He was born after 2 March 1572, the third and only surviving son and heir of Sir William Catesby of Lapworth in Warwickshire, by his wife Anne Throckmorton, a daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton (c.1513-1581), KG, of Coughton Court in Warwickshire (by his second wife, Elizabeth Hussey). He was a lineal descendant of Sir William Catesby (1450–1485), the influential councillor of King Richard III who was captured at the Battle of Bosworth and executed. His parents were prominent recusant Catholics; his father had suffered years of imprisonment for his faith, and in 1581 had been tried in Star Chamber alongside William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden, and his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Tresham, for harbouring the Jesuit Edmund Campion.
Origins
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby | Origins
After 2 March 1572 After 2 March 1572 c. 3 March 1572 c. 3 March 1572
where did the gunpowder come from in the gunpowder plot
user
They were discovered hidden under piles of faggots and coal.
assistant
what was the main aim of this plot?
user
To kill King James.
assistant
this plot was led by whom?
user
A group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.
assistant
what was to restore by killing the king?
user
Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state.
assistant
did they succeed in killing king?
user
No, it was a failed assassination attempt.
assistant
what was the outcome they faced when failed?
user
Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited, some were tied to hurdles and dragged through the crowded streets of London, Thomas, Ambrose. Robert and Guy Fawkes were hanged
assistant
when was he born the leader who led this plot?
user
Robert Catesby (c. 3 March 1572 – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated in Oxford. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, and presumably to avoid swearing the Oath of Supremacy he left college before taking his degree. He married a Protestant in 1593 and fathered two children, one of whom survived birth and was baptised in a Protestant church. In 1601 he took part in the Essex Rebellion but was captured and fined, after which he sold his estate at Chastleton.
Robert Catesby | Introduction
Robert, a devout Catholic who inherited Huddington Court near Worcester, joined the conspiracy the following year. The plot began to unravel following the delivery of an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to stay away from Parliament. Thomas and Catesby confronted Monteagle's brother-in-law, the recently recruited Francis Tresham, threatening to kill him, but Tresham managed to convince them of his innocence. At that stage Thomas reportedly asked Catesby to abandon the scheme, to no avail. When Fawkes was captured at about midnight on 4 November 1605, Thomas fled to Robert's house at Huddington. Catesby and most of the others spent two days travelling across the Midlands attempting to incite a rebellion, but with an ever-diminishing group of supporters they eventually settled at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, and waited for government forces to arrive.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Introduction
Its leader, Robert Catesby, asked him to provide a large sum of money and the use of Rushton Hall, but Tresham apparently provided neither, instead giving a much smaller amount of money to fellow plotter Thomas Wintour. Tresham also expressed concern that if the plot was successful, two of his brothers-in-law would be killed. An anonymous letter delivered to one of them, William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, found its way to the English Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, an event which eventually proved decisive in the conspiracy's failure.
Francis Tresham | Introduction
Robert Keyes(1565 -1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. He was the sixth man to join the plot. Unlike several other conspirators Keyes was not a particularly wealthy man. He was trusted by Robert Catesby, the plot's author, with guarding the explosives stored at the latter's lodgings in London. When the plot was uncovered he fled the city, and was captured several days later in Warwickshire.
Robert Keyes | Introduction
The last details of the plot were finalised in October. Guy Fawkes would light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Late on Monday 4 November, Bates set out with Catesby and John Wright for the planned revolt. The following day while at Dunstable re-shoeing Catesby's horse, they were met by Rookwood, who delivered the devastating news that Fawkes had been discovered guarding the gunpowder and arrested. As those conspirators still in London fled the city, the group soon integrated Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy.
Thomas Bates | Failure
Back in London, under pain of torture Fawkes had started to reveal what he knew, and on 7 November the government named Catesby as a wanted man. Early that morning at Huddington, the remaining outlaws went to confession, before taking the sacrament — in Fraser's opinion, a sign that none of them thought they had long to live. The party of fugitives, which included those at the centre of the plot, their supporters and Digby's hunting party, by now had dwindled to only thirty-six in number. They continued through pouring rain to Hewell Grange, home of the young Lord Windsor.
Robert Catesby | Death
Late on Monday 4 November, Catesby, John Wright and Bates left for the Midlands, ready for the planned uprising. That night Fawkes was discovered guarding the gunpowder in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords. As news of his arrest spread, the next day most of the conspirators still in London fled. Catesby's party, ignorant of what was happening in London, paused at Dunstable when his horse lost a shoe. When Rookwood caught them up and broke to them the news of Fawkes's arrest, the group, which now included Rookwood, Catesby, Bates, the Wright brothers and Percy, rode toward Dunchurch.
Robert Catesby | Death
Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited on spikes outside the House of Lords. On a cold 30 January, Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, were tied to hurdles—wooden panels—and dragged through the crowded streets of London to St Paul's Churchyard. Digby, the first to mount the scaffold, asked the spectators for forgiveness, and refused the attentions of a Protestant clergyman. He was stripped of his clothing, and wearing only a shirt, climbed the ladder to place his head through the noose. He was quickly cut down, and while still fully conscious was castrated, disembowelled, and then quartered, along with the three other prisoners.
Gunpowder Plot | Executions
He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords; Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there. The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes fell from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Guy Fawkes | Introduction
Most of the conspirators fled from London as they learned of the plot's discovery, trying to enlist support along the way. Several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House; in the ensuing battle, Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Gunpowder Plot | Introduction
On Sunday 20 May in the well-to-do Strand district of London, Catesby met Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes, at an inn called the Duck and Drake. Percy had been introduced to the plot several weeks after Wintour and Fawkes's return to England. Alone in a private room, all swore an oath of secrecy on a prayer book, and then in another room celebrated Mass with the Jesuit priest (and friend to Catesby) John Gerard. Robert Keyes was admitted to the group in October 1604, and was charged with looking after Catesby's Lambeth house, where the gunpowder and other supplies were to be stored.
Robert Catesby | Early stages
When Keyes heard that Fawkes had been captured he took to his horse and fled for the Midlands. He was overtaken at Highgate by Rookwood, who was rushing to inform Catesby and the others of what had transpired. After he and Rookwood had caught up with Catesby, Percy, Thomas Bates, and John and Christopher Wright, Keyes left the group, and headed instead for Lord Mordaunt's house at Drayton, where he went to ground. He was identified as a suspect on 6 November, and captured several days later. The conspirators were tried on 27 January 1606 at Westminster Hall. Despite entering pleas of not guilty (only Digby professed his guilt), all eight were found guilty.
