WEBVTT - The Death of Robert Pakington: England's First Murder By Gun 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.399 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:05.359 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.760 It was early morning, about six o'clock on November thirteenth, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.880 fifteen thirty six, when Robert Packington, a London merchant, was 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.840 fatally shot while on his way to attend early Mass 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.599 at Mercer's Chapel at Saint Thomas of Acon. It was 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.320 the first firearm crime in London's history and a crime 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.640 that has never been solved. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.239 And I'm Holly Frye. It was a short walk from 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.479 Robert's home on Needler's Lane to the chapel one that 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.919 he made daily to worship. That day, he carried a lantern. 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.239 It was still dark and the air was very foggy, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.479 filled with chimney smoke, and missed from the Thames. His 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.680 route took him, as it always did, down Cheapside Street, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:00.160 which ran east to west between two public water fountains 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.040 in the city, the Great Conduit to the Little Conduit. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.000 As he crossed the street, just a few feet from 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:12.280 his destination, a single gunshot rang out and Robert, fatally 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.120 hit by a bullet, fell to the ground a crowd, 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.640 many of whom were his fellow church goers, began to 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:24.160 gather around him and began asking questions such as who 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:29.080 would kill Robert such a respectable fellow, and why the 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.080 murder was a shock for Londoners. After all, nobody had 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:37.280 been killed in London by a handgun ever before, and 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.399 there was little information to go on. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.840 Most, if not all, detailed accounts of this killing derived 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.360 from a single primary source, a man named Edward Hall, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.280 who was a member of Parliament and chronicler of Robert 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.960 Packington's life. They were contemporaries of Packington's death. He wrote 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.760 that a gun was heard by neighbors and bystanders, but 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.840 no one saw the assailant because it had been a 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.280 densely foggy night. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.080 Let's break out of Robert's death scene for a moment 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.000 to talk about gun crime and a little gun history. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.520 This was the first recorded gun fatality in London, but 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.720 the type of gun used was notable too. The first 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.400 firearm was used in thirteen sixty four, again the first 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:23.280 recorded use. Today, the United Kingdom has one of the 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.799 lowest levels of gun crime in the world. There is 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.600 limited access of the general public to firearms and many 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.480 types of guns are banned, others are subject to strict 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.880 control measures, including proper licensing, but this was not the 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.960 case in the sixteenth century. Robert had been shot with 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.560 a wheel lock pistol, which was the first self igniting 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.240 gun and had just been introduced sometime in fifteen thirty four, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.440 so just two years before this murder. It was a 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:59.560 long barreled pistol that really changed the firearm world. Previously, 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.080 fire arms that were in general use were absolutely nothing 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.560 like it. Prior to the wheel lock gun style, by 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.400 the beginning of the fourteen hundreds, arquebuses were in use. 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.959 They were long, slow loading matchlock rifles and pretty typical 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.880 of the muskets that they'd have used in colonial America. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.720 For example, they were big, more than a meter long, 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.120 and they had to be held using both hands. The 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.880 gunpowder was ignited with a lighted match. A matchlock style 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.040 firearm would have absolutely attracted attention wherever it was fired 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.200 on the battlefield or by an assassin on a foggy night. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.920 When wheel locks were first introduced, they were limited to 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:47.360 personal use by nobles, officers the elite. They could be 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.600 floated and ready to go at a moment's notice, unlike 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.840 matchlock guns, but that came at a cost. Literally, the 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.960 cost of manufacturing this type of gunlock kept it out 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.160 of most people's hands. By the early fifteen forties, wheelock 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.280 pistols began to appear on the battlefield, particularly with cavalry 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.800 and royal bodyguards. They were becoming a popular firearm, and 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.320 many people wondered and worried that off the battlefield they'd 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.760 fall into the hands of assassins and those with violent natures. 