Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby was the only surviving son of Sir William Catesby of Lapworth and Anne Throckmorton of Coughton. He had an ancient and illustrious lineage including being sixth in descent from William "The Cat" Catesby, the influential councillor of Richard III, immortalized not only by Shakespeare, but the famous satirical rhyme of Collingbourne — "The Cat, the Rat and Lovel our dog, Rule all England under a Hog."
Robert's father, Sir William Catesby, was a conscientious adherent to the Catholic faith, a prime supporter of the Jesuit mission and one of the leaders of the catholic cause, for which he suffered greatly. In 1581, when Robert was only eight years old, he saw his father arrested for the first time, and tried in Star Chamber for the harboring of Father Edmund Campion, along with Lord Vaux and his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Tresham, and spent most of the rest of his life in and out of prison for various offenses connected with his recusancy. At one time, his recusancy fines amounted to one fifth of his considerable estate. The effect on young Robert can only be imagined.
Robert entered Gloucester Hall, Oxford, in 1856 but left before taking his degree in order to avoid taking the Oath of Supremacy. He probably went on to attend the seminary college of Douai, then located at Rheims. In 1593 Robert married Catherine Leigh, daughter of the protestant Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. By Catherine he had two sons, William, who died in infancy, and Robert.
As early as 1594, the year after his marriage, he was sheltering Father Henry Garnet and other priests at his house at considerable risk. It was to here that Father John Gerard fled for sanctuary after his dramatic escape from the Tower of London in 1597, and where Father Parson's mother was living in 1598, which indicates that Catesby was at all times a highly trusted member of the Catholic community.
The fact that he was a rich, influential and popular member of the gentry went a long way in protecting him from the rigors of recusancy, but not completely. In 1596 he was arrested because of his known catholic sympathies as a precautionary measure by the government during an illness of Queen Elizabeth, and held in the Tower along with the Wright brothers John and Christopher and Francis Tresham, and only released on her recovery.
When Essex, returning from a commission in Ireland without permission, fell from royal favor he blamed the influence of Cecil. Although Essex himself was a protestant, perhaps even puritan, he bore no malice towards the catholics, and many of his closest friends were of the catholic persuasion. To counteract the support of Cecil, he actively drew catholics and puritans alike to his cause with the promise of religious toleration if he was returned to favor and Cecil removed from the council. The details and intentions of the Essex Rebellion, and how much Robert Catesby knew of any plans to take over the council are open to debate. However, Sunday, 8 February 1601, found Catesby, along with several of the later conspirators and many influential peers involved in the disorganized march in the city, which turned to violence when their way was blocked attempting to return to Essex house, having found no support. Catesby escaped a treason conviction and possible execution for the rebellion, but was fined the large sum of 4000 marks.
When King James I arrived from Scotland and it became apparent that he would do nothing to reverse the religious "status quo" or permit greater toleration, Catesby quickly turned to other options. He became involved in what was later known as the Spanish Treason in which he and several other conspirators send Thomas Wintour and Christopher Wright into Spain to see what assistance could be obtained for their cause either militarily or financially. Their attempts here met with many promises, but no action.
King James I claimed utter detestation of papists, that "the bishops must see to the severe and exact punishment of every catholic," made a new proclamation on 22 February 1604, ordering all priests out of the realm, and then reversed his repeal of recusancy fines payable immediately with arrears. But the final straw seems to have been the introduction of a bill on James' request into the House of Commons on 24 April to Classify all catholics as excommunicates, an idea which had been presented to and rejected by Elizabeth I as too severe. The effect of this bill is described by Tesimond: "In consequence, they were no longer able to make their wills or dispose of their goods. The effect of this law was to make them outlaws and exiles; and like such they were treated. There was no longer any obligation to pay them their debts or rents for land held from them. They could not now go to law or have the law's protection. They could seek no remedy for ills and injuries received. In a word, they were considered and treated as professed enemies of the state."
Almost immediately after this event, Catesby sent for his cousin Thomas Wintour and revealed the Gunpowder Plot to him at a meeting with Jack Wright at his house in Lambeth. Catesby felt that "the nature of the disease required so sharp a remedy," and that the Plot was a morally justifiable act of self-defense against the oppressive rule of a tyrant. Catesby's exact role and actions in the proceedings of the Gunpowder Plot, and the theories and arguments surrounding him are too voluminous to go into here, and the story is well known. Sir Everard Digby had been assigned to seize James' daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and to proclaim her queen. Robert Catesby died at the raid on Holbeache House on 8 November 1605; he and Thomas Percy both being shot apparently with a single bullet. Lucky was his death here which spared him the horrible death that the others suffered.
The trial of the conspirators remaining alive took place in Westminster Hall 27 January 1606. All but one pleaded not guilty, but the verdict was a foregone conclusion, and all were convicted and sentenced to death. The executions were attended with all the bloody barbarity (including castration, disembowelling alive, etc.) and the medieval punishment for treason, hanging, drawing, and quartering demanded. The heads and other portions of bodies were set up at various points in Westminster and London.