Francis Tresham

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For the designer of board games, see Francis Tresham (game designer).
Gunpowder Plot
Francis Tresham
Drawing

Early 19th-century portrait of Tresham
Details
Parents Sir Thomas Tresham, Meriel Throckmorton
Born c. 1567
Spouse(s) Anne Tufton
Children Lucy, Thomas, Elizabeth
Plot
Role Funding
Enlisted 14 October 1605
Died 23 December 1605
Tower of London
Cause Strangury

Francis Tresham (c. 1567 – 23 December 1605), eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham and Merial Throckmorton, was a member of the group of English provincial catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I of England. Tresham was imprisoned for his part in the Earl of Essex's failed rebellion against the government in 1601, and only his family's intervention and his father's money saved him from being attainted. The incident did not stop him from becoming involved in two missions to Catholic Spain to seek support for English Catholics (then heavily persecuted) – and finally with the Gunpowder Plotters.

According to his confession, Tresham joined the plot in October 1605. Its leader Robert Catesby asked him to provide a large sum of money and the use of Rushton Hall, but Tresham apparently provided neither, instead giving a much smaller amount of money to fellow plotter Thomas Wintour. Tresham also expressed his concern that two of his brothers-in-law would be killed if the plot succeeded. An anonymous letter delivered to one of them, William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, was handed over to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and eventually proved decisive in foiling the conspiracy.

Historians have long suspected that Tresham wrote the letter, a hypothesis that remains unproven. Catesby and Wintour also thought that Tresham was the letter's author and threatened to kill him, but he was able to convince them otherwise. Tresham was arrested on 12 November and confined in the Tower of London. In his confession he sought to allay his involvement in the plot, but never mentioned the letter. He died of natural causes on 23 December 1605.

Contents

[edit] Family and life before 1605

Born in about 1567, Francis Tresham was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham, of Rushton in Northamptonshire, and Meriel Throckmorton, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton in Warwickshire.[1] According to the antiquary Anthony Wood, Tresham was educated in Oxford at either St John's College or Gloucester Hall or both,[2] although biographer Mark Nicholls mentions that there appears to be no other evidence to corroborate the claim.[1] With his wife Anne Tufton, daughter of Sir John Tufton of Hothfield in Kent, whom he married in 1593, he had three children, twins Lucy and Thomas (b.1598), and Elizabeth. Thomas died in infancy, Lucy became a nun in Brussels, and Elizabeth married Sir George Heneage of Hainton, Lincolnshire.[1][3]

Tresham's father, born near the end of Henry VIII's reign, was regarded by the Catholic community as one of its leaders.[4] He was received into the Catholic Church in 1580, and in the same year allowed the Jesuit Edmund Campion to stay at his house in Hoxton. For the latter, following Campion's capture in 1581, he was tried in Star Chamber. Thomas refused to fully comply with his interrogators, the beginning of years of fines and spells in prison. He proclaimed the accession of James I to the English throne, but the king's promises to Thomas of forestry commissions and an end to recusancy fines were not kept. His finances were seriously depleted by fines of £7,720 for recusancy, and the spending of £12,200 on the marriages of six daughters meant that when he died in 1605, his estate was £11,500 in debt.[4][5]

Author Antonia Fraser suggests that as a young man Francis became "resentful of his father's authority and profligate with his father's money."[6] Authors Peter Marshall and Geoffrey Scott describe him as possessing a "somewhat hot-headed nature",[7] while another source calls him a "wild unstayed man".[8] The Jesuit priest Oswald Tesimond wrote that he was "a man of sound judgement. He knew how to look after himself, but was not much to be trusted".[1] While still young he assaulted a man and his pregnant daughter, claiming that their family owed his father money. Tresham spent time in prison for this offence.[6]

On 8 February 1601 Tresham joined the Earl of Essex in open rebellion against the government.[9] Essex's aim was to secure his own ambitions, but the Jesuit Henry Garnet described the young men who accompanied him as being interested mostly in furthering the Catholic cause.[10] Captured and imprisoned, Tresham appealed to Katherine Howard, but was rebuked. His sister, Lady Mounteagle, alerted his cousin John Throckmorton, who turned to "three most honorable parsons and one especiall instrument" for help.[11] The identity of these individuals is unclear, but Tresham was promised freedom on the condition that over the next three months his father pay £2,100 to William Ayloffe, to "save his lyef attainder in bloode."[11] He was released on 21 June, but was not dissuaded from engaging in further conspiracies; in 1602 and 1603 he was involved in the missions to Catholic Spain made by Thomas Wintour, Anthony Dutton (possibly an alias of Christopher Wright)[12] and Guy Fawkes, later dubbed by the English government as the Spanish Treason.[1][13] However, upon James's accession to the throne, he told Thomas Wintour (secretary to Tresham's brother-in-law William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle), that he would "stand wholly for the King", and "to have no speech with him of Spain."[3]