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:22.840 In his book In Assassin's Deeds, A History of Assassination 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.920 from Ancient Egypt to the present Day, John Whittington claims 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:31.080 Robert Packington's death was likely the first assassination by a 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:36.040 firearm in history. Using a wheel lock pistol meant the 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.240 killer could be just a few yards away from their 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.680 victim when they pulled the trigger. There would have been 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.159 a flash in an explosion, but on a foggy night 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.520 like the one of Robert's death, the small, discreete gun 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.360 allowed the killer to quickly get in and out of 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:51.840 the area. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.120 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.680 our sponsors, and when we're back, let's learn about who 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.320 Robert Packington was, and if there was anything about his 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.599 life that could have been a motive for his death. 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.880 Welcome back to crimin Ilia. Let's talk about the life 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:23.000 of Robert Packington. 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.520 Robert Packington was probably born in fourteen eighty nine, though 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.520 this was a very long time ago, and various records 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.120 through history suggest it might have been anywhere between fourteen 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.039 eighty nine and fourteen ninety six. It's a little bit 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.320 squishy there. He grew up in the region of Worcestershire, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.080 where large tracts of land had been long held by 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.560 the Washburn family. His father, John Packington, was married to 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.799 Elizabeth Washburn. Robert had three brothers, John, Augustine, and Humphrey. 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.480 Robert married twice. He and his first wife, Agnes Baldwin, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.520 married in fifteen twenty, and they had two two sons 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:06.360 and three daughters, Thomas, John, Elizabeth, Ann, and Margaret. Widowed, 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.600 although we're not sure when that happened exactly. Robert remarried 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.800 his second wife, Catherine Dallum, also a widow, had a 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.680 son and daughter, George and Dorothy, from her previous marriage. 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.640 Like his older brother, John, Robert was an inner templar 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.479 after the military order of the Knights Templar were disbanded 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.000 by Pope Clement the fifth and the fourteenth century lawyers 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.760 began to occupy the remaining temple site and buildings, and 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:38.520 they formed two societies, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:44.520 They acted as legal advisors. The societies were basically organized 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:49.000 similar to the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. They 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.919 offered accommodation to those who practiced the law and to 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.640 their students, and there were facilities for legal education. Robert 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.600 was admitted in fifteen twenty, but he never practiced, despite 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.520 his brother's inclusion and also that his father in law, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.640 John Baldwin, was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:12.240 Robert saw the society mostly for its social potential. When 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.480 he was admitted, he'd already completed a decade long apprenticeship 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:19.000 with the Mercers Company, one of twelve significant livery companies 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.120 in London. The Mercer's was a trade organization for general 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.880 merchants and specifically for those who traded cloth, and by 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.360 fifteen twenty Robert was a prominent importer and exporter of 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.440 cloth and various sunderies, and a successful merchant. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.200 Robert was it would seem at the top of his game. 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:41.239 He was a quote leading light in the Mercer's Company, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:46.040 a quote philanthropic force for good. In fifteen sixteen, he 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.280 was one of the worshipful commoners in attendance at a 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.840 general court of the merchant Adventurers twice, first in fifteen 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.760 twenty three and again in fifteen twenty nine. The Mercer's 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.680 Company elected him, along with a few others their merchants, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.560 to quote, devise such articles as should be thought necessary 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.240 as well for the enhancing and bringing up of the 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.480 hants concerning the merchant Adventurers, and for all other things, 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.600 and to devise what things be most necessary and behooveful 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.320 for the common wheel of the city to be moved 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.640 at this next Parliament. So the first time he was asked, 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.200 Packington gave them what they wanted. He played ball. In 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.640 fifteen twenty nine, however, when called upon by his company 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:33.520 to again devise articles for presentation to Parliament, he ruffled 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:37.520 more than a few feathers when he sharply criticized the 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:43.160 Catholic clergy. After all, Robert was Catholic. Of the five 