Robert Keyes | Failure and death
Fawkes, using the pseudonym "John Johnson", took charge of the building, posing as Percy's servant. The building was occupied by Scottish commissioners appointed by the King to consider his plans for the unification of England and Scotland, so the plotters hired Catesby's lodgings in Lambeth, on the opposite bank of the Thames, from where their stored gunpowder and other supplies could be conveniently rowed across each night. Meanwhile, King James continued with his policies against the Catholics, and Parliament pushed through anti-Catholic legislation, until its adjournment on 7 July. The conspirators returned to London in October 1604, when Robert Keyes, a "desperate man, ruined and indebted", was admitted to the group.
Gunpowder Plot | Further recruitment
After Guy Fawkes was captured in the basement of the Houses of Parliament, many of his fellow plotters, under the leadership of Robert Catesby, fled to the Midlands. Walsh and his 200-strong force began following the conspirators after they entered Worcestershire and caught up with them at Holbeche House in Staffordshire on 8 November. Among those in Walsh's force was John Streete, the noted marksman from Worcester, who at one point killed two plotters with a single shot. The conspirators made two major errors: they got their gunpowder wet and then tried to dry it in front of the fire, causing it to blow up.
Richard Walsh (English politician) | Gunpowder Plot
He thought the letter too vague to constitute any meaningful threat to the plan, and decided to forge ahead. As Fawkes made a final check on the gunpowder, other conspirators took up their positions in the Midlands. Salisbury, already aware of certain stirrings before he received the letter, did not yet know the exact nature of the plot or who exactly was involved. He elected to wait, to see how events unfolded. On 3 November, Catesby met with Wintour and Percy in London. Although the nature of their discussion is unknown, Fraser theorises that some adjustment of their plan to abduct Princess Elizabeth may have occurred, as later accounts told how Percy had been seen at the Duke of York's lodgings, enquiring as to the movements of the king's daughter.
Robert Catesby | Monteagle letter
Meanwhile, Tresham again urged Catesby and Wintour to abandon the scheme, but his attempts were in vain. Fellow plotter Thomas Percy said he was ready to "abide the uttermost trial", and subsequently on 4 November Catesby and several others left London for the Midlands to prepare for the planned uprising. Fawkes was arrested while guarding the explosives shortly after midnight on 5 November 1605. Calling himself John Johnson, he was at first interrogated by members of the King's Privy Chamber, but on 6 November James ordered that "John Johnson" be tortured. His will finally broken, he revealed his true identity on 7 November, and on 8 November he began to name some of those with whom he was associated.
Francis Tresham | Revealed
Thomas Bates (1567 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Bates was born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, and became a retainer to Robert Catesby, who from 1604 planned to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates was invited to join the conspiracy after he accidentally became aware of it. As he rode with Catesby to prepare for the group's planned uprising on 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was found guarding the gunpowder stored under the House of Lords and arrested.
Thomas Bates | Introduction
Robert Catesby (1573–1605), a man of "ancient, historic and distinguished lineage", was the inspiration behind the plot. He was described by contemporaries as "a good-looking man, about six feet tall, athletic and a good swordsman". Along with several other conspirators, he took part in the Essex Rebellion in 1601, during which he was wounded and captured. Queen Elizabeth allowed him to escape with his life after fining him 4,000 marks (equivalent to more than £6 million in 2008), after which he sold his estate in Chastleton. In 1603 Catesby helped to organise a mission to the new king of Spain, Philip III, urging Philip to launch an invasion attempt on England, which they assured him would be well supported, particularly by the English Catholics.
Gunpowder Plot | Initial recruitment
Despite the ease with which Catesby seems to have inspired his fellow conspirators, that it was he and not Fawkes (today most often associated with 5 November) who devised what became known as the Gunpowder Plot, has largely been forgotten. The precise date on which he set events in motion is unknown, but it is likely that he first had the idea early in 1604. Sometime around June of the previous year he was visited by his friend Thomas Percy. A great-grandson of the 4th Earl of Northumberland, Percy was reported to have had a "wild youth" before he became a Catholic, and during Elizabeth's final years had been entrusted by the 9th Earl with a secret mission to James's court in Scotland, to plead with the king on behalf of England's Catholics.
Robert Catesby | Early stages
He understood that Robert Catesby (the leader of the plot) was just raising a regiment to fight in Flanders. Catesby had offered to take one of Littleton's illegitimate sons as his page. Humphrey had been summoned to Dunchurch by Robert Catesby, but following the plot's failure he did not go to his nephew Stephen's Holbeche House with Stephen and the rest of the main plotters. (Stephen was the son of his elder brother George). Later, Stephen came to him with Robert Wintour. The two men had escaped arrest at Holbeche House and were on the run. Littleton arranged for a tenant farmer to harbour the two fugitives, swearing his own servants to secrecy.
Humphrey Littleton | Biography
English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when the apparently more tolerant King James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth I, but Robert Catesby, a Catholic zealot from Ashby St Ledgers, remained unimpressed by the new royal dynasty. He therefore planned to kill James by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, following which he would help incite a popular revolt to install James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, as titular Queen. His role being to guard the gunpowder and other items stored at Catesby's house in Lambeth, Keyes joined the conspiracy in October 1604. The Jesuit priest John Gerard described Keyes as "a grave and sober man, and of great wit and sufficiency".
Robert Keyes | Gunpowder Plot
Catesby replied "I think your Lordship takes no pleasure to be there". Montague, who had already been imprisoned for speaking out in the House of Lords against anti-Papist legislation, and who had no inclination to be present while more laws were introduced, agreed. Following the plot's failure he became a suspect and was arrested, but after intense lobbying he was released some months later. The recruitment of Rookwood, Tresham and Digby coincided with a series of meetings in various taverns across London, during which the last remaining details were worked out. Fawkes would light the fuse, and escape by boat across the Thames.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
The Protestant James I, who became King of England in 1603, was less tolerant of Catholicism than his followers had hoped. Catesby therefore planned to kill him by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder during the State Opening of Parliament, the prelude to a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Early in 1604 he began to recruit other Catholics to his cause, including Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy, and Guy Fawkes. Described latterly as a charismatic and influential man, over the following months he helped to bring a further eight conspirators into the plot, which was planned to be carried out on 5 November 1605.
