Thomas Bates
Thomas Bates | |
---|---|
High treason | |
Criminal penalty | Hanged, drawn and quartered |
Role | Catesby's retainer |
Thomas Bates (1567 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Bates was born at
Bates was the only member of the group to implicate the
Biography
Servant
Bates was born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, and was married to Martha Bates. He was employed as a retainer to Sir Robert Catesby's family, and with his wife lived in a cottage on the Catesby family estate.[1] He was allowed his own servant, as well as his own armour. Bates was considered a loyal and devoted servant to Catesby.[2]
Bates was the seventh man to be enlisted into what became known as the
In the same month it was announced that because of the plague, the re-opening of Parliament would not be in February, but rather in October. During this delay the conspirators may have dug a tunnel beneath Parliament, although no evidence for its existence has ever been found.[6] The plotters ultimately stored their gunpowder in the undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords.[7] In July 1605 the opening of Parliament was again delayed, this time until Tuesday 5 November.[8] Catesby had funded most of the plot, but by August 1605 he was running out of money. During a secret meeting at Bath in August, at which he, Percy and Thomas Wintour were present, the plotters decided that "the company being yet but few" he was to be allowed to "call in whom he thought best". Bates was uncomfortable with the idea, and was the only member of the conspiracy to object. He was over-ruled however, and Catesby soon enlisted Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham and Everard Digby.[1][9]
Failure
The last details of the plot were finalised in October.
Capture
By the time the fugitives and their supporters arrived at
Imprisonment and execution
While imprisoned, on 4 December Bates claimed that Father Oswald Tesimond knew of the plot. In the opinion of author Antonia Fraser however, Bates's evidence is suspect; he was of a lower class than his co-conspirators, and could therefore reasonably have assumed he was at more risk of being tortured than the others.[2] Perhaps trying to curry favour with his interrogators, he was the only conspirator to implicate the Jesuits. He later retracted his confession when it became clear that he was to be executed.[16]
Bates was charged with
References
- Notes
- Footnotes
- ^ a b Haynes 2005, pp. 61–62
- ^ a b c d Fraser 2005, p. 132
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 41–42
- ^ Haynes, Alan (5 November 2009), The Enduring Memory of the Gunpowder Plot, BBC, retrieved 14 July 2010
- ^ Sidney 2008, p. 47
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 133–134
- ^ Haynes 2005, pp. 55–59
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 159–162
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 170–176
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 178–179
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 200, 202–205
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 217–218
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 220–223
- ^ Haynes 2005, p. 101
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 223–225
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 121, 249
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 263
- ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 277–281
- ^ Haynes 2005, pp. 110–115
- Bibliography
- ISBN 0-7538-1401-3
- Haynes, Alan (2005) [1994], The Gunpowder Plot: Faith in Rebellion, Sparkford, England: Hayes and Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-4215-0
- Sidney, Philip (2008) [1908], A History of the Gunpowder Plot, the Conspiracy and Its Agents (large print ed.), BiblioBazaar, LLC, ISBN 978-1-4264-3385-6