewishness.

Establishing himself in London in 1559, nearly the precise midpoint of his life, Lopez built a thriving medical practice, eventually rising in 1586 to the attendance of Her Majesty herself. England in those days was scrapping with the mighty Spanish empire, one front of which was endlessly byzantine diplomatic intrigue. It happened that Elizabeth gave harbor to a Portuguese pretender (Lopez had attended him, too), whose circles the Spanish were naturally endeavoring to infiltrate.

Some nefarious machinations in this ambit that came to light in 1593 opened an investigation characteristically heavy on the torture, and Lopez's name came up. Allegedly, the doctor was negotiating to take Spanish gold for slipping the Queen a mickey.

Image from the Internet History Sourcebook Project

Lopez doesn't seem to be any less capable of greed or intrigue than anyone else at court, but poison? It was doubted at the time, the prosecution itself a product of the courtly rivalry between Essex and Cecil.** Despite a confession (extracted by torture, like the accusations), even Elizabeth never seems to have really bought the charge: she held Lopez more than three months after his sentence before finally permitting the punishment to go forward, and pensioned his family when the treason conviction entitled her to confiscate their property.

The London mob entertained no such nuance. When Lopez was hauled to the scaffold this day for his public butchery — still protesting that he "loved the Queen as he loved Jesus Christ," derisively taken as a backhanded confession by spectators who didn't doubt the practicing Protestant was really a Jew — it elevated popular anti-Semitism to fever pitch.
Hath not a Jew eyes?

Lopez, or at least the popular mood of Jew-baiting current after his trial, is thought to have helped inspire William Shakespeare's use of the Shylock character in The Merchant of Venice — one of the most controversial and captivating of all the Bard's creations, a villain far more compelling (and sympathetic) than the play's lightweight good guys and one whose place in the Shakespeare canon and the fabric of Elizabethan England is still vigorously debated.

Is Shylock a vicious caricature? A sublimely three-dimensional human? Both? Wherever the "real" William Shakespeare stood on the matter of religious equality, he put one of literature's great apologias for it in Shylock's mouth:

* Insincerely converted Muslims and Jews were a choice target of the Inquisition in the 16th century; many thousands were driven to emigrate. For the fate of some other crypto-Jews who fled to Spain's possessions in the New World, see here.

** Lopez's Javert, the Earl of Essex, lost the power struggle a few years later ... and with it, his own head.

http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/06/07 ... spiration/

[Fester]

CSR, good one.  I was in this pasture and came across the following:

Dr. Lopez Plot (1594) http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/lopez_plot.htm

Queen Elizabeth's Dr. Roderigo Lopez versus Shakespeare's Shylock: Similarities, Differences, and Their Influences on Elizabethan England by Lauren Sanders (2008)  http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/venice/papers/lsanders.htm.  This includes this quote:

According to William Camden, a historian, "Lopez affirm[ed] that he loved the Queen as he loved Jesus Christ, which from a man of the Jewish profession was heard not without laughter."

In another piece someone disparages Camden, but he was clearly a highly regarded historian of the time.  For example:

"Camden! the nurse of antiquity,
  And lantern unto late succeeding age." — Spenser.

Scholar, historian and antiquary, William Camden was born in London on May 2, 1551, son of painter Sampson Camden. He attended both Christ's Hospital and St. Paul's School, and then, at Oxford, from Magdalen College to Broadgate's Hostel, and Christ Church.

Camden became second master at Westminster School in 1575, and educated and inspired sharp young minds such as Ben Jonson...In 1582, Camden travelled throughout England, gathering bits of folklore and teaching himself Welsh and Anglo-Saxon in order to be able to study ancient accounts of Britain. This began for him the long research that would result in his Latin works Britannia (1586), a study of the British Isles, and Annales (1615 and 1625), a eulogistic account of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Britannia was first translated into English in 1610 by Phileman Holland under Camden's supervision. The two parts of Annales Rerum Gestarum Angliae et Hiberniae Regnante Elizabetha were translated into English in 1625 and 1629, respectively. Britannia enjoyed such popularity that by 1607 a total of seven editions had been printed.

In 1593, Camden was made headmaster of Westminster School, and in 1597 was appointed both Richmond Herald and Clarencieux King of Arms...Camden was struck down by paralysis the year before his death, and was buried in Westminster Abbey at his death in 1623.

This comes from http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/camden.htm

[Fester]

Here's more on Dr. Lopez from Martin Hume's Treason and Plot: Struggles for Catholic Supremacy in the Last Years of Queen Eliazbeth.  Was trying to clean up format but ran out of steam.
http://www.archive.org/stream/treasonplotstrug00humeuoft/treasonplotstrug00humeuoft_djvu.txt
CHAPTER V

The conspiracy of Dr. Lopez — The confessions of Yorke and Williams — The alleged connection of the Spanish Ministers with the murder
plots.

In the preceding chapter I have dwelt upon a few typical cases of the so-called Catholic murder plots against the Queen, to show how their importance was exaggerated for political reasons, and how very- few of the English Catholics can have sympathised with them. I have, however, reserved for treatment in a separate chapter the two principal conspiracies, the fame of which rang throughout England, and aroused a fervour of loyalty towards the person of the Queen, which surpassed any previous manifestation of the people's love for her. This outburst was partly in consequence of the peculiar features of treachery with which one of the plots seemed to be surrounded, and the fact that both of them were ostensibly traced directly to the instigation of the King of Spain or his Ministers.

We saw in the last chapter that the loose boasting of Captain Eustace, repeated by Annias, was accepted as a reason for associating Esteban de Ibarra, Philip's Secretary of War in Flanders, with the plot for the Queen's assassination ; but this evidence was really so slight as hardly to be worth consideration. It was otherwise with the famous conspiracy of Dr. Lopez, and the atrocious plot confessed by Edmund Yorke and Williams. The first of these two intrigues deserves special consideration here, because its apparent heinousness
aroused English hatred of Spain to the highest pitch, and so greatly influenced subsequent events, and also because my own recent researches at Paris and in Lord Calthorpe's MSS. have provided me with new information which must be taken into account before a final historical verdict can be given, either as to the guilt of Lopez himself, |or as to the direct complicity of Philip II. in a plot to murder his sister-in-law. The story is extremely involved, but I will endeavour to reduce it to as simple a form as is compatible with the statement of all the facts upon which a judgment should be based. Contrary to the course followed by other writers on the subject, I propose to set forth the facts as they were disclosed, instead of in the order in which they were supposed to have happened. 1
Dr. Rodrigo or Ruy Lopez, though a professed

1 The principal authorities upon the Lopez plot are as follows : — State Papers, Domestic, from vol. ccxxxviii. to cclviii.,1 abstracted in
the Calendars for 1593-94; the Gawdy Papers, Hist. MSS. Commismission ; Hatfield Papers, vol. iv. ; the Bacon Papers in the Lambeth
Palace Library, of which Birch's extracts are in B.M., Sloane MSS., 41 12, and are mostly published in his " Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth ; '
Charles Yetswirt's "True Report of Sondry Horrible Conspiracies," London, 1594 (French version of same; also London, 1594);
Francis Bacon's " True Beport of the Detestable Treason ; " Bishop Goodman's " Court of James I. ; " Sir William Waad's detailed ac-
count of the case in Lord Calthorpe's Manuscript Papers (for allowing me access to which I desire to thank his Lordship) ; an excellent
article called " The Conspiracy of Dr. Lopez " in the English Historical Review, for July 1894, by the Rev. Arthur Dimock ; and Mr. Sidney
Lee's article on " Lopez " in the " Dictionary of National Biography." There is also a contemporary statement of the whole case drawn up by Coke, the Solicitor-General, in Harl. MSS., P.M., 871.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 117

Protestant, was one of those Iberian Jews through whom the medical lore of the ancient Orient filtered to the Western world. The! persecution of this race in the Peninsula had driven them forth with their learning and traditions to seek safety in other lands ;
and in the sixteenth century no court in Europe lacked a physician of this sort, who was reported to possess secrets of science unattainable to the Gentile practitioners in their profession. Such men naturally attracted the dislike and jealousy of their medical rivals, both on account of their mysterious skill and their outcast race. They were generally self-seeking intriguers, who often wormed themselves into the confidence of high personages, and added to their wealth and importance by making themselves useful as intermediaries in affairs of state, where their knowledge of tongues and their confidential position gave them an advantage over others.

