Main Plot

In the version of the plot presented at trial, Cobham was negotiating with the Count of Aremberg to contact the Spanish court in order to obtain a very large sum of money (approximately £160,000). 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.

Investigation

The plot was discovered during an investigation of the Bye Plot in which Sir George Brooke, the brother of Lord Cobham, was implicated. 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.