in considerable hardship because of his violence, marital escapades and political unreliability, Bourne was compelled to sell several properties to Bromley. Sir Henry Bromley, the Lord Chancellor's son, completed the acquisition of Holt and it became the family seat. Conspiracies In the 1580s came another spate of plots against the regime, centred on Mary, Queen of Scots. Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland was arrested in the aftermath of the Throckmorton Plot of 1583 on suspicion of complicity but later released. After contacting the French ambassador, he was rearrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was found dead in his cell on 21 June 1585. Three days later a commission of inquiry in the form of a meeting of peers in the Star Chamber. Bromley announced that Northumberland had committed suicide after participating in a conspiracy, although suspicions remained that he had been murdered. On 23 November 1585 Parliament was convened specifically to confront the issue of the Scottish queen. There were legal difficulties inherent in trying Mary before the House of Lords, as she was not an English peeress, and an ordinary criminal trial would lead to political difficulties abroad. Bromley announced at the opening a bill to provide for the trial of Mary, using a special court of at least 24 peers and privy counsellors. This soon passed into law. In September 1586 Bromley was actively involved in the examination and trial of Anthony Babington and his associates, whose conspiracy had aimed to assassinate Elizabeth and to enthrone Mary, with her knowledge. The following month, after the execution of the plotters, Bromley moved to convene a court to try Mary herself. Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots As Lord Chancellor, it was Bromley who presided over the court which tried Mary, Queen of Scots. It consisted of 36 of the 45 privy counsellors, judges and peers, who had been appointed to the commission and assembled on 11 November 1586 at Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary was imprisoned. She was brought before the court on 14 October but protested immunity from a foreign jurisdiction. Bromley read a passage from a letter of the queen, stating baldly that "as she lived under the protection of the Queen of England, she was bound to respect the law of England. Bromley maintained personal respect towards Mary throughout the trial but continued to insist that "neither her imprisonment nor her prerogative