Lopez had lived in London since the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, first in Broad Street in the city of London, then in Wood Street, and finally in Mountjoy's Inn, Holborn. Gradually he became a leading physician, and obtained the patronage of Leicester, whose household doctor he was. Leicester was accused by his enemies, and notably by Father Persons, of a propensity for removing inconvenient friends or rivals by poison, and naturally his household physician shared his evil repute in this respect.

The English medical men of the time shrugged their shoulders and turned up their eyes when Lopez was mentioned, and it became an accepted fact that the Portuguese Jew had more skill in intrigue and self-advertisement than in medicine, and knew more about poisoning than healing. But with the patronage of Leicester and Walsingham, both members of the Puritan party, Lopez continued to prosper greatly in spite of frowns and sneers.

In 1586 he was appointed principal physician to the Queen, he was house-physician of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and was to all appearance a person of wealth, though he was really impecunious. In the pursuit of profit he was certainly indefatigable. He had a
monopoly for a term of years of the importation of shumac and aniseed into England ; his son was being educated at Winchester College, Oxford, by means of the revenues of a parsonage granted to him by the Queen ; one of his wealthy patients gave him a house ; and when Don Antonio, the Portuguese Pretender, came to England to crave the assistance of Elizabeth, Dr. Lopez at once became his advocate at court, his interpreter, and his inseparable friend — doubtless for very handsome consideration, for the Pretender, at his first coming, had brought with him from Portugal some of the finest jewels in the world, and whilst they lasted he was a welcome guest both to Elizabeth and to Catharine de Medici. Lopez had acted for his patrons, Leicester and Walsingham, in presenting Antonio's cause to the Queen in the most glowing colours ; and, influenced by his representations, Elizabeth had been induced to consent to the
joint-stock company invasion of Portugal by an English force in 1589, which ended in a dismal fiasco. 1 Elizabeth was very angry with Antonio

1 The history of this expedition is fully related in " The Year after the Armada," by the present writer.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 119

for the failure of his hopes, and Lopez was extremely apologetic for his share in the transaction.

Thenceforward the Pretender was under a cloud, the jewels were soon gone, and the crowd of Portuguese adherents who had surrounded him whilst his hopes lasted began to fall away from him. Many of them had already prepared a path for their political salvation by serving as spies in England for Philip, and as early as 1586 one of them had sent proposals to Mendoza in Paris, and to
Philip himself, to have Don ilntonio poisoned. 1 To these proposals Idiaquez, the King's secretary, replied to Mendoza that " the deed might be done without scruple as Don Antonio is a rebel, and has been condemned to death by law." The murderer was to have 25,000 or 30,000 ducats, and Idiaquez, by order of the King, urged that no time should be lost in performing the service. 2 The proposed
assassin, however, was a windbag, and the attempt came to nothing; but in the following year (1587) the same spy, Vega, mentioned a plan that he had for persuading Dr. Lopez to poison Don Antonio, by purging the latter with Indian acacia, instead of with his customary fortnightly purge. This was merely mentioned, together with a number of similar vague ideas proposed with the same object by Vega, and does not in any way commit Lopez yet. But shortly afterwards, Vega wrote that he had succeeded in gaining over Dr. Lopez, whom he had " converted to his Majesty's service with good promises, and he has already done wonders in trying

1 MSS. Simancas and Paris, Spanish Calendar, vols. iii. and iv.
2 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. p. T2.

120 TREASON AND PLOT

to get him, Antonio, turned out of here." Mendoza, in a marginal note to this letter, scornfully asks why Vega, " if he is so sure of Dr. Lopez, does not have Don Antonio put out of the way altogether." On a mere hint which Don Gerau de Spes gave him (Lopez), he offered to purge a Portuguese pilot who was busy about some expeditions from England to the Indies. He took the recipe to the apothecary
himself, and on his way he let it fall out of his breeches pocket, in consequence of which he was kept for six months in the Tower. " I (i.e. Mendoza) will say that this other business will be well paid for, as the doctor knows, and it may be settled without hesitation." 1 But Lopez would do nothing on Vega's word alone, and wanted a distinct pledge in writing from Philip or his Ministers. Distrust pre- vented this from being sent, and the matter for the time again fell through.

After the wreck of the Armada, Lopez busied himself greatly in favour of the Spanish prisoners of the poorer sort from one of the captured galleons, and claimed to have rescued 300 of them from the gallows and secured their liberation. One of the most daring and effective of the Portuguese spies was Manuel de Andrada, 2 who sent to Mendoza in

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. p. 78. I cannot find any confirmation of Mendoza's statement that Lopez was imprisoned, as he says, though
it is no doubt true that he agreed to poison the Portuguese pilot, Bartolome Bayon, in 1571.

2 Every writer on the subject with whose works I am acquainted lavishes upon this man vituperative epithets, which, so far as I can see,
are absolutely unjustified, except that, like all the dramatis persona, he was a double spy. Motley calls him " the famous Portuguese poisoner,'' which he certainly was not. Mr. Dimock says he " was a ruffian pure and simple." The papers I shall cite from Simancas and Paris will prove that at all events he told the truth.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 121

Paris absolutely correct and full advice of English naval affairs, and of the movements of Don Antonio. He spoke French and Flemish, and was frequently sent by Don Antonio on missions abroad, but was already, in 1590, suspected — and with good reason — of playing false to his master. During his absence in France on Don Antonio's business, he had left as his substitute in England another spy, one Rodrigo Marques, and on Andrada's arrival in London from Dieppe at the beginning of 1590, he had met his substitute there, and had learnt of Don Antonio's intention to fly from England to seek the aid of the Dutch, the Huguenots, or even of the Turks, since Elizabeth was unwilling to help him further. Andrada was secretly instructed by the Pretender to freight a ship for this purpose to carry him to Dieppe, and treacherously stipulated with the Flemish skipper, for 10,000 crowns, to alter his course when he was out at sea and run the vessel into Dunkirk, where Antonio would be at the mercy of the Spaniards. This pretty arrangement was conveyed in a letter written by Andrada to Mendoza in Paris, but the letter was intercepted, and, although written with sensitive ink, was promptly
deciphered by Phellips, and Andrada was clapped into jail, Marques flying into hiding until the hue and cry was over, and then escaping into France.

