A group of Catholic extremists led by Sir Robert Catesby decided that the only hope for their cause lay in killing the king and raising the country in revolt. They hoped that in the confusion following the death of the king and his heir, along with many of the peers of the realm in the House of Lords, that they would be able to put a sympathetic king on the throne and foster a climate of freedom for Catholics. They believed, probably wrongly, that there was adequate public support for their cause. The initial plot was hatched by five men, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Wintour, John Wright and Guy Fawkes. Of these, the undoubted leader was Robert Catesby, son of Sir William Catesby, a prominent Catholic leader in the reign of Elizabeth I. Of these men the first four had noble connections, but Fawkes was nothing more than a disaffected soldier. At first the men hired lodgings near the Parliament buildings and attempted to tunnel into the cellars of Parliament. The tunnel scheme was quickly abandoned, however, either because of water from the Thames seeping into the tunnel, or because the going proved too difficult. Instead, Thomas Percy used his influence to gain access to cellars beneath Parliament, and into these cellars they secretly brought 36 barrels of gunpowder, which they carefully hid. The opening of Parliament was put off, but Catesby used the time to draw more men into the circle of conspirators, including Jesuit leaders, while Fawkes made trips to the Low Countries for fresh powder to replace that which was beginning to spoil.