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.600 grievances suggested for redress to Parliament that year, Robert also 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.760 included one that he knew would figure prominently in the 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.760 proceedings of the House of Commons. Quote to have in 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:59.040 remembrance how the King's poor subjects, principally of London have 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.679 been pulled and robbed without reason or conscience by the 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.200 ordinaries in probating of testaments and taking of mortuaries, and 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.640 also vexed and troubled by citations, with cursing one day 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:16.120 and as soiling the next eth haic omnia propecunis, which 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:20.360 in Latin means and for all this money. He had 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.360 political and religious opinions, and he spoke them. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.440 Packington was not only a prominent merchant and businessman, he 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.640 also became a member of Parliament. Robert was elected to 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.480 replace William Boyer when the parliamentary vacancy became available in 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.480 fifteen thirty three. He was re elected in fifteen thirty six. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.160 Probably that's a probably because the names of the members 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:47.800 for London that year are lost to history, perhaps in 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.959 a fire, but it's widely assumed he held the seat 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.400 because the King asked for the reelection of the previous members. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.160 Chronicler and Member of Parliament Edward Hall noted that Packington 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.600 was quote a man of a great courage and one 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.120 that both could speak and also would be heard. He 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:09.760 spoke in Parliament somewhat against the covetousness and cruelty of 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:10.400 the clergy. 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.160 So with a case this old, it's pretty unlikely we'll 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.600 ever really know who did it. But let's talk about 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:23.240 the biggest theory surrounding Robert's death. It involves politics and religion. 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.120 Historians suspect Robert may have been a target because he 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.560 had criticized not the King but the Catholic clergy more 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.079 than once. He had been outspoken about his criticisms, including 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:40.160 to Parliament. Some blamed the Catholic clergy directly for his death, 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:45.720 including scandalous yet possibly well founded allegations by Protestants that 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.680 the Bishop of London had hired the assassin. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:54.920 Packington, who was himself Catholic, had developed reformist religious convictions 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:59.920 and perhaps expected bark but instead got bites in recas 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.320 thoughts to his ongoing criticism of Catholic clergy. He was 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.400 a successful London merchant with connections and sympathies with notable 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.040 Protestants and those of other beliefs. As a businessman, he 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.240 worked with lots of different people. Most people in England 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.320 were Catholic, but that was changing during the years that 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.680 marked the end of Robert's life. When the King, King 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.920 Henry the Eighth broke with the Church, it was shocking 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.400 to many. Some opposed the decision, though defiance was punishable 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.200 by death under Henry's New Treasons Act of fifteen thirty four. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.600 Full disclosure here on this This is a very long 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.440 and complicated historical story, so forgive us as we stick 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:43.800 to the highlight reel. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.920 King Henry the Eighth had been a devout Catholic, and 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:52.040 he'd defended the pope against new Protestant ideas being published 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:56.520 by Martin Luther, a German theologian. Luther published a series 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:01.120 of criticisms of the Catholic Church in fifteen seventeen, inspiring 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.800 what would eventually become a new branch of Christianity known 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:09.880 as Protestantism. It began as a protest against the Catholic Church. 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:14.000 Henry's break with the Catholic Church for the reasons we're 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:18.040 about to discuss, eventually led to England's transition to a 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.559 Protestant country, an event called the English Reformation. 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.960 Robert was killed at a time when a whole lot 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.760 was converging in political and religious realms in England, and 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.360 one of those things was that the King of England 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.840 wanted an annulment, and the Catholic Church wouldn't grant him one. 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:43.079 But he was king and he wanted one, So some 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.640 dirty deeds went down. Catherine of Aragon was Queen of 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.439 England and the first wife of King Henry the Eighth 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.640 from their marriage in fifteen oh nine until its annulment 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.920 on May twenty third, fifteen thirty three. That annulment was 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.800 not so easy, and for a few reasons. Catherine had 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.840 previously been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur Tudor, and 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.520 married Henry after Arthur died just months after they had wed. