Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot
A contemporary report of the plot
Participants	Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, Robert Wintour, Guy Fawkes, John Wright, Christopher Wright, Robert Keyes, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Thomas Bates
Location	London, UK
Date	5 November 1605
Result	Execution

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed. His fellow plotters included Thomas Wintour, Robert Wintour, John Wright, Christopher Wright, Robert Keyes, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham and Thomas Bates.

The explosives were prepared by Guy "Guido" Fawkes, a man with 10 years' military experience gained fighting with the Spanish in the Spanish Netherlands to suppress the Dutch Revolt. An anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, was instrumental in revealing the existence of the plot to the authorities. During a consequent search of the House of Lords, early in the morning of 5 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder—enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble—and arrested. Most of the conspirators fled from London as they learned of the plot's discovery, but several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House; in the ensuing battle Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Details of the assassination attempt were allegedly known by the principal Jesuit of England, Father Henry Garnet. Although convicted and sentenced to death, doubt has since been cast on how much Garnet really knew of the plot. As its existence was revealed to him through confession, Garnet was prevented from informing the authorities by the absolute confidentiality of the confessional. Although anti-Catholic legislation was introduced soon after the plot's discovery, many important and loyal Catholics retained high office during King James I's reign. The foiling of the Gunpowder Plot was commemorated for many years afterwards by special sermons and other public events such as the ringing of church bells, which have evolved into the Bonfire Night of today.

Background

Religion in England

Catholics suffered persecution under Elizabeth I

Between 1533 and 1540, the Tudor King Henry VIII took control of the English Church from Rome, beginning several hundred years of religious turmoil in England. English Catholics struggled in a society dominated by the newly separate and increasingly Protestant Church of England. Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, responded to the growing religious divide by introducing the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which required anyone appointed to a public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. The penalties for refusal were severe. Catholicism became marginalised under Elizabeth's rule, but despite the risk of torture or execution, priests continued to practise their faith in England, taking extreme care not to be caught.^[1]

In the months before Elizabeth's death on 24 March 1603, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury secretly prepared the way for her successor.^{[nb 1]} Many Catholics believed that Elizabeth's Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, was the legitimate heir to the English throne, but she had been executed for treason in 1587. Salisbury entered into a coded negotiation with Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, who had a strong but unrecognised claim to the English throne.^{[nb 2]}

English Catholics

Some exiled Catholics, not satisfied with James's stance on Catholicism, favoured the Catholic Philip II of Spain's daughter, Infanta Isabella, as Elizabeth's successor. Other, more moderate Catholics, looked to James's and Elizabeth's cousin Arbella Stuart, a woman thought to have Catholic sympathies.^[3] Murmurs of discontent forced the government to detain various "principal papists" as the Queen's condition deteriorated.^[4] The Privy Council grew so worried that Stuart was moved closer to London the day before Elizabeth's death, to prevent her kidnap by papists.^[5] Nonetheless, James's easy succession^{[nb 3]} was generally celebrated. The Earl of Salisbury's proclamation on 24 March, read aloud in various locations—including outside the Tower of London, in which several Catholic priests were detained—by nightfall had resulted in bonfires burning throughout London. Leading papists, rather than causing trouble as anticipated, reacted to the news by offering enthusiastic support for their new monarch. Jesuit priests, whose presence in England was punishable by death, also demonstrated their support for James, who was widely believed to embody "the natural order of things".^[7]

Portrait of James by John de Critz, c. 1606

While still in Scotland, James had spoken approvingly of the Catholics who had been forced to hide their faith under the Act of Uniformity,^[8] but he was no supporter of the Church of Rome. James's hostility toward Catholicism stemmed from the same views he bore towards Puritanism—views based much more on political than on religious hatred.^[9] During his secret communications with Salisbury, he had written to warn the Secretary of State of the "daily increase that I hear of popery in England". James's views, however, were more moderate than those of his predecessor; he believed that exile was a better solution than capital punishment: "I would be glad to have both their heads and their bodies separated from this whole island and transported beyond seas."^[10]

At Newcastle, while on his way to London, James pardoned and freed all prisoners—except "papists and wilful murderers". Despite his interest in theology, he also had a Catholic priest imprisoned (the priest, disguised, had petitioned James to remove all penal laws against his co-religionists, but had included a biblical reference in his petition, much to James's annoyance). The Catholic community, whose priests had for years been forced into hiding, regarded such things as after-effects of the previous regime, and had cause to celebrate when the new King used his mother's fate to identify himself with her supporters. He knighted Thomas Gerard, brother of Father John Gerard, who had been severely tortured in 1594, and released Father William Weston from his incarceration in the Tower of London, on condition that he left the country.^[11]

Early plots

Despite several competing claims to the English throne, the transition of power went smoothly following Elizabeth's death.^{[nb 4]} James, whose mother Mary Queen of Scots was regarded as a Catholic martyr, was an astute politician. The new king received an envoy from the Habsburg Archduke Albert of the Southern Netherlands,^[12] ruler of the remaining Catholic territories after over 30 years of war in the Dutch Revolt by English-supported Protestant rebels. For the Catholic expatriates engaged in that struggle, the restoration by force of a Catholic monarchy, was an intriguing possibility, but following the failed Spanish invasion of England in 1588 the papacy had taken a more long-term view on the return of a Catholic monarch to the English throne.^[13] With Elizabeth dead, James ordered a ceasefire, and even though England and Spain were still technically at war King Philip III sent his envoy, Don Juan de Tassis, to congratulate James on his accession.^[12]

