The great oyer of poisoning : the trial of the Earl of Somerset for the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, in the Tower of London, and various matters connected therewith, from contemporary mss / by Andrew Amos.

  • Amos, Andrew, 1791-1860.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The great oyer of poisoning : the trial of the Earl of Somerset for the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, in the Tower of London, and various matters connected therewith, from contemporary mss / by Andrew Amos. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1613, King James, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Heads of the Church, and the Peers and Peeresses of the realm, were assembled in the Chapel of the Royal Palace of Whitehall, to witness the marriage of the divorced Lady Essex with the King’s Favourite, created, for the occasion, in order that his rank might corre- spond with that of his bride, Earl of Somerset. On that same day, in the same place, just eight years before, the King had given away the same bride to a husband whom he may be justly charged with having, in effect, himself divorced. The same King paid the expenses of the second wedding. The same Dean of the Chapel, a Bishop of Bath and Wells, performed both ceremonies. The Bride, according to the language of a contemporary writer, was married “in her hair,” that is to say, her hair (which was very beautiful and long) hanging down to her feet. To be married “in their hair” was the appropriate etiquette of that day for virgzn-brides. The his- torian Wilson, from being the companion of the Karl of Essex in his campaigns, and the constant inmate of his house, may be supposed to have expressed himself on this occasion according to the views and feelings of his much-injured friend. He writes of the Countess of Somerset, that those “who saw her face might challenge Nature of too much hypocrisy for harbouring so wicked a heart under so sweet and bewitching