“I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift of your attendance of this Parliament".
This is part of an anonymous
letter sent to Lord Monteagle, a member of the House of Lords, who passed the
letter to the King’s advisors resulting in the discovery of what is known in
Britain as the Gunpowder Plot. And they almost got away with it: on November 4th
1605 Guy Fawkes was found in the vaults of Parliament – together with 36
barrels of gunpowder. King James should have sacked his security team!
The failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament on
November 5th 1605 made international headlines. Interestingly, in
order to maximise the readership, the report is written not only in French and
German, but also in Latin which does show the significance of the language even
at this period in history since the Latin version would have ensured that all
the places of learning throughout Europe would have been furnished with the
details.
The impression I have of this
report is that it was written quickly, which is understandable since it was a
major event, and not all the conspirators are listed. Some of the word order is
a little chaotic (the French version is much neater), there are spelling errors
and omissions, inconsistencies in capitalisation, and confusion with certain
words and phrases.
[1] CONCILIVM SEPTEM NOBILVM ANGLORVM CONIVRANTIVM IN NECEM
IACOBI I │ The meeting of the seven English noblemen conspiring in the murder
of James 1*
- concilium, -ī [2/n]: meeting
- coniūrō, -āre, -āvī [1]: conspire; coniūrāns, coniūrantis (participle): conspiring
- nex, necis [3/f]: murder
*James VI of Scotland
who became James I of both Scotland and England after the union of the crowns
in 1603
[2] Vidēs Spectātor hūmānissimē hīc expressās effigiēs septem
Anglōrum quī Rēgem suum cum (i) *paraecipuēs* [= praecipuōs] Statūs
Anglicī Proceribus ad *Parlementum* [= Parlamentum] ut vocant
convocātīs pulvere tormentāriō simul horrendō modō in ipsā domō *Parlemntī*
[= Parlamentī] ēvertere voluērunt.
You see, most cultured ‘reader’ (i.e. person looking at
the picture) = ‘dear reader’, reproduced here the images of the seven
Englishmen who wanted to overthrow their (own) king together with the noblemen as
they call (i) the leading men of the English State (who had been) summoned
to Parliament at the same time in an horrific manner by means of gunpowder in
the House of Parliament itself.
(i) ‘paraecipues’: the writer probably means praecipuōs i.e.
the preeminent / distinguished (men) or he has principēs (leaders) in
mind. The French translation says ‘les premiers’ i.e. the first (leading) men and ‘les
principaus *offic(ie)rs*’ [the missing letters are added above]: the
chief officers
- convocātus, -a, -um: summoned; convened < convocō, -āre, -āvī [1]: summon; convene; call together
- effigiēs, -ēī [5/f]: (here) image
- ēvertō, -ere, ēvertī [3]: destroy; (political) subvert; overthrow
- expressus, -a, -um: (here) reproduced < exprimō, -ere, expressi [3]: copy; imitate
- ipse, ipsa, ipsum: himself / herself / itself i.e. in the report it emphasises the enormity of the crime; in ipsā domō Parlamentī │ in the very House of Parliament i.e. right inside it, dear readers!
- procer, -is [3/m]: nobleman (mainly in the plural)
- status, -ūs [4/m]: (here) State
- pulvis, pulveris [3/n]: powder
- pulvis tormentārium: gunpowder; tormentārius, -a, -um is not attested in CL but used by this period and derived from tormentum, -ī [2/n] a Roman war machine for throwing missiles i.e. artillery; the powder is used as a weapon; similarly, globus tormentārius: cannonball
There is a contemporary reference to it by Diego Collado, a
Spanish Christian missionary (1587 – 1638):
Ego pulverem tormentārium cōnficiō: cum ergō ita
sit: haereticīs et pyrātīs Holandīs vēndidī huiusmodī pulverem; illīs etiam
ministrāvī quaerendō vīctū alia, sclopōs, et glandēs seu globōs tormentāriōs,
et tormenta et alia īnstrūmenta bellica. │ I make the gunpowder, and as it is,
I have sold it to the Dutch heretics and pirates. For obtaining my livelihood,
I also procured other stuff for them: guns and bullets or cannon balls and
cannons and other instruments of war.