By the strenuous intervention of Dr. Lopez, Andrada was released, instead of being hanged by Don Antonio ; and when he arrived in France, the spy had a strange story to tell the Spanish ambassador. He had, he said, made great efforts to win over Dr. Lopez, " who is a person of great influence with the

122 TREASON AND PLOT

Queen and Council." " When Andrada was about to leave England, the Doctor said that as he had saved Andradra's life — which he certainly did, for if he had not interceded for him nothing else could have rescued him — he would confide in him that he had already been approached by Mendoza for the purpose of putting Don Antonio out of the way ; ' but he had refused, as he was distrustful. He had
been the means, he said, of saving from the gallows over three hundred Spaniards from Don Pedro's ship, who had been sentenced to be hanged ; and yet, for all this, he had never received any favour whatever from his Majesty (Philip). He said that God had ordained my imprisonment, and made him the instrument of my release, in order that he might be able implicitly to trust me ; and since I displayed
so much zeal in the service of his Majesty, I might tell Don Bernardino (Mendoza) that if he, Dr. Lopez, received his Majesty's orders to negotiate an arrangement, this was the time. He was sure that the Queen would concede any terms that were demanded of her, as she was in great alarm. It was not necessary to write about this, but that I should go to Calais, and write to him from there to the effect that, bearing in mind the clemency the Queen had extended to me, I was discussing with Mendoza subjects which would redound greatly to the advantage of her country ; ' 2 and that if a pass-

1 It is fair to observe that on a former occasion when Lopez said this to Vega, Mendoza said it was a lie ; but there was nothing impro-
bable in it.

2 Letters to a similar effect to this were written by Andrada to Lopez in 1 591 from Calais. See Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, for
that year, where translations of them will be found.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 123

port were sent to me, enabling me to go backwards and forwards freely, which passport Lopez promised should be sent at once, I could come secretly and stay in his house in London, where Secretary Walsingham could come and speak with me. He, Lopez, had no doubt that the Queen would come to terms with his Majesty, and would force Don Antonio to do the same, on the conditions that his
Majesty might think just. She would also cause the Netherlands to agree, and he, Lopez, on his part, would endeavour that everything should be done to his Majesty's satisfaction. No one was to know that he had discussed this matter with me. He would continue to let me know the decisions arrived at by the Queen's Council ; and when things were sufficiently advanced towards a conclusion to his
Majesty's satisfaction, personages might be sent to make the formal contracts. He hopes that everything may thus be settled speedily and advantageously for his Majesty ; and he promises, if the matter be kept secret, that he will inform me of everything that happens of interest to his Majesty.

If an arrangement be not arrived at, he promises that Don Antonio shall be sent away from England, or detained as his Majesty may desire, and if the present suggestion fell through he would continue to protect his Majesty's interests in England. In very truth no person can report so well as he can, in consequence of his great influence with the Queen and Council : but . . . energy and liberality
are necessary." 1

It is evident that Walsingham was behind Lopez

1 MSS. Paris Archives, Spanish Calendar, vol. iv.

1 24 TREASON AND PLOT

in this suggestion, and having in view the party to
which he belonged, we shall be safe in assuming
that the suggestion of peace negotiations was only
a screen behind which agents might go backwards
and forwards to Spain, and obtain information of
armaments, &c. But two parties can play at such a
game as this ; and when Andrada, with Marques in
his company, proceeded to Spain, apparently them-
selves in all sincerity, Mendoza suggested to the
King, and the latter approved of the suggestion,
that Andrada shall be " sent backwards and for-
wards to England under cover of the negotiation,
so that he may be able to report what is going on
there." l

This, however, was not the only message that
Andrada took from England. A brother-in-law
of Lopez (whose name is not mentioned, but who
was one of several brothers, English Jews, perhaps
originally from Portugal, named Jorge or Anes) had
professed to be deeply offended with Don Antonio
for having spoken ill of his father (Gonzalo Jorge ?),
and promised, if a person were sent to him with an
agreed token, he would "kill Don Antonio if his
Majesty desired." He disapproved of the peaceful
suggestion of his brother-in-law Lopez ; but, pend-
ing the authority to kill the Pretender, he also would
send information from England. Andrada protests
that "he never, on his conscience, urged the person
to do this ; yet, seeing that although the heretic
Queen had been merciful to him, Don Antonio had
tried by all means to have him killed, he, Andrada,
in revenge for such cruelty, is now disposed to do

1 MSS. Paris Archives, Spanish Calendar, vol. iv.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 125

everything against Don Antonio, even to have him
killed. Nothing will be done, however, without his
Majesty's orders."

These were the missions that Andrada carried to
Madrid, in part with the connivance of Walsingham,
through Lopez ; and I have quoted thus fully from
these documents, which are here used for the first
time, because upon this negotiation was subsequently
built the accusation against Lopez of participating in
the plot to murder the Queen, and an infinity of
totally unsupported scandal was grouped around it.
Andrada and Marques, as usual with persons of their
rank, did not negotiate in Spain with the King him-
self, though they said they were admitted to the
presence of Philip, who was seriously ill at the
Escorial, to kiss his hand, as he sat in his great
black velvet wheel chair. The peace suggestions of
Dr. Lopez were discussed with Don Cristobal de
Moura, Philip's favourite Secretary of State, and,
although we know that the negotiation was as
hollow on one side as the other, Andrada was sent
back to England, with full instructions to proceed in
the manner proposed by Mendoza. Moura's draft
instructions on the matter are plain and precise. It
is probable that Andrada himself was to think that
the Spaniards were sincere, although, if such was
the intention, he was really not deceived, and on his
arrival in England at once divulged the truth in
this respect to Lord Burghley. The draft for his
instructions 1 clearly demonstrate that his negotia-
tions in Spain were confined to the matters he had
already stated in writing to Mendoza, namely, the

1 See Appendix, p. 162.

126 TREASON AND PLOT

peace negotiations, the confinement in or expulsion
from England of Don Antonio by the influence of
Lopez, the murder of Don Antonio by Lopez's brother-
in-law, unknown to the doctor, and the gaining of in-
formation in England. All these offers were accepted
by Philip's Minister Moura, though, as will be seen,
not the faintest indication is given in these most secret
papers of any hint of a plot to kill Elizabeth, and
certainly none was included in this negotiation. Of
course, Moura must have known perfectly well that
such an envoy as Andrada would have had no chance
of negotiating a peace with the Queen, and the hint
that "satisfaction" must be given by England, with-
out, apparently, any concession on the part of Spain,
would of itself have rendered the negotiations abor-
tive. The whole matter, indeed, was insincere on
both sides, with the object of gaining information.
When Andrada and Marques were about to set out
for England, Moura only provided the insignificant
sum of 300 reals ( = £6) for their voyage, and a pro-
mise of a pension of 30 reals (per month ?) l at some
future time. So empty, indeed, was Philip's treasury
that Andrada's demand for a jewel for Dr. Lopez's
"daughter," and the payments for the doctor's
brother-in-law and the spy who furnished Andrada
with information, had to be met by taking some of
the "old jewels from his Majesty's casket" 2 in lieu
of sending money. The " old jewel" sent to Lopez's
daughter was a fine diamond and ruby ring, worth
/ioo, and it was made, three years afterwards, one
of the principal pieces de conviction against the
doctor. It was said to have been sent direct

1 See Appendix, p. 162. 2 Ibid.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 127

from Philip to Lopez as a pledge for the murder
of Elizabeth, and was asserted to have been ac-
companied by an " embrace ' from the King
himself. Andrada doubtless boasted and made
the most of his mission ; but there is no indication
in the Spanish documents that any such message
was sent, or even that he saw Philip at all. To any
one who knows, as I do, the relations that existed
between Philip and the rest of mankind, the mere
idea of an " embrace" being sent by the King him-
self through such a messenger as Andrada to such a
person as Dr. Lopez is ridiculous. The abrazo, at
all events, may be dismissed as a fable invented long
afterwards. The ring itself may have been intended
for the Queen, as Lopez's daughters were young girls,
and it is not likely that a ring would be sent to
either of them. In any case, Lopez offered the ring
to the Queen, though it is not clear whether he told
her from whom it came, and she graciously refused
it. 1 Of Marques we hear no more, but Andrada,
after suffering shipwreck and many adventures,
arrived at Havre in the summer of 1591, and begged
the English Government to give him a passport to
come to England. Walsingham, however, had died
in the meanwhile, and Lord Burghley had received
from his spies full information of Andrada's sus-
picious visit to Spain. Besides, his former betrayal
of Don Antonio had marked him as a dangerous man,
and when, eventually, after detention as a suspicious
character by the Huguenot governor of Dieppe, he

1 The fact of her having refused the ring is presumptive evidence of
Lopez having said it came from Philip. As a rule, she received such
presents from her courtiers with alacrity.

