In England and France alike, plotting what might or might not happen in the future if and when the king died was a serious crime. It seemed to make his death more likely as a contingency, and was called “imagining or encompassing” his death, a branch of the law of treason and punishable by death. Sadler had to distance himself from Arran if he was scheming in this way. Otherwise he might himself be indictable as an accomplice.