Note the uses of the ablative case:
[i] ablative of means / instruement i.e. what was going to
be used
- pulvere tormentāriō │ by means of gunpowder
[ii] ablative of manner i.e. in what way was this going to
be done, in this case not nicely …
- horrendō modō │ in an horrific manner
[3] Cuius Coniūrātiōnis nefandae Auctōrēs fuēre inprīmīs
Robertus Catesby & Thomas Perci quī sibi deinde adiūnxēre aliōs, vidēlicet,
Thomam & Robertum Winter, Guidonem Fawkens …
The perpetrators / instigators of this heinous conspiracy
were firstly Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy who then added others to
themselves [= involved others], namely Thomas and Robert Winter, Guido
Fawkes …
- adiungō, -ere, adiūnxī [3]: add; join
- auctor, auctōris [3/m]: the ‘doer’, author, originator, person who started something
- coniūrātiō, conīurātiōnis [3/f]:conspiracy
- inprīmīs = imprīmīs: firstly; especially
- nefandus, -a, -um: heinous; abominable
- videlicet: namely
The most famous of the conspirators, and after whom the 5th
of November celebration in the UK is named, is Guido [from Italian = Guy]
Fawkes which is translated as a 3rd declension noun i.e. Guido,
Guidonis
[4] Sed coniūrātiōne hāc Dīvīnā prōvidentiā & clēmentiā decem
aut (i) [minus (?)] hōrīs ante futūra(m) Cessiōnem [= sessiōnem] Parlamentī
[note: he gets the spelling right this time] Dētēcta & Coniūrātīs
persecūtīs ex iīs Robertus Catesbī & Thomas Percī ictū sclopētī periēre et
*eonum* [= eōrum] capita domuī Parlementī (ii) *inperpetuant* [= in perpetuam]
reī memoriam imposita *caeterī* [= cēterī; nōn-standard spelling] cum multīs
aliīs quī eandem in rem cōnspīrārant adhūc captīvī dētinentur, dignam facinore
sententiam expectantēs
But this conspiracy through divine providence and mercy having
been disclosed ten or (i) (less [?]) hours before the sitting of parliament
(was about to happen) and the conspirators pursued of whom Robert Catesby and
Thomas Percy perished from a gunshot (rifle shot) and their heads (were) placed
on the house of parliament (ii) as a permanent reminder of the deed / matter /
affair / event, the rest together with many others who had conspired in the
same deed are still being held captive awaiting a sentence befitting / worthy of the crime.
(i) This is very unclear in the document (and, if there is a
translation, I couldn’t find one); it is possibly ‘minus’ and the French
version says ‘environ dix heures devant l’assemblé(e)’ i.e. about
ten hours before the gathering
(ii) *inperpetuant* … memoriam [= in perpetuam … memoriam];
I suspect that not only was this document written quickly, but also dictated i.e.
he seems to be writing what he is hearing rather than what he knows
himself; again, the French says en memoire de l’acte (in memory of the
deed)
- dētectus, -a, -um: disclosed; uncovered; revealed; ‘disclosed’ is probably the best translation of this since the conspiracy wasn’t discovered through any detective work or security measures but by the anonymous letter to Monteagle
- dignus, -a, -um: worthy; the adjective is followed by a noun in the ablative case
- facinus, facinoris [3/n]: crime > sententiam, dignam facinore … │ a sentence worthy of / befitting the crime
- ictus, -ūs [4/m]: stab; thrust; (here) shot; note the use of the ablative case to indicate the means by which they died or the cause of death: ictū sclopētī periēre │ they died from (by means of / because of) a gunshot
- impositus, -a, -um: placed (upon) < impōno, -ere, imposuī [3] place, put, lay etc. upon, and what you place the thing on is in the dative case: capita domuī Parlamentī … imposita │ (their) heads (were) placed upon the house of Parliament
- persecūtus, -a, -um: pursued
- sclopētum, -ī [2/n]: rifle
Notes:
contracted forms
This is something that will come up later in the group when
literature is discussed in more detail. These are examples of contracted
forms; when we say ‘I’m’ instead ‘I am’ of that is a contracted form of two
adjacent vowels [I + am > I’m, he + is > he’s
etc.], the same is evident in French: il n’est pas [ne + est].
Compare older Latin: homost (Plautus) = homo est.
The most common example of contraction is the 3rd
person plural perfect where the ending -ērunt can be contracted to -ēre which
is what you see in the first three examples from the text:
- adiunxēre = adiunxērunt: they joined
- fuēre = fuērunt: they were
- periēre = periērunt: they perished
Other contracted forms occur such as a further example from
the text:
- qui eandem in rem cōnspīrārant = cōnspīrāverant │ who had conspired in the same matter
https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/101/contractions.pdf
PS: dignam facinore sententiam expectantēs │ awaiting a
sentence befitting the crime
Fawkes and the conspirators who remained alive, were
tried for high treason in Westminster Hall on 27 January 1606 and all were
convicted and sentenced to death. The executions took place on 30 and 31
January (Fawkes was executed on 31) and included hanging, drawing and
quartering. The heads and other portions of the conspirator's bodies were set
up at different points around Westminster and London. (parliament.uk)
PPS: as part of British tradition, the Yeomen of the Guard still search the Houses of Parliament before the State Opening!
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