128 TREASON AND PLOT

was brought to Rye, it was as a prisoner of the Eng-
lish. Lord Burghley, who evidently knew nothing
of Walsingham's complicity in the matter, attached
much importance to Andrada's coming. The air, as
we have seen, was full of the talk of the Spanish
plots, and here was a man known to be a traitor to
his own King and in the pay of Spain, coming
straight from Philip and was seeking entrance to
the English court. When Andrada was brought to
Rye (August 2, 1591 O.S.), he wrote to Burghley
begging that he may be examined by the Lord
Treasurer himself or by some person of great
trust, as his mission was important ; l and to the
King, Don Antonio, he also sent a letter full of
contrition for past errors, saying that he always
wished to serve him, and had determined, in unison
with Marques, upon a course which would complete
successfully the matter he had in hand. He trusts,
he says, that Antonio's Minister, Botello, may be
present when he speaks to the Lord Treasurer
on matters concerning the Queen and Philip II.
Burghley' s answer to the spy's letter was to send
Mr. Mills to Rye with Botello and Dr. Lopez to
examine Andrada and his papers, " at first civilly,
and then threateningly, so that in fear of his life he
may be compelled to disclose the truth." On the
13th August, Andrada related to Mr. Mills quite
truly everything which I have already told from
the documents themselves. From that time to this
English historians have characterised this statement
of his as a pack of lies, 2 and the man himself as a

1 State Papers, Domestic.

2 Mr. Dimock, for instance, dismissed it as " of course, all sheer false-

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 129

perjured braggart ; but I have checked every state-
ment and cannot find one discrepancy. He had been
sent on this peace negotiation, he said, by Philip,
whilst the latter prepared an expedition against
England or Ireland : he told the whole story of
his former negotiation with Mendoza, and assured
Burghley that Walsingham was a party to the arrange-
ment, though he does not seem to have appealed
to Lopez for confirmation, as he might have done ;
he disclosed the offer of the Anglo-Portuguese
brother-in-law of Lopez — though he did not give his
name — to kill Don Antonio, and added that, on the
failure of a certain Spanish emissary from Philip to get
through France to kill the Pretender, the Spanish
Ministers had authorised him, Andrada, to offer Dr.
Lopez himself a large sum to commit the crime.

Lord Burghley was indignantly incredulous of the
whole story, and sent to Andrada a scornful paper of
queries. 1 How could Philip think, he asked, that
Andrada could be a fit envoy to England, seeing the
way in which he had betrayed Antonio before, and
how could he think that the Queen would receive
such a man? The suggestion (of Moura) that
Andrada should be sent to Parma to make terms,
considering how the Prince had tricked the Queen
in the former peace negotiations, was ridiculous.
What was the use of the disclosure of the names
of those who had been spies in England, or of his,
Andrada's, proposal for England to checkmate Philip
by sending a force to Portugal in September in the

hood." As a matter of fact it is all confirmed by the letters of Mendoza
and Moura.

1 In State Papers, Domestic, of the date.

I

130 TREASON AND PLOT

interests of Don Antonio ? Andrada made good and
true answers to all these objections. He gave a
wonderfully correct list of the Spanish spies still in
England, letters from all of whom I have seen. He
cited Mendoza's strong letter of recommendation of
him to the King as a reason for the latter's trust in
him, and protested warmly that his ultimate object was
neither ambition nor greed, but to save Portugal from
Spanish tyranny and avenge the death of his kins-
folk who had been sacrificed to Philip's cruelty. The
man was obviously a traitor, and Burghley would not
believe his protestations, or for some time accept his
offers of service as a spy. He was consigned to the
keeping of Dr. Lopez, in whose house he lived for
the next year or so, and in June 1593 we find him
living at Calais, whence he had gone from Zeeland,
and although, as he says, poorly recompensed, sending
to Lord Burghley such news as he could gather in
the interests of England. 1 He was, however, dis-
contented with his pay, and in August wrote to the
Lord Treasurer a letter very different in tone to those
he usually sent, and evidently conveying a covert
intimation that unless money was sent to him he
would take his services elsewhere. "As the Queen
has nothing for him to do, and Don Antonio is not
in a position to support him, he is determined to go
where his fortune shall guide him." Naturally his
fortune guided him to the Spanish territory of
Brussels, and, fortunately for himself, Manuel An-
drada trod English soil no more, although upon the

1 His letters to Lord Burghley are in the Hatfield Papers, vol. iv.
When he had set out for Flanders, Burghley had given him a sum equal
to ^10, and he does not seem to have received more.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 131

facts I have here set down was reared the edifice whose
fall crushed Dr. Lopez and sent all England into a
fresh frenzy of hate and rage against the Spaniards.

Lopez in the meanwhile lived honoured and re-
spected at court, a man of supposed wealth and
influence ; but he was already marked down for
ruin. As we have seen, he had owed his advance-
ment to Leicester, Walsingham, and Essex, the
heads of the party determined upon open war with
Spain, and lo ! the discovery of this peace negotiation
of Andrada exhibited him as an anxious intermediary
in an arrangement with Spain. Walsingham was
dead, and could not say that he never meant the
negotiations to be sincere ; they were evidently in-
tended to be so by Lopez, and this was a desertion
of those to whom he owed everything. 1 Essex was
hotheaded and vindictive enough himself, but he
had now two men practically living upon his bounty
to whom peace with Spain was utter ruin and whose
hatred for Philip was a mania.

Don Antonio, the evicted king, whose crown
Philip had wrested from his brows ; and Antonio
Perez, the sleepless foe who had derided, deceived,
and defied the sovereign who looked upon himself
as semi-divine ; who had raised revolt against and

1 Bishop Goodman, in his "Court of James I.," gives us another
reason for Essex's anger with Lopez. It appears that Don Antonio
and Antonio Perez were carousing with Dr. Lopez at Eton, where they
were all lodged whilst the court was at Windsor, and in the confidence
bred of the circumstances the Doctor told his boon companions some
very discreditable secret respecting the Earl's maladies. This breach
of professional etiquette was immediately conveyed to Essex by the
two Antonios, and "here the Earl was so much incensed that he
resolved to be revenged on him, and now he began to possess the
Queen that Lopez was a very villain and had poisoned others."

132 TREASON AND PLOT

had humiliated the proudest king on earth before
his own people. To these men, both of whose lives
Philip sought, Lopez, the reputed poisoner, was
dreaded and hateful in a double sense. He had
been in close communication with their enemy,
first, to bring about peace between England and
Spain, and secondly, to assassinate by his vile art
those whom Philip wished out of the way.

What could save Lopez from such a combination
as this, even if he had been innocent, much less if
any guilt could be found beneath all this mysterious
intriguing ?

