norreys by now had a much more important commission in hand from the court. as the tory reaction gained strength, the court now proceeded, on rather specious grounds, against some of the whigs for conspiring to depose the king. jurisdiction over edward fitzharris at law had been debated between commons and lords in the late parliament; the dissolution of parliament cleared the way for his condemnation in the court of king's bench, and proceedings were then set afoot against stephen college, a virulent anti-catholic activist. the grand jury of middlesex, which was whiggish, failed to indict college; he was then brought before the oxfordshire assizes for alleged misdeeds there. college had been a prominent figure at the assembly of the oxford parliament, riding into town armed and armored to protect protestantism, he claimed, from a catholic rebellion. this can hardly have endeared him to norreys, charged with keeping the peace in oxford for the duration of the parliament, and it was understood that he would engineer a successful indictment of college. such was indeed the case: college was charged with sedition before a grand jury whose foreman was norreys' younger brother henry and committed to trial. norreys presided over the trial, held on 17 and 18 august 1681. college and his counsel, aaron smith, put up as good a defense as could be expected, and much of the evidence against him was circumstantial; but he could hardly hope to escape, and was promptly condemned to death. this result was greatly satisfactory to the court, and on 30 november 1682, norreys was created earl of abingdon by letters patent.