The Gunpowder Plot (History/16th/17th Century History) by Alan Haynes

be a suitable candidate. A volatile man, a hater of Jesuits, he was the brother-in-law of John Gage, whose family were to be found in some numbers at Wormsley, Herefordshire. In the same county Watson’s views had an influence on Roger Cadwallader.
    Sir Robert Cecil received warnings of the Bye plot from a variety of sources, so having intelligencers at home as well as abroad proved a benefit. The chief justice, Sir John Popham, also had agents about and one of them encountered a handful of rebels in arms at Tewkesbury. 1 They were ‘well appointed with pistols’ and according to one of the servants in attendance they were riding to London. He blurted out with a hint of anxiety – ‘I pray God we break not our skins before we come back again.’ Yet it transpired that they saw no action at all and might have withdrawn to their homes without proper scrutiny but for Popham dining with Bancroft, Bishop of London, on 18 July. From him he learned more names of suspects, although unlike the Essex rebellion no significant leader emerged to take the reins of effort. The new Catholic peers of the reign were very reluctant to risk so much so early, and failing in that section of society. Watson had to cast about for further support, even approaching Thomas, Lord Grey of Wilton, regarded as the leader of the Puritans. He too declined to be involved, but his name was bandied about to convince some would-be conspirators who hesitated at seizing the sovereign, that James was to be taken in order to forestall a Puritan plot! It was Bancroft who named two Herefordshire men – Parry and Vaughan – neither of whom were known to have made any move, just as Lord Grey himself held off. With these two former names in mind Popham recalled now the information he had received from Tewkesbury, and he reasoned now that they had been involved in some treasonable purpose.
    Among the hitherto unidentified plotters was John Parry of Poston, the son and heir of the late master of the buckhounds to Elizabeth, James Parry, with family connections scattered widely over Herefordshire and Breconshire. John Parry’s companions were Richard Croft (closely related to Sir Herbert Croft) and Richard Davies, who lived just outside Poston. Another privy to the plot was John Scudamore of Kentchurch – not seen in Tewkesbury, but linked by confessions made in London and subsequent developments. The fissures in the Catholic community are now highlighted by the fact that the government got confirmation of its suspicions from the archpriest George Blackwell, and from the Jesuits. Blackwell’s channel to Cecil, assuring the government of Catholic loyalty, was John Gage, and his kinsman Copley was arrested because his famous timidity would likely have led him to blab. Catholics and government alike were antipathetic towards Puritans and Sir Walter Ralegh found himself in a very exposed position, detested by Watson, who aimed to remove him when James was taken, and regarded as a personal rival by the court Catholic Earl of Northampton and Cecil. The arrest of Ralegh may originally have been intended to widen the government’s knowledge of the Bye plotters, including Sir Griffin Markham, once a supporter of Essex and now swamped by debts; George Brooke, brother of Lord Cobham and hence Cecil’s brother-in-law, and Anthony Champney. The dry comment of Cecil was that the mere fact of Brooke being involved made him suspicious of Cobham, Ralegh and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. They were all apprehended for involvement in what became known as the Main plot. Such simultaneity does not make the task of the historian any easier. What is certain is that those in power used both to eliminate personal rivals.
    The hostility of the Jesuits was seen by Watson as a critical restraint on his supporters in Wales moving on London. He had uneasily anticipated this falling away while in conversation with Copley; and so it proved. Only John Harries of Haverfordwest and a posse