The Real Guy Fawkes

by Nick Holland

  The child who had laughingly joined in the games of his playmates, the boy who was keen on books and learning, became a sober and thoughtful young man. This was not the only change happening to Guy as he left his youth behind and entered adulthood, as a family upheaval was taking place that would also have a huge impact on his life to come.

  Married life was the way of things for most people in the late sixteenth century, as much for its social and economic benefits as for anything resembling our modern notions of love. For that reason most widows, of both sexes, would rapidly remarry after the death of their wife or husband. Some of her contemporaries may have thought it strange, therefore, that Edith Fawkes did not immediately seek to find a new husband after the death of Edward. His death would have had a great financial impact upon Edith and her children, but her fidelity to her late husband seems to indicate that she had a great affection for her spouse, something which was not always to be expected at the time.

  By around 1587 however, nine years after Edward’s death, Edith Fawkes had found a man who would become her second husband, and a stepfather to Guy, Anne and Elizabeth. The man was Denis Bainbridge, also referred to in documents of the time as Dionis Baynbrigge.

  Little is known about Denis Bainbridge except that he was a ‘gentleman’ with some independent wealth, and so it may be that he was a farmer. It may also be that his wealth had come from an inheritance, or a series of inheritances, as he had a reputation for being unreliable and profligate with his money.2

  Bainbridge lived in the rural village of Scotton near Knaresborough, around twenty miles to the north west of York, so how did he and Edith Fawkes meet? It seems likely that there was a familial connection between the two, but as often in these times the lines are tangled and confused because of the prevalence of remarriages and a lack of clear documentation of some births, weddings and baptisms.

  We know with certainty that Denis had connections with the Pulleyn and Vavasour families, and that these families also had links with the Fawkes extended family (it should be noted, however, that the Pulleyn family of Scotton were not related to John Pulleyn, Guy’s headmaster at St. Peter’s School). Denis was the son of Philip Bainbridge and Frances Vavasour of Weston, who had previously been married to Anthony Fawkes. Like Edith, Denis was a widow, having been married for three years to a Joanne Hopperton. After the death of Denis’s father his mother Frances married for a third time, this time to Walter Pulleyn of Scotton.3

  Denis’s first wife was buried in April 1587, and we know that he had married Edith Fawkes by February 1588 as Edith is named as his wife in a deed granting rental of a property to his mother Frances for the sum of two pounds per year.4

  In late 1587, or possibly early 1588, Guy Fawkes left York behind, and went to live with his mother, sister and new stepfather, initially at the Pulleyn house in Little Trimble, and then in a much larger property they acquired in Scotton. This was to be a pivotal moment in Guy’s life, for while his father had been a lawyer acting in the cause of Protestantism, his new stepfather was a well-known Catholic recusant. Indeed, Scotton as a whole was a hotbed of Catholic recusancy, being home to leading Catholic families including the Pulleyns and the Percys.

  Scotton was not a parish in its own right, but served as a sub-parish of nearby Farnham, and yet it had a centuries-old chapel that was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The old faith remained strong in the area, not least in its two largest and most celebrated houses. The first of these, the Old Manor House, was later rechristened Guy Fawkes House, and is now commonly known as Percy House.

  It was a traditional home of the Percy family in Scotton, but was bought by Denis Bainbridge for his new family in 1588, along with the extensive lands that came with it and which were spread around Scotton. Visitors to the Percy House today will see a building that dates mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but inside and preserved from the many restorations it has endured are the timberclad remains of the original sixteenth century manor house. One feature of particular interest is a sixteenth century plaster ceiling upon which can still be seen four shields: three of the Percy family and one of the Fawkes family of Farnley.

  Denis Bainbridge added the Fawkes shield to the ceiling as a tribute to his wife and the family she had originally married into, showing that once again Edith’s marriage may have been one of love rather than one of mere convenience. The presence of the Percy shields also show how proud the Scotton Percys were of their heritage. They were a distant branch of the Percy family that ruled as the Earls of Northumberland, and therefore distant relatives of Sir Thomas Percy who had been publicly executed in York in 1572 for his role in the Northern Rebellion.