For decades the English had lived under a monarch who steadfastly refused to provide, or name, an heir. James, however, arrived with a family, and a future line of succession. His wife, Anne of Denmark, was the daughter of a king. Their eldest child, the nine-year-old Henry, was considered a handsome and confident boy, and their two younger children, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Charles, were proof that James was able to provide heirs to continue the Protestant monarchy.^[14]

If this thought was welcomed by James's loyal subjects, for those Catholics who had looked to a ruler who worshipped at their own Church, the idea made them despondent. Any suggestion that the whole new royal family might be supplanted appeared an unlikely idea; the new King's children would soon be given estates of their own, providing employment for keen young suitors, which would make a rebellion more unlikely.^[15] In the absence of any sign that James would move to end the persecution of Catholics, as some had hoped, several members of the clergy (including two anti-Jesuit priests) turned to conspiracy. In what became known as the Bye Plot, the priests William Watson and William Clark planned to kidnap James before he was crowned, and hold him in the Tower of London until they forced several concessions from him. Salisbury received news of the plot from several sources. In the same period, Lord Cobham, Lord Grey de Wilton, Lord Markham, and Walter Ralegh, hatched what became known as the Main Plot, which involved removing James and his family and supplanting them with Arbella Stuart. Amongst others, they approached Henry IV of France for funding, but were unsuccessful. All those involved in both plots were arrested in July and tried in the autumn; Sir George Brooke was executed, but James, keen not to have too bloody a start to his reign, reprieved Cobham, Grey, and Markham, while they were at the scaffold. Ralegh, who had watched while his colleagues sweated, and who was due to be executed a few days later, was also pardoned. Stuart denied any knowledge of the Main Plot. The two priests, condemned by the pope, and "very bloodily handled", were executed.^[16]

The Catholic community responded to news of these plots with shock; the Archpriest George Blackwell instructed his priests to have no part in any such schemes. That the Bye Plot had been revealed by Catholics was instrumental in saving them from further persecution, and James was grateful enough to allow pardons for those recusants who sued for them, as well as postponing payment of their fines for a year.^[17]

Early reign of James I

In January 1604 King James attended an ecclesiastical conference at Hampton Court, at which he presided over a number of discussions on the Presisianist elements of the Church of England; the King was hostile to the Puritans, believing them to have manipulated his mother. The first Parliament of his reign was summoned on 31 January 1604, to be followed six weeks later by the opening ceremony. On 19 February however, James denounced the Church. He had recently discovered that the pope had given one of James's spies, Sir Anthony Standen, a rosary to pass to his wife, Queen Anne. Three days later he ordered all Jesuits and all other Catholic priests to leave the country, and he reimposed fines for recusancy.^[18] James changed his focus from assuaging the anxieties of the English Catholics to establishing an Anglo-Scottish union.^[19] The King had also made a point of appointing Scottish nobles, such as George Home, to his court, something which proved unpopular with the Parliament of England, as well as people like Guy Fawkes and former English spy Hugh Owen. Some Members of Parliament made it clear that in their view, the "effluxion of people from the Northern parts" was unwelcome and compared them to "plants which are transported from barren ground into a more fertile one". The King's plan to unite the two countries failed, but more discontent was created when the King allowed the fines for recusancy to be collected by his Scottish nobles.^[20]

On 19 March 1604 the King gave a speech in which he spoke of his desire to secure peace, but only by "profession of the true religion". He also spoke of a Christian union and reiterated his desire to avoid religious persecution. For the papists however, the King's speech made it clear that they were not to "increase their number and strength in this Kingdom", that "they might be in hope to erect their Religion again". To Father John Gerard, these words were almost certainly responsible for the heightened levels of persecution the members of his faith now suffered, and for the priest Oswald Tesimond they were a rebuttal of the early claims that the King had made, upon which the papists had built their hopes.^[21]

A week after James's speech, Lord Sheffield informed him of over 900 hundred recusants brought before the Assizes in Normanby, and on 24 April a Bill was introduced in Parliament which threatened to outlaw all English followers of the Catholic Church. According to Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham, it was at about this time that the Gunpowder Plot was hatched.^[22]

Plot

A contemporary sketch of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by Crispijn van de Passe. Missing are Digby, Keyes, Rookwood, Grant, and Tresham.

Robert Catesby (1573–1605), a man of "ancient, historic and distinguished lineage", was the inspiration behind the plot. Catesby was most likely born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, the only surviving son of Sir William and Lady Catesby, née Anne Throckmorton, a daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton. He may have studied at Douai before marrying the Protestant Catherine Leigh. The marriage produced a son, Robert, who was betrothed at the age of eight to a daughter of Thomas Percy. Catherine died after the birth of their second son, and Catesby's father died in 1598. Robert was described by contemporaries as "a good-looking man, about six feet tall, athletic and a good swordsman". Along with several other of the conspirators, he took part in the Earl of Essex's rebellion in 1601, during which he was wounded and captured. Queen Elizabeth allowed him to escape with his life by fining him 4,000 marks (about £430,000 as of 2009). To afford this, he was forced to sell his estate in Chastleton, for which he enlisted the help of his friend Thomas Percy.^[23][24][25] The sale of his estate, and the death of his wife and father are factors which, author Alan Haynes suggests, may have played an important part in Catesby's decision to pursue a more active political life.^[26] In 1603 Catesby helped to organise a mission to the new King of Spain, Philip III, urging the monarch to launch an invasion attempt on England, which they assured the King would be well supported, particularly by the English Catholics. Thomas Wintour (1571–1606) was chosen as the emissary for the mission to Spain, but the Spanish king, although sympathetic to the plight of Catholics in England, was intent on making peace with James I.^[27] Wintour had also attempted to convince the Spanish envoy Don Juan de Tassis that "3,000 Catholics" were ready and waiting to support such an invasion.^[28] Concern was voiced by Pope Clement VIII that using violence to achieve a restoration of Catholic power in England would result in the destruction of those that remained.^[29]