[edit] Introduction

Rushton Hall

English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when James succeeded Elizabeth I, as he appeared to be more moderate toward Catholics than his predecessor, but Robert Catesby, a religious zealot also imprisoned for his involvement in the Essex rebellion, had grown tired of James's supposed perfidy and planned to kill the king. This he would achieve by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and then inciting a popular revolt to install James's daughter Princess Elizabeth as titular Queen.[14][15][16]

Catesby had recruited 11 fellow Catholics to his cause but was running out of money. Even with his debts, with an annual income of over £3,000[1] Tresham was one of the wealthiest people known to the plotters,[8] and Catesby's mother was Anne Throckmorton, an aunt of Tresham's. The two cousins had been raised together, and shared a close relationship.[17][nb 1]

Despite this and their earlier involvement with Tresham in the Spanish Treason, the plotters chose not to reveal the plot to him until 14 October 1605, shortly after his father died, and just weeks before the planned explosion.[1] According to his confession, the meeting took place in Clerkenwell at the home of Tresham's brother-in-law, Lord Stourton. Tresham claimed to have questioned Catesby on the morality of the plot, asking if it was spiritually "damnable". Catesby replied that it was not, at which point Tresham highlighted the danger that all Catholics would face should the plot succeed. Catesby replied, "The necessity of the Catholics" was such that "it must needs be done".[18] He wanted two things from Tresham: £2,000, and the use of Rushton Hall; Catesby received neither. Tresham had no money to spare, his father's debts having reduced his inheritance.[18] Following the meeting, he hurried back to Rushton Hall and closed his household taking care to hide family papers (not discovered until 1838),[19] before returning to London with his mother and sisters.[20] Tresham did, however, pay a small sum[nb 2] to Thomas Wintour on the understanding that he was travelling to the Low Countries.[21] On 2 November he also acquired a licence to travel abroad with his servants and horses.[1]

[edit] Monteagle letter

A damaged and aged piece of paper, or parchment, with multiple lines of handwritten English text.
An anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, was instrumental in revealing the existence of the plot. Its author has never been reliably established.

Tresham attended a meeting later in October with several other conspirators, at which the fates of several notable Catholic peers were discussed. Foremost in Tresham's thoughts were the lives of two brothers-in-law, William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, and Edward Stourton, 10th Baron Stourton. Catesby's answer to this was that "the innocent must perish with the guilty, sooner than ruin the chances of success."[22] However, as the last few details were being finalised that month,[23] on Saturday 26 October Monteagle received an anonymous letter while at his house in Hoxton. It contained the following message:

My Lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this parliament; for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm; for the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt the letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.[23]

Uncertain of its meaning, Monteagle delivered it to the English Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury.[24]

Tresham has long been suspected as the letter's author. Mark Nicholls states that Tresham almost certainly wrote it, pointing to the fact that when Catesby was made aware of its existence he immediately suspected Tresham and went with Thomas Wintour to confront him.[1] The two threatened to "hang him", but "with such oaths and emphatic assertions" Tresham managed to convince the pair of his innocence, and the next day urged them by letter to abandon the plot.[25] Antonia Fraser suggests that Catesby and Wintour's decision to believe him should not be disregarded.[25] While making his deathbed confession in the Tower of London Tresham failed to mention the letter; an omission which in her opinion makes no sense if Tresham is to be regarded as its author, especially considering that its recipient was by then being credited as the country's saviour.[26] Author Alan Haynes views Tresham as the most likely culprit, but raises the possibility that Salisbury penned the letter himself, to protect a source.[27]

[edit] Revealed

The secretary of state was aware already of certain stirrings even before he received Monteagle's letter, but he did not yet know the exact nature of the plot or who was involved. He had therefore elected to watch and see what would happen.[28] When the letter was shown to the king on Friday 1 November, James felt that it hinted at "some strategem of fire and powder",[29] perhaps an explosion exceeding in violence the one that killed his father, Lord Darnley in 1567.[30][31] The following day members of the Privy Council visited the king to inform him that a search would be made of the Houses of Parliament, "both above and below".[32] Meanwhile Tresham again warned Catesby and Wintour to abandon the scheme, to no avail. Fellow plotter Thomas Percy said he was ready to "abide the uttermost trial",[32] and subsequently on 4 November Catesby and several others left London for the Midlands to prepare for the planned uprising.[33]

Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives shortly after midnight on 5 November 1605, and was immediately arrested.[34] Calling himself John Johnson, he was at first interrogated by members of the King's Privy Chamber,[35] but on 6 November the king ordered that "John Johnson" be tortured.[36] His defiance was broken at some point on 7 November, when he revealed his true identity. On 8 November he began to name some of those with whom he was associated, but Tresham was not identified until the following day, and was attributed with only a minor role.[37] On hearing the news that Fawkes had been captured those plotters still in London had fled for the Midlands but Tresham had stayed in the city,[38] where he was arrested on 12 November. He was transferred to the Tower three days later.[39] Catesby and several other plotters were killed on 8 November, during an armed siege at Holbeche House in Staffordshire.