Either from the spying of Essex's creatures or
otherwise, it was conveyed to the Queen by the
Earl in the middle of October 1595 that a certain
Portuguese gentleman of rank, who had been
ruined by his adherence to the cause of Don Antonio,
and was then living in Lopez's house in Holborn,
being discontented with his master, had determined
to compass the death of Don Antonio and offer his
services to the King of Spain. 1 The Queen at once
gave Essex an order for the apprehension of this
man, Esteban Ferreira da Gama, and the exami-
nation of his papers. 2 This was the first step, and
Essex lost no time in making the arrest, and
handing his prisoner over to his own offended
sovereign, Don Antonio, who was then lodging at

1 Carleton (" Thankful Remembrancer ") says that " it was conveyed
to the Queen that it was Ferreira's intention to go to the King of
Spain accompanied by Don Manoel, the eldest son of Don Antonio,
and divers other Portuguese, the purpose being for them all to submit
to Philip." Such a submission was, as we shall see by the correspond-
ence, at all events one of the objects of the negotiations.

2 All these men had aliases, some of them several, but I have
throughout retained their true names to avoid unnecessary obscurity.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 133

Eton College. 1 Orders were also sent to Rye,
Sandwich, and Dover for all correspondence arriving
at those ports directed to Portuguese to be detained
and read. There was no definite charge against
Ferreira ; he was merely suspected of an intention
to betray his master, Don Antonio ; but a fortnight
after his arrest a man named Gomez d'Avila,
described as a " mean, base fellow," living when
at home hard by Lopez's house in Holborn, was
taken at one of the ports as he came from Flanders.
Upon him was found a letter addressed to one
Ferrandis, and signed Francisco de Torres. The
terms in the letter were commercial, but neither the
writer nor the person to whom it was addressed was
known. It ran thus: "The bearer will inform
your Worship in what price your pearls are held.
I will advise your Worship presently of the utter-
most penny that will be given for them, and crave
what order you will have set down for the convey-
ance of the money, and wherein you would have it
employed. Also this bearer shall tell you in what
resolution we rested about a little musk and amber,
the which I determined to buy. But before I
resolve myself I will be advised of the price
thereof. And if it shall please your Worship to
be my partner, I am persuaded we shall make good
profit." This was very mysterious, and no explana-
tion could be got from Gomez d'Avila. But he
was put in prison as a precautionary measure whilst
further inquiries were being made, his arrival and

1 Sir William Waad's account in Lord Calthorpe's MSS., vol. xxxiii.
fol. 148.

2 Yetswirt's " True Report," &c.

134 TREASON AND PLOT

arrest being kept secret. About the same time a
large packet of letters was seized on another Por-
tuguese at Dover, addressed to a certain Manuel
Luis at Brussels, and in this packet was found a
letter written by Ferreira to the Spanish Secretary
Ibarra, enclosing another from Dr. Lopez to Ferreira,
written before the arrest of the latter, giving him
news of what was passing at court, where Lopez
was staying, Ferreira being at the time in Dr.
Lopez's house in London. This was confirmation
of the suspicions against Ferreira, but nothing
else.

In the meanwhile Lopez was using all the influ-
ence he possessed with the Queen to secure the
release of Ferreira. He told her how ungrateful
Don Antonio was, not only to this good servant of
his, who had sacrificed everything for him, but also
to her. He (Antonio) was even now, he assured
her, quite truly, again planning to go to France, and
to appeal for help to other princes, as he had done
before. There was, Lopez told the Queen, no
person more likely to be useful than Ferreira "to
work a peace between the two kingdoms, in which
he (Lopez) had already laid a good foundation." l
And if her Majesty did not desire this course, what
a good thing it would be " to cosin the King of
Spain by a speech uttered by himself! " 2 The Queen
sharply reproved the Doctor for this. She did not
relish such liberties being taken with a crowned
head, even that of her enemy. It was noticed, too,
by courtiers that the Jew grew more and more

1 Sir William Waad's account in Lord Calthorpe's MSS.

2 Ibid.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 135

haggard and anxious, for Essex had many friends
whose watchful eyes were upon him.

In the meantime the "base fellow," Gomez d'Avila,
was being daily pressed in Essex's house for some ex-
planation of the mysterious musk and amber missive
he had brought. During the time he was waiting
in the chamber for examination on one occasion, he
begged "an honest gentleman who happened to be
there, and who spoke the Spanish tongue, to tell
Dr. Lopez that he was captured." 1 This was a clue
that was not lost upon Essex, to whom it was con-
veyed, for hitherto there had been no mention of
any connection between Gomez d'Avila and the
Doctor. " The honest gentleman " shortly after-
wards met Lopez in the Base Court at Windsor, and
gave him the message ; whereupon it was noticed
that Lopez " changed countenance." When Gomez
d'Avila saw the rack he gave further extension to
the story. He had been sent, he said, by Ferreira
two months previously to Brussels to one Manuel
Luis — whose real name w 7 as Tinoco — and to Secre-
tary Ibarra, and had there awaited for weeks the
reply which he had brought to England, the letter
signed Torres being really written by Manuel Luis
(Tinoco). This at once marked out Ferreira as the
man to whom this mysterious musk and amber letter
had really been written.

Shortly before this Ferreira had taken a most
unfortunate step. He was, be it recollected, only
a prisoner of Don Antonio at Eton, and was under
the charge of a young Portuguese servant named

1 Sir William Waad's account in Lord Calthorpe/s MSS.

2 Ibid.

136 TREASON AND PLOT

Pedro. In order to test this lad, Ferreira asked him
to beg another Portuguese, one Caldeira, who was
a member of the household of the French Ambas-
sador, also living at Eton College, to come and
speak to him at his grated window. Caldeira re-
plied that he dared not ; but as the reply proved
that Pedro had given the message, Ferreira then
sent him to Caldeira with a little note, praying him
to see Dr. Lopez, and to warn him, for God's sake,
to prevent the coming over of Gomez d'Avila from
Brussels, " for if he should be taken, the Doctor would
be undone without remedy." 1 The message was con-
veyed to Lopez, who had not yet learnt of Gomez's
arrest, and he then made his fatal mistake. Caldeira
had been arrested, and was imprisoned at Ditton
Park, for the lad Pedro had divulged to Don Antonio
Ferreira's communication with him and Lopez. So
the latter had to find another means of sending a
reassuring note to Ferreira. He wrote on a little
ticket, folded in a handkerchief sent from the
laundry, that he had already taken steps to stop
Gomez d'Avila from coming. "He had," he said,
" sent twice or thrice to Flanders with that object,
and would spare no expense, if it cost him ^300." ' 2
This little note in the handkerchief was, of course,
intercepted (by the confessor in the service of Don
Antonio), and when Ferreira was confronted with
the information contained in it, thinking that Lopez
had betrayed him, he hastened to make a declaration

1 The little note also contained these words : " All the diligence
that hath been used doth not condemn Dr. Lopez as yet any whit, for
I have bravely diverted anybody from that." This is noted by Waad
as being "very suspicious" (Lord Galthorpe's MSS. 33).

i Ibid.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 137

incriminating the Doctor. Lopez, he said, was a
principal party in the negotiations for the submis-
sion of Don Antonio's son and heir to the King of
Spain. The Doctor, he repeated, had artfully secured
Andrada's release from prison three years before, in
order that he might go to Mendoza and deal for the
poisoning of Don Antonio ; and he (Lopez) had
been in the interests of Spain for years. Much of
this was old news, at least to the Cecils, who had
squeezed Andrada at Rye two years before, but it
gave Essex some further clues. Gomez d'Avila was
plied with leading questions till he confessed that
when he was in Brussels he learnt that a great sum
of money was to be sent to England, some 40,000
or 50,000 crowns, he thought. It was to be ad-
dressed to Ferreira, and was for the purpose of
buying the adhesion of Don Antonio's eldest son
and his followers to the Spanish side. Ferreira
being confronted with this statement, admitted its
truth, and confessed that the " musk and amber "
letter was really intended for him, and referred to
this matter. He went further, and proposed that
the plot should be allowed ostensibly to proceed,
and the sum, when it came, handed over to Don
Antonio himself, to be used against Spain. Don
Antonio was in dire poverty, and the money would
have been welcome enough, but Essex and Perez
persuaded him that there was some deep mystery
behind all this, which, when discovered, would do
more for his cause and against Philip than could be
done by the treasure.

