Rookwood (novel) of "Rookwood" and many more added in later editions. Of the other songs, some were sung by gypsies about love, some were hymns, and some were used to further the gothic setting. The name Rookwood alludes to the old Recusant (Roman Catholic) family of that name, most famous of whom was Ambrose Rookwood, executed in 1606 for his part in the Gunpowder Plot (the conspiracy which forms the theme of Ainsworth's 1841 novel "Guy Fawkes"). Ainsworth, perhaps consciously, paid a double homage to this family, in that his later historical romance "The Spendthrift" concerns an eighteenth-century heir of the Gage
Ambrose Rookwood Henry Garnet and John Gerard on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride's Well in Holywell. Late in September, he was approached by Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour and John Wright, and invited to join what became known as the Gunpowder Plot. English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when James I came to the throne, as his attitude appeared to be moderate, even tolerant towards Catholics. In Catesby's view however, James had reneged on his promises. He therefore planned to kill the king by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and then