case was dropped after the accuser backed down. Sixteen years later the Queen stepped in and had him removed. Later on, to remind all the villagers who was king, King James I had his royal coat of arms painted in the Church. This coat of arms can still be seen to this day if one stands in the gallery and looks towards the altar. The motto on the arms reads "Exurgat Deus Dissipenter Ininice", this is the opening line of Psalm 68 (Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered). Opposite James's arms is a set of Hanoverian arms acquired in 1816. There is evidence that the village was sympathetic towards the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War as Gregory Holland, inducted as vicar in 1613, was threatened with removal in 1644 as a royalist and conformist, and for ungodly behaviour. He was allowed to retain the living. However, in 1650, Reverend Gregory Holland was called before the Committee for Scandalous Ministers for preaching Royalist sermons during the Civil War, along with drunkenness and swearing in Church. His main offence was preaching royalist sermons and claiming that it was "not fir got farmers and tradesmen to know the mystery of their salvation, but only for himself and such as he." The result of this hearing was that he was allowed to continue in his post as vicar at Bergholt, but that the parishioners elect him a curate, who would pay him the majority of his stipend. The curate chosen was nonconformist, Robert Billio. However, a group of parishioners were still not happy with the Rector's views and in 1655 Samuel Skillingham, Mary Cooke and Jonathan Bundock, all waited until the end of the sermon before standing up and giving their view of what he preached and continued afterwards to talk about their own religious experiences, which was typical of Quakers of the time. They were imprisoned in Colchester Castle. Skillingham was also sued for Tithes along with Stephen Davy, John Child, John Crofier, Moses Davy and Daniel Bicknall, but the charges were dropped following the death of their prosecutors. However, Skillingham was later beaten with Zacky Child for attending a meeting at Wethersfield, while John Child had his horse taken from him. During the Civil War, the Lord of Bergholt Manor was Sir John Denham, a poet and Royalist spy. He was exiled to Holland, along with the rest