THROCKMORTON (or Throgmorton), FRANCIS (1554–1584), English conspirator, was the son of Sir John Throckmorton of Feckenham in Warwickshire, and his wife Margery Puttenham. Sir John had been concerned in Wyat’s rebellion against Queen Mary Tudor, but was afterwards known as a sympathizer with the Roman Catholic party in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in 1580 was removed from his office of chief justice of Chester for irregularities in his office, but probably because he was suspected of disloyalty by the government. Francis was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford, which he entered in 1572. In 1576 he was enrolled in the Inner Temple. At Oxford he had come under the influence of the Roman Catholics, whose power was still great in the university, and must have heard of Edmund Campian (q.v.) who had left shortly before he himself entered the university. When Campian and Parsons came to England in 1580 to conduct the Jesuit propaganda against Queen Elizabeth, Francis Throckmorton was one of a society of members of the Inner Temple who united to hide and help them. In that year he went abroad, first to join his brother Thomas, who was engaged with the exiled Roman Catholics in Paris, and then to travel in Italy and Spain. While abroad he consorted with exiled papists, and was undoubtedly engaged in treasonable intrigues. In 1583 he returned to act as the confidential agent of an elaborate conspiracy which had for its object the invasion of England by a French force under command of the duke of Guise, or by Spaniards and Italians sent by Philip II. for the purpose of releasing the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots and restoring the authority of the pope. Throckmorton possessed, or occupied, a house on Paul’s wharf, London, which served as a meeting-place for the conspirators. Many plots were being carried on alongside of the chief one, and the suspicions of the government were aroused. Throckmorton’s constant visits to the Spanish ambassador, Bernardino de Mendoza, attracted attention, and he was arrested in October 1583. He was ciphering a letter to Queen Mary when the constables came upon him suddenly, but he found time to send a casket of compromising papers by a trustworthy maidservant to Mendoza, and a card in cipher in which he promised to reveal nothing. As he refused to confess when brought before the council, he was put on the rack in the Tower. He resisted a first application of the torture, but his strength and courage failed when he was threatened with a second, and he made a full confession. At a later period he retracted and asserted that his avowals were false and had been extorted from him by pain, or had been put in his mouth by the examiners. His confession agreed, however, fully with what is known from other sources of the plot, and there can be no doubt that when his house was searched the constables found lists of his confederates, plans of harbours meant for use by foreign invaders, treatises in defence of the title of the Queen of Scots to the throne of England, and “infamous libels on Queen Elizabeth printed beyond seas.” His trial, which in the circumstances was a mere formality, took place on the 21st of May 1584, and he was executed at Tyburn on the 10th of July. The arrest and confession of Throckmorton were events of great importance. They terrified the conspirators, who fled abroad in large numbers, and led to the expulsion of the Spanish ambassador and so to war with Spain.
THROCKMORTON (or Throgmorton), SIR NICHOLAS
(1515–1571), English diplomatist and politician, was the
fourth of eight sons of Sir George Throckmorton of Congleton in
Warwickshire, and uncle of the conspirator Francis Throckmorton (see above). He was brought up in the household of
Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII. In his youth he
was favourable to the reformers in religion. He sat in parliament from 1545 to 1567. During the reign of Edward VI.
he was in high favour with the regents. In 1547 he was present
at the battle of Pinkie during the invasion of Scotland. When
on the death of Edward VI. an attempt was made to place
Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he contrived to appear as the
friend of both parties, and secured the favour of Queen Mary
Tudor. He was, however, suspected of complicity in Wyat’s
rebellion in 1554, and was brought to trial at the Guildhall on
the 17th of April of that year. By eloquence, readiness of wit,
and adroit flattery of the jury he contrived to secure his
acquittal in the face of the open hostility of the judge—a unique
achievement at a time when the condemnation of prisoners
whom the authorities wished to convict was a mere matter of
course. The jurymen were fined and sent to prison, and Throckmorton was detained in the Tower till the following year. There was some talk of bringing him to trial again, but he made his
peace, and was employed by Queen Mary. After the accession
of Elizabeth he rose rapidly into favour. He became chamberlain of the exchequer, and from May 1559 to April 1564 he was ambassador in France. During the latter part of this period
he was associated with Sir Thomas Smith, whose function was at
least partly to watch and check his fellow-ambassador. It
was in these years that Throckmorton became acquainted with
Mary Queen of Scots. He had to conduct the delicate negotiations which accompanied her return to Scotland, and though
he was a supporter of the reformers on political grounds, he
became her personal friend and was always willing to do her
service. As ambassador in France he exerted himself to induce
Elizabeth to aid the Huguenots, and took a part in the war of
religion. He was taken prisoner by the Catholic leader, the
duke of Guise. After his return to England he was sent as
ambassador to Scotland in May 1565. The mission entrusted to
him was to prevent Queen Mary’s marriage with Darnley, which
however he was unable to do. After the murder of Darnley he
was again sent to Scotland in June 1567 on a still more hopeless
mission than the first. He was instructed to persuade the
Scottish barons who had just imprisoned the queen to restore her
to her authority. His known friendship for Queen Mary and his
constant support of her claim to be recognized as Elizabeth’s
successor, made him a very unwelcome representative of
England in that crisis. Moreover, the queen of England increased his difficulties by making him the bearer of offensive
messages to the barons, and by contradictory instructions.
He cannot have undertaken his task with much zeal, for his
own opinion was that Elizabeth would consult her interests
best by supporting the barons. In Edinburgh Throckmorton
could effect little, but he exerted himself to secure the personal
safety of the queen. He offended his mistress by showing his
instructions to the Scottish barons, and was recalled in August.
In 1569 he fell under suspicion during the duke of Norfolk’s
conspiracy in favour of Mary, and was imprisoned for a time
at Windsor, but was not further proceeded against. He died on
the 12th of February 1571. Sir Nicholas married Anne Carew,
and his daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Sir Walter
Raleigh.
THRONE, a royal, viceregal, or episcopal chair of state standing upon a dais or platform. Formerly the platform, with the steps leading up to it, was comprised in the significance of the word—hence the familiar expression to “mount the throne.” The ceremonial induction of a sovereign into his throne is one of the usual solemnities of a coronation, while enthronization of the bishop in his cathedral is the final observance in the making of a diocesan. The throne, which is of immemorial antiquity, is the universal ancestor of all chairs, which were for long symbols of authority and rule. In early days and in Oriental countries thrones were of barbaric magnificence. Solomon’s was of ivory “overlaid with the best gold.” There were two figures of lions at the sides, with two other lions on each of the six steps. The remains of a throne in rock-crystal were found in the ruins of Sennacherib’s palace. The Persian throne made for Abbas the Great was of white marble. This monarch appears to have had a nice taste in thrones, for in 1605 he presented one to the Russian tsar Boris which is covered with sheets of gold and decorated with precious stones and pearls. Tsar Michael Feodorovitch, grandfather of Peter the Great, outdid even this magnificence, for his “golden throne” is set with eight thousand turquoises, fifteen hundred rubies, four great amethysts and two large topazes. One of the glories of Delhi, until it was sacked by Nadir Shah, was the “peacock throne,” the value
