The Gunpowder Treason and Markham

By Michael Fitzalan

“I spend my time in sowing so much seed as my poor wretched fingers can scatter, in such a season as may bring forth a plentiful harvest. I dare boldly say no shower or storm shall mar our harvest except it should come from beyond the middle region." This was written just a fortnight before the discovery of poor Guy Fawkes. I think it is a coded message proclaiming that nothing could stop his plot from succeeding except if those in his service, in the Midlands bungled their part; that is failed to kill all the Catholics hiding in the house. This must surely be the assassination of all those Catholic nobles who fled London. If they were dead, they could not protest their innocence. The sheriff’s men from the ‘middle region’ did not ‘mar’ his plan. They ambushed and destroyed anyone who might have told the truth. Another curious incident was that Thomas Bates, Robert Catesby's servant, while on his deathbed, claimed that Catesby had visited Cecil three times in the months leading up to November 5th 1605.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781326026790