The rebel heart

Epilogue

Sir Gelli Meyrick was hung, drawn and quartered, his knighthood being deemed inadequate to protect him from the fate of a common man. Some others were similarly treated or beheaded, but the Earl of Southampton was simply imprisoned in the Tower, on the grounds of his youth and inexperience. Accusations of sodomy and Devil-worship were never proven against the conspirators, though Southampton was widely believed to take men and boys to bed. He flourished under the reign of King James. As part of the rewards lavished on the Earl, James granted him the farm of sweet wines. A number of the hotheads who were allowed to survive went on to be leading lights of the Gunpowder Plot.

The rumour was born at this time that several years earlier the Queen had gifted Essex a ring, stating it as a testimony of her love to him, and that if ever he needed true forgiveness, when he had been true to her, he should send her that ring and be forgiven. Various people were deemed to have been given that ring by Essex for safe keeping. It was a ruby, set round by small but perfect diamonds.