The Plotters
Robert Catesby
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Detail from The Conspirators, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder,
National Portrait Gallery, London.Robert Catesby was
born around 1572 in Warwickshire to Roman Catholic parents
with close links to many other Midlands Catholic families.
His mother was a member of the Throckmorton family, who lived
at Coughton Court.
Catesby was charismatic and made friends easily - many of
whom remained loyal and devoted to him. He was said to be
a wild character in his youth, before he became much more
strongly religious.
In 1601, with the Wright brothers, Catesby was mixed up in
the ill-fated rebellion of the Earl of Essex against the dominance
of Robert Cecil. It saw him wounded, imprisoned and fined.
From then on he was seen as a dangerous character by the government.
He had, apparently, been involved in discussions with the
Spanish government in 1602 about arranging a rebellion in
England. He was one of those who were arrested as a precaution
by the English government in 1603 after the death of Queen
Elizabeth.
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© Trustees of the British MuseumCatesby originated
the Gunpowder Plot, having decided that the Spanish would
not help the English Catholics. He disclosed it initially
to Christopher and John Wright and Thomas Winter, and later
to Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy, in May 1604, at Catesby's
lodgings in the Strand in London. Catesby, the 'moving spirit'
behind the Plot, recruited others in 1604 and 1605.
On news of the discovery of the Plot, Catesby fled London
with several of his companions. After failing to rally the
Catholic gentry of the Midlands to join him in a rebellion
he reached Holbeach House in Staffordshire. Several of the
conspirators, including Catesby, were injured in a gunpowder
accident.
When the authorities found the conspirators and encircled
the house, the gang decided to die fighting. The same musket
ball hit Catesby and Thomas Percy and both died soon after,
despite efforts to save their lives so they could be brought
to London for interrogation and trial. Catesby's head was
later cut off and taken to London, to be stuck on the roof
of the House of Commons.
Thomas Percy
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Thomas Percy by Crispijn van de Passe the Elder. National
Portrait Gallery, LondonThomas Percy was born in 1560.
He was a wild and belligerent character, who was briefly jailed
for killing a Scotsman in a brawl in 1596. A Catholic convert,
his marriage to Martha Wright, the sister of subsequent fellow
conspirators Christopher and John Wright, had something to
do with his conversion.
Percy came from a great aristocratic family; his great-grandfather
had been the fourth Earl of Northumberland and he was trusted
and employed by his cousin, the ninth Earl, who made him constable
of his castle at Alnwick, Northumberland.
Northumberland even used him in political missions, such
as discussing on his behalf with King James the future position
of Catholics in England. The Earl was appointed captain of
the King's bodyguard early in the new reign. He made Percy
one of the bodyguards, but did not make Percy take the oath
required which Percy, as a Catholic, would not have been able
to take.
As well as being related to the Wright brothers, Percy was
a friend of Catesby. He was said to have been frustrated by
the King's failure to carry out a promise of leniency towards
Catholics and was initiated into Catesby's plot in May 1604.
Percy rented the house next to the House of Lords from Henry
Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton House and later on in 1605 rented
the basement under the House of Lords.
Percy dined with Northumberland on the evening before 5 November,
to try to find out whether the Plot had been discovered. Because
Percy had rented the property in which Guy Fawkes was found,
he was easily identified as one of the conspirators. He was
found at Holbeach House with the others, and killed in the
shoot-out on 8 November. His head was cut off and, like Catesby's,
was stuck on the roof of the House of Commons.
Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham was born around 1567. He was the eldest son
of the eccentric and formidable Sir Thomas Tresham, a Catholic,
who lived at Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire and designed
a pair of extraordinary buildings - which still exist - exploring
Catholic symbolism.
Tresham was a cousin of Robert Catesby, and friendly with
the Wright brothers. Like them, he was involved in the Essex
plot of 1601 for which he was imprisoned and fined, and in
further secret discussions with the Spanish court in 1602
and 1603.
Catesby and the other plotters didn't let Tresham into the
secret of the Plot until very late - in October 1604 - worried
he wasn't completely trustworthy. They told him about the
Plot then because his father had recently died, and they believed
that he now had access to a lot of money. But Tresham seems
to have been appalled by the Plot, and certainly claimed later
that he tried to stop it and was planning to leave the country.
Tresham was probably the writer of the 'Monteagle letter'
warning his brother-in-law not to attend Parliament on the
5th November, though he denied it when challenged by the co-conspirators
on 1 November. After the Plot's discovery, he feigned complete
innocence, but was named by Guy Fawkes and arrested on 12
November. He died in the Tower on 23 December 1605 of a natural
illness.
