recusant who was a
descendant of Sir William Catesby, speaker of the House of Commons in
1484, executed by Henry VII. after the battle of Bosworth, was born in
1573, and entered Gloucester Hall (now Worcester College), Oxford, in
1586. He possessed a considerable estate, and was said to be wild and
extravagant in his youth. In 1596 he was one of those arrested on
suspicion during an illness of Queen Elizabeth. In 1601 he took part in
the rebellion of Essex, was wounded in the fight and imprisoned, but
finally pardoned on the payment of an enormous fine, to obtain which he
was forced to sell a portion of his property. In 1602 he despatched
Thomas Winter and the Jesuit Tesimond _alias_ Greenway to Spain to
induce Philip III. to organize an invasion of England, and in 1603,
after James's accession, he was named as an accomplice in the "Bye
Plot." Catesby was a man of great beauty of person, "above 2 yards
high," says Father Gerard, "and though slender, yet as well-proportioned
to his height as any man one should see." He possessed a clear head and
unflinching courage, and with a strong determination and fascinating
manner mastered the minds of his associates and overpowered all
opposition. He was, however, headstrong, wilful and imprudent, fit for
action, but incapable of due deliberation, and entirely wanting in
foresight. Exasperated by his personal misfortunes and at the repressive
measures under which his co-religionists were suffering, and blinded by
a religious zeal which amounted to fanaticism, he was now to be the
chief instigator of the famous Gunpowder Plot, which must in any event
have brought disaster upon the Roman Catholic cause. The idea of some
great stroke seems to have first entered his mind in May 1603. About the
middle of January 1604 he imparted his scheme of blowing up the
Parliament House to his cousin Thomas Winter, subsequently taking in Guy
Fawkes and several other conspirators and overcoming all fears and
scruples. But it was his determination, from which he would not be
shaken, not to allow warning to be given to the Roman Catholic peers
that was the actual cause of the failure of the plot. A fatal mistake
had been made in imparting the secret to Francis Tresham (q.v.), in
order to secure his financial assistance; and there is scarcely any
doubt that he was the author of the celebrated letter to his
brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, which betrayed the conspiracy to the
government, on the 26th of O