Edward Colman
Encyclopedia

Edward Colman or Coleman (17 May 1636–1678) was an English Catholic courtier under Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

. He was hanged, drawn and quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...

 on a treason charge, having been implicated by Titus Oates
Titus Oates
Titus Oates was an English perjurer who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II.-Early life:...

 in his false accusations
False accusations
False accusations can be in any of the following contexts:* informally in everyday life* quasi-judicially* judicially.-Types:...

 concerning a Popish Plot
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...

. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...

 in 1929.

Life

He was born at Brent Eleigh
Brent Eleigh
Brent Eleigh is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located between Hadleigh and Lavenham, in 2005 it had a population of 180....

, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

 and was cousin to Salisbury MP Richard Colman. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 receiving an MA in 1659.< ref> Colman converted to Roman Catholicism in the early 1660s. He has been described as a man of charm and ability but utterly lacking in common sense or political realism.

In June 1661 he became a gentleman pensioner to Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

. He was a charismatic advocate of the Catholic cause and is credited with several highly profile conversions, including possibly, the future James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

. In 1673 James appointed him secretary to his wife, Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena was Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, Mary became, in 1673, the second wife of James, Duke of York, who later succeeded his older brother Charles II as King James II...

. Subsequently he was in contact with highly-placed Catholics in France. Through Sir William Throckmorton he passed on political information to the Jesuit Jean Ferrier who was confessor to Louis XIV. In 1675 he offered his services in favour of Catholicism to François de la Chaise
François de la Chaise
François de la Chaise was a French Jesuit priest, the father confessor of King Louis XIV of France.-Biography:...

, successor to Ferrier; in 1676 he was in communication with Father Saint-Germain, offering his assistance to prevent a rupture between England and France. These attempts failed to procure money, but he succeeded later in obtaining £3500 from three successive French ambassadors, whom he supplied with information on the proceedings of Parliament.

Colman acted independently of Charles in trying to obtain French financial assistance to reduce the king's dependence on the anti-Catholic parliament. When money was eventually secured, it was not through any of Colman's efforts.

Lord High Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...

 Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby viewed Colman as a dangerous influence on James. Danby had him dismissed in 1676 after Colman was caught leaking naval intelligence in a newsletter; according both to the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...

and recent research, the dismissal was at the prompting of Henry Compton. Edward continued with unofficial duties for James and he may have disbursed bribes to MPs on behalf of the French ambassador.

Colman was targeted by Oates when the latter presented his fantasy plot before the king and the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 on 28 September 1678. According to Oates, Colman would become secretary of state on the death of Charles. It later emerged that the magistrate, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey
Edmund Berry Godfrey
Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was an English magistrate whose mysterious death caused anti-Catholic uproar in England...

 had contacted Colman shortly after the meeting and the following day Colman's house was searched; letters covering his dealings with France were uncovered.

The warrant for his apprehension was sent out on Sunday night, 29 September. At the suggestion of Danby, Coleman's papers were to be searched for strictly. William Bedloe
William Bedloe
William Bedloe was an English fraudster and informer, born at Chepstow.He appears to have been well educated; he was certainly clever, and after moving to London in 1670 he became acquainted with some Jesuits and was occasionally employed by them...

 carried the warrant to apprehend Coleman and search for his papers. His papers were found, some of recent date in paper bags; incriminating letters of earlier years were in a deal box, slightly nailed down. These were carried off, but Coleman's wife declared him to be absent. On Monday morning he came forward voluntarily, and offered himself to the secretary of state, Sir Joseph Williamson. In the afternoon he was heard before Sir Robert Southwell, and others of the council, in presence of Oates, who was unable to recognise him. He was only committed to the messenger, and his papers were not searched carefully till a week later. The informer seemed about to lose credit when the death of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey revived the flagging investigation.

Parliament reassembled on 21 October, and on Saturday, 23 November 1678, Coleman was arraigned for high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...

, and the trial took place on Wednesday, the 27th, at the king's bench
King's Bench
The Queen's Bench is the superior court in a number of jurisdictions within some of the Commonwealth realms...

 bar, before the lord chief justice William Scroggs
William Scroggs
Sir William Scroggs , Lord Chief Justice of England, was the son of an Oxford landowner; an account of him being the son of a butcher of sufficient means to give his son a university education is merely a rumour....

. Coleman declared that he had not continued the correspondence beyond 1674. Oates swore that he had carried a treasonable letter from Coleman to the rector of St. Omer, containing a sealed answer to Father La Chaise, with thanks for the ten thousand pounds given for the propagation of the catholic religion, and chiefly to cut off the king of England. Then followed details of the narrative according to Oates of 'consults' with the Jesuits in May 1678. Arrangements had been made to assassinate the king. 'This resolve of the Jesuits was communicated to Mr. Coleman in my hearing at Wild House,' said Oates. Then Oates told of a consultation in August at the Savoy, with Coleman present, arranging to poison the Duke of Ormonde and to rise in rebellion. Four Irish ruffians had been sent to Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....

, and £80 for their payment was ordered to be carried by a messenger, to whom Coleman gave a guinea. Ten thousand pounds were to be offered to Sir George Wakeman, physician, to poison the king; instructions had been seen and read by Coleman, by him copied out and sent to other conspirators. Coleman had been appointed a principal secretary of state by commission from Father D'Oliva (Giovanni Paolo Oliva
Giovanni Paolo Oliva
Giovanni Paolo Oliva was an Italian Jesuit priest, elected 11th Superior General of the Society of Jesus....

), general of the Society of Jesuits. In cross-examination Oates shuffled and excused himself. Bedloe was examined concerning packets of letters from Coleman to Father La Chaise in 1675, and money received. The finding of the letters having been certified, and the handwriting identified as Coleman's, they were put in evidence, and the attorney-general
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

 William Jones
William Jones (law-officer)
-Life:He was son of Richard Jones, of Stowey, Somerset, M.P. for Somerset in 1654, and entered Gray's Inn on 6 May 1647. He was called to the bar, and acquired a practice in the court of king's bench...

laid great stress on them; they did prove the strong desire of Coleman for the dissolution of parliament. He plainly had advocated foreign bribery of the king to insure such a dissolution, and used some strong phrases as to the Catholic hopes of suppressing heresy.( Kenyon argues that a case may be made for his guilt.)

There was no proof of connivance with a plot for assassination or rebellion except the testimony of Oates and Bedloe. The jury found Coleman guilty. Scroggs replied to his solemn declarations of innocence,'Mr. Coleman, your own papers are enough to condemn you.' Next morning sentence of death and confiscation of property was pronounced, and on Tuesday, 3 December, he was executed, avowing his faith and declaring his innocence.

Further reading

  • Andrew Barclay, The Rise of Edward Colman, The Historical Journal (1999), 42:109-131
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