Thomas Winter: 34 years old. A young man of considerable ability and great courage- A Catholic and cousin of Catesby he goes to visit Constable of Castile to ask that James I be pressured to end persecution. Thomas Winter took part in Essex's rising and was closely tied to Mounteagle having served as his secretary. He locates Guy Fawkes and returns with him to England. 

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Robert Wintour

Robert Winter was born in 1565 or 1657 and died on January 30, 1606. Robert was the oldest son of George Wintour whose house was Huddington Cour. His mother was Jane Ingleby. Robert had interited most of his fathers estate. The estate was supported by salt evaporating and hops farming. Through his first wife Gertrude Talbot Robert built ties to a very strong catholic family. Robert used his house as a refuge for priests. Robert was described by Gerard as one of the smartest and strongest and wealthiest men in Worcestershire.  The warrant for his arrest described him as meane stature, rather low, square made somewhat stooping forty years old with brown beard and hair. Robert came into the plot because of his money and influence. He gave money to the plotters and helped to gather weapons and horses for the planned uprising. Robert was reluctant to join the plot but joined with John Grant when they met at the Catherine Wheel inn, Oxford in February of 1605.  He remained a less than enthusiastic member. He wanted to turn back during the march from Dunchurch to Holbeach House. He refused to ask John Talbot of Grafton to help with the plot.  Robert escaped Holbeach House with Stephen Littleton on November 7 and managed to escape arrest for two months. They were betrayed and captured at Hagley Park, home of Humphrey Littleton on the 9th of January. .  Robert along with Stephen Littleton were stent to the Tower. While at the tower Robert admitted that the fleeing conspirators had made confessions to Father Hammond a.k.a. Father Hart who was a the Jesuit Chaplain of Huddington Court. He was executed January 30, 1606, St. Paul's Churchyard. He did not say much on the scaffold but prayed to himself.

 

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John (Jack) Wright: 37 years old. The Wrights were the Wrights of Plowland Hall in Holderness,Yorkshire (son of Robert Wright and Ursula Rudston). The Wrights were staunch Catholics who suffered the full force of the law for their illegal activities. John took part in the Essex rebellion of 1601 along with his friend Robert Catesby. John spent time in solitary confinement for this offense. After the plot and prison John moved the family to northern Lincolnshire (Twigmore Hall) an area which was known as a haven for priests. Camden described the Wrights as hunger-starved for innovation. Fr. John Gerard described John as being a "strong stout man...of very good wit...slow of speech". John Wright was an excellent swordsman, a taciturn man loyal to his close friends. His conversion to Catholicism was said to have calmed his quarreling nature. As yet another Catholic and a distant cousin of Catesby, he went to school with Guy Fawkes in York. His mother died in prison for religious belief. John and his wife Dorothy suffered greatly for their illegal acts related to their Catholic religious practices. John was the third to enter the plot around May 1604. Along with Thomas Wintour he introduced Guy Fawkes to the plot. John Wright left London on November 4 to join Everard Digby and the hunting party at Dunchurch, Warwickshire. He reached Holbeche House on the evening of Nov. 7. John was mortally wounded during the Holbeche shoot out. His head was taken for display to Westminster as was the custom for criminals. 

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Christopher (Kit) Wright: He was the brother of 
John ( Jack) Wright.(his wife was Margaret Ward a relative of Thomas Ward who conveyed news of the discovery of the letter to the plotters) A reluctant conformist and Catholic, he went into the plot to help his brothers some time after Christmas 1605 and before March 25,(recruited to help with the tunnel) and was a schoolmate of Fawkes, Tesimond,Oldcorne and Robert Middleton at St. Peter's school in York. Christopher Wright took part in the failed Essex rebellion in 1601 and was not punished severely for this action. He was a convert to Catholicism and a zealot. This quality possible brought him to the attention of father Garnet who assisted him in meeting with Phillip III in order to arrange for a full blown military action in support of the English Counter reformation against the English State-he was fortunately unsuccessful. His main ability was that of maintaining secrecy. Christopher Wright has been suggested as a possible source for the famous letter. He was killed in the shoot out at Holbeche where he had fled with Thomas Percy. 

