Robert and Thomas Wintour is written about the Gunpowder Plot is derived from Thomas's confession, signed on 23 November 1605; details of the so-called Spanish Treason were added three days later. One of only two confessions printed in the "King's Book" (a highly partial contemporary account of the affair), Thomas Wintour's was the only account the government had of a plotter who had been involved from the beginning; Guy Fawkes, weakened by days of torture, may have been at the heart of the group, but he was not at its first meetings. However, Antonia Fraser views the document with suspicion, not least because Thomas's
Ambrose Rookwood Catesby and Percy were reportedly both killed by a single musket ball. Rookwood was also shot, but survived and was quickly captured. His belongings should by right have been seized by the government, but his elaborate sword apparently proved to be too great a temptation for the Sheriff's men, and disappeared without trace. Rookwood and the others were taken first to Worcester, and then to the Tower of London. Those conspirators still at large were rounded up shortly after. Watched in secret by the king and his family, the surviving conspirators were arraigned in Westminster Hall on 27 January 1606.