Editing Gunpowder Plot (section)

===Undercroft===
In addition, 25 March was the day on which the plotters purchased the lease to the [[undercroft]] they had supposedly tunnelled near to, owned by John Whynniard. The [[Palace of Westminster]] in the early 17th century was a warren of buildings clustered around the medieval chambers, chapels, and halls of the former royal palace that housed both Parliament and the various royal law courts. The old palace was easily accessible; merchants, lawyers, and others lived and worked in the lodgings, shops and taverns within its precincts. Whynniard's building was along a right-angle to the House of Lords, alongside a passageway called Parliament Place, which itself led to Parliament Stairs and the [[River Thames]]. Undercrofts were common features at the time, used to house a variety of materials including food and firewood. Whynniard's undercroft, on the ground floor, was directly beneath the first-floor House of Lords, and may once have been part of the palace's medieval kitchen. Unused and filthy, its location was ideal for what the group planned to do.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=144–145}}</ref>

[[File:Capon map of parliament.jpg|left|thumb|250px|alt=The medieval complex of Parliamentary buildings was mapped by William Capon around the turn of the 18th century. This image shows a plan view of the ground floor levels, where each building is clearly described in text. Reference is made in the House of Lords undercroft, to Guy Fawkes.|William Capon's map of Parliament clearly labels the [[undercroft]] used by "Guy Vaux" to store the gunpowder.]]
[[File:Gunpowder plot parliament cellar.jpg|left|thumb|250px|alt=A monochrome illustration of a stone and brick-walled room. An open doorway is to the right. The left wall contains equally spaced arches. The right wall is dominated by a large brick arch. Three arches form the third wall, in the distance. The floor and ceiling is interrupted by regularly spaced hexagonal wooden posts. The ceiling is spaced by wooden beams.|The undercroft beneath the House of Lords, as illustrated in 1799. At about the same time it was described as 77&nbsp;feet long, 24&nbsp;feet and 4&nbsp;inches wide, and 10&nbsp;feet high.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|p=59}}</ref>]]
In the second week of June, Catesby met in London the principal [[Jesuit]] in England, [[Henry Garnet]], and asked him about the morality of entering into an undertaking which might involve the destruction of the innocent, together with the guilty. Garnet answered that such actions could often be excused, but according to his own account later admonished Catesby during a second meeting in July in Essex, showing him a letter from the pope which forbade rebellion. Soon after, the Jesuit priest [[Oswald Tesimond]] told Garnet he had taken Catesby's confession,{{efn|Haynes (2005) writes that Tesimond took Thomas Bates' confession.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|p=62}}</ref>}} in the course of which he had learnt of the plot. Garnet and Catesby met for a third time on 24 July 1605, at the house of the wealthy Catholic [[Anne Vaux]] in [[Enfield Chase]].{{efn|Anne Vaux was related to Catesby, and to most of the other plotters. Her home was often used to hide priests.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|pp=65–66}}</ref>}} Garnet decided that Tesimond's account had been given under the seal of the confessional, and that canon law therefore forbade him to repeat what he had heard.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|pp=62–65}}</ref> Without acknowledging that he was aware of the precise nature of the plot, Garnet attempted to dissuade Catesby from his course, to no avail.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|pp=65–67}}</ref> Garnet wrote to a colleague in Rome, [[Claudio Acquaviva]], expressing his concerns about open rebellion in England. He also told Acquaviva that "there is a risk that some private endeavour may commit treason or use force against the King", and urged the pope to issue a public brief against the use of force.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=158}}</ref>

According to Fawkes, 20&nbsp;barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by 16&nbsp;more on 20 July. The supply of gunpowder was theoretically controlled by the government, but it was easily obtained from illicit sources.<ref name="Fraserpp146147">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=146–147}}</ref>{{efn|Gunpowder could be purchased on the black market from soldiers, militia, merchant vessels, and powdermills.<ref name="Fraserpp146147"/>}} On 28 July, the ever-present threat of the plague again delayed the opening of Parliament, this time until Tuesday 5 November. Fawkes left the country for a short time. The King, meanwhile, spent much of the summer away from the city, hunting. He stayed wherever was convenient, including on occasion at the houses of prominent Catholics. Garnet, convinced that the threat of an uprising had receded, travelled the country on a [[pilgrimage]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=159–162}}</ref>

It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=170}}</ref> The final three conspirators were recruited in late 1605. At [[Michaelmas]], Catesby persuaded the staunchly Catholic [[Ambrose Rookwood]] to rent [[Clopton House]] near Stratford-upon-Avon. Rookwood was a young man with recusant connections, whose stable of horses at [[Coldham Hall]] in [[Stanningfield]], [[Suffolk]] was an important factor in his enlistment. His parents, [[Robert Rookwood]] and [[Dorothea Drury]], were wealthy landowners, and had educated their son at a Jesuit school near [[Calais]]. [[Everard Digby]] was a young man who was generally well liked, and lived at [[Gayhurst House, Buckinghamshire|Gayhurst House]] in [[Buckinghamshire]]. He had been knighted by the King in April 1603, and was converted to Catholicism by Gerard. Digby and his wife, [[Mary Mulshaw]], had accompanied the priest on his pilgrimage, and the two men were reportedly close friends. Digby was asked by Catesby to rent [[Coughton Court]] near [[Alcester]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=159–162, 168–169}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=175–176}}</ref> Digby also promised £1,500 after Percy failed to pay the rent due for the properties he had taken in Westminster.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haynes|2005|p=80}}</ref> Finally, on 14 October Catesby invited [[Francis Tresham]] into the conspiracy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=171–173}}</ref> Tresham was the son of the Catholic [[Thomas Tresham (died 1605)|Thomas Tresham]], and a cousin to Robert Catesby; the two had been raised together.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=110}}</ref> He was also the heir to his father's large fortune, which had been depleted by recusant fines, expensive tastes, and by Francis and Catesby's involvement in the Essex revolt.{{efn|Thomas Tresham had paid Francis's fine in full and part of Catesby's fine.}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=79–80, 110}}</ref>

Catesby and Tresham met at the home of Tresham's brother-in-law and cousin, [[Edward Stourton, 10th Baron Stourton|Lord Stourton]]. In his confession, Tresham claimed that he had asked Catesby if the plot would damn their souls, to which Catesby had replied it would not, and that the plight of England's Catholics required that it be done. Catesby also apparently asked for £2,000, and the use of [[Rushton Hall]] in [[Northamptonshire]]. Tresham declined both offers (although he did give £100 to Thomas Wintour), and told his interrogators that he had moved his family from Rushton to London in advance of the plot; hardly the actions of a guilty man, he claimed.<!-- guilty of concealment but not an active participant --><ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=173–175}}</ref>