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
The Wintour Vestments The Wintour Vestments The Wintour vestments are a set of Catholic vestments and altar pieces made by the English recusant Catholic and seamstress Helena Wintour (approx. 1600 - 5 May 1671). They are currently held in two halves at Douai Abbey and Stonyhurst College. Helena Wintour was a recusant Catholic living in England, and a talented seamstress. Her father, Robert Wintour, was executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, along with Helena's uncle, Thomas Wintour. The family's status as recusant Catholics (from the Latin verb "recusare", meaning "to refuse") in Protestant England meant that they were obliged