William
Parker, the son of Edward Parker, 10th Baron Morley, was born in 1575.
His mother was the daughter and heiress of William Stanley, 3rd Lord
Monteagle.
In
1589 Parker married Elizabeth Tresham, the sister of Francis
Tresham.
The family owned several properties including Hornby Castle and houses
in London and Great Hallingbury, Essex.
He also inherited the title, Lord Monteagle from his father-in-law.
Monteagle,
a Roman
Catholic,
was involved with Robert Devereux, Earl
of Essex, in the failed attempt to remove Elizabeth
I from
power in 1601. Due to the minor role he played in the rebellion he
was not executed and instead was fined £8,000.
In
1605 Robert Catesby devised the Gunpowder
Plot,
a scheme to kill James
and
as many Members of Parliament as possible. Catesby planned to make
the king's young daughter, Elizabeth, queen. In time, Catesby hoped
to arrange Elizabeth's marriage to a Catholic nobleman. Over the next
few months Catesby recruited Guy
Fawkes,
Francis
Tresham,
Everard Digby, Thomas
Percy, Thomas Wintour, Robert
Wintour, Thomas Bates, Christopher
Wright,
and John
Wright to
join the conspiracy.
Catesby's
plan involved blowing up the Houses of Parliament on 5 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 a member of the group was able to hire a cellar under
the House of Lords. The plotters then filled
the cellar with barrels of gunpowder. Guy
Fawkes 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. On 26th October Tresham sent Lord Monteagle a letter
warning him not to attend Parliament on 5th 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.
James
I was very grateful to Lord Monteagle and gave him an annuity
of £500 for life, plus lands worth a further £200 per
year. Rumours soon began circulating that the conspiracy was really
devised by Monteagle and Robert Cecil.
It was claimed that Monteagle arranged for Francis
Tresham to be poisoned while being held captive
in the Tower of London.
Lord Monteagle used the
money to invest in the Virginia, East India and Northwest Passage
companies. Monteagle also served as a member of the board of Virginia
Company.
William Parker, 4th Lord
Monteagle, 11th Baron Morley, died at Great Hallingbury, Essex, on
1st July, 1622.
Crispen van de Passe, The
Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (c.1606)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