According to contemporary accounts,^{[nb 5]} in February 1604 Catesby invited Thomas Wintour to his house in Lambeth, where they discussed Catesby's plan to re-establish Catholicism in England by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament.^[24] Wintour was known as a reasonable scholar, able to speak several languages, and he had fought with the English army in the Netherlands.^[30] His uncle, Francis Ingleby, had been executed for being a Catholic priest in 1586, and Wintour later converted to Catholicism.^[31] Also present at the meeting was John Wright, a devout Catholic said to be one of the best swordsmen of his day, and a man who had taken part with Catesby in the Earl of Essex's rebellion three years earlier. Wright's mother was Ursula Wright (daughter of Martha Wright, who had been married to Henry Percy), who had been imprisoned for her religious beliefs.^[32] Despite his reservations over the possible repercussions should the attempt fail, Wintour agreed to join in the conspiracy, perhaps persuaded by Catesby's rhetoric: "Let us give the attempt and where it faileth, pass no further."^[24]

Wintour travelled to Flanders to enquire about Spanish support. While there he sought out Guy Fawkes (1570–1606). Born in York, Fawkes was a devout Catholic who had attended St Peter's School with John Wright, and his brother, Christopher. In the 1590s he served in the Southern Netherlands under the command of William Stanley, and in 1603 was recommended for a captaincy.^[33] Accompanied by Christopher Wright, Fawkes had also been a member of the 1603 delegation to the Spanish court pleading for an invasion of England. At Ostend, Wintour told Fawkes that "some good frends of his wished his company in Ingland", and at another meeting in Dunkirk he said that certain gentlemen "were uppon a resolution to doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spain healped us nott" the two men returned to England late in April 1604 and told Catesby that Spanish support was unlikely. Thomas Percy, Catesby's friend and John Wright's brother-in-law, was introduced to the plot several weeks later.^[34][35]

Initial planning

The conspirators' principle aim was to kill King James, but many other important targets would also be present at the State Opening, including the monarch's nearest relatives and members of the Privy Council. The senior judges of the English legal system, most of the Protestant aristocracy, and the bishops of the Church of England, would all have attended in their capacity as members of the House of Lords, along with the members of the House of Commons.^[36] Another important objective was the kidnapping of the King's daughter, and third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth. Housed at Coombe Abbey near Coventry, the Princess lived only ten miles north of Warwick—convenient for the plotters, most of whom lived in the Midlands. Once the King and his Parliament were dead, the plotters would install Elizabeth on the English throne as a titular Queen. The fate of Princes Henry and Charles would be improvised; their role in state ceremonies was, as yet, uncertain. The plotters planned to use Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, as Elizabeth's Protector, but most likely never informed him of this.^[37]

The conspirators planned to install the King's daughter Princess Elizabeth on the throne as a Catholic Queen

The first meeting between the five conspirators took place on 20 May 1604, probably at the Duck and Drake just off the Strand, Thomas Wintour's usual residence when staying in London. Catesby, Thomas Wintour, and John Wright were in attendance, joined by Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy.^[38] Alone in a private room, the five plotters swore an oath of secrecy on a prayer book. By coincidence, and ignorant of the plot, Father John Gerard (a friend of Catesby's) was celebrating Mass in another room, and the five men subsequently took the Sacrament of Holy Communion.^[39]

Percy had found employment with his kinsman the Earl of Northumberland, and by 1596 was his agent for the family's northern estates. About 1600–1601 he served with his patron in the Low Countries. At some point during Northumberland's command in the Low Countries, Percy became the his agent in his communications with James.^[40] Percy was reputedly a "serious" character who had converted to the Catholic faith. His early years were, according to a Catholic source, marked by a tendency to rely on "his sword and personal courage".^[41][42] Northumberland—although not a Catholic himself—planned to build a strong relationship with James in order to better the prospects of English Catholics, and to reduce the family disgrace caused when he separated from his wife Martha Wright, a favourite of Elizabeth. Thomas Percy's meetings with James seemed to go well. Percy returned with promises of support for the Catholics, and Northumberland believed that James would go as far as allowing Mass in private houses, so as not to cause public offence. Percy however, keen to improve his standing, went further—claiming that the future King would guarantee the safety of English Catholics.^[43]

Further recruitment

Following their oath, the plotters left London and returned to their homes. The adjournment of Parliament gave them, they thought, until February 1605 to finalise their plans. On 9 June Percy was appointed a Gentleman Pensioner—one of a mounted troop of fifty bodyguards to the king—by his patron, the Earl of Northumberland. This role gave Percy reason to seek a base in London, and a small property near the Prince's Chamber—in the possession of Henry Ferrers, a tenant of John Whynniard—was chosen. Percy arranged for the use of the house on 24 May 1604, through Northumberland's agents, Dudley Carleton and John Hippesley. Fawkes, using the pseudonym "John Johnson", took charge of the building, posing as Percy's servant.^[44] The building was occupied by Scottish commissioners appointed by the King to consider his plans for the unification of England and Scotland, so the plotters hired Catesby's lodgings in Lambeth, on the opposite bank of the Thames, from which their stored gunpowder and other supplies could be conveniently rowed across each night.^[45] Meanwhile, King James continued his policies against the Catholics, and Parliament pushed through anti-Catholic legislation, until it was adjourned on 7 July.^[46]

