1. The best genealogy of the Constable family is to be found in the Publications of the Surtees Society, Vol. CXLVI. For the chief events in Sir Robert Constable's life see Acts of the Privy Council, 1575 – 77, pp. 6, 287, 335 – 36; Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1547 – 80, pp. 356, 365, 602; Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Salisbury MSS, XIII, pp. 114, 160; H.M.C., 15th Report, V. p.56. Sir Robert Constable's marriage took place some time after 13 March 1559, when Christiana Daubridgeourt's first husband died (Harleian MS 759, f. 31). The genealogies and heralds’ visitations indicate that they had but one child.

2. Harleian MS 1171, f.3.

3. John, Venn and Venn, John A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, I, p. 380.Google Scholar

3a. Ibid. Translation: “It is conceded to Henry Constable, born of noble family, that ten completed terms… shall suffice to qualify him to undergo his examination”.

4. John, Venn, Grace Book Δ pp. 326–27.Google Scholar

5. Lincoln's Inn Admissions, II, p. 97.

6. H.M.C., Rutland MSS, I, p. 513. Henry Constable's grandmother was Catherine Manners, sister of the first Earl of Rutland. Through this connection he was related also to the Earls of Shrewsbury and Westmorland.

7. Ibid., p. 168.

8. Public Record Office, State Papers, France, X. 105. Henry Constable's great-great-grandmother was a Stafford of Grafton.

9. H.M.C., Rutland, I, pp. 158–59.

10. C.S.P., Foreign, July 1583 – July 1584, p. 521.

11. C.S.P., Dom. Add., 1580–1625, p. 125.

12. H.M.C., Rutland, I, p. 173.

13. C.S.P., Foreign, Aug. 1584 – Aug. 1585, p. 713.

14. Bodleian Library, Tanner MS 169, f. 197^v: “A note of such slanders as be dispersed in a libell against her maties made by Thomas Throgmorton in 1583 and answered by Mr Constable at Heydelberg 1585 in May”. The note is concerned with the attack on Queen Elizabeth and makes no further mention of Constable.

15. H.M.C., Rutland, I, p. 245.

16. Ruth, Hughey, “The Harington MS at Arundel Castle and Related Documents”, The Library: transactions of the Bibliographical Society, Second series, XV, p. 433.Google Scholar Harington, in the notes of his Orlando Furioso, quotes a sonnet from “the well learned Gentleman, and my very good friend, M. Henry Constable”.

17. H.M.C., Salisbury, III, p. 435.

18. William, Murdin, A Collection of State Papers, p. 639.Google Scholar

19. H.M.C., Salisbury, III, p. 442.

20. Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce MS 44 f. 42^v.

21. This book was later translated into English and published in 1623 as The Catholike Moderator, heretofore attributed to Cardinal Davy du Perron. The translator speaks of the author as “H. C,” a gentleman “too well knowne here in England to have continued a most zealous Roman Catholique untill his dying day”. On the title page of the British Museum copy there is a note in a seventeenth century hand, “It was written by Mr. Hen: Constable a lay papist”. I am indebted to Dr. A.C. Southern for this last piece of evidence and for the information that The Catholike Moderator is a translation of the Examen pacifique de la Doctrine des Huguenots.

22. P.R.O., S.P. Scotland, LXIV. 37.

23. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle III, ff. 221 – 22. I take it that Constable's relationship to King James is via Gilbert Talbot, fifth Earl of Shrewsbury, who was by marriage uncle to Arabella Stuart, who was in turn James’ cousin. Translation: “This English gentleman, author of the discourse on English affairs which has already been sent to you, is of very noble family and even bears a distant relationship to the King of Scotland. His father was Master of the Ordance at London and worth an income of six thousand scudi. While he was a heretic he was a courtier and a favourite of the Queen, and by reason of the opportunities he had of conversing with her ministers and counsellors and the great men of the realm he is very well informed of the present state of that kingdom and of the dispositions of those who govern it. Though he seems unassuming on account of his modesty and great humility, he is nevertheless intelligent and knowledgeable, especially in theology, and shows himself well-versed in the controversies with the heretics. He became a Catholic about eight years ago, being first moved to it by God and secondly assisted by his own endeavours through the light gained of the truth by his study into matters of religion. Thus he resolved for the sake of saving his soul to lose all his patrimony. He communicated his intention to a Portuguese Carmelite who was at that time in England on the occasion of the visit of Don Antonio of Portugal”.

