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XII. Serjeant Puckering's notes on the case against Mary Stuart. September 29, 1586
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
John Puckering, Speaker of the House of Commons in 1584 and again in 1586, was named Queen's Serjeant, probably in the latter year. He spoke for the crown in the trial of Babington and his colleagues and he may have been present at the trial of Mary Stuart, although his name is not mentioned in the official account of the trial. These notes would seem to indicate that he was present and that he assisted in the prosecution. It is to be observed that though they are written in a contemporary clerkly hand, they are endorsed by Hatton. Probably Puckering supplied Hatton with a copy of them to assist him in preparing the speech which he delivered against Mary in the House of Commons on the 3rd November, 1586.
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References
page 54 note 1 Cf. the official account of the Throgmorton plot which was printed in 1584. (Harl. Miscell. (1808) iii, p. 190). This account is, however, very vague and unsatisfactory upon the point of Mary's connection with the plot.
page 54 note 2 Burghley refers to this letter in writing to Walsingham on the 4th of October, 1586 (Cotton MSS. App. 1, f. 146) which he says “is in cipher and, I think, in French.” No copy of it appears to be preserved. Nau's explanation referred to will be found in his Memoir to Queen Elizabeth, 10 Sept. 1586 (Labanoff, , vii, p. 196 seq.).Google Scholar
page 55 note 1 Cf. Englefield to Mary, 2 Jan. 1584/5 in the Record Office (S.P. Mary Q. of S. xv, no. 4). It will be found in this case, as in the citations following, that Puckering has adhered to his sources with scrupulous accuracy.
page 55 note 2 Chas. Paget gives an account of Ballard's visit in a letter to Mary of 
May, 1586 (Murdin, p. 516).Google Scholar
page 56 note 1 Mary to Paget, 20 May, 1586 (Labanoff, , vi, p. 309).Google Scholar
page 56 note 2 Mary to Mendoza, same date (Labanoff, , vi, p. 309).Google Scholar
page 57 note 1 Mary to Mendoza, just cited.
page 57 note 2 These passages concerning Ballard's dealings with Babington are evidently drawn from Babington's confession (cf. Calthorpe MSS. Vol. xxxi, f. 218 seq.).
page 58 note 1 Cf. p. 55 n. 2.
page 61 note 1 Cf. Mary's correspondence with Babington, printed above.
page 62 note 1 Labanoff, , vi, p. 400.Google Scholar
page 63 note 1 Labanoff, , vi, p. 404.Google Scholar
page 63 note 2 Labanoff, , vi, p. 431.Google Scholar
page 63 note 3 Labanoff, , vi, p. 412.Google Scholar
page 63 note 4 This letter is not printed by Labanoff. I have not been able to find a complete copy of it, but there is an abstract of it in the hand of Thos. Phelippes in the Record Office (cf. S.P. Mary Q. of S. xviii, nos. 80, 81). It was produced and read at Mary's trial (State Trials, i, p. 1186).