Sir Thomas PERCY
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 Jul 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.
Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland known because of his scientific experiments
as "the wizard Earl". A member of the Durham House trio with Raleigh and
Cobham, he entered in secret correspondence with James VI in 1601.
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, Kit and Jack Wright,
of a staunchly recusant Yorkshire family. It was reported 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. 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 Mounteagle 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. 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.
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 Apr 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.
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. 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 Feb, and their plans further delayed by their
house being taken over temporarily by a Scottish delegation, it was not until Dec
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 Mar, 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 Aug,
at a meeting in Bath he gave permission to Catesby to bring in any other conspirators
he saw fit.
On Oct 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 Fawkes admitted that he had "gone northward" between the 31st and the 2nd of
Nov, it is entirely likely that Fawkes was dispatched to warn Percy of the discovery
of the Monteagle letter.
On Nov 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 Nov, however this would have been impossible.
He returned from Syon at 6pm and met with Thomas Wintour, Jack [John] 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 Nov 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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