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Robert Wintour (1568 – 30 January 1606) and Thomas Wintour (1571 or 1572 – 31 January 1606), also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Both were related to other conspirators, such as their cousin, Robert Catesby, and a half-brother, John Wintour, also joined them following the plot's failure. Thomas was an intelligent and educated man, fluent in several languages and trained as a lawyer, but chose instead to become a soldier, fighting for England in the Low Countries, France, and possibly in Central Europe. By 1600, however, he changed his mind and became a fervent Catholic. On several occasions he travelled to the continent and entreated Spain on behalf of England's oppressed Catholics, and suggested that with Spanish support a Catholic rebellion was likely. As a momentum was building behind a peace settlement between the two countries, Thomas's pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead, in 1604 he decided to join with Catesby, who planned to restore England to Catholicism by killing the king, and inciting a popular revolt in the Midlands, during which James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, would be installed as titular queen. Thomas returned to the continent and again failed to elicit Spanish support, but instead met Guy Fawkes, with whom he returned to England. Robert, a devout Catholic who inherited Huddington Court near Worcester, joined the conspiracy the following year. The plot began to unravel following the delivery of an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to stay away from Parliament. Thomas and Catesby confronted Monteagle's brother-in-law, the recently recruited Francis Tresham, threatening to kill him, but Tresham managed to convince them of his innocence. At that stage Thomas reportedly asked Catesby to abandon the scheme, to no avail. When Fawkes was captured at about midnight on 4 November 1605, Thomas fled to Robert's house at Huddington. Catesby and most of the others spent two days travelling across the Midlands attempting to incite a rebellion, but with an ever-diminishing group of supporters they eventually settled at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, and waited for government forces to arrive. Thomas, by then reintegrated into the group, chose to remain with them, and in the ensuing firefight was shot in the shoulder, and captured. Robert, who had left before the battle, evaded capture until January 1606. Much of what is written about the plot is based on Thomas's confessions, given in the Tower of London in November 1605. The brothers were tried on 27 January 1606, and hanged, drawn and quartered several days later in London. ==Family and life before 1604== Robert (b. 1568) and Thomas Wintour (b. 1571–72) were sons of George Wintour of Huddington Court in Worcestershire, and his wife Jane (née Ingleby), daughter of Sir William Ingleby of Ripley Castle near Knaresborough. A sister, Dorothy, married another conspirator, John Grant. Two agnate half-siblings, John and Elizabeth, resulted from their father's marriage to Elizabeth Bourn, following Jane's death.〔 Their paternal grandparents were Robert Wintour of Cavewell in Gloucestershire, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton in Warwickshire. As scions of the Throckmortons, they could therefore claim a kinship with plotters like Robert Catesby and Francis Tresham.〔 Their maternal uncle Francis Ingleby, a Catholic priest, was hanged, drawn and quartered at York in 1586, a fact which in the opinion of historian and author Antonia Fraser, "could hardly have failed to leave a stark impression upon the Wintour family." The Wintours took their name from the Welsh Gwyn Tour (White Tower). 'Wyntour' was sometimes used in signatures, but not 'Winter' (as the brothers are commonly named). A faithful Catholic, Robert was married to Gertrude Talbot, daughter of the recusant John Talbot of Grafton. He inherited the Tudor Huddington Court near Worcester, along with a significant fortune with which he was known to be generous. Under Robert, Huddington Court became a known refuge for priests. The proclamation for his capture, issued following the plot's failure, described him as "a man of mean stature, and rather low than otherwise; square made, somewhat stooping; near 40 years of age; his hair and beard brown; his beard not much, and his hair short." The Jesuit John Gerard wrote that he was "esteemed in his life to be one of the wisest and most resolute and sufficient gentlemen in Worcestershire". Gerard's appraisal of Thomas was just as complimentary. He was apparently an intelligent, witty and educated man, who could speak Latin, Italian, Spanish and French. "He was of mean stature, but strong and comely and very valient, about 33 years old or somewhat more." Thomas worked as a servant to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle. He was educated as a lawyer, but following several years of dissipation travelled to Flanders and enrolled in the English army. He fought against Catholic Spain in the Low Countries, France and possibly against the Turks in Central Europe. However, by 1600 his views had changed; citing his belief in the injustice of fighting against the power of Catholic Spain, like his elder brother he became a passionate Catholic. Travelling as 'Mr Winter of Worcestershire', from 24 February 1601 he spent 13 days in Rome for the jubilee,〔 and later that year and into 1602 travelled to Spain, to petition the Council on behalf of the Catholic rebels left leaderless by the execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Father Henry Garnet, perhaps thinking that the purpose behind Thomas's visit was to gain financial support for impoverished English Catholics, sent him to Superior Father Joseph Creswell, who made the introductions to the Spanish. This trip to Spain later became the first of two visits to be dubbed by the English government as the Spanish Treason, but Thomas's timing was unfortunate, coming as it did so soon after Spain's failed attack in Ireland, and he received only vague assurances of their support. In England he met with the Spanish embassy Don Juan de Tassis, who in August 1603 landed at Dover to help negotiate an Anglo-Spanish treaty. Tassis quickly realised that any chance of a successful Catholic rebellion was unlikely, and discounted Thomas's claim that, with funding, "3,000 Catholics" would be available for the cause. After meeting with King James he wrote to Spain emphasising the need to prioritise peace with England over the freedom of her Catholics. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert and Thomas Wintour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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