Edward Arden

Edward Arden (c. 1542–1583) was an English nobleman and head of the Arden family, who became a Catholic martyr.

Arden lived in Park Hall, Castle Bromwich, an estate near modern-day Birmingham. He was a recusant Catholic and kept a priest, Hugh Hall, at his house disguised as a gardener. Arden's son-in-law, John Somerville, hatched a plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, but was arrested long before he could attempt it. A purge of Arden's household ensued, and Arden, who may not have known of Somerville's plan, was executed and decapitated.

Arden's father, William Arden, was a second cousin of Mary Arden, mother of William Shakespeare.

He was the head of a Warwickshire family; his father William died in 1545, and Edward succeeded his grandfather Thomas Arden in 1563. He kept to the old faith and maintained in his home, Park Hall at Castle Bromwich, a priest named Hall, in the disguise of a gardener. This priest influenced John Somerville, Edward Arden's son-in-law, who had had indirect contact with Mary Queen of Scots (she had visited Coventry in 1569).

Somerville talked of shooting the Queen of England, and set out for London. He was arrested, put to the rack, and confessed, implicating his father-in-law in his treason, and naming the priest as the instigator. All three were tried and sentenced to death. Somerville strangled himself in his cell. Arden was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield on 20 December 1583, but the priest was spared. Arden's head and Somerville's were set on London Bridge beside the skull of the Earl of Desmond.

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