Thomas Percy
Born : |
Before 1563 |
Died : |
8 November 1605 - Holbeche House, Staffordshire |
It is commonly accepted that Thomas Percy was the great-grandson
of the 4th Earl of Northumberland; his father being
Edward Percy of a lower branch of the Percys, and his mother being
Elizabeth Waterton and making him the second cousin to Henry Percy,
9th Earl of Northumberland. However, there are some who speculate
that he was the 9th Earl's illegitimate half-brother, or as put
forward by Francis Edwards, that he came from the Percys of Scotton,
Yorkshire. However, this seems to be based on little more than the
fact that Guy Fawkes also had lived in Scotton, and therefore would
make for a tidy explanation of their later acquaintance.
Whatever his origins, he was accepted by the Earl of
Northumberland as a kinsman, although he was to later say that Percy
was known to have 'pretended himself to be of the elder howse'
About his early life, not much is known. He entered Peterson
College at Cambridge on July 4 1579 and matriculated the following
year, and in 1589 it was perhaps he who sailed with George Clifford
to the Azores. As is typical for young men of any age, in his youth
he was described by Fr. Tesimond as having been 'rather wild and
given to the gay life; a man who relied much upon his sword and
personal courage'. He continues to describe Percy as 'tall
and well built, of serious expression but with an attractive manner.
His eyes were large and lively. He was a man of great physical
courage, and pleasing in his ways.'
Not everyone was quite so flattering. An informant had described
him to Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, in quite a different
light:
'Briefly, never was he quiet in mind, cheerful in
countenance, or any way seeming to take delight.by the turmoiling of
his body through seldom intermitted vexing, he became often so
resolved into sweat that he promised much labour to his laundresses,
who report that he changed his shirts twice every twenty-four
hours.'
Percy had a reputation as an enthusiastic, although somewhat
reckless swordsman. He and John Wright would travel the country in
order to fight other skilled swordsman. Although these fights were
just to demonstrate and hone their skills, not fights to the death,
as a matter of pride they were performed without any protective
equipment whatsoever.
By 1595 he was given a position of considerable trust by his
kinsman and patron, the Earl of Northumberland, as an agent of his
estates in the North responsible for the collection of his rents. He
obviously made a good impression as he was made Constable of Alnwick
Castle, a Percy stronghold on the Scottish border the following
year.
Thomas Percy was far from a scrupulous man, which may have been
exactly what the Earl of Northumberland needed in extracting the
rents from the often less than cooperative Northern tenants.
Although 34 charges of dishonesty were later proved against him
by the tenants, including unlawful imprisonment, forgery and
questionable evictions, these seem to only have improved his
standing in the Earl's eyes. 1596 found Percy in prison apparently
for killing a Scot in a border skirmish, and a short while
afterwards was involved with the Earl of Essex in an attempt to
capture the Scottish Warden of the Western Marsh, Sir Robert Ker.
But not only did he continue in his offices, in 1600 he personally
joined Northumberland, who held a command in the Low Countries, and
was rewarded with the sum of 200 pounds. Despite his actions, Percy
seemed to be firmly on the track to success under Northumberland's
patronage, and Northumberland placed an increasing amount of trust
in him.
Thomas Percy's personal life was just as questionable as his
professional one. In 1591 he married Martha Wright, sister to two of
the other conspirators, Christopher and John Wright, of a staunchly recusant
Yorkshire family. It was reported by Dr. Godfrey Goodman, 40 years
after the event:
'It is certain that he was a very loose liver; that he had two
wives, one in the south and another in the north. An honorable good
lady said that she knew them both. His wife in the south was so.poor
that she was fain to teach school, and bring up gentle-women. There
are some living that were her scholars.'
Although Goodman has somewhat of a reputation as an unreliable
gossip, the story is held up by a letter from Sir William Waad,
Lieutenant of the Tower, to Salisbury in regards to 500 pounds held
by Monteagle of Percy's wife. Waad had to enquire as to which of his
wives. Father John Gerard, writing in 1897 reported that when
Percy's name was published in connection with the Plot, the
magistrates in London arrested one wife, while those in Warwickshire
arrested the other.