The House of Lords is highlighted in red on this 1746 map of London, in an area now occupied by the Palace of Westminster

William Capon's map of Parliament clearly labels the undercroft used to store the gunpowder

The conspirators returned to London in October 1604, and Robert Keyes was admitted to the group. His responsibility was to take charge of Catesby's house in Lambeth, where the gunpowder and other supplies were to be stored. Keyes was not a particularly wealthy man. Tall, with a red beard, he was seen as trustworthy and, like Fawkes, capable of looking after himself. His family had notable Catholic connections, and Keyes was particularly worried about the safety of Lord Mordaunt, his wife's employer, while at Parliament. In December^{[nb 6]} Catesby brought his servant, Thomas Bates, into the plot. Bates was born at Lapworth, and was a loyal family retainer who was known to be devoted to his employer.^[47]

On 24 December it was announced that the re-opening of Parliament would be delayed. Concern over the plague meant that rather than sitting in February, as the plotters had originally planned for, Parliament would not sit again until 3 October 1605. The contemporaneous account of the prosecution claimed that during this delay the conspirators were digging a tunnel beneath Parliament. This story may have been a government fabrication; no evidence for the existence of a tunnel was presented by the prosecution, and no trace of one has ever been found. The account of a tunnel comes directly from Thomas Wintour's confession,^[34] and Guy Fawkes did not admit the existence of such a scheme until his fifth interrogation. Logistically, digging a tunnel would have proved extremely difficult, especially as none of the conspirators had any experience of mining.^[48] If the story is true however, by 6 December the Scottish commissioners had finished their work, and the conspirators were busy tunnelling from their rented house to the House of Lords. They ceased their efforts when, during tunnelling, they heard a noise from above. The noise turned out to be the then-tenant's widow, who was clearing out the undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords—the same room where the plotters eventually stored the gunpowder.^[49]

By the time the plotters reconvened at the start of the old style new year on Lady Day, 25 March, three more had been admitted to their ranks; Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Christopher Wright. The additions of Wintour and Wright were obvious choices. Along with a small fortune, Robert Wintour inherited Huddington Court (a known refuge for priests) near Worcester, and was reputedly a generous and well-liked man. A devout Catholic, he married Gertrude Talbot, who was from a family of recusants.^[50] Christopher Wright (1568–1605), John's brother, had also taken part in the Earl of Essex's revolt. A devout Catholic, he had moved his family to Twigmore in Lincolnshire, then known as something of a haven for priests.^[51][52] John Grant was married to Wintour's sister, Dorothy, and was lord of the manor of Norbrook near Stratford-upon-Avon. Reputed to be an intelligent, thoughtful man, he also sheltered Catholics at his home at Snitterfield, and was another who had been involved in the Essex revolt of 1601.^[53][54]

Undercroft

The plotters purchased the lease to an undercroft belonging to John Whynniard. The Palace of Westminster in the early 17th century was a warren of buildings clustered around the medieval chambers, chapels, and halls of the former royal palace that housed both Parliament and the various royal law courts. The old palace was easily accessible; merchants, lawyers, and others, lived and worked in the lodgings, shops, and taverns within its precincts. The undercroft was along a right-angle to the House of Lords, alongside a passageway called Parliament Place, which itself led to Parliament Stairs and the River Thames. Undercrofts were common features at the time, used to house a variety of materials including food and firewood. Whynniard's undercroft, on the ground floor, was directly beneath the first-floor House of Lords, and may once have been part of the palace's medieval kitchen. Unused and filthy, it was considered an ideal repository for the gunpowder the plotters would store there.^[55]

An early 19th-century illustration of the east end of the Prince's Chamber (extreme left) and the east wall of the House of Lords (centre)

The undercroft beneath the House of Lords, as illustrated in 1799. At about the same time it was described as 77 feet long, 24 feet and 4 inches wide, and 10 feet high.^[56]

In the second week of June Catesby met in London the principal Jesuit in England, Father Henry Garnet, and asked him about the morality of entering into an undertaking which might involve the destruction of the innocent, together with the guilty. Garnet answered that such actions could often be excused, but according to his own account later admonished Catesby during a second meeting in July in Essex, showing him a letter from the pope which forbade rebellion. Soon after, the Jesuit priest Oswald Tesimond told Garnet he had taken Catesby's confession,^{[nb 7]} whereupon he had learnt of the plot. Garnet and Catesby met for a third time on 24 July 1605, at the house of the wealthy Jesuit Anne Vaux in Enfield Chase.^{[nb 8]} Garnet had decided that Tesimond's tale had been given under the seal of the confessional, and that canon law forbade him to repeat what he had heard.^[59] Without acknowledging that he was aware of the precise nature of the plot, he attempted to dissuade Catesby from his course, to no avail.^[60] Garnet wrote to a colleague in Rome, Claudio Acquaviva, expressing his concerns about open rebellion in England. He also told Acquaviva that "there is a risk that some private endeavour may commit treason or use force against the King", and urged the pope to issue a public brief against the use of force.^[61]