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Thomas Bates:(A.K.A. Thomas Bate) As Robert Catesby's servant, he was ranked as a yeoman. His evidence was used to falsely implicate the Jesuits.  Part of this evidence came after the death of Father Garnet and the rest is confused. It is said that Bates implicated Father Garnet,Father Tesimond and Father Gerard as knowing of the plot as early as mid-November when they learned of it at a meeting at Harrowden. This evidence is denied by Gerard. Bate's main role in the plot was as a runner and messenger who due to his low rank would go unnoticed-due to his lower rank. It was Bates who took the letter from Digby and Catesby to Garnet which after the failure of the plot broke the seal of the confessional. Bates abandoned the plot following the explosion of gunpowder at Holbeache House. He was Captured on Nov. 12 in Staffordshire. At his execution Bates claimed that it was his loyalty to his master which kept him from obeying God, his Country and the King. Bates was survived by his wife Martha who managed to meet up with him as he was being dragged off to his execution on Jan. 30, 1606. 

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Robert Keyes: 40 years old (est.in 1604). He joins plot Oct.9 1604. He was the son of a protestant rector, Edward Keyes, of Stavely in North Derbyshire. His wife, Christiana was of a well known recusant family the Tyrwhitts of Kettleby, Linconshire. Robert's mother however was of a strongly catholic family (Babthorpes of Osgodby). Keyes is described as being tall with a red beard. Poor and dependent of the Catholic peer Lord Mordaunt for whom he worked as a property manager. He had one servant: William Johnson. Keyes main function in the plot was to tend to Robert Catesby's Lambeth home which was used for storage of supplies. A Jesuit convert Keyes complained at his trial that as a result of his illegal recusancy he had lost goods. He stated that he would rather die than obey the laws of England which he considered tyrannical. A brave plotter he was quite poor. Keyes looked to the success of the plot as a path to riches which would come to him after the instalation of a Catholic state. In addition to managing the Lambeth house Keyes probably also helped with the excavation of the mine. Keyes was concerned about the fate of his employer Lord Moundaunt and together with Francis Tresham approached Catesby with the hope of helping him to escape. It was Keys who presented Fawkes the watch for the timing of the fuse on behalf of Thomas Percy. Keyes left the plot early on the road to Dunchurch. He was captured in Warwickshire on Nov. 9. At his trial Keys drew attention to the goal of Counter Reformation. At his execution Keyes broke the rope but was swiftly taken to the block 

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Ambrose Rookwood: 26 years old. Rookwood came from an old recusant family of Coldham Hall, Stanningfield, Suffolk. He was around 26, well-built,handsom though somewhat short, well lettered and genial- his clothing- a bit wild . He studied the humanities in Flanders before inheriting the rich Stanningfield estate in 1600. He was well known for his fine horses and had married into the recusant family the Tyrwhitts of Lincolnshire. Wealthy,he is related to Robert Keyes. Rookwood as a member of the Catholic elite used his house Coldham as a safe house for Priests. Rookwood was between 26 and 27 years old at the time of the plot. He was convicted in Feb. 1605 for his Catholic activities at about the same time he joined the plot either in March or September 1605. Rookwood was to use his fine and well known horses to inform Catesby and the other plotters (waiting in Dunchurch) of the explosion in London. He also provided Catesby with gunpowder. Rookwood carried a special sword with its hilt engraved with the passion of christ which he seems to have specifically commissioned for the plot. Ambrose Rookwood a reluctant plotter convinced only by Catesby's logic of the religious justification for the murder of innocents paid dearly for his role. He was first injured by the explosion of the gunpowder at Holbeach House then later was injured by John Street in the attack on the house. At trial he defended the catholic cause as a champion of violent counter-reformation which sought to restore the control of the Pope to England and was executed Jan 31,1606 after a complete confession on the scaffold and a prayer for the king to be made Catholic. . 

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William Parker, Fourth Lord Mounteagle: It was he that received letter which exposed plot. As a member of the House of Lords, he was secretly a friend of James I and Robert Cecil. He was Catholic but converted to Protestantism. He had taken part in the Essex Rebellion and was related to most of the conspirators. His main home was Great Hallingbury, near Bishop Stortford in Essex.  He did take part in the Essex rebellion. Parker extended his assistance to Catesby to fund travel of his representatives to Spain. Parker was a close friend of Catesby and was present during key meetings related to the plot although he never became a plotter. Parker owed his power and prosperity to James who had promoted him at court. Mounteagle went with Thomas Howard on the investegation which discovered the gunpowder. Some believe that Parker served as a government spy following his confession and pardon for his role in the Essex rebellion. He is also credited with causing the murder of Tresham in the tower.
 

