The Gunpowder Plot of 1605

Four hundred and seven years ago, in November 1605, the infamous Gunpowder Plot took place in which some Catholics, most famously Guy Fawkes,attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London with 36 barrels of gunpowder placed in the basement. Their plan was the assassinate King James I of England (also King James VI of Scotland - King James was the first monarch to reign over Scotland and England) and his Protestant supporters. When King James came to the throne of England in 1603 (after the death of Queen Elizabeth) many Catholics had expected the King to be more tolerant of them due to the fact his mother Mary, Queen of Scots was a staunch Catholic. In fact, he had proved to be the opposite and had ordered all Catholic priests to leave England.

King James VI of Scotland
and King James I of England

Catholics had to practise their religion in secret. There were fines for people who didn't attend the Protestant church on Sunday or on holy days. King James passed more laws against the Catholics when he became King. This so angered some Catholics that they decided to kill the King and put his daughter Elizabeth (Queen consort of Bohemia) on the throne as she was a Catholic.

A group of men led by Robert Catesby, plotted to kill King James and blow up the Houses of Parliament.
The 'plot' was simple - the next time Parliament was opened by King James, they would blow up everyone there with gunpowder. The men bought a house next door to the parliament building. The house had a cellar which went under the parliament building. They planned to put gunpowder under the house and blow up parliament and the King.

Houses of Parliament 

Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators, having rented out a house right by the Houses of Parliament,  managed to get 36 barrels of gunpowder into a cellar of the House of Lords.

The other conspirators were:

Robert and Thomas Wintour,

Thomas Percy,

Christopher and John Wright,

Francis Tresham,

Everard Digby,

Ambrose Rookwood,

Thomas Bates,

Robert Keyes,

Hugh Owen,

John Grant and the man who is said to have organised the whole plot

Robert Catesby.

Those who plotted the attack

Guy Fawkes was given the job to keep watch over the barrels of gunpowder and to light the fuse. On the morning of 5th November, soldiers discovered Guy hidden in the cellar and arrested him. The trail of gunpowder at his feet would never be lit.

Guy Fawkes
1570 - 31st January 1606

Fawkes was arrested and sent to the Tower of London where he was tortured and eventually gave away the names of the fellow conspirators.

Sir William Wade, Lieutenant of the Tower, was ordered by King James to use whatever means of torture was required to get information from Fawkes. Of those involved, some were shot as they were chased by the law such as Percy and Catesby. Others were captured and sent to the Tower.

In celebration of his survival, King James ordered that the people of England should have a great bonfire on the night of the 5th of November.

The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators. They were kept in the Star Chamber before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The King and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.

The outcome was never in doubt. The jury found all of the defendants guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham proclaimed them guilty of high treason. The Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".

On the 31st January 1606, Fawkes and three others - Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, and Robert Keyes - were dragged (drawn) from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy. His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.His body was nevertheless quartered and, as was the custom, his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.

Execution day

Centuries after the Gunpowder plot of 1605, people still celebrate the King's "escape". In Britain, the 5th of November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night or Bonfire night.
 It became the custom to burn an effigy (usually the Pope) after 1673.
 Effigies of other notable figures who have become targets for the public's ire, such as Paul Kruger and Margaret Thatcher, have also found their way onto the bonfires,although most modern effigies are of Fawkes.

When British people complain about their politicians some people say:

"The only person to enter parliament with honest intentions was Guy Fawkes!"

Burning of a Guy Fawkes effigy