Robert Catesby | Introduction
On the same day he was admitted to the plot, 25 March 1605, the conspirators also purchased the lease to the undercroft they had supposedly tunnelled near. It was into this room that 36 barrels of gunpowder were brought, but when in late August Thomas and Fawkes made an inspection of the gunpowder, they found that it had decayed (separated). Thus, more gunpowder was brought in. Shortly after this, Catesby recruited the last three conspirators, Sir Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham. The latter's involvement in the plot has long been the subject of controversy, as on 26 October his brother-in-law William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, received an anonymous letter while at home, warning him to stay away from Parliament.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Robert joins
The following day, Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Guy Fawkes were hanged, drawn and quartered, opposite the building they had planned to blow up, in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster. Keyes did not wait for the hangman's command and jumped from the gallows, but he survived the drop and was led to the quartering block. Although weakened by his torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows and break his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the gruesome latter part of his execution. Steven Littleton was executed at Stafford. His cousin Humphrey, despite his co-operation with the authorities, met his end at Red Hill near Worcester.
Gunpowder Plot | Executions
The head of the Throckmortons, Sir Thomas Throckmorton, was also fined for his recusancy, and spent many years in prison. Another relation, Sir Francis Throckmorton, had been executed in 1584 for his involvement in a plot to free Mary, Queen of Scots.
Robert Catesby | Origins
The full extent of Digby's knowledge of and involvement in the plot is unknown, but at Catesby's behest Digby rented Coughton Court and prepared a "hunting party", ready for the planned uprising. The plot failed, however, and Digby joined the conspirators as they took flight through the Midlands, failing to garner support along their way. Digby left the other fugitives at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, and was soon captured and taken to the Tower of London. Digby was tried on 27 January 1606. Despite an eloquent defence, he was found guilty of high treason, and three days later was hanged, drawn and quartered.
Everard Digby | Introduction
On 6 November, with Fawkes maintaining his silence, the fugitives raided Warwick Castle for supplies and continued to Norbrook to collect weapons. From there they continued their journey to Huddington. Bates left the group and travelled to Coughton Court to deliver a letter from Catesby, to Father Garnet and the other priests, informing them of what had transpired, and asking for their help in raising an army. Garnet replied by begging Catesby and his followers to stop their "wicked actions", before himself fleeing. Several priests set out for Warwick, worried about the fate of their colleagues. They were caught, and then imprisoned in London.
Gunpowder Plot | Last stand
A letter sent anonymously to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, alerted the authorities, and on the eve of the planned explosion, during a search of Parliament, Fawkes was found guarding the barrels of gunpowder. News of his arrest caused the other plotters to flee London, warning Catesby along their way.
Robert Catesby | Introduction
The final conspirator to be brought in was Everard Digby, on 21 October, at Harrowden. Catesby confided in Digby during a delayed Feast of Saint Luke. Like Rookwood, Digby was young and wealthy, and possessed a stable of horses. Catesby told him to rent Coughton Court near Alcester, so that he would "the better to be able to do good to the cause [kidnap Princess Elizabeth]". The day after Tresham's recruitment, Catesby exchanged greetings in London with Fawkes's former employer, Lord Montague, and asked him "The Parliament, I think, brings your lordship up now?" Montague told him that he was visiting a relative, and that he would be at Parliament in a few weeks' time.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
As their plans moved closer to fruition, during a secret meeting at Bath in August at which he, Percy and Thomas Wintour were present, the plotters decided that "the company being yet but few" he was to be allowed to "call in whom he thought best". Catesby soon added Ambrose Rookwood, a staunch Catholic who was both young and wealthy, but who most importantly owned a stable of fine horses at Coldham. For the plan to work Rookwood and his horses needed to be close to the other conspirators, and so Catesby persuaded him to rent Clopton House at Stratford-upon-Avon.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
When he realised the plot had been uncovered, he took his horse and made for his sister's house at Norbrook, before continuing to Huddington Court. The group of six conspirators stopped at Ashby St Ledgers at about 6 pm, where they met Robert Wintour and updated him on their situation. They then continued on to Dunchurch, and met with Digby. Catesby convinced him that despite the plot's failure, an armed struggle was still a real possibility. He announced to Digby's "hunting party" that the King and Salisbury were dead, before the fugitives moved west to Warwick. In London, news of the plot was spreading, and the authorities set extra guards on the city gates, closed the ports, and protected the house of the Spanish Ambassador, which was surrounded by an angry mob.
Gunpowder Plot | Flight
Walsh invited the conspirators to surrender, and upon their refusal ordered an assault of the building. All of the conspirators were either captured or killed. Catesby was killed, as were the John and Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy, but Ambrose Rookwood was captured alive and later held in Worcester gaol.
Richard Walsh (English politician) | Gunpowder Plot
Catesby had enlisted the aid of other Catholics, but had borne much of the scheme's financial cost and was running out of money. The group had therefore agreed to expand their numbers. To this end Catesby had recruited Ambrose Rookwood—a young and wealthy Catholic with a stable of fine horses—and a wealthy cousin, Francis Tresham. The extent of Digby's knowledge of the plot is unknown, but in the opinion of author Alan Haynes, Digby was shocked by what he heard, and asked what would become of some of their Catholic friends. Catesby replied "Assure your selfe that such of the nobilitie as are worth the saving shalbe preserved and yet knowe not of the matter." None of their friends would be caught in the explosion.
Everard Digby | Robert Catesby
Brooke led the Main Plot against James, and Raleigh soon lost his freedom. Northumberland, on the other hand, was appointed to the Privy Council. Thomas Percy went on to become one of the five conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The goal of this plot was to overthrow the Parliament under King James I. When the plot was discovered, Percy fled and was besieged at Holbeche House in Warwickshire. On 8 November 1605, a marksman shot dead both Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy with a single bullet.
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland | Catholic sympathiser
In 1604 Robert Catesby, a devout Catholic with a magnetic personality, recruited friends and rebels to meet and discuss his plot to blow up the House of Lords in an attempt to reestablish Catholicism in England. Those present at that first meeting with Catesby were Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes. With the imminent threat of plague, Parliament postponed re-opening until 5 November 1605, which gave the plotters ample time to lease out a small house in the centre of London where Fawkes would live under the alias "Jhon Jhonson" as Thomas Percy's servant while gathering the gunpowder necessary (Fraser 174).