According to Fawkes, 20 barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by 16 more on 20 July. The supply of gunpowder was theoretically controlled by the government, but it was easily obtained from illicit sources.^{[62][nb 9]} On 28 July however, the ever-present threat of the plague again delayed the opening of Parliament, this time until Tuesday 5 November. Fawkes left the country for a short time. The King, meanwhile, spent much of the summer away from the city, hunting. He stayed wherever was convenient, including on occasion at the houses of prominent Catholics. Garnet, convinced that the threat of an uprising had receded, travelled the country on a pilgrimage.^[63]

The final three conspirators were recruited in late 1605. At Michaelmas, Catesby added the staunch Catholic Ambrose Rookwood to the plot, and persuaded him to rent Clopton House near Stratford-upon-Avon. Rookwood was a young man with recusant connections, whose stable of horses at Coldham in Cambridgeshire proved an important factor in his enlistment. His parents, Robert Rookwood and Dorothea Drury were wealthy landowners, and had educated their son at a Jesuit school near Calais. On 14 October Catesby invited Francis Tresham into the conspiracy.^[64] Tresham was the son of the Catholic Thomas Tresham, and a cousin to Robert Catesby—the two had been raised together.^[65] He was also the heir to his father's large fortune, which had been depleted by recusant fines, expensive tastes, and also by Francis and Catesby's involvement in the Essex revolt.^{[nb 10]} Francis had also been imprisoned at an early age, when he attacked a man and his pregnant daughter who owed money to his father.^[66]

Catesby and Tresham met at the home of Tresham's brother-in-law and cousin, Lord Stourton. In his confession, Tresham claimed that he had asked Catesby if the plot would damn their souls, to which Catesby had replied it would not, and that the plight of England's Catholics required that it be done. Catesby also apparently asked for £2,000, and the use of Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire. Tresham declined both offers (although he did give £100 to Thomas Wintour), and told his interrogators that he had moved his family from Rushton to London in advance of the plot; hardly the actions of a guilty man, he claimed.^[67]

Everard Digby was a young man who was generally well-liked, and lived at Gayhurst House in Buckinghamshire. He had been knighted by the King in April 1603, and was converted to Catholicism by Gerard. Digby and his wife, Mary Mulshaw, had accompanied the priest on his pilgrimage, and the two men were reportedly close friends. Digby was an accomplished equestrian, and was asked by Catesby to rent Coughton Court near Alcester.^[68][69] Digby also promised £1,500 after Percy failed to pay the rent due for the properties he had taken in Westminster.^[70]

Monteagle letter

An anonymous letter, sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, was instrumental in revealing the existence of the plot. Its author has never been reliably established. Francis Tresham has long been a suspect. Monteagle himself has been considered responsible,^[71] as has Salisbury.^[72]

The final details of the plot were finalised in October, in a series of taverns across London and Daventry.^{[nb 11]} Fawkes would be left to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Fawkes would leave for the continent, to explain events in England to the European Catholic powers.^[74]

The wives of those involved, and Anne Vaux (a friend of Garnet who often shielded priests at her home) became increasingly concerned by what they suspected was about to happen.^[75] Several of the conspirators expressed worries about the safety of fellow Catholics who would be present in Parliament on the day of the planned explosion.^[76] Percy was concerned for his patron, Northumberland, and the young Earl of Arundel's name was brought up; Catesby suggested that a minor wound might keep him from the chamber on that day. The Lords Vaux, Montague, Monteagle, and Stourton were also mentioned. Keyes suggested warning Lord Mordaunt, to derision from Catesby.^[77]

On Saturday 26 October, Monteagle (Tresham's brother-in-law) received an anonymous letter while at his house in Hoxton. Having broken the seal, he handed the letter to a servant who read it aloud:

My Lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this parliament; for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country [county] where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm; for the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt the letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.^[74]

Uncertain of the letter's meaning, Monteagle promptly rode to Whitehall and handed it to Salisbury.^[78] Salisbury informed the Earl of Worcester, considered to have recusant sympathies, and the suspected papist Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, but kept news of the plot from the King, who was busy hunting in Cambridgeshire and not expected back for several days. Monteagle's servant, Thomas Ward, had family connections with the Wright brothers, and sent a message to Catesby about the betrayal. Catesby, who had been due to go hunting with the King, suspected that Tresham was responsible for the letter, and with Thomas Wintour confronted the recently recruited conspirator. Tresham managed to convince the pair that he had not written the letter, but urged them to abandon the plot.^[79] Salisbury was already aware of certain stirrings before he received the letter, but did not yet know the exact nature of the plot, or who exactly was involved. He therefore elected to wait, to see how events unfolded.^[80]

Discovery

The letter was shown to the King on Friday 1 November. James felt that it hinted at "some strategem of fire and powder",^[81] perhaps an explosion exceeding in violence the one that killed his father, Lord Darnley, at Kirk o' Field in 1567.^[82] Keen not to seem too intriguing, Salisbury feigned ignorance.^[83] The following day members of the Privy Council visited the King at the Palace of Whitehall and informed him that, based on the information that Salisbury had given them a week earlier, on Monday the Lord Chamberlain Lord Suffolk would undertake a search of the Houses of Parliament, "both above and below". On Sunday 3 November Percy, Catesby and Wintour had a final meeting, where Percy told his colleages that they should "abide the uttermost triall", and reminded them of their ship waiting at anchor on the Thames.^[84] By 4 November Digby was ensconced with a "hunting party" at Dunchurch, ready to abduct Princess Elizabeth.^[85] The same day, Percy visited the Earl of Northumberland—who was innocent of the conspiracy—to see if he could discern what rumours were abound regarding the letter to Monteagle. Percy returned to London and assured Wintour, John Wright, and Robert Keyes that they had nothing to be concerned about, and returned to his lodgings on Gray's Inn Road. That same evening Catesby, John Wright, and Bates set off for the midlands. Fawkes visited Keyes, and left with a watch, to time the fuse, and an hour later Rookwood received several engraved swords from a local cutler.^[86]