John and Christopher Wright
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Detail from The Conspirators, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder,
National Portrait Gallery, London.John Wright was born
in 1568; his brother Christopher Wright was probably born
in 1570. Both of them went to St Peter's School in York, which
Guy Fawkes also attended. The two brothers' sister, Martha,
was married to Thomas Percy; the brothers also knew Robert
Catesby well - John, especially, was close to him.
The authorities saw the Wright brothers as dangerous Catholics,
although it is possible that John was not converted until
1601. Both of them were arrested under suspicion of conspiracy
against the Queen in 1596 and like Catesby and Tresham, they
were involved in the Essex rebellion in 1601, and imprisoned.
They were imprisoned again as a preventive measure while Elizabeth
was dying in early 1603.
John was the first to be initiated into his plans by Robert
Catesby; Christopher was drawn into the Plot later. After
the discovery of the Plot, both fled London with Catesby and
both were killed with him at Holbeach.
Guy Fawkes
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Discovery Of The Gunpowder Plot And Taking Of Guy Fawkes.
Laing Gallery, Newcastle. Henry Perronet Briggs (1792-1844).
Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 and though his father was
a staunch Protestant, his mother married a second time into
a strongly Catholic family. He went to St Peter's School at
York (like the Wright brothers) and later became a soldier,
fighting for the Spanish against the Dutch. Although not a
senior officer, he gained a reputation for his technical expertise
and on behalf of some of the English Catholics he discussed
with the Spanish an invasion of England.
In 1604 he was recruited by Thomas Winter to join in the
Gunpowder conspiracy and came to London. Catesby initiated
him and Thomas Percy into his plans in May.
Once Percy had rented the house next to the House of Lords
later that month, it was decided that Fawkes would pretend
to be Percy's servant, and stay in the house. He adopted the
false identity of John Johnson, and was closely involved in
the business of digging a tunnel under the House of Lords
and procuring gunpowder.
Once the cellar was rented, in the House of Lords basement,
the tunnel was abandoned. Fawkes went abroad during the middle
of 1605, but was back in London in late October to finalise
the plan, and was ready on 4 November to carry it out. When
the basement was searched on that day Fawkes was found looking
after a large pile of firewood. His explanations were initially
accepted. But suspicions were subsequently aroused and in
a second search, later that evening, the gunpowder was found
under the wood and Fawkes was arrested.
Guy Fawkes was interrogated several times, but - to the admiration
of government members, including the King - admitted almost
nothing. The King authorised the use of torture on 6 November
and his testimonies of 7, 8 and 9 November revealed much more
information which the authorities used to begin to pick up
some of the other conspirators. Fawkes was tried with the
other surviving conspirators on 27 January 1606 and executed
in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, on 31 January.
Thomas Winter
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Detail from The Conspirators, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder,
National Portrait Gallery, London.Winter was born around
1571 into a Worcestershire Catholic family. An uncle of his
was executed as a Catholic priest in 1586. He fought as a
soldier in Flanders and France during the 1590s, and visited
Rome in 1600. By 1602 he was involved with his cousins Robert
Catesby and Francis Tresham, and with Lord Monteagle in discussions
with the Spanish government about providing military help
for the English Catholics.
In early 1604 Winter was among the first to be drawn into
the Gunpowder Plot by Robert Catesby. He was however doubtful
about its chances of success, but went to Flanders to find
out if the Spanish would help with it. Whilst in Flanders
he recruited Fawkes. Winter was closely involved in all the
preparations, including helping to dig the (later abandoned)
tunnel under the House of Lords.
When Parliament was prorogued on 3 October, as a friend of
Lord Monteagle he attended the ceremony, which took place
in the House of Lords, directly over the already concealed
gunpowder. Winter found out about the betrayal of the Plot,
from one of Monteagle's servants, and tried to persuade the
other conspirators to abandon it. After Fawkes' arrest, he
fled London, and met up with the others at the Winter family
house at Huddington.
After a vain attempt to drum up support from local Catholics,
Winter joined the other conspirators at Holbeach. In the brief
fight with the authorities on 8 November, he was wounded several
times, but captured. Taken to London, he eventually provided
the fullest account of the Plot, which was published in the
'King's Book' at the end of November. He was tried on 27 January
1606, and executed in Old Palace Yard on the 31st.
