Ambrose Rookwood - Enlisted

Enlisted

In August 1605 Rookwood joined the Jesuits Henry Garnet and John Gerard on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride's Well in Holywell. Late in September, he was approached by Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour and John Wright, and invited to join what became known as the Gunpowder Plot. English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when James I came to the throne, as his attitude appeared to be moderate, even tolerant towards Catholics. In Catesby's view however, James had reneged on his promises. He therefore planned to kill the king 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. To this end he had already helped enlist nine Catholics into the conspiracy, but was running out of money and needed to recruit more men. Rookwood was a horse-breeder, and his stable of fine mounts at Coldham Hall was needed for the Midlands uprising. He had been asked to supply them with gunpowder about a year earlier, under the pretence that it was for William Stanley's regiment in Flanders—no longer an illegal operation due to the recent Treaty of London—but otherwise provided no funds for the conspiracy.

Although unverifiable, his wife's relationship to Robert Keyes may mean that Rookwood already suspected that something was being planned. He was at first concerned for the welfare of the Catholic lords who would be present at the explosion, but his compunction was alleviated when Catesby promised him that they would be tricked out of attending Parliament that day. Any lingering doubts Rookwood had were removed by Catesby's lie that the Jesuits had given the scheme their approval. Rookwood had stayed with the Wintours at Huddington Court, and that month with the Catholic Lacons at Kinlet Hall, but at Cateby's behest he rented Clopton House near Stratford, and moved there after Michaelmas. He took with him several Catholic religious symbols, such as chalices, crucifixes, vestments, Latin books and praying beads. These were concealed in a cellar built by the Jesuit Nicholas Owen.

Toward the end of October he joined Keyes at his lodgings in London. A few days before the planned explosion he changed his mind about the sword he had ordered John Craddock to make, and had the cutler replace the grip with a gold one. The modified sword, which in total probably cost Rookwood more than £20, was delivered on 4 November.