fought against Catholic Spain in the Low Countries, France and possibly against the Turks in Central Europe. However, by 1600 his views had changed; citing his belief in the injustice of fighting against the power of Catholic Spain, like his elder brother he became a passionate Catholic. Travelling as 'Mr Winter of Worcestershire', from 24 February 1601 he spent 13 days in Rome for the jubilee, and later that year and into 1602 travelled to Spain, to petition the Council on behalf of the Catholic rebels left leaderless by the execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Father Henry Garnet, perhaps thinking that the purpose behind Thomas's visit was to gain financial support for impoverished English Catholics, sent him to Superior Father Joseph Creswell, who made the introductions to the Spanish. This trip to Spain later became the first of two visits to be dubbed by the English government as the Spanish Treason, but Thomas's timing was unfortunate, coming as it did so soon after Spain's failed attack in Ireland, and he received only vague assurances of their support. In England he met with the Spanish embassy Don Juan de Tassis, who in August 1603 landed at Dover to help negotiate an Anglo-Spanish treaty. Tassis quickly realised that any chance of a successful Catholic rebellion was unlikely, and discounted Thomas's claim that, with funding, "3,000 Catholics" would be available for the cause. After meeting with King James he wrote to Spain emphasising the need to prioritise peace with England over the freedom of her Catholics. Thomas meets with Robert Catesby and John Wright According to contemporary accounts late in February 1604 Thomas's cousin, Robert Catesby, invited him to his house in Lambeth, but Thomas was indisposed and could not attend. Catesby sent a second letter that Thomas did respond to, and when he arrived he found his cousin with John Wright, a devout Catholic and a renowned swordsman. Catesby planned to re-establish Catholicism in England by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, killing the king. Thomas did not immediately recoil from the idea. As a former soldier he was a practical man, and he agreed with Catesby that should the plot succeed, it would "breed a confusion fit to beget new alterations". He also offered a warning of the price of failure: "the scandal would be so great which the Catholic religion might