William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle | Background
Following the Earl of Essex's failed rebellion, he had travelled to Spain to raise support for English Catholics, a mission which the authorities would later describe as comprising part of a 'Spanish Treason'. Although Thomas declined his invitation, Catesby again invited him in February the next year. When Wintour responded to the summons he found his cousin with the swordsman John Wright. Catesby told him of his plan to kill the king and his government by blowing up "the Parliament howse with Gunpowder ... in that place have they done us all the mischiefe, and perchance God hath designed that place for their punishment".
Robert Catesby | Early stages
On November 5, 1605, a group of conspirators led by Robert Catesby attempted to destroy the English Parliament on its State Opening by King James I. They planned in secret to detonate a large quantity of gunpowder placed beneath the Palace of Westminster. The gunpowder was procured and placed by Guy Fawkes. The group intended to enact a coup by killing King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament. The conspirators planned to make one of the king's children a puppet monarch and then restore the Catholic faith to England. The conspirator leased a coal cellar beneath the House of Lords and began stockpiling gunpowder in 1604.
History of terrorism | Gunpowder Plot
Percy became the fifth member of the Gunpowder plot on Sunday 20 May 1604. Almost a year earlier, he had called at Robert Catesby's home at Ashby St Ledgers, and complained bitterly about James, who since succeeding Elizabeth had done little to fulfil his expectations. He had threatened to kill the new king with his own hands, but was asked by Catesby to restrain himself, and told "I am thinking of a most sure way and I will soon let thee know what it is." Thus Percy found himself at the Duck and Drake inn near the Strand in London, along with Catesby and his cousin Thomas Wintour, John Wright and Guy Fawkes.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Plot
Catesby and the others arrived at Huddington early in the afternoon, and were met by Thomas Wintour. They received practically no support or sympathy from those they met, including family members, who were terrified at the prospect of being associated with treason. They continued on to Holbeche House on the border of Staffordshire, the home of Stephen Littleton, a member of their ever-decreasing band of followers. Whilst there Stephen Littleton and Thomas Wintour went to 'Pepperhill', the Shropshire residence of Sir John Talbot to gain support but to no avail. Tired and desperate, they spread out some of the now-soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, to dry out.
Gunpowder Plot | Last stand
Robert Aske ("c." 1500 – 12 July 1537) was an English lawyer who became a leader of rebellion in Yorkshire. He pushed the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against the dissolution of lesser monasteries in 1536; King Henry VIII had him executed for treason on 12 July 1537.
Robert Aske (political leader) | Introduction
With the addition to the conspiracy of Thomas Percy (John Wright's brother-in-law), the five plotters met at the Duck and Drake inn, in the fashionable Strand district of London, on 20 May 1604. From hereon Thomas Wintour remained at the heart of the conspiracy. The group leased properties in London, one in Lambeth for storing the gunpowder that was rowed across the Thames to its destination. His confession has the plotters digging a tunnel toward their target during one of the several prorogations of Parliament, abandoned when the chamber directly beneath the House of Lords became available. Following the meeting in May Catesby enlisted the aid of several more Catholic men, including Robert Wintour.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Robert joins
With the other conspirators he had recruited, Catesby also planned to incite a rebellion in the Midlands, during which James's nine-year-old daughter Princess Elizabeth would be captured, and installed as titular queen. Rookwood's stable of fine horses was essential for the uprising to succeed. The explosion was planned to coincide with the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, but the man left in charge of the gunpowder stored beneath the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes, was discovered there and arrested. Rookwood fled the city, and informed Catesby and the others of the plan's failure. Together the remaining conspirators rode to Holbeche House in Staffordshire, where on 8 November they were attacked by the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men.
Ambrose Rookwood | Introduction
Tresham's complicity was not revealed until the following day, although he was attributed with only a minor role. But while his compatriots had fled London the moment they discovered that Fawkes had been captured, Tresham had stayed in the city. He was arrested on 12 November and transferred to the Tower three days later. Catesby and several other plotters were killed on 8 November, during an armed siege at Holbeche House in Staffordshire.
Francis Tresham | Revealed
Thomas went with Catesby to confront Tresham on the matter, threatening to "hang him" if he did not exonerate himself. Tresham managed to convince the pair that he was innocent, but Thomas then tried unsuccessfully to persuade Catesby to abandon the plot. His pleas were in vain; Catesby's position was echoed by Percy, who at a meeting of the three in London on Sunday 3 November, said that he was ready to "abide the uttermost trial". On the same day, Robert and three others stayed at the home of John Talbot of Grafton, his father-in-law. His friends were Robert Acton and his two sons, plus servants.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Robert joins
Around midnight on 4 November, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the gunpowder the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords, and arrested. Those conspirators still in London soon took flight for the Midlands, finding along the way those who had already left to prepare for the planned uprising. They met Digby and his party at Dunchurch. Catesby told Digby that the king and Salisbury were dead, and "if true Catholics would now stir, he doubted not that they might procure to themselves good conditions". Digby was won over, but many of his party were less than impressed at being so badly deceived, and worse, being associated with treason.
Everard Digby | Hunting party
Littleton has been described as very tall, with brown hair and with no or very little beard growth. Littleton did not know much about the Gunpowder Plot in advance, but instead he believed that Robert Catesby (the leader of the conspiracy) took people to an army to fight in Flanders; Catesby should also have offered Littleton a service in this army. After the conspiracy had failed on 5 November 1605, Littleton fled with several of the conspirators to Holbeche House. Once upon a time, Robert Wintour was asked if he could not investigate if his father-in-law John Talbot could assist the conspirators, but Wintour refused.
Stephen Lyttelton | Introduction
He now complained bitterly about what he considered to be James's treachery, and threatened to kill him. Catesby replied "No, no, Tom, thou shalt not venture to small purpose, but if thou wilt be a traitor thou shalt be to some great advantage." Percy listened while Catesby added "I am thinking of a most sure way and I will soon let thee know what it is." During Allhallowtide on 31 October he sent for his cousin Thomas Wintour, who was at Huddington Court in Worcestershire with his brother Robert. Thomas was educated as a lawyer and had fought for England in the Low Countries, but in 1600 had converted to Catholicism.
Robert Catesby | Early stages
[[File:Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury by John De Critz the Elder (2).jpg|right|upright|thumb|[[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], was part of the Privy Council that interrogated Garnet.]] Garnet was at [[Coughton Court]] on 6 November when [[Thomas Bates]] brought news of the plot's failure. Catesby wanted him to help raise support in Wales, where it was thought Catholic support would be more likely, but Garnet was horrified. In a letter to Catesby and Digby, he urged them to abandon their "wicked actions" and follow the pope's advice. He spent weeks on the run but was eventually arrested on 27 January 1606, at [[Hindlip Hall]].