Guy Fawkes was discovered in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords shortly after midnight on 5 November 1605

Although two accounts of the number of searches and their timing exist, according to the King's version, the first search of the buildings in and around Parliament was made on Monday 4 November—as the plotters were busy making their final preparations—by Suffolk, Monteagle, and John Whynniard. They found a large pile of firewood in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords, accompanied by what they presumed to be a serving man (Fawkes), who told them that the firewood belonged to his master, Thomas Percy. They left to report their findings, at which time Fawkes also left the building. The King insisted that a more thorough search be undertaken. Late that night, the search party, headed by Thomas Knyvet, returned to the undercroft. There they came across Fawkes once more, who was dressed in a cloak and hat, and wearing boots and spurs. Fawkes, when arrested, gave his name as John Johnson—servant to Thomas Percy. He was carrying a lantern now held in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,^[87] and a search of his person revealed a watch, matches, and touchwood.^[88] The barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of faggots and coal.^[89] Fawkes was taken to the King early on the morning of 5 November.^[90]

Flight

As news of "John Johnson's" arrest spread among the plotters still in London, most fled northwest, along Watling Street. Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy left together. Rookwood left soon after, and managed to cover 30 miles in two hours on one horse. He overtook Keyes, who had set off earlier, then Wright and Percy at Little Brickhill, before catching Catesby, John Wright, and Bates on the same road. They met with Christopher Wright, and continued northwest to Dunchurch, using horses provided by Digby. Keyes went to Mordaunt's house at Drayton. Meanwhile, Thomas Wintour stayed in London, and even went to Westminster to see what was happening. When he realised the plot had been uncovered, he took his horse and made for his sister's house at Norbrook, before continuing to Huddington Court.^{[nb 12][91]}

The group of six conspirators stopped at Ashby St Ledgers at about 6 pm, and met with Robert Wintour, who was quickly updated on their situation. They then continued on to Dunchurch, and met with Digby. Catesby managed to convince the young knight that despite the failure of the plot, an armed struggle was still a real possibility. He announced to Digby's "hunting party" that the King and Salisbury were both dead. Hence, the fugitives now moved west to Warwick.^[91]

In London, news of the plot was spreading, and the authorities set extra guards on the city gates, closed the ports, and protected the house of the Spanish Ambassador, which was surrounded by an angry mob. An arrest warrant was issued against Thomas Percy, and his patron, the Earl of Northumberland, was placed under house arrest.^[93] In "John Johnson's" initial interrogation he revealed nothing other than the name of his mother, and that he was from Yorkshire. A letter to Guy Fawkes was discovered on his person, but he claimed that name was one of his aliases. Far from denying his intentions, Fawkes stated that it had been his purpose to destroy the King and Parliament.^{[nb 13]} Nevertheless, he maintained his composure and insisted that he had acted alone. His unwillingness to yield so impressed James that the King described him as possessing "a Roman resolution".^[95]

Investigation

A torture rack in the Tower of London

On 6 November, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Popham (a man with a deep-seated hatred of Catholics) questioned Rookwood's servants. By the evening he had learnt the names of several of those involved in the conspiracy: Catesby, Rookwood, Keyes, Wynter [sic], John and Christopher Wright, and Grant. "Johnson" meanwhile persisted with his story, and along with the gunpowder he was found with,^{[nb 14]} was moved to the Tower of London, where the King had decided that "Johnson" would be tortured.^[96] The use of torture was forbidden, except by royal prerogative or a body such as the Privy Council or Star Chamber.^[97] In a letter of 6 November James wrote: "The gentler tortours [tortures] are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur [and thus by steps extended to greater ones], and so God speed your good work."^[98] "Johnson" may have been placed in manacles and hung from the wall, but he was almost certainly subjected to the horrors of the rack. By 7 November his resolve had been broken, and he confessed late that day, and again over the following two days.^[99][100]

Last stand

On 6 November, with Fawkes maintaining his silence, the fugitives raided Warwick Castle for supplies and continued to Norbrook to collect weapons. From there they continued their journey to Huddington. Bates left the group and travelled to Coughton Court to deliver a letter from Catesby, to Father Garnet and the other priests, informing them of what had transpired, and asking for their help in raising an army. Garnet replied by begging Catesby and his followers to stop their "wicked actions", before himself fleeing. Several priests set out for Warwick, worried about the fate of their colleagues. They were caught, and then imprisoned in London. Catesby and the others arrived at Huddington early in the afternoon, and were met by Thomas Wintour. They received practically no support or sympathy from those they met, including family members, who were terrified at the prospect of being associated with treason. They continued on to Holbeche House on the border of Staffordshire, the home of Stephen Littleton, a member of their ever-decreasing band of followers. Tired and desperate, they spread out some of the now-soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, to dry out. Although gunpowder does not explode (unless physically contained), a spark from the fire landed on the powder and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant, and a man named Morgan (a member of the hunting party).^[101]

