Robert
Catesby, the son of Sir William Catesby, was born in Lapworth, Warwickshire,
in 1573. Catesby was educated at Oxford University
but as a Roman
Catholic left
before taking his degree in order to avoid taking the Oath of Supremacy.
In
1596 Elizabeth
I became ill. As a precautionary measure, a
group of leading Roman
Catholics, including Catesby,
John Wright, Christopher
Wright and Francis Tresham, was
arrested and sent
to the Tower of London.
In
1601
Catesby was involved with Robert Devereux,
Earl of Essex, in the failed attempt to remove Elizabeth
I
from
power. Due to the minor role he played in the rebellion he was not
executed and instead was heavily fined. In order to pay the fine Catesby
had to sell his manor house at Chastleton.
When
Elizabeth
I died
in 1603 without children, Mary's son, was next in line to the throne.
As James
was
a Protestant, Parliament was also in favour of him becoming king.
The Roman
Catholics in
England were upset that there was going to be another Protestant monarch.
They also became very angry when James passed a law that imposed heavy
fines on people who did not attend Protestant church services.
In
May 1604, Catesby devised the Gunpowder
Plot,
a scheme to kill James
and
as many Members of Parliament as possible. At a meeting at the Duck
and Drake Inn Catesby explained his plan to Guy
Fawkes,
Thomas Percy, John
Wright
and Thomas Wintour. All the men agreed
under oath to join the conspiracy. Over the next few months Francis
Tresham,
Everard Digby, Robert
Wintour, Thomas Bates and Christopher
Wright also agreed to take part in the overthrow of the king.
After
the death of James
in
the explosion, Catesby planned to make the king's young daughter,
Elizabeth, queen. In time, Catesby hoped to arrange Elizabeth's marriage
to a Catholic nobleman. It was Everard Digby's task to kidnap Princess
Elizabeth from Coombe Abbey.
Catesby's
plan involved blowing up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November.
This date was chosen because the king was due to open Parliament on
that day. At first the group tried to tunnel under Parliament. This
plan changed when Thomas Percy was able
to hire a cellar under the House of Lords.
The plotters then filled the cellar with barrels of gunpowder. Guy
Fawkes,
because of his munitions experience in the Netherlands, was given
the task of creating the explosion.
One of the people involved
in the plot was Francis
Tresham. He
was worried that the explosion would kill his friend and brother-in-law,
Lord Monteagle. Tresham therefore sent
Lord Monteagle a letter warning him not to attend Parliament on 5
November.
Lord Monteagle became
suspicious and passed the letter to Robert
Cecil, the king's chief minister. Cecil quickly organised a thorough
search of the Houses of Parliament. While searching
the cellars below the House of Lords they found the gunpowder and
Guy Fawkes. He was tortured and he eventually
gave the names of his fellow conspirators.
The conspirators left London
and agreed to meet at Holbeche House in Staffordshire. News of their
hiding place reached the Sheriff of Worcester and on 8th November
the house was surrounded by troops. Catesby
and his men refused
to surrender and gunfire broke out. Over the next few minutes Catesby,
Thomas
Percy, Christopher
Wright
and John
Wright were killed.
Crispen van de Passe, The
Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (c.1606)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