Henry Garnet | Arrest and imprisonment
The survivors were taken into custody and the dead buried near Holbeche. On the orders of the Earl of Northampton however, the bodies of Catesby and Percy were exhumed and decapitated. John Harington, 2nd Baron Harington of Exton, made an opportune study of the heads while "en route" to London, and later reflected: "more terrible countenances were never looked upon". Placed on "the side of the Parliament House", Catesby's head became one of the "sightless spectators of their own failure".
Robert Catesby | Death
When the plot was discovered he endeavoured to flee to France, but was set upon and wounded by the country people in Sussex, and remained for some time in hiding. To facilitate his own escape, he was induced to write a letter to his brother, giving an account of the conspiracy, which furnished the popular leaders with conclusive proof of the reality of the design, and was held by the Royalists to be a treacherous betrayal of his duty to the King. The sole punishment inflicted upon him for his share in the plot was his expulsion from the House of Commons, which took place on 9 December 1641.
Henry Percy, Baron Percy of Alnwick | Biography
Harrison Ainsworth, in his 1842 novel "Guy Fawkes", wrote about the local story that the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned by Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby in Ordsall Hall's Star Chamber. Guy Fawkes is supposed to have escaped capture by the king's soldiers by way of a tunnel from Ordsall Hall to an inn at the cathedral end of Hanging Bridge, at the northern end of present-day Deansgate. There is no firm supporting evidence, but the Radclyffes were prominent Roman Catholics and were acquainted with the Catesby family. The legend is remembered in the name of the modern road that runs to the east of the hall, Guy Fawkes Street.
Ordsall Hall | Guy Fawkes
As Catesby added three more to the conspiracy, the last few details were worked out; Fawkes was to light the fuse that would set off the explosion, and then escape to the continent, while the others would incite the Midlands uprising, and capture James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Thus, as the plot moved closer to fruition, on Monday 4 November Grant and a friend were to be found in Dunchurch at the Red Lion inn, with the newly recruited Everard Digby and his "hunting party". The group attended a Mass the next morning, before moving on.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Plot
capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies." The first meeting of the five central conspirators took place on Sunday 20 May 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the fashionable Strand district of London. Catesby had already proposed at an earlier meeting with Thomas Wintour and John Wright to kill the King and his government by blowing up "the Parliament House with gunpowder". Wintour, who at first objected to the plan, was convinced by Catesby to travel to the continent to seek help. Wintour met with the Constable of Castile, the exiled Welsh spy Hugh Owen, and Sir William Stanley, who said that Catesby would receive no support from Spain.
Guy Fawkes | Gunpowder Plot
Francis Tresham was brought into the plot on 14 October. Also descended from William Catesby, Tresham was Robert's cousin, and as young children the two had often visited White Webbs. Although his account of the meeting is weighted with hindsight (when captured he sought to distance himself from the affair), he asked Catesby what support for the Catholics would be forthcoming once the king had been killed. Catesby's answer, "The necessity of the Catholics [was such that] it must needs be done", in Fraser's opinion demonstrates his unwavering view on the matter, held at least since his first meeting with Thomas Wintour early in 1604.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
From there, he was to organise a hunting party (in reality a group of armed men on horseback) and be ready for some kind of military manoeuvre. Digby also provided monetary assistance; he promised £1,500 after fellow plotter Thomas Percy failed to pay the rent due for several properties in Westminster.
Everard Digby | Robert Catesby
Following James's accession to the English throne in 1603, Percy became disenchanted with the new king, who he supposed had reneged on his promises of toleration for English Catholics. His meeting in June 1603 with Robert Catesby, a religious zealot similarly unimpressed with the new royal dynasty, led the following year to his joining Catesby's conspiracy to kill the king and his ministers by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder. Percy helped fund the group and secured the leases to certain properties in London, one of which was the undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords, in which the gunpowder was finally placed.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Introduction
While Fawkes was being tortured, on 6 November the government began to round up anyone they thought might be involved. Rookwood's servants, still in the house their master had so hastily departed, were questioned on the same day. His belongings at Clopton—including several incriminating Catholic symbols—were also taken, and by the time the plotters had reached Catesby's family home at Ashby St Ledgers, Rookwood's name was among the list of suspects drawn up by the Lord Chief Justice. The fugitives continued on to Dunchurch, where they met the recently recruited conspirator Everard Digby, with his hunting party. The next day the group stole horses from Warwick Castle, although with his fine cortège, Rookwood avoided the town.
Ambrose Rookwood | Discovery
Father Oswald Tesimond claimed that Keyes had "tasted persecution himself, having lost his goods because of it" while historian and author Cyril Northcote Parkinson's image of him was of a "desperate man, ruined and indebted". Tall, with a red beard, despite his relative poverty Catesby declared him "a trusty honest man", and may have paid him for his services. Like fellow plotter Guy Fawkes, he was thought capable of looking after himself. Several conspirators expressed concerns about the safety of fellow Catholics who would be at Parliament on the day of the planned explosion; Keyes was particularly worried about Lord Mordaunt, his wife's employer.
Robert Keyes | Gunpowder Plot
The survivors were taken into custody and the dead buried near Holbeche, but on the orders of the Earl of Northampton, the bodies of Percy and Catesby were exhumed and their heads displayed on spikes at "the side of the Parliament House".
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure and death
He married Elizabeth Green, daughter of William Green of Hayes, Middlesex with whom he had seven sons and two daughters; Robert Catesby, the leader of the Gunpowder Plot, was a direct descendant.
John Catesby | Personal life
The arrested men were taken to await the assizes in York, where they were remanded in Clifford's tower. Those tried and sentenced to death for treason were Thomas Oates, Samuel Ellis, John Nettleton snr, John Nettleton jnr, Robert Scott, William Tolson, John Fozzard, Robert Olroyd, John Asquith, Peregrine Corney, John Snowden, John Smith, William Ash, John Errington, Robert Atkinson, William Colton, George Denham ("The Grand Agitator"), Henry Watson, Richard Wilson, Ralph Rymer and John Carre. One of the plotters, John Asquith, was an ancestor of the future UK prime minister H.H. Asquith. Most were executed on a single morning in York and three at Northallerton.