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Anne Vaux: She was the brave landlady who rented her house, White Webbs near Enfield Chase, to the Jesuits. This house served as meeting place for conspirators and the priests. Anne Vaux was a close friend of Father Garnett a relationship which was exploited during the trial to defame him. 

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John Gerard: A Jesuit Priest who wrote extensively concerning the plot (see bibliography). Due to the prohibition of Catholics from Universities in England Gerard was sent to study at the Catholic school of Douai, Rheims. Then with the political arm of the papacy the Jesuits (AKA Society of Jesus) at Cleremont. As was the fate of so many Jesuits who often returned to England with foreign clothing and accents Gerard was arrested soon after he landed to begin his political mission at Dover. He was sent to the prison of Marshalsea where there were already many illegal priests housed. (Catholics could freely practice their religion in prison and could meet and confer with others of the Jesuit counter reformation network still at large in England) Anthony Babington who was later executed for treason being involved in a plot to free the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, posted bond to secure Gerard's release. He then went to Rome and was eventually given another mission on behalf of the Jesuits to England. Eventually Gerard met up with the leader of the Jesuits in England Father Henry Garnet. Father Gerard was soon a very popular figure in the illegal Catholic underworld. He impressed many as a very secular gentleman and was skilled in gambling and wore fashionable dress-a clever disguise but a very real one for such a figure in the political war which was the counter reformation. Gerard wrote of many escapes from the law and of his attempts to evade due process by using priest hides. He was eventually tracked down in London, was tried, found guilty and sent to the Counter in the Poultry. Later he was moved to the Clink prison where he was able to continue his Jesuit mission and meet regularly with other proponents of the counter reformation in England. Due to his continuation of this work he was sent to the Salt tower in the Tower of London where he was further questioned concerning his illegal activities by the authorities. After failing to provide the authorities with anything but further equivocation Gerard was tortured. He escaped along with John Arden with the help of other members of the Counter Reformation. The escape was dramatic upon a rope across the mote. Immediately following his escape he joined the other kingpins of the counter reformation: Henry Garnet and Robert Catesby. Later Gerard moved to the house of Elizabeth Vaux a Counter Reformation Patriot. From this base of operations Gerard continued in his mission illegally converting many including Sir Everard Digby (one of the plotters). He later suspected Digby of plotting but did not act upon his observations thus allowing the plot to proceed undetected. When the plot was discovered he was a wanted man being linked to the main leaders of the Counter Reformation. He was implicated by Robert Catesby's servant Thomas Bates. Staying a while at Harrowden then escaping from there to London he left the country with financial aid from Elizabeth Vaux and the Ambassadors of Flanders and Spain (supporters of the counter reformation in England) on the very day of Henry Garnet's execution. Gerard went on to continue the work of the Jesuits in Europe where he wrote his major works. He died in 1637, aged 73 in Rome. 

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One place amongst many out of Creswell's Philopater, shall serve to give a Taste of the jesuitical Spirits and Doctrine; which is, Sect. 2. pag. 109. 

     Hinc etiam infert universa Theologorum ac Jurisconsultorum Ecclesiasticorum schola (& est certum & de fide) quemcunque Principem Christianum, si à Religione
     Catholica manifesto diflexerit, & alios avocare voluerit, excidere statim omni potestate ac dignitate, ex ipsa vi juris tum humani tum divini, hocque antedictam
     sententiam supremi pastoris ac judicis contra ipsum prolatam, & subditos quoscunque liberos esse ab omni Juramenti obligatione, quod de obedientia tanquam
     Principi legitimo præstitissent; posseque & debere (si vires habeant) istiusmodi hominem tanquam Apostatam, Hæreticum, ac Christi Domini Desertorem, & Reipub.
     suæ inimicum hostemque ex hominum Christianorum dominatu ejicere, ne alios inficiat, vel suo exemplo aut Imperio à fide avertat. Atque hæc certa, definita &
     indubitata virorum doctissimorum sententia.

