Robert Keyes (1565–1606) was a member of the group of provincial English
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
s who planned the failed
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...
of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate
King James I by blowing up the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
during the
State Opening of Parliament
The State Opening of Parliament is a ceremonial event which formally marks the beginning of each Legislative session, session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. At its core is His or Her Majesty's "Speech from the throne, gracious speech ...
on 5 November 1605. He was the sixth man to join the plot.
Unlike several other conspirators Keyes was not a particularly wealthy man. He was trusted by
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby ( – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated at Oxford University. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, a ...
, the plot's author, with guarding the explosives stored at the latter's lodgings in London. When the plot was uncovered he fled the city, and was captured several days later in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
. He was tried with his co-conspirators, found guilty, and in January 1606
hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torture, torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of High treason in the United Kingdom, high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convi ...
.
Life before 1604
Born in about 1565, Robert Keyes was the son of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
Rector of
Staveley in North
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
. His mother was a daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of
Kettleby, Lincolnshire, and related to the Catholic Babthorpes of
Osgodby.
Keyes' first cousin Elizabeth Tyrrwhitt was married to another member of the plot,
Ambrose Rookwood. By 1604, Robert had converted to Catholicism.
His wife Christina, a widow when he married her, was the governess for the children of
Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt, at
Drayton, Northamptonshire and for this Keyes gained the use of horses and other amenities.
Gunpowder Plot
English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when the apparently more tolerant
King James I succeeded
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
, but
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby ( – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated at Oxford University. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, a ...
, a Catholic zealot from
Ashby St Ledgers, remained unimpressed by the new royal dynasty. He therefore planned to kill James by blowing up the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
with gunpowder, following which he would help incite a popular revolt to install James's daughter,
Princess Elizabeth, as titular Queen. His role being to guard the gunpowder and other items stored at Catesby's house in Lambeth,
Keyes joined the conspiracy in October 1604.
The
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
priest
John Gerard
John Gerard (also John Gerarde, 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular garde ...
described Keyes as "a grave and sober man, and of great wit and sufficiency". Father
Oswald Tesimond claimed that Keyes had "tasted persecution himself, having lost his goods because of it"
while historian and author
Cyril Northcote Parkinson's image of him was of a "desperate man, ruined and indebted".
Tall, with a red beard, despite his relative poverty Catesby declared him "a trusty honest man", and may have paid him for his services.
Like fellow plotter
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educate ...
, he was thought capable of looking after himself. Several conspirators expressed concerns about the safety of fellow Catholics who would be at Parliament on the day of the planned explosion; Keyes was particularly worried about
Lord Mordaunt, his wife's employer.
Thomas Percy was concerned for his patron and kinsman, the
Earl of Northumberland
The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...
, and the Lords Vaux,
Montagu,
Monteagle and Stourton were also mentioned. Keyes's suggestion to warn Lord Mordaunt was treated by Catesby with derision, when he answered that "he would not for the chamber full of diamonds acquaint him with the secret, for that he knew he could not keep it."
Keyes and his cousin-in-law Ambrose Rookwood spent the night before the planned explosion at the house of an Elizabeth More, near
Temple Bar. They were visited late that evening by Fawkes (in charge of the explosives beneath the House of Lords) who collected a watch left by Percy, for timing the
fuse. Several hours later Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives, and was arrested.
Failure and death
When Keyes heard that Fawkes had been captured he took to his horse and fled for the Midlands. He was overtaken at
Highgate
Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...
by Rookwood, who was rushing to inform Catesby and the others of what had transpired. After he and Rookwood had caught up with Catesby, Percy,
Thomas Bates, and
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
and
Christopher Wright, Keyes left the group, and headed instead for Lord Mordaunt's house at Drayton, where he went to ground. He was identified as a suspect on 6 November, and captured several days later.
The conspirators were tried on 27 January 1606 at Westminster Hall. Despite entering pleas of not guilty (only Digby professed his guilt), all eight were found guilty. They were each allowed to speak "wherefore judgement of death should not be pronounced against them". Keyes made no attempt to excuse his actions, claiming that "death was as good now as at any other time", preferable to living "in the midst of so much tyranny". The Jesuit
Oswald Tesimond wrote in his ''Narrative'' of Keyes's defence:
On 31 January 1606 Keyes, Rookwood, Thomas Wintour and Fawkes were taken to the Old Palace Yard in
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, to be
hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torture, torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of High treason in the United Kingdom, high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convi ...
. Rookwood and Wintour were the first to ascend to the gallows. Grim-faced, Keyes went "stoutly" up the ladder, but with the halter around his neck he threw himself off, presumably hoping for a quick death. The halter broke, and he was taken to the block to suffer the remainder of his sentence.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Robert
1560s births
1606 deaths
16th-century English people
16th-century Roman Catholics
17th-century English people
17th-century Roman Catholics
Date of birth unknown
English criminals
English Roman Catholics
Executed Gunpowder Plotters
People executed by Stuart England by hanging, drawing and quartering
Roman Catholic activists
Executed English people