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.120 Henry's argument for dissolving his marriage was that, through an 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:17.120 interpretation of the Catholic Bible quote, if a man marries 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.440 his brother's wife, the couple will be childless. Catherine had 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:26.520 given birth several times, but only one daughter survived, Mary Tudor, 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.360 for seven years. Pope Clement the seventh basically avoided the 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:36.200 annulment issue, mainly to avoid alienating Catherine's nephew, who happened 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.600 to be Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor. 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.320 If the Pope wouldn't do it for him, Henry would 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.240 find another solution to end his marriage. He broke ties 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.360 with the Catholic Church and with Rome, and he declared 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.960 himself to be the supreme head of the Church of England. 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.800 Now that he oversaw his own church, he had his 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:03.720 own Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas kranmer annull that marriage to Catherine. 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.760 He had Parliament pass an act to stop Catherine from 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.439 being able to appeal to the pope, which is a 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.760 heavy handed move in a breakup. And then he married 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.880 Anne Boleyn and on that. We're going to take a 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.520 break for a word from our sponsors, so meet us 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.640 right back here to talk about how Robert's life as 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.480 a Catholic intertwined with his country's religious upheaval. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.880 Welcome back to Criminalia. While no one was ever identified 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.280 as the killer, there was plenty of speculation. But before 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.520 we speculate, let's talk a bit more about politics and religion. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.720 The Reformation had repercussions, including an Act of Parliament past 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:05.960 which led to the dissolution of Catholic properties such as monasteries, priories, convents, 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:10.000 and friaries in England, Wales and parts of Ireland, and 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.240 that led to many uprisings. Prominent figures such as Thomas 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:19.200 Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, who had Protestant sympathies, began to 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:20.320 rise at court. 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:25.480 Between fifteen thirty six and fifteen forty, inspectors commissioned the 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:29.840 Valor Ecclesiasticus were assigned to report on the wealth and 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.320 the lifestyles of those in all of those Catholic properties 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:38.080 about to be closed. These reports, written as you may imagine, 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:42.240 with anti Catholic bias, stated that monks were living in 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.840 wealth and luxury and not at all as humbly as expected. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.360 Assets and lands were sold off for the benefit of 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.440 the Crown, though much was sold to the nobles as 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.160 a way to secure them as pro Church of England. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.000 There was little resistance among clergy and among members of Parliament, 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.920 except for Chancellor Thomas Moore, who was beheaded when he 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.920 refused to swear allegiance to the king. 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.600 The Chancellor wasn't the only one to take issue with 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.680 the Act of Dissolution and the general move against the 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.080 Catholic Church in October of fifteen thirty six. At that point, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.240 just a few weeks before Robert's death, thousands of people 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.560 and we've seen numbers reportedly as high as thirty thousand 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.920 from the north of England rose up against Henry's New 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:32.800 Church of England and Protestantism and against the treatment of Catholics, 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.000 and marched to York under a Catholic banner of the 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.440 Five Wounds of Christ. That's an uprising known as the 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.240 Pilgrimage of Grace. Those involved were promised a pardon and 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:49.600 the opportunity to address their demands. Accepting that result, they disbanded, 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:56.360 but Henry's response was instead brutal. Many were arrested, hundreds 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.720 were executed, and the group's leader, Robert Askey, was hung 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.760 in chains where he was left to starve to death. 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.560 While no one was ever identified as Robert Packington's killer, 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.280 there was plenty of speculation. Chronicler Edward Hall, who was 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.159 Protestant minded, dabbled in some of that speculation when he 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:20.520 suggested that quote most likely Robert had been murdered by 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:25.320 a cleric. With such religious upheaval happening, it was probably 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.600 a good guess. Another chronicler at the time, John Fox, 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.359 brazenly named Packington's murderer as doctor Robert Vincent, the Dean 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.959 of Saint Paul's, without any real evidence to back that up. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:42.000 Though Fox later wrote that alleged assailants confessed on their 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:46.960 deathbeds well, no one ever confessed to this crime. Protestants, though, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.800 claimed Packington as a martyr for their cause. 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.840 Robert was buried in the parish church of Saint Pancras. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.600 He had drawn up a will on November twenty third, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:01.000 fifteen thirty five, almost exactly one year for his murder, 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.640 with his wife and his brother Humphrey as executors. In it, 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.679 he stated that he trusted he'd find salvation quote only 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.760 by the merits of Jesus Christ. In London. At this time, 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.640 children legally became orphans if they had lost both parents 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.560 or their father, and Robert's children from his first marriage 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:25.119 had now lost both him and their mother, Agnes. On 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:29.160 November twentieth, fifteen thirty seven, about a year after the shooting, 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.960 the Court of Aldermen officially placed his eldest son, Thomas, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.520 in the care of Sir John Baldwin, that was Agnes's father. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.000 About five years later, Thomas, then of age, acknowledged that 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.439 he had received his share of his father's estate, and 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.720 that in fifteen forty four his younger brother did as well. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.639 In fact, despite never knowing what happened to their father 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.879 that early morning, all of Robert's children were, it appears, 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:00.880 cared for Elizabeth, known as Best married twice, as did Margaret, 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:08.480 and married Richard Cupper esquire little information information that's pretty 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:13.399 questionable at least remains about Robert's son John, His and 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.439 the lives of other John Packington's have kind of woven 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.760 together over the centuries, so it's hard to know what 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.560 accounts are referring to which one of them. Thomas, his 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.160 eldest son, went on to be knighted by Queen Mary 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.280 the first Catherine and Henry the Eighth's only surviving child 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.160 and a Catholic in October of fifteen fifty three. 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.520 Talk about a cold, cold, cold, cold case. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.439 Yeah, so are you ready to step into the cooler 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:43.560 and discuss this with me? 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:45.919 Yes? It might take me a while through all the 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:47.000 centuries to get there. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.640 Right on, come on, you can do it. Okay, I'm 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:54.680 gonna add in some personal biographical information to this one, 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:58.679 because we're doing this episode on a day when I 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.800 am trapped at my house because snow, so I can't 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.000 go out and get new ingredients. So one I had 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.479 to work with what I had on hand. Now that 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:08.240 may sound limiting, but let me be clean. 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.520 I was laughing at just no, I have limited in my. 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:20.359 House, a pretty well stocked bar. But it also meant that, like, 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.040 if I had an idea that was something that I 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:24.800 didn't have on hand, I can't just run out and 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.359 get it. So for a minute, because thinking about this 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.600 time in history, we're talking at a time when it's 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.239 pretty much all beer and wine of some sort. And 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.120 I was like, oh, I'll do some sort of shandy 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.760 and I'll go get like a nice beer, and but 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:39.479 I can't do that, and I don't tend to keep 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.399 beer on hand, so be safe. Then I was like, 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.119 what about wine? And I don't tend to keep a 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.560 lot of wine on hand. I've used ruby port this 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.280 season already, yes, pretty recently, so I don't want to 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:55.160 repeat that yet. And I was like, oh, what about 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.240 Bubbly And then I did some research and it didn't 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:59.320 exist yet, so I don't want to use that. But 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:04.240 then I remember word vermouth, which is just a fortified wine. Yes, yeah, 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.280 and I have that please refrigerate your vermouth. It does 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.399 not have a high enough ABV to be sitting on 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:13.600 the counter. That's one part of my soapbox for the day. 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:14.480 It's a little PSA. 