However, Paul Durst makes a convincing argument against Percy
having been a bigamist. He shows how the wife in London on the 5th
November could easily have been the same woman who was apprehended
again in Warwickshire on the 12th, and that the question by Waad
points to nothing more than Percy having had a wife who died prior
to his marriage to Martha Wright.
His most convincing argument is that if Percy were a bigamist he
would have been quickly dealt with by Martha's brothers, as opposed
to being the close co-conspirators that they were.
It appears that Percy's pious Catholic wife Martha had a profound
effect on her unruly husband, as Tesimond reported that at some
point he converted to Catholicism himself. 'He then changed his
ways in remarkable fashion, giving much satisfaction to Catholics
and considerable cause for wonder for those who had known him
previously.'
Percy then became active in trying to improve the Catholic cause
in England. His lord, Northumberland, despite his later
protestations to the contrary, was a reputed Catholic sympathiser,
described by a French Ambassador as 'Catholic in his soul'. His
father, the 8th Earl, had been openly Catholic, and his uncle was
beheaded for his part in the Northern Rising of 1572 on behalf of
Mary, Queen of Scots.
Northumberland, although still an enormously wealthy and powerful
magnate, desired to repair the damage to the wealth and reputation
of his family during the Elizabethan period, and also to check the
ever-increasing influence of Robert Cecil. So when in the last years
of Elizabeth's reign Thomas Percy approached him with the idea of
making overtures to James VI of Scotland, her likely successor,
Northumberland applauded the idea. By promising James the support of
the Catholics to ensure a smooth accession in exchange for promises
of toleration, Northumberland hoped to improve his station by
earning a debt of gratitude from James in the coming reign.
Northumberland sent Percy to James in Scotland at least three
times by 1602 with secret written and verbal correspondence. He told
James on behalf of the English Catholics how they would readily
accept him as their king if he could accept them as his loyal
subjects and release them from the years of persecution they had
suffered in Elizabeth's reign. The Catholics had many expectations
from James as they had upheld the cause of his mother, the Catholic
Mary Queen of Scots, and there were many rumours that his own wife
was in fact a Catholic.
According to Percy, they were not to be disappointed. After his
return from Scotland, he spread the good news amongst the Catholic
community that James had given his word as a prince not only to free
them from their persecution, but to actively favour them and admit
them to every honour and office on an equal par with Protestants.
After James' unobstructed accession to the English throne, it
became clear that whatever promises made were quickly forgotten, as
far from alleviating the situation of Catholics, he not only
increased the prosecution of the existing laws but added new, more
stringent ones. This turn of events completely humiliated Thomas
Percy. He experienced bitter disappointment and anger at being so
deceived by James, as well as a loss of reputation amongst many of
the Catholics who now believed that Percy was lying to them all
along. He also felt responsible for having convinced his Catholics
brothers to accept James as their king.
In hope of reminding James of all that had passed between them,
he sent a supplication on behalf of the Catholics that was
completely ignored. James went so far as to publicly deny that he
had ever made any promises of tolerance to anyone and nor would he
ever consider it.
Percy's seed of resentment was now deeply sewn. He told his tale
of James' two-faced deception repeatedly to people he trusted in the
Catholic community, and lost no opportunity to express his
bitterness at having been so ill used.
In this manner, his feelings about King James were made crystal
clear to Robert Catesby, who could see that Percy would be eager to
take revenge. It was apparent that Percy would be willing to do
anything to rescue his reputation from the taint of having been a
mere puppet and dupe used to neutralize the Catholics arousing the
open mockery and castigation of the community. During one
conversation with Catesby, Percy burst out that he would kill the
king, but the cooler Catesby told him "No, Tom, thou shalt not
adventure to small purpose, but if thou wilt be a traitour, thou
shalt be to some great advantage". (Hat MSS v18 p73)
In April 1604, a few weeks later, Thomas Percy met again with
Catesby, who was joined by Thomas Wintour. During their
conversation, Percy again could not contain his frustration and
exclaimed "Shall we always, gentlemen, talk and never do
anything?" Catesby now knew he had his man, and explained to
Percy that indeed, they did have a plan to do something, but before
he would reveal it, Percy would have to take an oath of complete
secrecy.