Thomas Wintour and Littleton, on their way from Huddington to Holbeche House, were told by a messenger that Catesby had died. At that point, Littleton left, but Thomas arrived at the house to find Catesby alive, albeit scorched. John Grant was not so lucky, and had been blinded by the fire. Digby, Robert Wintour, John Wintour, and Thomas Bates, had all left. Of the plotters, only the singed figures of Catesby and Grant, and the Wright brothers and Percy, remained. The fugitives resolved to stay in the house and wait for the arrival of the King's men. Richard Walsh (Sheriff of Worcester) and his company of 200 men besieged Holbeche House on the morning of 8 November. Thomas Wintour was hit in the shoulder, while crossing the courtyard. John Wright was shot, followed by his brother, and then Rookwood. Catesby and Percy were reportedly killed by the same shot. The attackers rushed the property, and stripped the dead or dying defenders of their clothing. Grant, Morgan, Rookwood, and Wintour were arrested.^[102]

Reaction

Bates and Keyes were captured shortly after Holbeche House was taken. Digby, who had intended to give himself up, was caught by a small group of pursuers. Tresham was arrested on 12 November, and taken to the Tower three days later. Montague, Mordaunt, and Stourton (Tresham's brother-in-law) were also imprisoned in the Tower. The Earl of Northumberland joined them on 27 November.^[103] Meanwhile the government used the plot to accelerate its persecution of Catholics. The home of Anne Vaux at Enfield Chase was searched, revealing the presence of trap doors and hidden passages. A terrified servant then revealed that Garnet, who had often stayed at the house, had recently given a Mass at the house. Father John Gerard was secreted at the home of Elizabeth Vaux, in Harrowden. Elizabeth was taken to London for interrogation. There she was resolute; she had never been aware that Gerard was a priest, she had presumed he was a "Catholic gentleman", and she did not know of his whereabouts. The homes of the conspirators were searched, and looted. The home of Mary Digby was ransacked, and she was made destitute.^[104] Some time before the end of November, Garnet moved to Hindlip Hall near Worcester, the home of the Habingtons, where he wrote a letter to the Privy Council protesting his innocence.^[105]

Robert Cecil,
1st Earl of Salisbury.
Painting by John de Critz the Elder, 1602.

The foiling of the Gunpowder Plot initiated a wave of national relief at the delivery of the King and his sons, and inspired in the ensuing parliament a mood of loyalty and goodwill, which Salisbury astutely exploited to extract higher subsidies for the King than any (bar one) granted in Elizabeth's reign.^[106] Walter Ralegh, languishing in the Tower due to his involvement in the Main Plot, and whose wife was a first cousin of Lady Catesby, declared he had no knowledge of the conspiracy.^[107] The Bishop of Rochester gave a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, in which he condemned the plot.^[108] In his speech to both Houses on 9 November, James expounded on two emerging preoccupations of his monarchy: the Divine Right of Kings and the Catholic question. He insisted that the plot had been the work of only a few Catholics, not of the English Catholics as a whole,^{[nb 15]} and he reminded the assembly to rejoice at his survival, since kings were divinely appointed and he owed his escape to a miracle.^[109] Salisbury wrote to his English ambassadors abroad, informing them of what had occurred, and also reminding them that the King bore no ill will to his Catholic neighbours. The foreign powers largely distanced themselves from the plotters, calling them atheists and Protestant heretics.^[108]

Interrogations

Sir Edward Coke (pronounced "Cook") was in charge of the interrogations. Over a period of about ten weeks, in the Lieutenant's Lodgings at the Tower of London (now known as the Queen's House) he questioned those who had been implicated in the plot. For the first round of interrogations, no real proof exists that these people were tortured, although on several occasions Salisbury certainly suggested that they should be. Coke later revealed that the threat of torture was in most cases enough to solicit a confession from those caught up in the aftermath of the plot.^[110]

Only two confessions were ever printed in full; Fawkes's confession of 8 November, and Wintour's confession of 23 November. Fawkes's signature demonstrates the effect his torture had upon him. As someone who had been involved in the conspiracy from the start (unlike Fawkes, who had joined at a later date), Wintour's knowledge was extremely valuable to the Privy Council. The handwriting on his testimony is almost certainly that of the man himself, but his signature was however, markedly different. Wintour had previously only ever signed his name as such, but his confession is signed "Winter", and since he had been shot in the shoulder, the steady hand used to write the signature may indicate some measure of government interference—or it may indicate that writing a shorter version of his name was less painful.^[111] Wintour's testimony makes no mention of his brother, Robert. Both were published in the so-called King's Book, a hastily authored official account of the conspiracy published in late November 1605.^[34][112]

Part of a confession by Guy Fawkes. His weak signature, after days of torture, is faintly visible under the word 'good' (lower right).