The watch upon the English ports was not
slackened, and in December it met with its reward.

138 TREASON AND PLOT

The Portuguese called Tinoco, otherwise Manuel
Luis, came to Jefferey, the English Consul at Calais,
asking for a passport and safe-conduct to go to
England. He had been, he said, an adherent of
Don Antonio ; he had feigned attachment to the
Spaniards, and had lived in Brussels in order to
obtain the release of his wife and children in Portu-
gal. He was, however, disgusted with his prince,
Antonio, and owed gratitude and allegiance alone to
the English Queen, who had secured his liberation
from captivity in Barbary. His object in going to
England was to reveal to the Queen and the Lord
Treasurer secrets hurtful to England which he had
learnt in Brussels. Jefferey, at his request, for-
warded two memorials to this effect to Elizabeth
and Burghley, and in due time a "prudently
drafted " safe-conduct was sent by Sir William
Waad, allowing the Portuguese to enter England
without molestation, but jeserved to the discretion
of the Government whether he should be allowed to
depart again. Tinoco, taking his safe-conduct for a
full protection, sailed for England, in company with
one of the Consul's servants, who took care not to
let him out of his sight until he handed him to the
captain of Dover Castle. Thence he was taken to
court with all secrecy, expecting to be granted an
interview with Lord Burghley. But, to his dismay,
he was seized, searched, and placed safe under lock
and key (14th January 1594). On him were found
two letters, which were susceptible of sinister inter-
pretation, and bills of exchange for a large sum of
money. One of the letters was dated Brussels,
A December 1593, signed by Count de Fuentes,

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 139

the Spanish governor of Flanders, and addressed
to Ferreira, who had been languishing in Don
Antonio's prison for two months previously. The
letter bespeaks credence for the bearer, Tinoco,
and requests Ferreira, if possible, to go to Portugal,
and thence to Spain, for the purpose of conferring
privately with Don Cristobal de Moura, the Secre-
tary of State, following his directions for the service
of his Majesty. " If the shadows he speaks of," the
letter continues, " have been the occasion of not
entreating the commission, and if he would be
informed of what has been offered, he may do it ;
the chief matter is the service of the king. He is
to consider well, before he takes the voyage in hand,
whether he can give any better order therein, but
the whole is referred to him, Ferreira. ... It is
important that he goes thither with the commission,
for the profit that may be reaped thereby. ... As
to the young gentleman, it does not seem convenient
to move anything till they see his decision." x
Ibarra's letter was similarly enigmatical. It refers
Ferreira to Tinoco, who knows their decision in the
affair, which concurs with his, Ferreira's, own.
" He is persuaded that Ferreira will do his en-
deavours, and he may be assured himself to obtain
all that is to be expected of one (i.e. Philip) who can
do so much, and is so willing to recompense that
which is done in his service, and which is so much
for the benefit of the world."

The wretched Tinoco was then submitted to the
searching examination of Essex, Waad, and others.
What did these strange letters mean? he was asked,

1 State Papers, Domestic, ccxlvi.

i 4 o TREASON AND PLOT

since Count Fuentes said that he, Tinoco, knew
all about it. Tinoco told a tale to explain why
he had come to England. The new Viceroy of
Flanders, the Archduke Ernest, was going to invade
England, and an attack was to be made upon the
Isle of Wight : a Gallego priest and a Jesuit were
to come across from Dieppe to kill the Queen with
a " device of fire," and much more vague stuff of the
same sort, was all that at first could be got from
him— evidently the loose talk of the English re-
fugees in Brussels. 1 When he was pressed closely
as to his object in going to Brussels at all from
England, he prevaricated, and was tripped up again
and again. But at last leading questions drew
from him the avowal that he had been sent over
to England to see Ferreira, and with him secretly
endeavour to win Dr. Lopez to do "a service " to
King Philip, presumably against Don Antonio, as
Tinoco confessed that he had deserted the Pre-
tender and despaired of his cause. But this avowal
did not explain Fuentes and Ibarra's letters to
Ferreira, and it was evident that something more
was behind. Tinoco himself grew alarmed at the
snare into which he had run, and wrote the next
day to Cecil protesting his innocence and praying
to be sent back to FJanders. He was, he says,
" confused and encumbered by the cunning questions
of the Earl of Essex," and had small knowledge of
the language, French, in which he was examined.
He came voluntarily in all sincerity to do the Queen
a service, but has not been treated as he expected.

1 State Papers, Domestic, ccxlvi.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 141

He gives his word as a gentleman to serve her
Majesty truly, and to send all information possible
if he is allowed to go back to Brussels. His letters
from Fuentes and Ibarra had, he asserted, no
reference to Don Antonio and his affairs ; and he
advises Cecil to allow Ferreira himself to go to
Spain, as desired in the letters, so that he may learn
the designs of Philip against England. This was
written on the 16th January, and its immediate
effect was to render Tinoco's prison the closer. For
the "cunning questions" of the Earl of Essex had
drawn from him the avowal that the main object
of his voyage and of Ferreira's curious correspond-
ence was to prevail upon Dr. Lopez to do " a service "
to the King of Spain that had no relation with
Don Antonio. Gomez d'Avila had confessed that
a large sum of money was to be sent to England
for something ; that he had waited two months in
Brussels for a definite reply to some proposal sent
by Ferreira — an inmate of Lopez's house — who had
in his little note to the Doctor besought him to
prevent a reply coming from Brussels or he, Lopez,
would be utterlv ruined, and had assured the Doctor
that he, Ferreira, had not incriminated him, Lopez.
The Doctor, moreover, in his little " ticket " in the
handkerchief addressed in reply to Ferreira, had
said that he would spend ^300 rather than the
answer from Brussels came over. This seemed to
prove conclusively that the Doctor was really the
principal in the business, whatever it was, and
Tinoco said it did not concern Don Antonio. On
the 1st January 1594 the blow of Essex fell upon
his enemy. Dr. Lopez, the Queen's principal

H2 TREASON AND PLOT

physician, a court favourite and a friend of the
great Lord Treasurer, found himself a prisoner.
Nothing whatever of an incriminating character
was found in his house ; and when he was taken
before the Lord Treasurer, his son, Sir Robert Cecil,
and the Earl of Essex, at Burghley House in the
Strand for examination, his answers seemed so satis-
factory that the Cecils, at all events, were convinced
that he had no part in any sinister designs. Burghley
knew, of course, that he was in communication with
Spanish agents, for he had become one of his own
principal spy-masters. The Cecils also knew from
their examination of Andrada all about the peace
negotiations of two years before, and were per-
suaded that the new matter was a prolongation of
the same intrigue, for the purpose of "cosining"
the King of Spain and gaining knowledge of his
intention. So, as soon as Sir Robert Cecil could
get away from the examination of Lopez, he rode
in haste to the Queen at Hampton Court, and told
her how Essex had arrested her body-physician,
and that on examination the Doctor had proved his
innocence of offence. Elizabeth was in a fury. She
had been squabbling with Essex ever since Christ-
mas, and this was another grievance against him.
When he appeared at court she railed at him
vigorously. How dared he, " a rash temerarious
youth," to bring these grave accusations of high
treason, out of sheer malice, against a faithful ser-
vant of hers ? She knew that Lopez was innocent,
and it touched her honour now to see that justice
was done. Cecil, the prim, sly, little hunchback,
whom he hated, stood by whilst the haughty

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 143

favourite was thus rebuked ; aud when Essex flung
out of the chamber, with flaming face and violent
gesture, to sulk for the next two days, it touched
his honour thenceforward to bring the Jew Lopez
to the gallows, guilty or innocent.

