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<div>{{Short description|Alleged conspiracy of English courtiers, 1603}}<br />
{{More citations needed|date=November 2011}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}<br />
The '''Main Plot''' was an alleged [[Conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] of July 1603 by English courtiers to remove [[James VI and I|King James I]] from the English throne and to replace him with his cousin [[Lady Arbella Stuart]]. The plot was supposedly led by [[Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham|Lord Cobham]] and funded by the Spanish government. In a state trial, the defendants accused of involvement in the Main Plot were tried along with those of the [[Bye Plot]]. It is referred to as the "main" plot, because at the time it was presented as the principal ("main") plot of which the secondary (or "bye") plot was a minor component.<br />
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In the version of the plot presented at trial, Cobham was negotiating with the [[Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg|Count of Aremberg]] to contact the Spanish court in order to obtain a very large sum of money (approximately £160,000). (Over £22 million in 2025) He was to travel to [[Brussels]], then to [[Spain]], collect the money, and go back to [[England]] via [[Jersey]], where [[Sir Walter Raleigh]] was governor. Raleigh and Cobham were then to divide up the money and decide how best to spend it in furtherance of sedition.<br />
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==Investigation==<br />
The plot was discovered during an investigation of the Bye Plot in which [[George Brooke (conspirator)|Sir George Brooke]], the brother of Lord Cobham, was implicated.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Brooke, George}}</ref> The effort of examining the evidence gathered from suspects questioned in the far-fetched Bye Plot fell to [[William Waad]]. He teased out the "main" or serious plot, as he saw it and involving the highly placed Raleigh, from the rest of the "bye" plot; and presented his findings to [[Sir Robert Cecil]] and the Privy Council.<ref>Fiona Bengtsen, ''Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, and the Gunpowder Plot'' (2005), p. 27; [https://books.google.com/books?id=meTCjNCYmsIC&pg=27 Google Books].<br />
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==Consequences==<br />
Cobham and Raleigh were both imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] as was Sir [[Griffin Markham]]. Raleigh was released after thirteen years, but was eventually executed in 1618. The sick Cobham was released in the same year, dying some months later.{{Citation needed|date = October 2018}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Throckmorton Plot]]<br />
* [[Gunpowder Plot]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.lexscripta.com/articles/raleigh4.html Lex Scripta account of the plots]<br />
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{{Conspiracy theories}}<br />
{{Plots and conspiracies}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:History of Catholicism in England]]<br />
[[Category:Political history of England]]<br />
[[Category:Religion and politics]]<br />
[[Category:1603 in England]]<br />
[[Category:17th century in England]]<br />
[[Category:17th-century coups d'état]]<br />
[[Category:James VI and I]]<br />
[[Category:Conspiracies]]</div>2600:4041:5978:6D00:779E:38CC:3698:282D