Robert Catesby

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The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (second from right: Robert Catesby). Graphic by Crispin de Passe the Elder (ca.1606)

Robert Catesby (* 1573 in Lapworth , Warwickshire ; † November 8, 1605 Holbeach House, Staffordshire ) was the leader of a group of oppositional Catholic country nobles and planned the failed Gunpowder Plot in 1605 .

biography

origin

He was the only surviving son of Sir William Catesby (1547–1598) from Lapworth and Anne Throckmorton from Coughton, both villages in the central English county of Warwickshire. The family had an ancient and illustrious family tree. This included u. a. in direct line the ancestor of the same name William Catesby (1450–1485), an influential privy councilor of Richard III. , to whom William Shakespeare set a somber memorial in his famous royal drama .

Robert Catesby's father was a staunch supporter of Catholicism , a staunch supporter of Jesuit mission, and a political spokesman for the Catholic cause. An attitude for which he suffered many times in Protestant England in the late sixteenth century. In 1581, eight-year-old Robert saw his father arrested for the first time and, together with his two relatives William, Lord Vaux (1535–1595), and Sir Francis Tresham (* approx. 1567–1605), sentenced by the Star Chamber for lodging the Jesuit Edmund Campion has been. He spent a larger part of his further life in prison because he was charged with various offenses in connection with his "refusal to attend Anglican worship" (the English offense was "recusancy" ). At one point, his fine was one-fifth of his substantial property. Sir William Catesby was later entrusted with a Catholic colonization project in America, which at first even found the approval of Elizabeth I , but was abandoned in the course of the growing hostility in Spain.

Through his mother, Robert Catesby was related to the main Catholic opposition families: Throckmorton, Tresham, Vaux, Monteagle and Habington. He was raised in an atmosphere of secrecy and devotion that surrounded this close-knit, staunch Catholic community.

education

Robert came in 1586 in the College Gloucester Hall of the University of Oxford one (since 1714 Worcester College ), there but left before graduation, not the supremacy to have to make. Presumably he then attended the University of Reims . In the Flemish city of Douai , which at that time belonged to the Habsburg Empire, a university was founded by Philip II in 1562 to fight the Reformation . The later Cardinal William Allen (1532–1594) had opened the Collège des Anglais there in 1568 for English students who had emigrated. In 1578 Allen's successful seminary was expelled from the city and he had to move it to Reims by 1593. The college, which was originally devoted only to training the English clergy for mission in their home country, later expanded its area of ​​responsibility to include the education of lay people . The rigor and renunciation-based curriculum included scholasticism , moral theology , the classical languages, and English church history. At the time, the college used a textbook by the Spanish Jesuit Martin de Azpilcueta (1493–1586), which dealt with casuistry , the application of moral theology in certain cases and the circumstances that can justify a normally prohibited action. This may later have resulted in Catesby's theological justification of the Gunpowder plot .

Private life

1593 married Robert Catesby Catherine Leigh († approx. 1598), the daughter of the Protestant Sir Thomas Leigh from the hamlet of Stoneleigh in the county of Warwickshire . She brought the sizeable dowry of £ 2,000 annually into the marriage, as well as the connection to the aspiring Spencer family. The following year he inherited the large estate of Chastleton House in Oxfordshire from his grandmother . With Catherine he had two sons: William, who died in early childhood, and Robert. He had both baptized in the Anglican Church of Chastleton. Catesby seems to have led a kind of “ double life ”. On the one hand, he adapted to the political and religious balance of power and, on the other hand, he repeatedly accommodated prominent English Jesuits or their family members in his house Morecrofts in Uxbridge (in today's London Borough of Hillingdon ): 1594 Henry Garnet , 1597 John Gerard (1564-1637) after whose escape from the Tower of London and in 1598 the mother of Robert Parsons .