24. P.R.O., S.P. Dom. Elizabeth, CCXLI. 25. Dr. Southern believes that the book here mentioned is the Examen pacifique.

25. H.M.C., Salisbury, IV, p. 394. Presumably Tyrrell mistook Hamburg for Heidelberg.

26. Ibid., XIII, p. 496. Henry Constable had a Flamborough cousin Robert, whose father was also named Robert. But there can be no confusion between the fathers, for only one was knighted, and the other was an infamous character.

27. P.R.O., S.P. Scotland LXIV. 37.

28. H.M.C., Salisbury, XIV, p. 120.

29. College of Arms, Talbot MS O, f. 94. Constable must have needed greater resignation in 1596 when the Earl of Shrewsbury came to France and would have nothing to do with him (Talbot, MS I, f. 245). On the other hand, the Earl of Rutland sent money to Constable during his exile (H.M.C., Rutland, IV, p. 413).

30. Foley, Records, VI, p. 566.

31. C.S.P., Spanish, 1587– 1603, p. 681.

32. H.M.C., Salisbury, V, p. 313.

33. Ibid., p. 386.

34. ibid., p. 403.

35. Lambeth Palace, Tenison MS 652, f. 188.

36. H.M.C., Salisbury, VII, p. 86.

37. Tenison MS 652, f. 24.

38. Tenison MS 660, f. 115.

39. P.R.O., S.P. Flanders, V. 237.

40. P.R.O., S.P., Dom. Eliz., CCLXIX. 27.

41. Catholic Record Society, XLI, p. 52 n.

42. P.R.O., S.P. Dom. James I, V. 24.

43. H.M.C., 11th Report, VII, pp. 264–66.

44. H.M.C., Salisbury, VIII, p. 351; cited by Louise Guiney, Recusant Poets, p. 309. Translation: “Your agent consorts much with a man named Constable, an Englishman; this man is a double traitor, for it is he who hands over, by means of a courrier named John. Symonds, all the letters which come from the Jesuits and other disaffected persons in England”.

45. P.R.O., S.P., Flanders, V. 386.

46. B.M., Stowe MS 167, f. 43^V.

47. H.M.C., Salisbury, IX, p. 156.

48. P.R.O., S.P. Scotland, LXIV. 35.

49. Ibid., 36.

50. Ibid., 37.

51. Ibid., 36.

52. Ibid., 44.

53. P.R.O., S.P. Flanders, VI, 12 – 13.

54. Edmund, Sawyer, Memorials of Affairs of State, I, p. 37.Google Scholar

55. Alexandre, Teulet, Relations politiques, IV, pp. 222–23.Google Scholar Translation: “I learn here that the King of that country (Scotland) is much pressed by His Holiness, through the mediation of Constable, an Englishman, and Bomton, a Scotsman, both of whom recently arrived from France, to grant to Catholics liberty of conscience and to declare war on the Queen of England; and that for this purpose His Holiness has offered the King money and the assistance of all the Catholic princes of Christendom and of a large number of Catholics of this kingdom”. Bomton is of course Bonnington

56. David, Laing, Original Letters of Mr. John Colville, pp. 202–04.Google Scholar

57. P.R.O., S.P. Scotland, LXV. 46.

58. P.R.O., S.P. Flanders, VI. 6.

59. Ibid., 76.

60. C.S.P., Spanish, 1587–1603, pp. 681–82.

61. Ibid., pp. 682–83.

62. P.R.O., S.P. Scotland. LXVI. 44.

63. P.R.O., S.P. Flanders, VI. 66. I might mention that another book arrived in Edinburgh in December 1595; “the K. is muche offended thereat, accompting some practising Papist to have made it. Walter quin, as I hear judgethe that Henry constable (Sr. Ro, sonn) hath made it for he sayth that Constable is a very great writer, and that the book hath his method and reasons (P.R.O., S.P. Scotland LVII.95)”.

