CASTLEHAVEN, Mervin Touchet, 2nd Earl (1593-1631). - photo 1
CASTLEHAVEN, Mervin Touchet, 2nd Earl (1593-1631). - photo 2

CASTLEHAVEN, Mervin Touchet, 2nd Earl (1593-1631).

Lot 69
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 630
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 993281
Lot 69 | CASTLEHAVEN, Mervin Touchet, 2nd Earl (1593-1631).
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
CASTLEHAVEN, Mervin Touchet, 2nd Earl (1593-1631).

Manuscript signed ('Castelhaven') of his profession of faith before his execution, n.d. [1 May 1631].

One page, 264 x 174mm, three later annotations on recto and verso. Provenance: John Wilson Croker (1780-1857): autograph note signed with initials ('J.w.C.') on the verso, 'This is the original of the Confession of faith of that wretched man which he caused to be read at his execution'.



The climax of the scandalous trial which inspired Milton's Comus: the original signed profession of faith read out on the scaffold at Tower Hill before the Earl of Castlehaven's beheading for rape and sodomy. The text declares Castlehaven's absolute adherence to the orthodox doctrines of the Church of England, including the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, 'renouncing all the Superstitions and Errours taught or believed in the Church of Rome or anie other Church'.



'I Mervyn Earle of Castlehaven, being in my full strength and memorie (thanks bee given unto my maker) having been branded and openlie accused for change, alterac[i]on and doubtfulness of my faith and religion, I thought fitt like a Christian man to give satisfaccon upon what grounds I stand for my beliefe ... In testimonie whereof I have hereunto subscribed my hand'.



Castlehaven's trial was one of the most notorious of the 17th century, and culminated in his execution on 14 May 1631 on charges of sodomy with one manservant and participating in the rape of his wife by another. The case featured graphic descriptions by Lady Castlehaven of a debauched and godless household, while Castlehaven himself insisted that his wife and son (who had initiated the prosecution) were conspiring in judicial murder. The best-known printed account, The Trial of the Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven (1679), provides a transcription of the present profession of faith, and recounts the circumstances of its composition: after Castlehaven's conviction, he was visited 'daily' in prison by the Dean of St Paul's, Thomas Winniffe (who had succeeded his close friend John Donne as dean only a few weeks previously), and 'upon the 1st of May he published in writing under his Hand the Articles of his Faith'; in Castlehaven's speech on the scaffold, he introduces the confession of faith which he has 'exprest ... in writing under my Hand signed', and the text was then read 'by a young Gentleman with a loud Voice'. While the published text and contemporary manuscript copies incorporate the date of 1 May, the present manuscript is undated. Castlehaven's signature can be confirmed by comparison with documents held at Somerset Archives (DD/AH/10/8 and DD/AH/37/6/1).



The Castlehaven trial played a curious role in the composition of Milton's Comus which was written for and first performed before Castlehaven's brother-in-law, the Earl of Bridgewater, only three years later, and whose plot and themes of chastity and self-control can be read as a 'cleansing ritual' to distance the Bridgewaters from the scandal. The Castlehaven case is frequently cited in histories of male homosexuality, and became an 'influential ... precedent in spousal rights; until made redundant by legislation, it was the leading case behind an injured wife's right to testify against her husband' (ODNB). Curiously, Fonthill Gifford, where Castlehaven had his 'debauched and godless household', was also the site 150 years later of the celebrated sex scandal which resulted in the exile of William Beckford.





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