ABSTRACT
When Cartwright appeared before the High Commissionen for the last time, in May 1591, it had already been decided to transfer the trial of the nine ministers to the Star Chamber. The initial examination of the defendants was conducted by Cosin and lasted for more than a week, beginning four days after the commencement of Trinity Term. Star Chamber procedure followed its inevitable course, and interrogatories were drawn from the bill on which the defendants were examined. The puritans experienced the embarrassment of all sincere Christians when confronted with enthusiasts who thrust themselves into their company and talk their language. Four Cambridge heads of the moderate puritan party, including Whitaker of St John’s and Chaderton of Emmanuel, thought the moment propitious to point out to Burghley that ‘divers of the true friends and lovers of the gospel’ had of late years suffered more severely than ‘many known papists’.
