Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Yet, although we remember the discovery of Guy Fawkes each year on the 5th of November, and the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament, the details of the plot are forgotten by most. As are Fawkes' fellow conspirators.
And the most overlooked person of them all was never named in the plot. Never thought to be involved. Never considered to be anything but the father of one of the conspirators -- Sir Thomas Tresham, who died two months before the attempt was even made.
This strange, triangular building, located in the heart of Northamptonshire, in the small village of Rushton, near Kettering, didn't just become the location for a few meetings between conspirators, it was built for the sole purpose of planning and plotting the overthrowing of the English Parliament and the utter destruction of the historic Houses of Parliament, and the committing of the most grievous and unthinkable crime at the time - the murder of the King of England.
Aperiatur terra & germinet Salvatorem: "Let the earth open and … bring forth salvation"
Thirty Six barrels of gunpowder would rip the ground open and bring salvation to the Catholic church in England.
For the last four hundred years it has been known that the leader of the conspirators was Robert Catesby. But, what if he wasn't? What if there was a figure hidden in shadow? A shadow directing Catesby and the Thirteen?
Thomas Tresham was a Catholic full of anger and resentment of the Protestant Monarch who had destroyed and persecuted his faith in England. He had been imprisoned for fifteen years for his faith, and for his unwillingness to be subjugated by the protestant crown. On his release from captivity in 1593 he had one goal, and one goal alone - to bring down his persecutor. To destroy him and restore the Catholic church to its rightful place in England.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" - Another inscription on one of the sides of the Triangular Lodge.
And he who would separate us from the love of Christ needs to brought down and replaced. The building of the Lodge would begin. And the plot to bring down the King would have a home and Thomas Tresham would have his vengeance.
It took four years for the Lodge to be completed and Tresham's faith and treason would be carved into each stone. The number 3 features heavily in the building. The Holy Trinity - a witness to the holy war he had declared on the King of England for denying the Catholic Church and Jesus as their saviour.
The Lodge has three walls each of 33 feet in length. There are three triangular windows, surmounted by three gargoyles, a reminder of the three sins and three evils that he would need to commit in his journey to salvation.
He would have to lie, steel and kill, three of the sins of the commandments.
But, he realised the sins and acknowledged them in the stones of the third side of the Lodge.
"I have contemplated thy works, O Lord, and was afraid"
The Triangular lodge was completed. And Thomas Tresham's work would begin. But he would need help. He only intended there to be Five. And the number Five is inscribed within the stones of the Lodge. The five: Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy.
Those five, directed from the shadows by Thomas Tresham would plan, plot and contemplate the treason of their actions.
But with all plots of magnitude, five was not enough.
More would follow.
Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, and Sir Everart Digby.
In front of a roaring fire, the wood crackling away and spitting embers onto the stone floors, The Thirteen would meet in secret during the dark nights of 1604. They planned a meticulous strategy to transport 36 barrels of explosive gunpowder into the tunnels beneath the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes would be entrusted to guard and set the fuses, and a route for his escape was mapped out.
The king would die. Parliament would be destroyed. The old order of the Catholic Church would be restored with the King's nine-year-old daughter raised to the thrown as a puppet for their future plans.
But, as with all best-laid plans, unforeseen problems would arise.
The Earth was to swallow the King at the opening of Parliament on Christmas Eve, 1604. But the opening was delayed over concerns of the Plague until February 1605, and then again until the 3rd of October.
That would be their opportunity. But, again, it was delayed, this time until the 5th of November 1605. A date burned into history.
In September, though, Thomas Tresham died. And, with him, his plans and the oath those Thirteen had taken to bring down the King and restore Catholicism to England.
But, the twelve remaining conspirators would not be deterred.
And, they decided, the death of Thomas Tresham also meant the death of the promise Catesby and the others had taken to leave Tresham's son, Francis, out of the conspiracy.
Without Thomas Tresham's funding, they could not continue. They needed money. They needed the safety of the Triangular Lodge. They needed Francis Tresham.
Francis was brought into the conspiracy. The group were Thirteen again.
Francis was not entirely willing. He had reservations.
The plot continued and the barrels of gunpowder were transported to the tunnels beneath the Houses of Parliament. The Thirteen disbanded and made their way to homes throughout the capital city, and awaited the explosions that would follow the next day.
Guy Fawkes remained in the cold, dark tunnels overnight, guarding the gunpowder, ready for the lighting of the fuses when the King of England would open Parliament.
In the early hours of the 5th of November, 1605, he was discovered.
Unknown to Guy Fawkes, the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, and the tunnels beneath the buildings had been undergoing a rigorous search. There had been a warning. A warning of a catastrophe and plot of such treason that was unrivalled in the entire history of England. Each room, each corridor, each nook and cranny were searched. Each stairwell and each tunnel were scoured.
For days Guy Fawkes was questioned, then tortured, so he would give up the names of his fellow conspirators. The pain got too much, and one by one, the names of the Thirteen were extracted.
Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy. Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, and Sir Everart Digby.
And Francis Tresham. A name given up by Guy Fawkes at the end. A name, he insisted, was insignificant to the plot. A minor conspirator who, although knew of the plot, had little, if anything, to do with it. A parting gift, perhaps, from Guy Fawkes, to the true originator of the treason, Francis' father, Thomas Tresham, who was never acknowledged to be a part of the group.
Most the Thirteen had fled the city.
Francis Tresham had not.
He was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Instead of being tortured, hanged, drawn, and quartered, like the others, he died the following month of natural causes. He never gave up his father. He never admitted the use of the Triangular Lodge, or its significance and sole purpose.
He also never admitted to writing the Monteagle Letter, which had warned of the Treason, and had instigated the searching of the Houses of Parliament, and the discovery of the gunpowder and Guy Fawkes.
The Triangular Lodge now stands, a forgotten part of history, relegated to insignificance; just a curious building built by Thomas Tresham as a mark and remembrance of his faith.
Above the door, and underneath the Tresham coat of arms, an inscription is carved into the stone:
Tres testimonium dant.
The number three bears witness.
The Holy Trinity of the Catholic Church, the Three: Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, would bear witness to Thomas Tresham and his part in the most famous event in English history.
Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
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