Ambrose Rookwood
Ambrose Rookwood was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot. He was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and educated by Jesuits in Flanders. He married the Catholic Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, and had at least two sons.
About Ambrose Rookwood in brief
Ambrose Rookwood was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot. He was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and educated by Jesuits in Flanders. His older brother became a Franciscan, and his two younger brothers were ordained as Catholic priests. He married the Catholic Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, and had at least two sons. In August 1605 he joined the Jesuits on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride’s Well in Holywell, Holywell. In September he was approached by Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour and John Wright, and invited to join what became known as the Gunpowder plot. The plot was to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. The explosion was planned to coincide with the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, but the man left in charge of the gunpowder stored beneath the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes, was discovered there and arrested. He fled the city, and informed the others of the plan’s failure. Together the remaining conspirators rode to Holbeche House in Staffordshire, where on 8 November they were attacked by the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men. Cates by was killed, but RookWood survived, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Pleading not guilty, he was convicted; his request for mercy was ignored, and he was hanged, drawn and quartered on 31 January, in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster.
His half-sisters Dorothea and Susanna became nuns. Ambrose’s Papist cousin Edward had spent ten years in prison for his faith, but in 1578 he entertained Queen Elizabeth I at his home, Euston Hall. In or shortly before 1599 he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Tyr whitt, of Kettleby in Lincolnshire. On his father’s death in 1600, he inherited Coldham Hall, which subsequently became a refuge for priests, and became the Earl of Essex’s refuge for the English Catholics. The sons, Robert and Robertes, were Robertes’ father and his first wife’s first cousin to his future conspirator, Henry Keyes. He had two sons, possibly a first wife, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who was possibly a second cousin to fellow conspirator John Keyes and his future wife, Elizabeth Keyes, who died in 1607. In 1605 Ambrose joined a group of English Catholics who were protesting against the persecution of their faith, which he hoped would end with the death of James I. His parents had been imprisoned for their recusancy; he was indicted on the same charge in February 1605. In the summer of 1605 he commissioned a London cutler, John Craddock, to place a Spanish blade into a sword hilt engraved with the story of the Passion of Christ.
You want to know more about Ambrose Rookwood?
This page is based on the article Ambrose Rookwood published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