That is, this inference also doth the whole School both of Divines and Lawyers make, (and it is a Position certain, and to be undoubtedly believed) that if any Christian Prince
whatsoever, shall manifestly turn from the Catholic Religion, and desire or seek to reclaim other Men from the same, he presently falleth from all princely Power and Dignity; and that also
by virtue and force of the Law itself, both divine and human, even before any Sentence pronounced against him by the supreme Pastor and Judge. And that his Subjects, of what Estate
or Condition soever, are freed from all bond of Oath of Allegiance, which at any time they had made unto him as to their lawful Prince. Nay, that they both may and ought (provided they
have competent Strength and Force) cast out such a Man from bearing Rule amongst Christians, as an Apostate, an Heretick, a Backslider and Revolter from our Lord Christ, and an
Enemy to his own State and Commonwealth, lest perhaps he might infect others, or by his Example or Command turn them from the Faith. And this is the certain, resolute, and undoubted
Judgment of the best learned Men. But Tresham in his Book, De Officio Principis Christiani, goeth beyond all the rest; for he plainly concludeth and determineth, that if any Prince shall
but favour, or shew countenance to an Heretick, he presently loseth his Kingdom. In his fifth Chapter, he propoundeth this Problem, An aliqua possit secundam Conscientiam subditis
esse Ratio, cur legitimo suo Regi bellum sine scelere moveant? Whether there may be any lawful Cause, justifiable in Conscience, for Subjects to take Arms without Sin, against their
lawful Prince and Sovereign? The Resolution is, Si Princeps hæreticus sit & obstinate ac pertinaciter intolerabilis, summi Pastoris divina potestate deponatur, & aliud caput
constituatur, cui subditi se jungant, & legitimo ordine & authoritate tyrannidem amoveant. Princeps indulgendo hæreticos non solum Deum offendit, sed perdit & regnum & gentem.
Their Conclusion therefore is, that for Heresy, as above is understood, a Prince is to be deposed, and his Kingdom bestowed by the Pope at pleasure; and that the People, upon pain of
Damnation, are to take part with him whom the Pope shall so constitute over them. And thus whilst they imagine with the Wings of their light-feathered Distinctions to mount above the
Clouds and Level of vulgar Conceits, they desperately fall into a Sea of Gross Absurdities, Blasphemy, and Impiety. And surely the Jesuits were so far ingaged in this Treason, as that
some of them stick not to say, that if it should miscarry, that they were utterly undone, and that it would overthrow the State of the whole Society of the Jesuits: And I pray God that in
this, they may prove true Prophets, that they may become like the Order of Templarii, so called for that they kept near the Sepulchre at Jerusalem, who were by a general and universal
Edict in one Day throughout Christendom quite extinguished, as being Ordo Impietatis, an Order of Impiety. And so from all Sedition and privy Conspiracy, from all false Doctrine and
Heresy, from Hardness of Heart, and Contempt of thy Word and Commandment, Good Lord, deliver us. Their Protestations and Pretences, are to win Souls to God; their Proofs weak,
light and of no value; their Conclusions false, damnable, and damned Heresies; The first mentioneth God, the second favoureth of weak and frail Man, the last of the Devil; and their
Practice easily appeareth out of the Dealing of their Holy Father. 

Henry III. of France for killing a Cardinal was excommunicated, and after murdered by James Clement a Monk: That Fact doth Sixtus Quintus then Pope, instead of orderly censuring
thereof, not only approve, but commend in a long Consistory Oration. That a Monk, a religious Man, saith he, hath slain the unhappy French King in the midst of his Host, it is rarum,
insigne, memorabile Facinus, a rare, a notable, and a memorable Act; yea further, it is Facinus non sine Dei optimi Maximi particulari providentia & dispositione, &c. A Fact done not
without the special Providence and Appointment of our good God, and the Suggestion and Assistance of his Holy Spirit; yea, a far greater work that was the slaying of Holofernes by
Holy Judith. 

Verus Monachus fictum occiderat, A true Monk had killed the false Monk; for that, as was reported, Henry III. sometimes would use that Habit when he went in Procession: And for
France, even that part thereof which entertaineth the Popish Religion, yet never could of ancient time brook this usurped Authority of the See of Rome; namely, that the Pope had Power
to excommunicate Kings, and absolve Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance: which Position is so directly opposite to all the Canons of the Church of France, and to all the Decrees of
the King's Parliament there, as that the very Body of Sorbonne, and the whole University at Paris condemn'd it as a most schismatical, pestilent and pernicious Doctrine of the Jesuits; as
may appear in a Treatise made to the French King, and set out 1602. intitled, Le franc Discours. But to return to the Jesuits, Catesby was resolved by the Jesuits, that the Fact was both
lawful and meritorious; and herewith he persuaded and settled the rest, as they seemed to make doubt. 

