Francis Tresham - Death

Death

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. 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. 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". 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.

Suffering from a strangury caused by an inflammation of the urinary tract, Tresham's health began to decline rapidly in December. 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". 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; 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, and the letter along with the discovery of Garnet's Of Equivocation, 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. The priest was executed in May 1606.