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.800 I also wanted to do something that we haven't because 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.719 this is an unusual event, you know, this was the 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.919 first time. It was all novel, the way everyone was 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.359 perceiving it was novel. I thought I should use at 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:29.520 least something that I don't think we've ever used on 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.159 the show before, which is funny because it's not an 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.480 uncommon ingredient, but it isn't when I reach for all 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:41.400 that often, and that is driver mouth. Hey, we've used 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:45.159 sweet vermuth a few times, but I have dry. And 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:49.720 I also because all of the discussion that we had 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:53.520 about the evolution of firearms at this time is so 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.960 evocative and it made me think of that distinctive smell 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.639 of gunshot, that I wanted to do something with a 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:04.640 smoke note without doing liquid smoke. Although heads up, that's 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:09.720 gonna appear in the mocktail. But for the cocktail, which 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:12.639 we're calling first shot, although it is not a shot, 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.640 here's what we're putting together. It's an easy one. It's 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:20.960 four ingredients. They're each one ounce, So you're gonna do 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:24.520 one ounce of lemon juice, one ounce of simple syrup, 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:27.919 one ounce of driver mouth, and then one ounce of 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:31.800 mescal and you are gonna shake this together in your 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.200 shaker and strain it into a pre chilled glass. This 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:41.000 is a really really good drink. It's it does something 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.240 so cool, which is not something I anticipated. It's almost 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:48.280 as though the ingredients line up on your palate to 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.639 like raise their hand one by one. Because the first 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.640 thing you taste is that driver mooth. That's sort of 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.000 like if you're familiar with sweetervermoth and you haven't had 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:02.879 dry before. Dry. It's also sweet, it's just not as sweet, 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:05.760 and it's a mellower sweetness, So you get that kind 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:08.680 of mellow sweetness on your tongue, you get that little 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.359 bit of citrus, and then the finish is where the 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:15.920 mes cow makes itself known. Then you get that smoky thing. 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.800 So now I have never been shot praise grito, but 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:22.800 I imagine that is kind of what it's like, where 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:25.360 you feel something and then you realize what it is, 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:27.480 and that's kind of how this plays out. It's like, 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:29.840 this is a drink. What is this drink? Oh, there's 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.640 a smoke note, there's a mescal. This is a mes 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:37.119 cow drink. It's so delicious. I want to make a kajullion. 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:40.400 Of them snowday drinks, maybe with leftovers. Sometimes the best 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:41.040 thing there is. 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:45.400 An optional presentation version of this, And I honestly this 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.000 is drinker's choice, because I honestly can't tell if I 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.520 like it better with or without, which is before you, 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:58.880 before you strain into your pre chilled glass, dip one 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:03.159 edge of that glass into water or lemon juice, and 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.080 then dip it into black lava salt so that you 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:08.760 have a little bit of a smoky salt note on 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:09.240 the rim. 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:11.439 I bet that's so delicious with that. 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:14.280 It's good both ways. And I can't decide which one 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:17.360 I like better. I really can't. Usually I'm like, oh, 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:20.280 that's the one, right, yes, one both, It's just gonna 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:23.240 be what you like. So lava salt, by the way, 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:25.440 is not super hard to get. You can order it online. 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:29.680 My grocery store sometimes has it. It's not very difficult 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:31.880 to get your hands on. So that's not a particularly 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:35.840 exotic ingredient. Okay, So for the mocktail for this, we're 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:39.439 gonna switch some stuff up. The first thing you're gonna 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:44.480 do is brew a cup like a regular eight outce 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:48.640 cup according to packaging of like a lemon tea, and 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:50.760 you are going to add a little bit of salt 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:53.040 to that after you take the tea bag out or 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.280 your tea infuser out, just like a little a pinch, 0:24:56.359 --> 0:24:59.680 a little pinch, and then you were going to take 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.520 three ounces of that three ounces of your salted lemon tea. 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:08.720 You're gonna add your simple syrup, and then you will 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:13.159 add just a dot, like a single dash of liquid smoke, 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:16.720 and you'll shake that up in your shaker with ice 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:18.920 and pour that into a pre chilled glass. Again, the 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:21.560 salt on the rim is optional. That is a very 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:25.880 refreshing one that gives you a similar flavor thing where 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:29.119