Robert Keyes

Robert Keyes
Engraving
Print of the execution of the conspirators in January 1606
Bornc. 1565
Died31 January 1606 (aged 40–41)
SpouseChristina
MotiveGunpowder plot, a conspiracy to assassinate King James VI & I and members of the Houses of Parliament
Conviction(s)High treason
Criminal penaltyHanged, drawn and quartered
RoleGuarding the explosives
EnlistedOctober 1604

Robert Keyes (1565 -1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. He was the sixth man to join the plot.

Unlike several other conspirators Keyes was not a particularly wealthy man. He was trusted by Robert Catesby, the plot's author, with guarding the explosives stored at the latter's lodgings in London. When the plot was uncovered he fled the city, and was captured several days later in Warwickshire. He was tried with his co-conspirators, found guilty, and in January 1606 hanged, drawn and quartered.


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