On 13th May, in a house behind St. Clements Inn rented by the
Jesuit priest, John Gerard, the original five conspirators met to
take the oath: Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Guy
Fawkes and Thomas Percy. After the administration of the oath, they
took the sacrament in an adjoining room to seal their compact. This
being done, Catesby revealed to Percy his plan to blow up Parliament
and Percy joined their number.
Percy definitely had many benefits to bring to the conspiracy.
His zeal and dedication to the cause was unquestionable, and his
connections with Northumberland gave the group considerable
advantages. This standing was further improved when he was
conveniently made a Gentleman Pensioner only three weeks later,
giving him free access to the court and members of the Royal family,
and along with Catesby. Percy soon established himself as a leader
of their group.
The first order of the day was to obtain a center of operations.
Catesby had already identified a suitable house adjacent to the
House of Lords and close by the Parliament Stairs, a landing on the
Thames almost directly opposite Catesby's house in Lambeth. This
house was owned by John Whinniard, the Keeper of the King's
Wardrobe, and leased to the antiquarian Henry Ferrers.
It has been claimed by many writers that because of his position
as Gentleman Pensioner it would not be suspicious for Percy to take
a house close to Parliament, and that he used the assistance of
other influential Pensioners to persuade Ferrers and Whinniard to
lease the house to him. However, this ignores the fact that the
house was leased by Percy on 24 May, but he was not made a Gentleman
Pensioner until the following month.
It is more likely that a personal relationship clinched the deal.
Henry Ferrers came from a Catholic family and had in fact rented his
property at Baddesley Clinton several years before to relatives of
both Robert Catesby and Thomas Wintour, the sisters Anne Vaux and
Eleanor Brooksby. It is unlikely that Ferrers was unaware that these
sisters had promptly turned the property into a hive of Catholic
activities, where the Superior of the Jesuits. Fr. Henry Garnet
often lived. It doesn't seem that Ferrers made a habit of asking too
many questions of his catholic associates.
Guy Fawkes assumed the name of John Johnson and established
himself at the Whinniard house as Percy's servant. As parliament had
been adjourned until February, and their plans further delayed by
their house being taken over temporarily by a Scottish delegation,
it was not until December 1604 that the conspirators, according to
Guy Fawkes, started work on the mine which was to lead from the
Whinniard house underneath the Parliament House.
In the meantime, the details of the plot were being worked out.
It was decided that as Prince Henry was likely to be attending
Parliament and would therefore perish with his father, that Percy
would seize his 5 year old brother, Charles, Duke of York, with a
view of placing him on the throne. The young Duke would be in
residence at Richmond on the day of the opening of Parliament, with
only a few household members present. It would be easy for Percy as
a Gentleman Pensioner to whisk him away as soon as they heard the
explosion, under the pretext of taking him to safety.
The work on the mine, if it ever existed, did not go well
according to Fawkes. The walls were thicker than they anticipated
and they were having a problem with water seepage. It was at the end
of March, as they were working, that they heard a strange sound
coming from almost above their heads. It turned out to be the sounds
of coals being removed from a cellar that was situated on the ground
floor of the House of Lords. A coal merchant named Bright held the
lease also of Whinniard, but he was going out of business, therefore
it was a simple matter for Percy to lease this cellar as well,
claiming it would be a useful place for him to store fuel.
Now all the conspirators had to do was to move the gunpowder that
they had collected from Lambeth into the cellar, disguise it with
fuel that they purchased for that purpose, lock it up and await the
coming of Parliament.
That being done, Percy continued in his normal duties for the
Earl of Northumberland, spending the summer of 1605 in Alnwick in
Northamptonshire collecting the rents. In August, at a meeting in
Bath he gave permission to Catesby to bring in any other
conspirators he saw fit.
On October 30th. Percy was in York with 4 men, arranging for the
delivery of the rents that they had collected, however early the
following morning he departed abruptly, taking two men with him, and
telling the other men that he would be back the following day. As
Guy Fawkes admitted that he had "gone northward" between
the 31st and the 2nd of November, it is entirely likely that Fawkes
was dispatched to warn Percy of the discovery of the Monteagle
letter.
