Venice: February 1568

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 7, 1558-1580. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1890.

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'Venice: February 1568', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 7, 1558-1580, (London, 1890) pp. 412. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol7/p412 [accessed 26 April 2024]

February 1568

Feb. 8. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. 420. Giovanni Corker, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.
We hear from Scotland that the Regent had arrested certain servants of the Earl of Both well who had left Denmark, and had landed in the Orkneys. By the Regent's order some of these persons were immediately executed, and the remainder were sent to the Court. Amongst these last there was one man in particular who had with his own hands assassinated the late King. This individual asked permission to speak with the Regent and his Council, which having been granted, and the man brought before them, he, turning to the Regent, said, “I forbear to speak of the two personages by your side because they are present; I am likewise silent concerning yourself, by reason of the rank which you hold; but who is there amongst these others that can accuse me, because I well know that if I with these hands accomplished the King's death, they also were accessories both by their wishes and their counsel.” He then exonerated the Queen, saying that she had been deceived; and he would have made many other disclosures, had he not been interrupted and forthwith put to death.
It is expected this man's confessions will cause severe proceedings to be taken against the Queen, and great fears are entertained for her life.
The Regent was desirous to send an Ambassador here, but his most Christian Majesty has declined to receive any Ambassador except the Ambassador now accredited to this Court in the name of the Queen of Scotland.
Paris, 8th February 1568.
[Italian.]
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