Not a word up to this point had been said about
poisoning the Queen, but in the excited state of
public feeling against Spain, already described, a
mere hint of such a plan attributed to Lopez was
sufficient to turn every one against him. The hint
was not long coming, and it came from the quarter
where it might have been expected. Standen, one
of Essex's Catholic spies, went to Hampton Court on
the 24th January, and wrote to Bacon on the 30th
an account of Lopez's first examination in London
on the 2 1 st, and the Queen's rage with Essex. He
then says that "Lopez had been detected of a design
to poison the Queen." 1 The following day Faunt,
another of Essex's hangers-on, wrote from London
to Bacon, saying that " it was most true that Dr.
Lopez was most deeply touched in the particular
working of the Queen's destruction, and was dis-
covered to have been the King of Spain's pensioner
for seven years past. . . . The Queen had forbidden
all access to her, except only of four persons, besides
councillors and ladies." 2 The day before this was
written Lopez was taken to the Tower, and Essex
himself wrote to his spy-master, Antony Bacon : " In
haste this morning. — I have discovered a most dan-
gerous and desperate treason. The point of conspiracy
was her Majesty's death. The executioner should
have been Dr. Lopez ; the manner poison. This I

1 Birch. 2 Ibid.

144 TREASON AND PLOT

have so followed as I will make it appear as clear as
noonday." l

In the meanwhile, the separate examination of
all the prisoners continued. Tinoco was told that
Ferreira, on a threat of torture, had charged him
with high treason ; and Tinoco, in a panic, we know
not how pressed or led, but determined to save his
own neck by the earliest and fullest declarations,
opened the flood-gates of revelation, and surpassed
himself in the satisfaction he gave to Essex. On the
nth February, Faunt wrote to Bacon some news he
had heard secretly from Sir W. Waad about the
Lopez case, which he now mixed up vaguely with
the Collen, Annias, and Polwhele conspiracies, re-
ferred to in the preceding chapter. Then he goes
on to say : " The inquiry is still very strict, and Dr.
Lopez used great arts to elude it, and swore and
forswore himself for that purpose. 2 However, he
has already confessed that many letters had been
sent to him from the King of Spain's Ministers with
large offers, but that he had always forborne to make
answer, and entered not into promise. Yet one
letter was found, in which he offered all his service
to the King, saying that he only stayed in England
to do him some acceptable service, which, being
done, he would think himself happy to retire and die
in his Majesty's dominions." Lopez, he said, asserted

1 Birch, vol. i. p. 152. It is not plain whence came the original hint
ahout Lopez killing the Queen, but it seems probable that it arose out
of an important exclamation which Ferreira afterwards confessed he
had made to his guard, the young Portuguese called Pedro, to the effect
that he had no doubt that Lopez would poison either the Queen or Don
Antonio if he was paid sufficiently for it.

2 Sir William Waad, in his account in the Calthorpe MSS., speaks of
" Lopez's customary awful oaths."

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 145

that all this was in pursuance of a plan he had
arranged with Walsingham to gain over as a spy
one of the assistants of Idiaquez, the Spanish Secre-
tary of State. "But that shift," continued Faunt,
" will not serve. This will prove the most resolute
attempt, and most deeply advised, of the court of
Spain, if Lopez be well sifted, who is a most vile
person, and void of all shame and common humanity.
Thus much in great secret. " x All this, be it recol-
lected, was from the various creatures of Essex.
The letter to which he refers from Lopez, offering
his services to Spain, is not now forthcoming, and
Mr. Faunt's hearsay assertion of its existence is not
conclusive ; but there is no doubt that such letters
had been written by Ferreira at Lopez's dictation. 2
This, however, is no proof that such offers as they
contained related to the murder of the Queen. The
first presumption, indeed, is to the contrary, as the
unquestionable negotiations laid bare in the papers

1 Birch.

2 Ferreira confessed on the 18th February that ten months pre-
viously he had received from Lopez two letters to be delivered to Don
Christobal de Moura. These letters were written by Ferreira himself,
at the dictation of Lopez, and professed the latter's willingness to do all
that the King of Spain desired, though, said Ferreira, the wording was
purposely obscure. In answer, evidently, to a leading question, Ferreira
confessed at the same time that, in his opinion, " the Doctor would have
poisoned the Queen if required." This is an instance of the way in
which the evidence was built up. From these extorted admissions to
the confident statement that Lopez had written to the Spaniards offer-
ing to kill the Queen was but a step. In the same confession Ferreira
said that Andrada had told him, shortly before he left England in 1593,
that if the King of Spain wished, Dr. Lopez would poison either the
Queen or Don Antonio. This speech Ferreira said he had afterwards
repeated to Lopez himself, who replied, "As for the King (Don
Antonio), he shall die with the first sickness that shall happen to him,
but for the Queen we have no answer as yet from the other side." See
Ferreira's confession, State Papers, Domestic, and in Yetswirt's book.

K

146 TREASON AND PLOT

from the Paris archives I have quoted in an appendix
prove that the communications between Lopez and
the Spaniards disclosed therein refer to the simulated
peace overtures, and also, probably, to the removal of
Don Antonio by poison.

Essex, Waad, and llobert Cecil (for the latter
was as anxious now as the Earl himself to sift the
matter ; it was the Cecil method never to champion
an unpopular cause) followed up ceaselessly the
clues thus gained, with the object of " making it
appear clear as noonday " against Lopez. Tinoco's
admissions were used as levers for still further
opening the lips of Ferreira ; and the two prisoners
were so cleverly handled with fears of torture, and
by a desire to ingratiate themselves with their exa-
miners, that the story soon looked circumstantial
enough to ensure the hanging of Lopez. When the
evidence, such as it was, was pieced together, it
appeared from the declarations that the reference
to " peace " and " service " really meant the murder
of the Queen by Lopez. 1 The ruby ring and the
mythical "embrace" brought by Andrada to the
Doctor were said to be an encouragement direct
from Philip to the commission of the crime. The
King, however, distrusting such a man as An-
drada in so delicate a mission, had instructed

1 Tinoco confessed on 26th February : " The letters I wrote to Fer-
reira by Gomez d'Avila concerning the point which speaketh of
pearls, and the price of them, was to give him to understand that the
news which he had sent that Dr. Lopez would kill the Queen were
very greatly accepted, and much esteemed of Count de Fuentes and
Secretary Ibarra. And touching the point concerning musk and
amber, the Count de Fuentes did tell me that he did look for a reso-
lution of the King of great importance ; and when it came there should
be a great matter " (Yetswirt).