On November 2nd, Percy wrote three letters from Gainsboro, one to
William Stockdall, the auditor for the Earl of Northumberland,
claiming that he had to leave abruptly because the Archbishop was
about to have him arrested as a chief pillar of papistry. He said
that Stockdall should meet him with the rents the following Thursday
at Doncaster. However, the dating of these letters must be
incorrect, as Percy was seen riding post from Ware that same day,
and had somehow managed to make it to London to have dinner at the
Angel in St. Clements that same night, a 150-mile trip that defies
plausibility.
The following day he met with Catesby and Wintour to discuss the
ramifications of the Monteagle Letter. Although there was some
discussion of flight, Percy was determined not to succumb to panic,
and that he would "abide the uttermost trial". He decided
to visit Syon House, which belonged to the Earl of Northumberland,
to see if any rumours were circulating. He felt that if their secret
was discovered, he would be arrested immediately on his appearance
there, and was willing to sacrifice himself to give the others an
opportunity to escape.
Percy found nothing untoward at Syon House when he went there on
the 4th. He spoke for a while with his patron about an imaginary
loan, and dined with him and a few other gentlemen without any hint
of a discovery of a plot being mentioned. After leaving Syon House,
it is possible that this was when he paid a visit to Richmond. As
later testified to by a servant, Agnes Fortrun, Percy came to the
Duke's lodging there and was asking many questions. She claimed that
this took place around the 1st of November, however this would have
been impossible.
He returned from Syon at 6pm and met with Thomas Wintour, Jack
Wright and Robert Keyes, and relayed the good news. Everything was
to go ahead as planned. After making arrangements for a watch to be
sent to Fawkes, who was standing by at Westminster, so that he could
know the time to set the gunpowder the following day, Percy went to
Essex House, which also belonged to the Earl of Northumberland. He
went under the pretext of seeing his cousin Jocelyn, but was
probably trying to keep an ear out for any possible talk of
discovery.
According to Tesimond, Percy wisely decided to sleep in a
different place that night, but sometime before 5am his sleep was
disturbed by Christopher Wright, who had heard that the gunpowder
had been discovered, and everyone was now searching for Percy as the
tenant of the cellar. As Percy and Wright prepared to flee London,
Percy was heard to say by his servant, William Talbois, "I am
undone'!
During their flight, they were overtaken by another of the
conspirators, Ambrose Rookwood at Little Brickhill in
Buckinghamshire. Percy is reported to have been astonished to
discover that Rookwood was a co-conspirator, and that "I
thought no man had been acquainted with it but such as I had
known."
Although it is possible that the other conspirators had
overlooked mentioning it to him, this seems unlikely. And there can
be no doubt that the other conspirators were aware. Rookwood had
been lodging in London with Robert Keyes, and he and Christopher
Wright had both had their sword hilts engraved with the Passion of
Christ shortly before.
The conspirators rendezvoused at Dunchurch, where additional men
had been gathered together by Sir Everard Digby. The purpose of the
gathering was under the guise of a hunt, however the true purpose
was to kidnap the Princess Elizabeth from her home at nearby Coombe
Abbey after the explosion in London. However, just hours before the
anticipated event. Digby was told news of the failure of the plot
and that they all had to flee for their lives.
Back in London, the first of several proclamations had been sent
out for the immediate apprehension of Percy, and almost amusingly,
Percy had been claimed to be spotted leaving London in almost every
conceivable direction. If not for the conspirators almost suicidal
action of breaking into some stables at Warwick Castle in order to
obtain fresh mounts, thereby alerting the local authorities, Percy
and his friends might have gained a considerable lead over his
pursuers, and been able to make their way into Wales, where it is
believed they were heading. As it was, the plotters were soon hotly
pursued and quickly brought to ground by Sir Richard Walsh, High
Sheriff of Worcestershire for their final stand at Holbeache House.
On the morning of November 8th, Walsh and his men
stormed the house, smoking the conspirators from their hides. As
they took up their defensive position in the courtyard, Catesby and
Percy were felled by a single shot from the musket of John Streete
of Worcester, who later claimed compensation from the government for
his marksmanship. Percy was killed instantly, Catesby managing to
crawl back inside the house before expiring.
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