  It’s also possible, perhaps even likely, that the Percy family of Scotton were related to another Thomas Percy who would play a key role in Guy’s future: Thomas Percy the gunpowder conspirator. We will look at this Thomas Percy in greater detail later, for he is perhaps one of the most complex and controversial of the conspirators but his origins are shrouded in mystery. We know that he was a distant relation of the Earl of Northumberland, and that the patronage of the Earl helped him gain increasingly senior positions. It is often conjectured that he was the son of Edward Percy and Elizabeth Waterton of Beverley, making him a second cousin of the Earl of Northumberland. While this may be true, there are no hard records to support it, and he may alternatively have been a member of the Scotton branch of the Percy line. Certainly Thomas Percy knew the Wrights, and married their sister Martha, and his place in the conspiracy with Jack and Kit Wright and with Guy Fawkes may be at least partly because they all knew each other from York. Whether Percy hailed from Scotton or perhaps visited Scotton to see relatives, this could explain a close bond between Guy and Thomas Percy, with Guy later adopting the persona of John Johnson, servant to Thomas Percy.5

  As one of the leading gentlemen of Scotton, and owner and resident of the Old Manor House, Denis Bainbridge would have been a frequent visitor to Scotton Old Hall, and his stepson Guy would often have accompanied him. While outwardly respectable, Scotton Hall had a secret life, one that would certainly appeal to Guy.

  Scotton Old Hall was a traditional seat of the Pulleyn family of Scotton, who had family members scattered around the village. Head of the family at the time was Walter Pulleyn, the Steward of Fountains Abbey and stepfather of Denis and step-grandfather of Guy, and like both Denis and Guy he was an avowed Catholic.

  As the sixteenth century drew towards its conclusion, the dangers for Catholics, and especially for their clergy, were increasing, and one event in particular led to increased pressure being put upon them. In the summer of 1588 a large fleet sailed from Cordoba in Spain, on the orders of King Philip II. Its aim was to call at Flanders, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, and transport a large army across the channel to England. Once in England, the army would overthrow Queen Elizabeth and impose a Catholic ruler.

  Thanks to a combination of poor planning, slow reactions, and bad weather, the Spanish Armada was defeated, but Queen Elizabeth was all too aware of the danger that had been averted, and she laid the blame at the feet of Catholic agitators. She wasn’t wrong in this view, as exiled priests such as Cardinal William Allen had been exhorting King Philip to take such a course, and in later years other exiles, including Guy Fawkes himself, would urge the Spanish king to launch a new invasion.6

  The failure of the Armada spurred Elizabeth on in her efforts to find and punish Catholic priests, and they had to take increasingly drastic action to avoid their hunters. Nevertheless some Catholics were prepared to risk all to harbour their clergy, and Scotton Hall was one of the places that was used as a shelter.7

  Denis Bainbridge today is chiefly remembered for a comment from Father Robert Collinge that he was ‘an unthrifty husband’,8 but without doubt he had an influence on his stepson. Guy had been without a father through his formative childhood years, with his only male companions being school friends such as Jack and Kit Wright, so he must have looked up to Denis B
ainbridge with something approaching adulation. While Denis may not have been a role model in terms of his financial management, he was an inspiration in another aspect: his faith and courage.

  Bainbridge not only knew what was happening at Scotton Old Hall, visiting priests and attending mass there, it is likely that he was also involved in the harbouring of priests. It is said that a tunnel was created that ran from Scotton Hall to what is now Percy House, then the residence of Denis Bainbridge and his step-family. It could have been used to attend Catholic masses surreptitiously and, as he was now an avowed Catholic himself, there is little doubt that Guy Fawkes would have attended mass with him.