Farnley Wood Plot | Aftermath
While there he met Robert Catesby, who at some point asked him to swear an oath of secrecy before introducing him to what later became known as the Gunpowder Plot. English Catholics had hoped that the years of persecution they suffered during Elizabeth's reign would end when James I came to the throne, as his attitude appeared moderate, even tolerant towards Catholics. In Catesby's view, however, James had reneged on his promises, and he had quickly lost patience with the new dynasty. He therefore planned to kill James by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and then inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the throne.
Everard Digby | Robert Catesby
An uprising would start in the Midlands, during which Princess Elizabeth was to be captured. Fawkes would escape to the continent and explain to the Catholic powers what had happened in England.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
Richard Walsh, Sheriff of Worcester, and his company of 200 men besieged Holbeche House at about 11:00 am on 8 November. While crossing the courtyard Thomas Wintour was hit in the shoulder. John Wright was shot, followed by his brother, and then Rookwood. Catesby and Percy were reportedly both dropped by a single lucky shot, while standing near the door. Catesby managed to crawl inside the house, where his body was later found, clutching a picture of the Virgin Mary. This and his gold crucifix were sent to London, to demonstrate what "superstitious and Popish idols" had inspired the plotters.
Robert Catesby | Death
The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators. They were kept in the Star Chamber before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The King and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured. The jury found all the defendants guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham pronounced them guilty of high treason.
Guy Fawkes | Trial and execution
The conspirators also planned to instigate an uprising in the Midlands and to simultaneously kidnap James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Percy was to remain in London and secure the capture of her brother, Prince Henry. When the plot was exposed early on 5 November 1605, Percy immediately fled to the Midlands, catching up with some of the other conspirators "en route" to Dunchurch in Warwickshire. Their flight ended on the border of Staffordshire, at Holbeche House, where they were besieged early on 8 November by the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men. Percy was reportedly killed by the same musketball as Catesby, and was buried nearby.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Introduction
Both were also members of the Earl of Essex's rebellion of 1601. John was one of the first men to join the conspiracy, which was led by Robert Catesby. Christopher joined in March 1605. At about midnight on 4 November Fawkes was discovered and arrested, following which John, Christopher and the rest of the conspirators travelled across the Midlands, attempting to gain support for a popular uprising. Eventually the group opted to wait for the authorities at Holbeche House, on the border of Staffordshire. On 8 November the Sheriff of Worcester arrived with a large group of armed men, and both brothers were killed in the ensuing firefight.
John and Christopher Wright | Introduction
His responsibility was to take charge of Catesby's house in Lambeth, where the gunpowder and other supplies were to be stored. Keyes's family had notable connections; his wife's employer was the Catholic Lord Mordaunt. Tall, with a red beard, he was seen as trustworthy and, like Fawkes, capable of looking after himself. In December Catesby recruited his servant, Thomas Bates, into the plot, after the latter accidentally became aware of it. It was announced on 24 December that the re-opening of Parliament would be delayed. Concern over the plague meant that rather than sitting in February, as the plotters had originally planned for, Parliament would not sit again until 3 October 1605.
Gunpowder Plot | Further recruitment
Monteagle had delivered the letter to the English Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and on Saturday 2 November (about a week later) the Privy Council decided to undertake a search of Parliament. The following Monday, during the first search, Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, noticed the huge pile of faggots in the corner of the cellar beneath the House of Lords. The king insisted that another search be made, and about midnight another party, this time led by Thomas Knyvet, 1st Baron Knyvet, discovered Fawkes and arrested him. News of Fawkes's capture soon spread throughout London, including the Strand, where Christopher Wright, John Wright's brother, overheard the commotion.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Failure and capture
Two months later Catesby recruited his servant, Thomas Bates, into the plot, after the latter accidentally became aware of it, and by March 1605 three more were admitted: Thomas Wintour's brother Robert, John Grant and John Wright's brother Christopher.
Robert Catesby | Early stages
The existence of the plot had been revealed in an anonymous letter delivered ten days earlier to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to keep away from Parliament. On the evening of 4 November the authorities made a search of the House of Lords, where they discovered one of the plotters, Guy Fawkes, guarding a hoard of explosives. He was immediately arrested. Fawkes had posed as a servant of fellow plotter Thomas Percy, and it was therefore Percy's name that appeared on the first arrest warrant issued by the government. News of Fawkes's capture soon spread through London, prompting Christopher Wright (brother of John) to rush to Thomas Wintour, and tell what had happened.
Ambrose Rookwood | Discovery
Father Garnet met with Catesby a third time on 24 July at White Webbs in Enfield Chase, the home of Catesby's wealthy relative Anne Vaux, and a house long suspected by the government of harbouring Jesuit priests. Without acknowledging that he was aware of the precise nature of the plot, the priest tried in vain to dissuade Catesby from his course. By 20 July 1605, 36 barrels of gunpowder had been stored in the undercroft, but the ever-present threat of the plague yet again prorogued the opening of Parliament, this time until 5 November 1605. Catesby had borne much of the scheme's financial cost thus far, and was running out of money.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
Catesby and fellow conspirators Thomas Percy, John Wright and his brother Christopher were killed by the Sheriff of Worcester's men early on 8 November, but Digby had already left to give himself up (the only conspirator to do so). With two servants, possibly Bates and his son, he took several horses and hid in nearby woods. Their tracks were soon found, however, and with some hesitation (Digby had intended to surrender himself to someone more worthy), early that morning he presented himself to the most senior-looking of his adversaries. While Digby was taken to the Tower of London, Gayhurst was ransacked; the servants' belongings were stolen, the livestock was sold cheaply, and Mary Digby was left destitute.
Everard Digby | Surrender
The celebrated astrologer Simon Forman was employed to divine his whereabouts, a rider was sent to look for him in northern England, and a search was made of Essex House. All of this was in vain, however, as Percy had been warned of Fawkes's capture and had fled for the Midlands with Christopher Wright, telling a servant as he went, "I am undone." The two men met Catesby and the others (who had left for the Midlands uprising) and continued on to Dunchurch, at one point throwing their cloaks off to increase their speed. A relative of Lieutenant of the Tower of London William Waad encountered Percy leaving London, which led to Waad writing the following letter to Salisbury on 5 November: Accompanied by some of his fellow conspirators, Percy's flight ended at about 10:00 pm on 7 November, at Holbeche House on the Staffordshire county boundary.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure and death
Bates subsequently accompanied Catesby and his small group of fugitives to Holbeche House in Staffordshire, but left shortly before his master was killed there by government forces on 8 November. He was subsequently captured and taken to London. Bates was the only member of the group to implicate the Jesuits in the conspiracy, but may have done so only to alleviate his punishment. He retracted his statement when it became clear he was to be executed. Three days after his trial on 27 January 1606, he was hanged, drawn and quartered.