[edit] Death

Tresham died in the Tower of London from natural causes.

Tresham at first refused to cooperate but on 13 November he began to confess, outlining his version of events to his interrogators. Moving his family from the safety of Rushton was, he pointed out, not the action of a man who believed he was taking them into "the very mouth and fury" of the plot.[20] He admitted to the government that he was guilty only of the plot's concealment, denying that he had ever been an active member of the conspiracy, although by the end of the month he had admitted his involvement in the Spanish Treason of 1602–1603.[1] He claimed to have persuaded Thomas Wintour and Thomas Percy to postpone the explosion, while planning to inform the king's secretary Thomas Lake of a "Puritan conspiracy".[20] Fraser views much of his confession as "highly partial ... not only for his own sake but for that of his wife and children", and important in serving to highlight his unreliability.[20]

His health began to rapidly decline in December. He suffered from a strangury caused by an inflammation of the urinary tract. Lieutenant of the Tower William Waad, wondering if Tresham would live long enough for justice to take its course, described his condition as "worse and worse".[40] Tresham preferred the services of a Dr Richard Foster over those of the Tower's regular doctor Matthew Gwinne; apparently Foster understood his case, indicating that it was not the first occasion on which he had treated him. Three more doctors and a nurse attended him during his last days along with William Vavasour, a rumoured illegitimate child of Thomas Tresham, and therefore possibly Francis's half-brother. Vavasour wrote Tresham's deathbed confession as his wife, Anne, was apparently too upset to do so herself, and also an account of Tresham's last hours. Tresham apologised to the Jesuit priest Henry Garnet for implicating him in the Spanish Treason, and used the rest of his deathbed confession to pronounce his innocence. Anne and Vavasour read prayers at his bedside and he died at 2:00 am on 23 December. Despite not being tried, his head joined those of Catesby and Percy on display at Northampton while his body was thrown into a hole at Tower Hill. His estates passed to his brother Lewis. Tresham's apology never reached its intended target,[40] and the letter along with the discovery of Garnet's Of Equivocation,[41] found among the "heretical, treasonable and damnable books" at Tresham's chamber in the Inner Temple, was used to great effect by Sir Edward Coke in Garnet's trial.[42] The priest was executed in May 1606.[43]

[edit] References

Footnotes
  1. ^ In the opinion of author Antonia Fraser, this closeness, and Catesby's domineering of his older cousin, proved crucial to Tresham joining the conspiracy.[17]
  2. ^ The sources used differ on the exact amount. Nicholls' claims it was "more than £190", while Fraser claims it was £100.
Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nicholls, Mark (2004), "Tresham, Francis (1567?–1605) (subscription required)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, hosted at oxforddnb.com, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27708, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27708, retrieved 16 November 2009 
  2. ^ Wood 1813, pp. 754–755
  3. ^ a b Fraser 2005, p. 168
  4. ^ a b Fraser 2005, p. xxviii
  5. ^ Lock, Julian (2009) [2004], "Tresham, Sir Thomas (1543–1605) (subscription required)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, hosted at oxforddnb.com, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27712, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27712, retrieved 1 October 2010 
  6. ^ a b Fraser 2005, p. 80
  7. ^ Marshall & Scott 2009, p. 87
  8. ^ a b Haynes 2005, p. 80
  9. ^ Fraser 2005, p. xxix
  10. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 58–59
  11. ^ a b Marshall & Scott 2009, pp. 87–88
  12. ^ Nicholls, Mark (2008) [2004], "Wright, John (bap. 1568, d. 1605) (subscription required)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, hosted at oxforddnb.com, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30028, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30036/30028, retrieved 16 July 2010 
  13. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 61
  14. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 41–42
  15. ^ Haynes, Alan (5 November 2009), The Enduring Memory of the Gunpowder Plot, bbc.co.uk, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_haynes_01.shtml, retrieved 14 July 2010 
  16. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 140
  17. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 110–111
  18. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 167–168
  19. ^ Haynes 2005, pp. 81–82
  20. ^ a b c d Fraser 2005, pp. 173–175
  21. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 174
  22. ^ Haynes 2005, p. 82
  23. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 178–179
  24. ^ Haynes 2005, p. 89
  25. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 180–182
  26. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 252
  27. ^ Haynes 2005, p. 88
  28. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 187–189
  29. ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, p. 70
  30. ^ Haynes 2005, p. 90
  31. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 193–194
  32. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 196–197
  33. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 200
  34. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 201
  35. ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, pp. 91–92
  36. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 211
  37. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 215–217, 228–229
  38. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 204
  39. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 236
  40. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 250–253
  41. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 268
  42. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 290, 311–315
  43. ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, pp. 114–115
Bibliography
The original five plotters: Robert Catesby • John Wright • Thomas Wintour • Thomas Percy • Guy Fawkes
Recruited: Robert Keyes • Thomas Bates • Christopher Wright • John Grant • Robert Wintour • Ambrose Rokewood • Francis Tresham • Everard Digby
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Tresham&oldid=463309514"
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