He was himself tried, though to receive a pardon after conviction. With Sir Edward Neville and four other persons he was placed at the bar on charges of the same kind as those against Exeter and his brother. Neville had said that he "would have a day upon the knaves that were about the king;" "that the king was a beast, and worse than a beast;" "machinating and conspiring to extinguish the love and affection of the king's subjects." Sir Geoffrey Pole, beyond comparison the most guilty, had been in command of a company under the Duke of Norfolk at Doncaster; and was proved to have avowed an intention of deserting in the action, if an action was fought,--real, bad, black treason. Of the others, two had spoken against the supremacy; one had carried letters to the cardinal; another had said to Lord Montague, that "the king would hang in hell for the plucking down of abbeys." [Sidenote: And of Sir Nicholas Carew.] [Sidenote: The scaffold on Tower Hill.] The last case was the hardest. Sir Nicholas Carew, Master of the Horse, had been on the commission which had taken the indictments against Exeter, and had said "that he marvelled it was so secretly handled; that the like was never seen." The expression brought him under suspicion. He was found to have been intimate with Exeter; to have received letters from him of traitorous import, which he had concealed and burnt. With the rest he was brought in guilty, and received sentence as a traitor. On the 9th of December the Marquis of Exeter, Montague, and Sir Edward Neville were beheaded on Tower Hill.[410] On the 16th the following proclamation was issued:-- [Sidenote: Lord Exeter is degraded from the order of the Garter.]