Thomas Bates | Introduction
At about 6:00 pm that evening they reached Catesby's family home at Ashby St Ledgers, where his mother and Robert Wintour were staying. To keep his mother ignorant of their situation, Catesby sent a message asking Wintour to meet him at the edge of the town. The group continued to Dunchurch, where they met Digby and his hunting party and informed them that the king and Salisbury were dead, thus persuading them to continue with the plan. On 6 November they raided Warwick Castle for supplies, before continuing to Norbrook to collect stored weapons. From there they continued their journey to Huddington.
Robert Catesby | Death
Once the King and his Parliament were dead, the plotters intended to install Elizabeth on the English throne as a titular Queen. Robert Catesby, the prime mover in the conspiratory, was a Warwickshire man, born probably at Bushwood, near Lapworth and John Grant, whose house at Northbrook, Snitterfield, was the rendezvous and powder magazine of the conspirators, was of the gentry of the county. Other conspirators rented houses in the neighbourhood, Ambrose Rokewood rented Clopton House, near Stratford, Everard Digby, to whom the task of rousing the Catholic gentry of the Midlands was assigned rented Coughton Court the home of the Throckmortons under the guise of a "hunting party".
History of Warwickshire | Tudor and Stuart
Of the plotters, only the singed figures of Catesby and Grant, and the Wright brothers, Rookwood, and Percy, remained. The fugitives resolved to stay in the house and wait for the arrival of the King's men. Richard Walsh (Sheriff of Worcestershire) and his company of 200 men besieged Holbeche House on the morning of 8 November. Thomas Wintour was hit in the shoulder while crossing the courtyard. John Wright was shot, followed by his brother, and then Rookwood. Catesby and Percy were reportedly killed by a single lucky shot. The attackers rushed the property, and stripped the dead or dying defenders of their clothing.
Gunpowder Plot | Last stand
The fugitives reached Catesby's family home of Ashby St Ledgers at about 6:00 pm. Not wanting to implicate his mother, Catesby sent a message to Robert, who had just recently arrived there, asking to meet just outside the town. There he told him that Fawkes had been captured. At Dunchurch they collected Everard Digby and his 'hunting party', which included Robert and Thomas's half-brother, John Wintour. He had been invited to join them on 4 November. The next day the group raided Warwick Castle for supplies, something that Robert strongly objected to as it would create "a great uproar" in the country, and later arrived at Huddington Court, where they met Thomas.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Failure and capture
Robert Olroyd and Peregrine Corney were separately executed. Three of the men (Robert Atkins, John Errington and Henry Wilson) had managed to escape to Leeds. There they hid in an inn, but were finally re-arrested and, on 14 January 1664, sentenced to death for treason. They were transported to Chapeltown Moor, where a gallows had been constructed. They were hung by chains, before being dissected. The executioner, a local joiner of the name of Peter Mason, cut off the three heads and preserved them. The following day, they were stuck on the railings of Moot Hall. In 1677 the skulls were blown down in a gale.
Farnley Wood Plot | Aftermath
Uncertain of its meaning he delivered it to Secretary of State Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury. In an extraordinary act of bravado Catesby had planned to go hunting with James, but was warned of the betrayal by Monteagle's servant. He immediately suspected that Tresham was responsible for the letter, a view which was shared by Thomas Wintour. Together the two confronted the recently recruited conspirator, and threatened to "hang him", but Tresham managed to convince the pair that he had not written the letter, and the next day urged them to abandon the plot. Catesby waited for Percy's return from the north, before making his decision.
Robert Catesby | Monteagle letter
He was absent however, so they helped themselves to further arms, ammunition, and money. The locals were unsupportive; on hearing that Catesby's party stood for "God and Country", they replied that they were for "King James as well as God and Country". The party reached Holbeche House, on the Staffordshire boundary, at about 10:00 pm. Tired and desperate, they spread in front of the fire some of the now-soaked gunpowder taken from Hewell Grange, to dry out. Although gunpowder does not explode (unless physically contained), a spark from the fire landed on the powder and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant, and another man.
Robert Catesby | Death
Robert was asked if he would go and see if he could elicit any help from his father-in-law, John Talbot at his mansion at 'Pepperhill'. He refused, and Thomas went instead, with Stephen Littleton. Talbot was, however, loyal to James, and sent them away, claiming that their visit was "as much as his life was worth". While returning to Holbeche, they received a message that Catesby, Rookwood, John Grant and another man were dead, and the rest apparently fled. Tired and desperate, the plotters had attempted to dry their soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, only for a stray spark to ignite it.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Failure and capture
Guy Fawkes, who was born and educated in York, was a member of a group of Roman Catholic restorationists that planned the Gunpowder Plot. Its aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I, the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic aristocracy and nobility were inside. In 1644, during the Civil War, the Parliamentarians besieged York, and many medieval houses outside the city walls were lost. The barbican at Walmgate Bar was undermined and explosives laid, but the plot was discovered. On the arrival of Prince Rupert, with an army of 15,000 men, the siege was lifted.
York | 16th to 18th centuries
"A Brief Relation of the Plot" was published by parliament on 13 March, various witnesses were examined in March and April, and on 8 May Yeamans was condemned to death by a court-martial as a traitor. Charles made great efforts to save him, and Lord Forth threatened to execute a similar number of parliamentary prisoners in his hands. The threat proved useless, as Fiennes also held other notable Royalist prisoners recently captured by Sir William Waller on his raid into Herefordshire, so to forestall a blood bath King Charles ordered that no retaliatory executions should take place.
Robert Yeamans | Plot
They then collected stored weapons from Norbrook, and continued on to Huddington. The party tried in vain to expand their number, but were shunned; no one was prepared to risk being labelled a traitor. Father Garnet, contacted at Coughton Court by Bates, wrote Catesby a letter in which he implored the group to stop their "wicked actions", before himself fleeing.