Robert Winter
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Detail from The Conspirators, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder,
National Portrait Gallery, London.Robert Winter was
born around 1566, the elder brother of Thomas Winter. A devout
Catholic with close connections to many other Catholic families,
he inherited the family home of Huddington Court, which was
used to shelter a number of Catholic priests. Sometime around
January 1605 Robert was drawn into the Plot, possibly because
the conspirators needed more men to dig the tunnel under the
Lords.
After the discovery of the Plot, Thomas Winter fled to his
brother's house at Huddington. Robert did not remain with
the other plotters at Holbeach for their final stand and was
only captured in January 1606 at Hagley, Worcestershire. He
was tried on 27 January, and executed in St Paul's Churchyard
on the 30th.
Thomas Bates
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Detail from The Conspirators, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder,
National Portrait Gallery, London.Thomas Bates, Robert
Catesby's devoted servant seems to have been told about the
plot in December 1604. He claimed to have revealed the details
to a Jesuit priest, Oswald Tesimond, when making his confession
shortly afterwards.
On the Plot's discovery he rushed with Catesby to the Midlands
but was not with the others for the shoot out at Holbeach.
He was captured soon afterwards in Staffordshire. He was tried
on 27 January, and executed on the 30th in St Paul's Churchyard.
Ambrose Rookwood
Ambrose Rookwood was born around 1578 into a Suffolk Catholic
family. His elder brother became a Franciscan friar and lived
on the continent. Rookwood himself was educated among Catholics,
in Flanders, and married into another Catholic family, the
Tyrwhitts of Lincolnshire. After inheriting his father's estates
in 1600 he spent some of 1605 living among Catholic families
in the Midlands. He was recruited by Catesby in September
1605.
Rookwood was useful to the conspirators because he was wealthy
and known to possess many good horses. After the discovery
of the plot, he fled with the others to the Midlands, and
was injured in the gunpowder accident at Holbeach on 7 November.
In the fight on the 8th he was wounded, but captured and brought
to London. He was tried on 27 January, and executed in Old
Palace Yard on the 31st.
Sir Everard Digby
Sir Everard Digby was born in about 1578, into a Roman Catholic
family, although he only seems to have adopted the Catholic
faith later in his life. He gained an estate at Gayhurst,
Buckinghamshire, through marriage.
Like Rookwood and Tresham, he seems to have been recruited
into the Plot by Catesby because he had money. He was told
about it in October 1605 and although he had doubts, he entered
fully into the conspiracy - turning up on 5 November at the
previously arranged rendezvous in Northamptonshire. He remained
with Catesby and the others for a time, but left them before
the final stand at Holbeach. He was captured a little way
away. While in prison he wrote a series of letters to his
wife and family, which were published in 1675.
Digby was tried on 27 January, though separately from the
others, for technical reasons. Because he pleaded guilty,
he was allowed to make a speech, in which he referred to what
the Catholics had thought were promises from the King at the
beginning of the reign - a claim which the government were
at pains to deny. He was executed on the 30th in St Paul's
Churchyard.
Robert Keyes
Robert Keyes was the son of a Protestant clergyman though
his mother came from a Catholic family, the Tyrwhitts, from
Lincolnshire. Through his wife he was connected to Ambrose
Rookwood and was a close dependent of the Catholic peer Lord
Mordaunt.
He seems to have been drawn into the plot late in October
1604 and his role was to look after the gunpowder and other
equipment stored for a time in Thomas Percy's house in Lambeth.
He left London on the morning of 5 November but was not at
Holbeach House on 8 November. Captured soon afterwards and
tried on 27 January 1606 he was executed in Old Palace Yard
on the 31st. He was said, from the scaffold, to have defiantly
insisted that the Plot had been justified.
John Grant
John Grant came from Warwickshire, where he owned Norbrook,
a house not far from Stratford-on-Avon, which was regarded
by the conspirators as a valuable and strategically placed
stronghold. He was married to the sister of the Winter brothers
and like Catesby, Tresham and the Wright brothers, had been
involved in the Essex rebellion of 1601.
Brought into the Plot in March 1605, at around the same time
as Christopher Wright and Robert Winter, he seems to have
purchased a number of weapons over the course of 1605. On
4 November he joined others, including Everard Digby, at the
pre-arranged rendezvous in Northamptonshire.
Grant was with the other conspirators at Holbeach House,
where their gunpowder accident blinded him. He was captured
and brought to London, tried on 27 January and executed in
St Paul's Churchyard on the 30th.
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