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 147

Count Fuentes to employ Ferreira instead of him.
Andrada himself, it was asserted, had written to
Count Fuentes three letters, urging that the money
for the service (i.e. the murder of the Queen) should
be paid at once. It was not in accordance with the
Spanish principle to pay beforehand — if at all —
and, according to the confessions, the matter hung
fire until Ferreira was sent by Lopez to Flanders
with the two letters already referred to again offer-
ing his service in obscure terms. Ferreira stated
that Fuentes and Ibarra instructed him to obtain a
more binding pledge from the Doctor, which, how-
ever, he was unable to do. Tinoco was then sent
by Ferreira from London to Brussels and Antwerp,
where Andrada was then staying. At Fuentes'
instance Tinoco persuaded Andrada to stand aside,
whilst Ferreira acted as principal intermediary ; *
and Tinoco then went back to England for one day
only — according to his own statement — carrying
grand promises and another embrace from Fuentes

1 Tinoco confessed on the 22nd February that Fuentes had sum-
moned him to his house at Brussels and asked his opinion about
Andrada. Tinoco's reply appears to have been unfavourable, and
Fxientes's secretary had then exhibited to Tinoco three letters, which
he said had been written by Andrada to him from Calais. The first
letter related that Dr. Lopez had sent him (Andrada) to say that he
'• was determined to do such a piece of service to the king of Castile
as thereby he (Philip) might with safety satisfy himself of the English
nation. But so as the King should recompense his services with honour
and favour, according to the quality thereof ; for he was old, and in
many ways indebted, and would now find rest for his old age. And
declaring the quality of the service he (Andrada?) told him (Fuentes)
that Dr. Lopez bound himself to despatch the Queen by poison ;
whereof it behoved him (Fuentes) to advertise the king of Spain
thereof with all speed ; and he (Andrada) would attend at Calais
until answer came from Madrid." According to Tinoco, it was at this
point that Philip declined to proceed in such a matter by means of a
person so discredited on both sides as Andrada.

148 TREASON AND PLOT

to Lopez, and a letter from Moura in Spain to
Ferreira, instructing him that the " treaty of peace,"
which Tinoco said meant the murder of the Queen,
should be renewed. Tinoco then returned to
Flanders and Ferreira himself kept close to Lopez,
urging him to do the service required of him, and
Ferreira confessed that the Doctor demanded 50,000
crowns down ; and according to the prosecution, it
was the delay necessary for the return of Philip's
answer to this demand that was referred to in the
reply promised to be sent to Ferreira by Tinoco
about the price of " pearls." Tinoco's own journey to
England after Ferreira's arrest was said to have been
urged by Fuentes for the purpose of encouraging the
conspirators by the letters from Fuentes and Ibarra,
and of exciting Lopez's cupidity by showing him
bills of exchange for a large amount, which might
be his after the commission of the crime. 1

It will be seen by these confessions that Tinoco's 2
avowals were all directed to prove his own innocence
at the expense of Lopez and Ferreira, whilst the
latter sought to shift the principal burden upon
Lopez. Both the prisoners, however, admitted the
main point, namely, that the conspiracy really aimed

1 Be it recollected that three years before the Spanish Ministers had
themselves offered 30,000 for the killing of Don Antonio by Lopez.

2 Tinoco confessed on 22nd February that Fuentes and Ibarra had
summoned him to a secret chamber, and taking his hands in theirs,
had made him pledge himself to inviolable secrecy. "After I had
given them my word and faith . . . they told me that Ferreira had
written to them that Lopez had offered and bound himself to kill the
Queen of England by poison, on condition that the King of Spain
should recompense his services according to their quality. This passed
at the house of Count de Fuentes in Brussels, and as far as I remember
on the 9th December last."

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 149

at the Queen's death ; and the final triumph for
Essex was to wring some sort of admission from
Lopez himself. All the avowals of Tinoco and
Ferreira were dangled before him daily in the
Tower. First he indignantly denied his guilt ;
then, in terror or distress, he admitted that he had
made a promise to the Spaniards to poison the
Queen, but that his object was simply to cheat
Philip out of a large sum of money and then to
expose him. Although it is often asserted that
this confession was made on the rack, this does
not appear to have been the case. But however
obtained, it sufficed ; and on the 28th February
1594 Lopez was tried at Guildhall by special com-
mission, including Essex and Cecil. Tinoco and
Ferreira told their story again, with all the damning
details. In accordance with the usual procedure
in such cases, the accused was browbeaten and
abused unmercifully by his judges and prosecutors.
The various letters I have mentioned were made
the most of, though of themselves without the de-
clarations they would have proved nothing against
Lopez, 1 except perhaps the little notes that had
passed between him and Ferreira when the latter
was first arrested. The Doctor solemnly asserted
that he was innocent ; and on being confronted
with his own partial confession, he said that it had
been made out of fear of the rack. This was
denied ; and he then averred that his only wish

1 It must be recollected that the letters purporting to be written by
Andrada in Calais to Count Fuentes connecting Lopez directly with
the plot to kill the Queen were only recited on the recollection of
Tinoco, who asserted that they had been shown to him in Brussels by
the secretary of Count Fuentes.

150 TREASON AND PLOT

was to " cosen " King- Philip. Confronted with
Tinoco and Ferreira, he could only protest passion-
ately that their evidence was all false, and he was in
turn told by thern that he lied. Lopez, guilty or
innocent, was doomed long before, and on his
own statement he was condemned to death as a
traitor. Cecil was as eager as Essex now to wash
his hands of sympathy with the fallen wretch, and
directly he left Guildhall he wrote to a friend that
"ye vile Jew sayd that he did confess indead to it
that he had talk of it, but now he might tell further
he did belie himself; and did it only to save himself
from racking, which, ye Lord knoweth on my sowles
wytness, to be most untrue : and so he was told
home : and the most substantial jury I have seene
have found him guilty in the highest degree of all
treasons ; and judgment passed against him with ye
applause of all ye world." * Ferreira and Tinoco
were put upon their trial a fortnight afterwards,
and, notwithstanding their prayers for mercy and
their engaging frankness, there was no clemency for
them. For some reason or other the Queen hesi-
tated to sign the death-warrant. Lopez begged
humbly for himself, his wife and children, but
without avail so far as he was concerned. All
England was in a ferment of indignation, owing
to the revelations made by Ferreira and Tinoco,
and the heat introduced into the accusations against
Philip and his Ministers by the Essex party ; and
at length, early in June 1594, the three poor
wretches, bound to hurdles, were dragged up Holborn
to Tyburn, and the penalty for treason was paid by

1 State Papers, Domestic, cclvii.

THE LOPEZ CONSPIRACY 151

all of them, with a sickening barbarity exceeding
even the usual awful rites. 1 Lopez in vain tried to
speak to the vast scoffing crowd that faced him.
Almost speechless with agitation, he solemnly pro-
tested his innocence : mocking laughter and ribald
interruption alone greeted his despairing cry. He
was unfortunately inspired to say that he loved his
mistress better than Jesus Christ ; and this, coming
from a Jew, so incensed the multitude that the
tumult silenced all else, and Ruy Lopez went to
his death, and left his final secret to be guessed by
others.

The reader has had placed before him quite im-
partially all the evidence known to be in existence
upon which Lopez was condemned. He can judge
for himself as to the righteousness of the sentence.
That Lopez was willing to poison his master, Hon
Antonio, there is no reason to doubt ; that he was a
false and lying trickster is proved beyond possibility
of cavil and by his own statement ; but he

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The Jews were supposed to have been kicked out of England by Edward 1st in the 13th Century and were permitted back by Oliver Cromwell around 1649 whose revolution was financed by them. On the other hand Shakespeare early 1600s describes Shylock as a well recognisable archetype