  The tunnel also served another purpose: it could be used to transport priests from one building to the other if a search party sent by Hastings was in the area. Given Guy’s militancy in the Catholic cause in the succeeding years, it seems more than plausible that he would have been one of the people helping to hide priests. This tunnel is not in evidence today, but in recent years local archaeologists believe they have found evidence of the line that this tunnel took.9

  It seems that Denis also succeeded in converting his wife Edith to the Catholic cause, although she may have always harboured Catholic sympathies but suppressed them to protect her first husband Edward’s position as an ecclesiastical lawyer. A list was made in 1604 of the known Catholics, i.e. the recusants, in Yorkshire – a list that features both Denis Bainbridge and his wife.10 They are listed as ‘Dynys Baynbrig gent. his wife: noncommunicants.’

  The life that Denis, Guy and others had embarked upon became increasingly dangerous from 1591 onwards, when the first wave of Jesuit priests had arrived in England. First among them were the Jesuit Fathers Richard Holtby and Robert Curry,11 and others soon followed. These Jesuits were often more radical than the seminary priests that had preceded them, by which we mean the priests who had been taught at seminaries such as Douai, and wanted nothing less than the overthrow of the Protestant system and the restoration of Catholicism. Often landing in darkness upon the long Yorkshire coastline, they would disperse across the county, finding refuge at places like Scotton Hall.

  The Jesuits were seen as a greater threat even than the seminary priests had been, and punishments for the priests and those who facilitated their missions were cruel and swift. A Jesuit priest unfortunate enough to be caught, and those found to be sheltering him, could expect only one fate: to be condemned as a traitor and then hung, drawn and quartered.

  While the years spent at Scotton were dangerous for Guy, something he would soon become accustomed to, they also brought love, or at least marriage to his family, with Guy’s sisters both marrying local men. Elizabeth Fawkes married Will Dickenson in July 1594 and Anne Fawkes wed Henry Kelburn in October 1599.12

  Guy himself had long left Scotton behind by the time these happy events occurred, but it is rumoured that Guy may have had a marriage of his own during his time in Scotton. There is only one piece of evidence for this: a record which says that Guy married a Maria Pulleyn in 1590 and that they had a son called Thomas a year later. This is contained on a genealogical record on the International Genealogy Index of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but unfortunately there is no information given on the source used for this claim.13

  There are no church records of any marriage for Guy, as there are for his sisters Elizabeth and Anne, but this in itself isn’t evidence that it didn’t occur. Many Catholics who felt deeply about their faith refused to get married in Church of England ceremonies, or to have their children baptised by the church. It is for this reason that the baptismal records of the parish of Farnham at this time, which as we know incorporated Scotton within its boundary, contain no baptism records of any children in the Percy or Pulleyn families.

  Weddings between Catholics were often conducted in secret in concealed rooms or passageways, in copses, or in open fields by the light of the moon. The list of Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604 contains a number of reports of such ceremonies. One such entry, pertaining to the village of Bransby in the North Riding of Yorkshire, reads:

  Secret marriage: Richard Cholmley esquire married with Mary Hungate in the presence of John Wilson, William Martin, Hugh Hope, and Christopher Danyell in a fell with a popish priest.14

  A nineteenth century editor and transcriber of the 1604 list, Edward Peacock, has added the following note to this entry:

  Here is the record of a picturesque scene. The lady and her lover dare not marry in her father’s house for fear of spies, so an appointment is made to meet at some secluded nook on the wild moorlands; a priest is ready at the risk of his life to perform the rite, and the wedding party returns home without discovery. Such incidents must have been very frequent during the darker periods of the English persecution.15

  The marriage of Richard Cholmley and Mary Hungate was not recognised by the authorities of the land, but these authorities in turn were not recognised by people like Richard Cholmley and Mary Hungate, or by people like Guy Fawkes. Their marriage was sanctified by a Catholic priest, deemed legitimate by the Catholic church, and witnessed as such by their friends, and that was all that mattered to those taking part in the ceremony.