Concerning Thomas Bates, who was Catesby's Man, as he was wound into this Treason by his Master, so was he resolved, when he doubted of the Lawfulness thereof, by the Doctrine
of the Jesuits. For the Manner, it was after this sort: Catesby noting that his Man observ'd him extraordinarily, as suspecting somewhat of that which he the said Catesby went about,
called him to him at this Lodging in Puddle-wharf; and in the Presence of Thomas Winter, asked him what he thought the Business was they went about, for that he of late had so
suspiciously and strangely marked them. Bates answered, that he thought they went about some dangerous Matter, whatsoever the Particular were: whereupon they asked him again
what he thought the Business might be; and he answered that he thought they intended some dangerous Matter about the Parliament-house, because he had been sent to get a Lodging
near unto that Place. Then did they make the said Bates take an Oath to be secret in the Action; which being taken by him, they then told him that it was true, that they were to execute a
great Matter; namely, to lay Powder under the Parliament-house to blow it up. Then they also told him that he was to receive the Sacrament for the more assurance, and thereupon he
went to Confession, to the said Tesmond the Jesuit; and in his Confession told him, that he was to conceal a very dangerous piece of work, that his Master Catesby and Thomas Winter
had imparted unto him, and said he much feared the Matter to be utterly unlawful, and therefore therein desired the Counsel of the Jesuit; and revealed unto him the whole Intent and
Purpose of blowing up the Parliament-House upon the first day of the Assembly; at what time the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Judges, the Knights,
Citizens and Burgesses, should all have been there convented and met together. But the Jesuit being a Confederate therein before, resolved and incouraged him in the Action; and said
that he should be secret in that which his Master had imparted unto him, for that it was for a good Cause. Adding moreover, that it was not dangerous unto him, nor any Offence to
conceal it: and thereupon the Jesuit gave him Absolution, and Bates received the Sacrament of him, in the Company of his Master Robert Catesby and Thomas Winter. Also when
Rookwood in the Presence of sundry of the Traitors (having first received the Oath of Secrecy) had by Catesby imparted unto him the Plot of blowing up the King and State; the said
Rookwood being greatly amazed thereat, answered, that it was a Matter of Conscience to take away so much Blood: but Catesby replied, that he was resolved, and that by good
Authority (as coming from the Superior of the Jesuits) that in Conscience it might be done, yea, tho' it were with the Destruction of many Innocents, rather than the Action should quaile.
Likewise Father Hammond absolved all the Traitors at Robert Winter's House, upon Thursday after the Discovery of the Plot, they being then in open Rebellion: And therefore, Hos, O
Rex magne, caveto; and let all Kings take heed, how they either favour or give Allowance of Connivance unto them. 
--Source:A Complete Collection 
O F  S T A T E - 
T R I A L S, A N D
 P R O C E E D I N G S  F O R  H I G H - 
T R E A S O N,A N D    O T H E R
 CRIMES and MISDEMEANOURS;
 T H E    F O U R T H    E D I T I O N ;
  COMMENCING WITH The Eleventh 
Year of the Reign of KING RICHARD II.
AND ENDING WITH The Sixteenth Year 
of the Reign of KING GEORGE III. WITH
 TWO ALPHABETICAL TABLES TO THE 
WHOLE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A 
N E W    P R E F A C E,
By FRANCIS HARGRAVE, ESQUIRE. 
V O L U M E   T H E    F I R S T.
L O N D O N : Printed by T
.WRIGHT, Essex-Street, Strand;And Sold
by G. KEARSLY, NO. 46, near Serjeant's-Inn,
Fleet-Street.MDCCLXXVI.-XIX. The Trials 
of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, 
John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert 
Keyes, Thomas
Bates, and Sir Everard Digby, at Westminster 
for High-Treason, being Conspirators in the 
Gunpowder-Plot. 27 Jan. 1605.
3 Jac. l. 

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