Despite his religious inclinations, Robert Catesby was a nobleman who was widely valued - also by Protestants - and belonged to the inner circle of the royal court. The Jesuit Oswald Tesimond (1563–1636) wrote about him:

Physically, Catesby was more than ordinarily well-proportioned, some six feet tall, of good carriage and handsome countenance. He was grave in manner, but attractively so. He was considered one of the most dashing and courageous horsemen in the country. Generous and affable, he was for that reason much loved by everyone. Catesby was much devoted to his religion, as one would expect of a man who made his communion every Sunday. Indeed his zeal was so great that in his own opinion he was wasting his time when he was not doing something to bring about the conversion of the country. In this way, partly by example and partly by persuasion, he had won over to the Catholic faith quite a number of gentlemen, and those among the most important, who moved in London and court circles.
Translator: Physically, Catesby was shaped above average, about six feet tall, of good stature and a handsome face. His demeanor was dignified but engaging. He was considered one of the most dashing and daring horsemen in the country. Generous and affable, which is why everyone loved him. Catesby was very devoted to his religion, as would be expected of a man who receives sacrament every Sunday. Indeed, so great was his zeal that in his own opinion he was wasting time if he did not do something to promote the conversion of the country. In this way, partly by example and partly by conviction, he had won back numerous men of honor for the Catholic faith, who were among the most important in London and court circles.

The Essex Affair

The fact that he was a wealthy, influential and popular member of the gentry protected him for a long time from the harshness of anti-Catholic legislation. But in 1596 he was arrested as a "precautionary measure" by the government while Elizabeth I was ill. Together with the brothers John (1568-1605) and Christopher Wright (1570-1605) and Francis Tresham he was held in the Tower. Only he was released immediately after the monarch's recovery.

Because of his popularity among the elegant gentlemen of his time, and because he enjoyed the reputation of an excellent fencer , Robert Catesby came under the influence of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , in whose household his nephew Francis Tresham had entered some years earlier, and with whom his friend William Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle (1575-1622), had served in Ireland.

Essex, who lost favor with the queen when he without permission from a military deployment in Ireland returned, made the whisperings of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612), responsible for his downfall. In order to counteract the influence of his rival, he tied both Catholic and Puritan friends to himself, to whom he promised religious tolerance if he regained the monarch's goodwill. It is unknown to what extent Catesby was privy to the plans for the coup d'état of February 8, 1601, when Essex and numerous supporters went on an armed march through the City of London . In any case, Catesby was among his followers and stood out for his furious art of fencing, which could not be restrained even by an injury. The rebellious lords, who found no support in loyal London, soon had to retreat to Essex House. After a short siege, the rebels gave up and surrendered to the authorities. Catesby, who played only a minor role in the attempted coup, escaped conviction for treason, which would have meant the death penalty. Instead, he was fined £ 4,000. In order to be able to pay this enormous amount for the time, he had to sell his estate in Chastleton to the wealthy wool merchant and MP Walter Jones (1550–1632). Even so, he continued to have a substantial income from his remaining properties.

Robert Catesby stayed at his homes in Morecrofts and Lambeth and with his mother in Ashby St. Ledgers after the failed Essex affair.

The history of the attack

Since this step towards the re-Catholicization of England had failed, Catesby soon turned to other options. He was involved in the later so-called "Spanish Conspiracy" around William Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle (1575–1622), Francis Tresham and Henry Garnet (* approx. 1553–1606). Thomas Wintour (1571-1606) and Christopher Wright (1570-1605), two Catholic country gentlemen from Worcestershire and Yorkshire , traveled to Spain in 1603 with the secret mission, Philip III. persuade them to intervene in the military and support a Catholic uprising in England. Despite some expressions of sympathy, the Spanish ruler showed himself little inclined to repeat his father's most painful mistake 15 years after the shameful fall of the Spanish Armada .

Like many Catholics, after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, Robert Catesby initially placed hopes in her successor to the throne, Jacob I. His wife Anna of Denmark had converted to Catholicism around 1600. Maybe for this reason he had made promises of religious tolerance to Thomas Percy (* approx. 1560–1605), a relative of the 9th Earl of Northumberland , and had temporarily attracted attention because of displays of favor for Count Essex and his followers. But Jakob, who, unlike his Catholic mother Maria Stuart, was a staunch Protestant, soon destroyed all expectations. He even intensified the persecution of Catholics. On February 22 In 1604 he issued a "proclamation that the expulsion of all Jesuits, seminarians and other priests from the empire" ruled until March 19 of this year ( Engl. "Proclamation commanding all Jesuits, seminaries, and other priests to depart the realm ”) after declaring his“ utter disgust for papism ” ( English “ utter detestation of popery ”). The old “recusancy” penalty of £ 20 per month, which had been somewhat forgotten in the meantime, was reintroduced and even levied retrospectively. What weighed heaviest, however, was that he submitted a bill to the House of Commons in April 1604 to reinstate all Elizabethan decrees against "papists".