64. Armand, Louant, Correspondance d'Ottavio Mirto Frangipani, III, p. 57.Google Scholar

65. Stephen, Marron, “The Second Benedictine Mission to England”, Douai Magazine, new series, II, 3, pp. 157–65.Google Scholar

66. H.M.C., Salisbury, XII, p. 49; quoted in Guiney, op. cit., p. 313.

67. P.R.O., S.P. Dom. Eliz. Add., XXXIV. 41.

68. H.M.C., Rutland, I, p. 391.

69. H.M.C., Salisbury, XV, p. 131.

70. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle 88, f. 26.

71. Ibid., ff. 1 – 4. On 9 January 1604 Constable also wrote to Christopher Bagshaw at Mignon College. From the single damaged page that survives of this letter (B.M., MS Cotton Caligula, E. XI, f. 81) we can gather that Constable merely repeated the news sent to the Nuncio about Catholics at court and priests in London.

72. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle 88, ff. 5–6.

73. P.R.O., James I, Docquet, VII.

74. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle 88, ff. 49–57.

75. Ibid., ff. 69, 75–76.

76. Ibid., ff. 64–65. Translation: “Henry Constable is in very great favour with the King, with whom he often disputes in matters of religion”.

77. Ibid., f. 82.

78. C.S.P., Venetian, 1603–07, p. 146.

79. P.R.O., S.P. Dom. James I, CXC (No. 2). 25.

80. Tenison MS 708, f. 125.

81. H.M.C., Salisbury, XVI, pp. 95, 121.

82. C.R.S., IV, p. 239.

83. C.S.P., Venetian, 1603 – 07, p. 174.

84. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle 88, f. 119.

85. Talbot MS O, f. 92.

86. P.R.O., Roman Transcripts, IX, bundle 113, passim.

87. Sawyer, op. cit., II, p. 36.

88. P.R.O., James I, Docquet, VIII; italics mine.

89. H.M.C., Salisbury, XVII, p. 454. Mr. R.L. Drage, Curator of the Hatfield papers, has kindly inspected this letter and infomed me that there is no mention of Constable in the letter itself.

90. Foley, op. cit., III, p. 179.

91. Talbot MS M, ff. 489 – 90.

92. Talbot MS L, f. 136. This Lord Burghley, a Catholic grandson of William Cecil, had bought Constable's Newark property in 1591 (Cornelius Brown, History of Newark, II, p. 24).

93. Talbot MS L, ff. 125–26.

94. On 11 February 1608 John Chamberlain wrote to Dudley Carleton that Tobie Mathew had been released from the Fleet and given five weeks to depart the realm; “he was no sooner gon nor his nest scant cold, when Harry Constable was committed in his roome and nestles in the same lodging (P.R.O., S.P. Dom. James I, XXXI. 26)”.

95. Talbot MS M, f. 495.

96. H.M.C., Rutland, IV, p. 211.

97. Ibid., I, p. 119.

98. Ibid., p. 418.

99. Ibid., p. 424; H.M.C., Downshire, II, p. 350.

100. P.R.O., S.P. Dom. James I, LXVII. 67.

101. See the account of this disputation published under the initials L.I. and printed at Doway in 1635 under the title The Relection of a Conference touching the Reall Presence, (S.T.C. 14053/22814) pp. 4–5; Anthony a Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, III, p. 1254.

102. Harleian MS 6593, f. 16^V.

103. C.S.P., Dom. James I, 1619 – 25, p. 587.

104. Westminster Cathedral Archives, Main Series Vol. IV. ff. 249 – 52. Translation: “Henry Constable, an Englishman, was born of a renowned family. As a youth he passed some years at court and in the profession of arms. He was beloved of all, but especially by the chief men of his country. Then he became a Catholic, and by his writings and in his encounters with his fellow-men he displayed a remarkable zeal to spread the Faith. At the same time he showed himself a stout defender of his religion by suffering imprisonment and sacrificing his considerable fortune. When at length he was driven into exile for his beliefs, the clergy of France, at the instance of Cardinal Du Perron who loved him as a dear friend, did him the public honour of contributing to his support. For many years before his death he sought only to promote the interests of the Faith, and his successes were noted by the heretics and moved them to anger. If only on that account, he deserves your loving remembrance, but he chooses rather to ask it as a favour which you would not deny to a stranger and a departed soul”.