Gunpowder Plot – Robert Catesby

With November close at hand, the nights grow heavy. Rain falls in dark sheets, wind rattles the timbers, and the candle at my desk flares and gutters, painting the walls with restless shadows. Such nights remind us of storms that once shook England itself — when men conspired to light November with fire.

At the heart of that conspiracy stood Robert Catesby. Born in 1573 into one of Warwickshire’s leading Catholic families, he grew up amid fines, suspicion, and resentment of a crown hostile to his faith. Tall, striking, and charismatic, he moved easily among allies, his intensity capturing devotion.

Catesby’s anger at James I’s renewed persecution of Catholics hardened into resolve. His scheme was breathtaking in scale: to obliterate the King, Lords, and Commons in one cataclysm, and from the rubble raise a Catholic monarch.

He bound men to him with sacred oaths, his confidence carrying them forward into treason. Yet his determination was also his downfall. Catesby lit the fire that would burn not only against the state, but against himself and all who followed him.

The past is never silent.