Charlie B

Woman of the Day Anne Vaux (1562-1637) of Leicester, cousin of Robert Catesby and the only woman arrested in connection with the Gunpowder Plot foiled OTD in 1605. She played no direct part but she provided safehouses for priests, saving five of them on one occasion, and was arrested on the basis of her barely legible handwriting. Here comes the history bit. On this day in 1605, Guy Fawkes of York was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder, camouflaged with coal, in the cellar under Parliament. They would have reduced the House of Lords to rubble and signalled the start of a revolt in the Midlands. English Catholics had hoped for greater religious tolerance under the reign of James I. Memories of the beheadings and burnings at the stake of Catholics during Elizabeth’s reign, following Mary’s persecution of Protestants during her monarchy, had split the nation. They were doomed to disappointment. James I was relentless in his persecution of Catholics, equating them with witches. Authorities learned of the plot through an anonymous letter sent to the Catholic Lord Monteagle warning him to avoid Parliament on 5 November 1605. Monteagle handed it to Robert Cecil, Lord Privy Seal and Elizabeth’s spymaster. Two searches were carried out of the vaults below the Parliament chamber. The first one noted large piles of wood and coal belonging to Thomas Percy and the second revealed Guy Fawkes with matches and fuses. He was arrested. His co-conspirators including Robert Catesby fled from London on hearing of his arrest but he was put on the rack and tortured until he gave them up. Catesby was shot dead. Eight others, including Guy Fawkes, were hung, drawn and quartered. The principal Jesuit of England, Father Garnet, was convicted of treason and sentenced to death although it was doubtful how much he knew, if anything. In any case, he was bound by the absolute confidentiality of the confessional. These days, a priest may speak indirectly when it is vital to warn someone - for example, "I've heard the confession of a murderer” - but that is all. Anne was suspected of writing that anonymous letter but in fact, she tried to stop the Plot. After a visit to a holy well in North Wales where she had an uneasy conversation with the wife of one of the conspirators, she told Father Garnet she feared that, “Wild heads have something in hand”and “For God’s sake, talk to Robin Catesby and to hinder anything that possibly he might.” However, she told him in the confessional box. Father Garnet was hanged, drawn and quartered (a particularly brutal and long-drawn-out death) in January 1607 solely for having advanced knowledge of the Plot but refusing to to violate the Seal of the Confessional. First, though, he was held in the Tower of London from 27 January 1606 until he was executed in May 1606 and that’s how the connection to Anne Vaux became apparent. His letters were being monitored. Anne had written hidden messages in orange juice to him. They were difficult to read — Father Garnet found them illegible — but there were "perceived similarities" between her handwriting and that anonymous letter and it was enough to alert the authorities. She’d already come to their attention for other reasons. Anne was unmarried by choice — an outrage to social convention — and a wealthy Catholic recusant to boot. She and her sister provided safe houses for Catholic priests by renting properties elsewhere. She also gave sanctuary to Father Garnet in her own home. She was arrested at home in March 1606. Feigning the indignation of an affronted lady — how dare you be so rude as to raid my home before any of my household are out of bed! — she made such a scene that it gave the five Catholic priests already hiding in the house time to hide. Taken to the Tower of London, Anne laughed out loud at an accusation of impropriety with Father Garnet and retorted, “You come to me with this child's play and impertinence, a sign that you have nothing of importance with which to charge me." She languished in the Tower until August 1606 and maintained that she was innocent of treason but admitted to receiving the conspirators at her home. Well, she was related to some of them. What else might a hospitable lady have done? Anne died in or after 1637, aged 75. Oh, and she carried on aiding Catholic priests until her death. Well, she was a recusant after all, someone who refuses to submit to an authority or to comply with an oppressive and disproportionate regime on grounds of belief. That’d be a few of us these days. To this day the Yeoman of the Guard, dressed in their Elizabethan uniforms, still carry out a ceremonial search under the Houses of Parliament before the State Opening.