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 Although unverifiable, his wife's relationship to Robert Keyes may mean that Rookwood already suspected that something was being planned. He was at first concerned for the welfare of the Catholic lords who would be present at the explosion, but his compunction was alleviated when Catesby promised him that they would be tricked out of attending Parliament that day. Any lingering doubts Rookwood had were removed by Catesby's lie that the Jesuits had given the scheme their approval. Rookwood had stayed with the Wintours at Huddington Court, and that month with the Catholic Lacons at Kinlet Hall, but at Cateby's behest