Ambrose Rookwood | Discovery
Tipped off by an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, late on Monday night the authorities had made a search of Parliament. There they had discovered Fawkes guarding the gunpowder the plotters had placed in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords. Catesby and the others, "en route" to the Midlands, had been alerted to his arrest by those conspirators who had since fled London, and together had rode to Dunchurch to meet Digby and his party. By Wednesday 6 November the government was busy searching for Fawkes' accomplices, and towards the end of the day Grant's name appeared on the list of suspects drawn up by the Lord Chief Justice.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure
Bates and Keyes were captured shortly after Holbeche House was taken. Digby, who had intended to give himself up, was caught by a small group of pursuers. Tresham was arrested on 12 November, and taken to the Tower three days later. Montague, Mordaunt, and Stourton (Tresham's brother-in-law) were also imprisoned in the Tower. The Earl of Northumberland joined them on 27 November. Meanwhile the government used the revelation of the plot to accelerate its persecution of Catholics. The home of Anne Vaux at Enfield Chase was searched, revealing the presence of trap doors and hidden passages. A terrified servant then revealed that Garnet, who had often stayed at the house, had recently given a Mass there.
Gunpowder Plot | Reaction
Sir Everard Digby (c. 1578 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in a Protestant household, and married a Protestant, Digby and his wife were converted to Catholicism by the Jesuit priest John Gerard. In the autumn of 1605, he was part of a Catholic pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride's Well in Holywell. About this time he met Robert Catesby, a religious fanatic who planned to blow up the House of Lords with gunpowder, killing James I. Catesby then planned to incite a popular revolt, during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne.
Everard Digby | Introduction
The Gunpowder Plot was a failed assassination attempt against King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The conspirators' aim was to blow up the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, while the king and many other important members of the aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirator who became most closely associated with the plot in the popular imagination was Guy Fawkes, who had been assigned the task of lighting the fuse to the explosives.
Gunpowder Plot in popular culture | Introduction
Although the State Opening of Parliament was planned for February 1605, concern over the plague delayed it until 3 October. A contemporaneous government account has the plotters engaged in digging a tunnel beneath Parliament by December 1604, but no other evidence exists to prove this, and no trace of a tunnel has since been found. If the story is true, the plotters ceased their efforts when the tenancy to the undercroft beneath the House of Lords became available. Several months later, early in June 1605, Catesby met the principal Jesuit in England, Father Henry Garnet, on Thames Street in London.
Robert Catesby | Further recruitment
On the eve of the state opening of the next parliamentary session on 5 November 1605, a soldier called Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellars of the parliament buildings guarding a pile of slaves, not far from about twenty barrels of gunpowder with which he intended to blow up Parliament House the following day and cause the destruction, as James put it, "not only...of my person, nor of my wife and posterity also, but of the whole body of the State in general". A Catholic conspiracy led by a disaffected gentleman called Robert Catesby, the Gunpowder Plot, as it quickly became known, had in fact been discovered in advance of Fawkes's arrest and deliberately allowed to mature in order to catch the culprits red-handed and the plotters unawares.
James VI and I and the English Parliament | King and Parliament
Watched in secret by the king and his family, the surviving conspirators were arraigned in Westminster Hall on 27 January 1606. Some of the prisoners hung their heads "as if their hearts were full of doggedness", while others were nonchalant. All except Digby pleaded "Not Guilty". Defending himself, Rookwood claimed that he had been enlisted into the plot through his friendship with Catesby, "whom he loved above any worldly man". He admitted that he could not expect mercy, but asked for it anyway, so as not to leave a "blemish and blot unto all ages". His pleas were in vain.
Ambrose Rookwood | Trial and execution
On 15 January a proclamation named Father Garnet, Father Gerard, and Father Greenway (Tesimond) as wanted men. Tesimond and Gerard managed to escape the country and live out their days in freedom; Garnet was not so lucky. Several days earlier, on 9 January, Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton were captured. Their hiding place at Hagley, the home of Humphrey Littleton (brother of MP John Littleton, imprisoned for treason in 1601 for his part in the Essex revolt) was betrayed by a cook, who grew suspicious of the amount of food sent up for his master's consumption. Humphrey denied the presence of the two fugitives, but another servant led the authorities to their hiding place.
Gunpowder Plot | Jesuits
In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth. Fawkes was described by the Jesuit priest and former school friend Oswald Tesimond as "pleasant of approach and cheerful of manner, opposed to quarrels and strife ... loyal to his friends". Tesimond also claimed Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism that endeared him to his fellow conspirators. The author Antonia Fraser describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action ...
Guy Fawkes | Gunpowder Plot
His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies" (Catholic practices). Weakened by torture and aided by the hangman, Fawkes began to climb the ladder to the noose, but either through jumping to his death or climbing too high so the rope was incorrectly set, he managed to avoid the agony of the latter part of his execution by breaking his neck. His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered and, as was the custom, his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.
Guy Fawkes | Trial and execution
Another victim of the Popish Plot, Oliver Plunkett the Archbishop of Armagh, was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn in July 1681. His executioner was bribed so that Plunkett's body parts were saved from the fire; the head is now displayed at St Peter's Church in Drogheda. Francis Towneley and several other captured Jacobite officers involved in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 were executed, but by then the executioner possessed some discretion as to how much they should suffer and thus they were killed before their bodies were eviscerated. The French spy François Henri de la Motte was hanged in 1781 for almost an hour before his heart was cut out and burned, and the following year David Tyrie was hanged, decapitated, and then quartered at Portsmouth.
Hanged, drawn and quartered | Later history
At the end of 1087 Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy was told of a plot to place him on the throne of England in his brother William II's place, a plot that Duke Robert enthusiastically approved and supported. Robert de Bellême, his brother Hugh de Montgomery and a third brother, either Roger or Arnulf, participated in this rebellion. The main conspirators, however, were Odo of Bayeux, Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, Robert de Mowbray, Geoffrey de Montbray, Earl Roger de Montgomery and other disaffected Magnates. The next year in the Rebellion of 1088, beginning at Easter the rebels burned and wasted the king's properties and those of his followers.
Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury | Rebellion of 1088
His first words at the meeting were "Shall we always, gentlemen, talk and never do anything?" All five later swore an oath of secrecy on a prayer book, and then celebrated Mass in another room with Father Gerard, who was ignorant of their pact. While the plotters did not then have a detailed plan, Percy's appointment on 9 June as a Gentleman Pensioner gave him a reason to establish a London base. Through Northumberland's agents, Dudley Carleton and John Hippesley, he subleased a house in Westminster from Henry Ferrers, a tenant of John Whynniard, and installed Fawkes there as his servant, "John Johnson".
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Plot