In the succeeding reign of Elizabeth the county had its part in the general progress and prosperity of the nation at large. The fear of the threatened Armada of 1585 found Warwickshire, as other counties, ready and willing to furnish its quota of men and money for the defence of England. And as the time of danger drew nearer and the designs of Philip of Spain became a reality, the numbers of the levies made in the county increased, until in December 1587 the Lord–Lieutenant received orders from the Queen to provide 600 men, properly selected and equipped. Large loans were also successfully raised, although from the State Papers one gathers that there were a considerable number of families, probably Catholics, who objected to contribute. One great happening only in the county marked this period as one destined to be ultimately regarded as of worldwide interest and importance. On April 23, 1564, at Stratford–on–Avon, William Shakespeare, one of the greatest poets of any age, was born. A genius not alone destined to reflect undying lustre upon the literature of the wonderfully rich Elizabethan age, but to survive through succeeding centuries of change in men, modes of thought and fashion as no other writer has. Rather less than half a century after Shakespeare’s birth the county was once more brought into prominence by the famous Gunpowder Plot. Not only were many of the chief conspirators members of well–known Warwickshire families, but much of the plotting took place in the county. The conspiracy, which was intended to compass the death of King James and his eldest son Prince Henry, and other Protestant noblemen on the opening of the Parliament in November 1605, was in the beginning largely the work of one Robert Catesby, of Bushwood Hall, near Lapworth. Catesby had taken part in the abortive rebellion of the Earl of Essex in the previous reign, but had been pardoned after having paid a fine amounting to £3000. He would appear to have been “the born plotter” he was called by an historian of the period, for he was mixed up in numerous conspiracies previous to the “gunpowder treason,” which cost him his life. At one time he was probably a Protestant, as he married a daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, of Stoneleigh Abbey.