  This is why we cannot expect to find any formal recognition of a marriage between Guy Fawkes and Maria Pulleyn, and while it is impossible to prove that it did take place, the absence of an official record is certainly no indication that it didn’t. Guy would have been around 19 or 20 at the time his marriage is alleged to have taken place, which would have been a perfectly acceptable age to marry in the late sixteenth century. Young men’s minds then, as now, often turned to thoughts of love as the flush of youth began to mellow into manhood, and if he had fallen in love with the daughter of a neighbour, with one of the Pulleyns, then marriage would have been a natural step.

  From the Pulleyn point of view, the marriage of a daughter of theirs, Maria, to a stepson of Denis Bainbridge would also have made sense. Denis today has the reputation of being frivolous with his money, but we don’t know how accurate that description is. He must have been a man of some means, as his acquisition of the Percy family property in 1588 shows, and through his mother’s marriage he himself had family connections to the Pulleyns. Guy was an educated man and above all an ardent Catholic, and these qualities would have made him a suitable choice for a Pulleyn daughter.

  If Guy did marry Maria, and if they did have a son Thomas, why was Guy not with them later in his life, and why are Maria and Thomas not mentioned in any family wills? With childbirth such a dangerous event in this era, it is likely that both Maria and Thomas died during childbirth, or shortly afterwards.

  Early death was something that people in the late sixteenth century had to face with much more regularity than we do today. We shouldn’t think, however, that it had any less impact on those close to the deceased. Guy’s grief at the loss of a young wife and child would have stayed with him throughout his life, and it could be this that led to his decision to start a new life on his own terms. Guy Fawkes was about to come into his inheritance, after which he would leave Scotton and Yorkshire far behind.

  Chapter 7

  By Fire and Water, Thy Line Shall Come to an End

  Now I’ll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich

  Capulet, and if you be not of the house of Montagues,

  I pray come and crush a cup of wine

  William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

  ‘By fire and water, thy line shall come to an end and it shall perish out of this land!’1

  A silence descended on those present as the friar uttered his curse, arm outstretched, before turning on his heels and walking out of the abbey forever. The man receiving the curse must have been shaken at first – these were times when superstition and science existed side by side – but after a momentary pause a smile returned to his face, followed by an uneasy laugh from the company at large. He was Sir Anthony Browne, one of the winners in the rapidly changing world of Tudor politics, so what
harm could an oath do him?

  The English reformation had greatly enriched King Henry VIII, especially after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536, and these rewards also fell upon nobles who were fortunate enough to have abbeys and monasteries on their land. One such man was Sir William Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Southampton.

  Sir William had proved himself one of King Henry VIII’s most loyal courtiers and most reliable generals, helping to put down the Pilgrimage of Grace, and playing a central role in the removal of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He was richly rewarded for his service. In 1529 Sir William acquired land and property from Sir Henry Owen, a distant relative of King Henry himself.2 The star of the estate was the newly built Cowdray House, which had been created on the site of an earlier property, Coudreye,3 a Norman word referring to the nearby woods of hazel trees.

  When the monasteries were dissolved Fitzwilliam was awarded the nearby Easebourn Abbey.

  By 1542 Sir William was dead, and with no heirs his estate passed to his half-brother Sir Anthony Browne. Sir Anthony was also a loyal servant to King Henry, and even though it was believed that he was not a supporter of the reformation he was given increasingly senior positions by the King. In 1538 he was awarded Battle Abbey, and one of his first acts was to pull down the Abbey church before converting the Abbey into a stately home for himself. It is this action that led to the famous Cowdray curse being levelled at the man who would become lord of Cowdray House four years later.

  Sir Anthony died in 1548, and was succeeded by his son, another Sir Anthony, who was made the first Viscount Montague after the marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain in September 1554.4 The new Viscount already had a stately home worthy of his title, for Cowdray House was a huge and magnificent building. It was, in fact, a building fit for royalty and was often graced with visits by kings and queens.5