Who was Thomas Percy, how was he involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and when did he meet Robert Catesby?
THE men behind the Gunpowder Plot have gone down in history for their outrageous plan to blow up parliament and kill the king more than 400 years ago.
As the BBC retells the story in a new drama series, here is our guide to one of the central plotters - wild sword fighter Thomas Percy.
Who was Thomas Percy?
Thomas Percy, a member of the powerful Percy family of Northumberland, was born in England in around 1560 and studied at Cambridge University.
He was described as "belligerent" and "eccentric", with "surges of wild energy subsiding into sloth".
The Jesuit priest Father John Gerard wrote that in his youth Percy had "been very wild more than ordinary, and much given to fighting".
Oswald Tesimond, who was said to have had some involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, later said Percy had been "rather wild and given to the gay life, a man who relied much on his sword and personal courage."
Percy's conversion to Roman Catholicism was said to have calmed his wild behaviour, but at one time he was jailed for killing a Scotsman in a border skirmish.
Percy's cousin the Earl of Northumberland - thought to be a Catholic sympathiser - hired him as Constable of Alnwick Castle, responsible for collcting rents on his northern estates.
The earl also sent Percy to deliver secret correspondence with James VI of Scotland, the likely successor to Elizabeth I when she was dying.
Catholics who had suffered decades of persecution under Elizabeth, and Percy's reports back from the royal court in Scotland gave them reason to hope James would treat them better when he took the throne in England.
Percy said James made "very generous promises to favour Catholics actively", and "he would admit them to every kind of honour and office".
The Gunpowder Plot was hatched when James failed to give them freedom to practice their religion.
When did Thomas Percy meet Robert Catesby?
Percy was married to Martha Wright, the sister of fellow Gunpowder Plot conspirators Christopher and John Wright.
In 1603, the year James took the English throne, Percy met religious zealot Robert Catesby at his home in Northamptonshire and complained about the new King.
Percy threatened to kill the king with his own hands but was persuaded by Catesby to wait.
The following year, Percy and Catesby were among the original five plotters who met at the Duke and Drake inn in the Strand, London, along with John Wright, Catesby's cousin Thomas Wintour and Guy Fawkes.
They began a plot to kill the king and swore an oath on the Bible before taking a secret Catholic Mass together, which was then illegal.
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How was Thomas Percy involved in the Gunpowder Plot?
Percy rented the house and cellar in Westminster that were used in the plot, installing Fawkes as "caretaker" under the false name John Johnson.
Over the following months they smuggled in 36 barrels of gunpowder to the room beneath the House of Lords.
Fawkes was arrested on the eve of the explosion after an anonymous tip-off.
An arrest warrant was issued for Percy, who was described as a "tall, florid man, with a broad beard — the head more white then the beard — and stooping shoulders, being also long footed, small legged."
Percy had fled for the Midlands where he joined up with Catesby, who planned to kidnap the King's daughter.
They were both killed in a shoot-out at Holbeche House near Kingswinford, Staffs.
Other plotters were put on trial and executed.