Failure and end

Guy Fawkes , who emigrated to Flanders as a mercenary in 1593, met his old school friend Christopher Wright and Thomas Wintour on their continental secret voyage in 1603 and returned to England with Wintour at the end of April 1604 at the invitation of Catesby. On May 20, 1604, five men gathered in a pub called Duck and Drake in London's elegant Strand neighborhood : Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, Christopher's brother John Wright (1568-1605), Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes were discussing secretly an explosives attack on the House of Lords . Catesby, who had designed the daring plan, wanted to eliminate the king at the same time.

The assassination, of which Catesby was the strategic head while Fawkes assumed military leadership, had to be postponed twice. Parliament split in July 1604 with the intention of not meeting again until February 7, 1605. But in 1605 there was fear of a plague epidemic in London and therefore the opening of Parliament was set for October 3rd. In March, the conspirators, whose number had grown to 13, rented one of the "cellars" on the ground floor of the Parliament building and began to fill it with black powder barrels. Since the plague had not yet completely subsided, the ceremonial opening of the House of Lords was postponed again: this time to November 5, 1605.

The violent coup was exposed prematurely, however, because the insurgents had clumsily tried beforehand to warn Catholic MP Lord Monteagle - a brother-in-law of Francis Tresham - with an anonymous letter. Monteagle, however, hastened to inform the dreaded secretary of the king, Robert Cecil, immediately ( see Gunpowder plot ). The betrayed traitors fled to Holbeche House (formerly Holbeach or Holbeache House ) near the village of Kingswinford in Staffordshire . The property belonged to Stephen Littleton (* approx. 1575-1606), a Catholic country nobleman from the Midlands . Close on their heels was Sir Richard Walsh, High Sheriff of Worcestershire , with his men to punish a raid on the stables at Warwick Castle . He only found out about the London attack when government troops appeared in front of Holbeach. In the desperate firefight that followed on the late morning of November 8, 1605, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright and his brother Christopher Wright died in the completely surrounded building. The other conspirators were captured and executed in late January 1606 .

literature

  • Boyle, Conall: In the Footsteps of the Gunpowder Plotters: A Journey Through History in Middle England . VIII, 88 S. Warley: Meridian Books, 1994. ISBN 1-869922-23-9
  • Fraser, Antonia : Faith and treason: the story of Gunpowder Plot . XXXV, 347 pp. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996. ISBN 0-297-81348-X
  • Jones, Mary Whitmore: The Gunpowder Plot and Life of Robert Catesby, also an account of Chastleton House. VII, 120 S. Thomas Burleigh: London, 1909
  • Travers, James: Gunpowder: The Players Behind the Plot . 192 S. Kew, Richmond, Surrey: National Archives , 2005. ISBN 1-903365-86-4

Web links

Commons : Robert Catesby  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oswald Tesimond: The gunpowder plot. The narrative of Oswald Tesimond alias Greenway. Translated from the Italian of the Stonyhurst manuscript, edited and annotated by Francis Edwards. Folio Society, London 1973, ISBN 0-85067-068-3 . quoted from : Jennifer O'Brien: Robert Catesby. ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Britannia.com , October 29, 1998 (English). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.itannia.com
  2. ↑ Calendar of State Papers Domestic: James I, 1603-1610, James I: Volume 6, January-March, 1604
  3. ^ Thomas D'Arcy McGee : A Popular History of Ireland. From the earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics. Book 9, Chapter I , digitized .
personal data
SURNAME Catesby, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic assassin
DATE OF BIRTH 1573
PLACE OF BIRTH Lapworth , Warwickshire
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 1605
Place of death Holbeach House , Staffordshire