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was in a difficult position. His midday dinner with Percy on 4 November was damning evidence against him,^[113] and with the death of Thomas Percy, there was nobody left who could either implicate him, or clear him. The Privy Council suspected that Northumberland was to be the protector of Princess Elizabeth, had the plot succeeded, but could find no evidence upon which to convict him. Northumberland remained in the Tower and on 27 June 1606 was finally charged with contempt. He was stripped of all public offices, fined £30,000 (about £4.2 million as of 2009), and kept in the Tower until June 1621.^[114] The Lords Mordaunt and Stourton faced trial in Star Chamber, and were both condemned to imprisonment in the Tower. They remained there until 1608, when both were transferred to Fleet Prison. Both were given significant fines.^[115]

Several other people not involved in the conspiracy, but known or related to the conspirators, were also questioned. Northumberland's brothers, Sir Allen and Sir Josceline, were arrested. Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu had employed Fawkes at an early age, and had also met Catesby on 29 October, and was therefore of interest; he was released several months later.^[116] Agnes Wenman was from a Catholic family, and related to Elizabeth Vaux.^{[nb 16]} She was examined twice but the charges were eventually dropped.^[118] Percy's secretary and later the controller of Northumberland's household, Dudley Carleton, had leased the vault where the gunpowder was stored, and consequently he was imprisoned in the Tower. Salisbury believed his story, and authorised his release.^[119]

Jesuits

Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire. The building was destroyed in a fire, in 1820.

Thomas Bates confessed on 4 December, and provided much of the information that Salisbury needed to link the Catholic clergy to the plot. He had been present at most of the meetings, and while being interrogated he implicated Father Tesimond in the plot. On 13 January 1606 he described how he had visited Garnet and Tesimond on 7 November to inform Garnet of the plot's failure. Bates also told his interrogators of his ride with Tesimond to Huddington, before the priest left him to head for the Habingtons at Hindlip Hall, and of a meeting between Garnet, Gerard, and Tesimond in October 1605. Tresham's health began to deteriorate early in December 1605. He was visited regularly by his wife, a nurse, and his servant William Vavasour, who documented his strangury. Before he died Tresham had also told of Garnet's involvement with the 1603 mission to Spain, but in his last hours he retracted some of these statements. Nowhere in his confession did he mention the Monteagle letter. He died early on the morning of 23 December, and was buried in the Tower. Nevertheless he was attainted along with the other plotters, his head was set on a pike either at Northampton or London Bridge, and his estates confiscated.^{[120][121][122]}

On 15 January a proclamation named Father Garnet, Father Gerard, and Father Greenway (Tesimond) as wanted men. Tesimond and Gerard^[123] managed to escape the country and live out their days in freedom; Garnet was not so lucky. Several days earlier, on 9 January, Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton were captured. Their hiding place at at Hagley, the home of Humphrey Littleton (brother of MP John Littleton, imprisoned for treason in 1601 for his part in the Essex revolt)^[124] was betrayed by a cook, who grew suspicious at the amount of food sent up for his master's consumption. Humphrey denied the presence of the two fugitives, but another servant led the authorities to their hiding place.^[125] On 20 January the local Justice and his retainers arrived at Thomas Habington's home, Hindlip Hall, with the official proclamation for the arrest of the Jesuits. Despite Thomas Habington's protestations, the men spent the next four days searching the house. On 24 January, starving, two priests left their hiding places and were discovered. Humphrey Littleton, who had escaped from the authorities at Hagley, got as far as Prestwood in Staffordshire before he was captured. He was imprisoned, and then condemned to death at Worcester. On hearing this, his resolve collapsed and on 26 January he told the authorities where exactly they could find Father Garnet, in exchange for his life. Worn down by hiding for so long, Garnet, however, with another priest, appeared of his own accord the next day.^[126]

Trials

Edward Coke conducted the interrogations of those thought to be involved with the conspiracy.

By coincidence, on the same day as Garnet was found, the surviving conspirators were arraigned in Westminster Hall. Seven of the prisoners were brought to Star Chamber by barge, from the Tower. Bates, who was considered lower class, was brought from the gatehouse of Westminster. Some of the prisoners were reportedly despondent, but others were nonchalant, even smoking tobacco. They were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. Among the many people watching the trial, was the King and his family, hidden from view. The Lords Commissioners present were the Earls of Suffolk, Worcester, Northampton, Devonshire, and Salisbury. Sir John Popham was Lord Chief Justice, Sir Thomas Fleming was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and two Justices, Sir Thomas Walmsley and Sir Peter Warburton, sat as Justices of the Common Pleas. The list of traitors' names was read aloud, beginning with the names of the priests: Garnet, Tesimond, and Gerard.^[127][128]

The Jesuit priest, Henry Garnet

The first to speak was the Speaker of the House of Commons (later Master of the Rolls), Sir Edward Philips, who described the intent behind the plot in lurid detail.^[128] He was followed by the Attorney-General Sir Edward Coke, who began with a long speech—the content of which was heavily influenced by Salisbury—that included a denial that the King had ever made any promises to the Catholics. Monteagle's part in the discovery of the plot was welcomed, and denouncements of the 1603 mission to Spain featured strongly. Fawkes's protestations that Gerard knew nothing of the plot were deliberately left out of Coke's speech. The foreign powers, when mentioned, were accorded due respect, but the priests were accursed, their behaviour analysed and criticised wherever possible. There was little doubt, according to Coke, that the plot had been invented by the Jesuits. Garnet's meeting with Catesby, at which the former was said to have absolved the latter of any blame in the plot, was proof enough that the Jesuits were central to the conspiracy. Coke spoke with feeling of the probable fate of the Queen and the rest of the King's family, and of the innocents who would have been caught up in the explosion.^[129]

Each of the condemned, said Coke, would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. He was to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". His genitals would be cut off and burnt before his eyes, and his bowels and heart then removed. Then he would be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of his body displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".^[129] Confessions and declarations from the prisoners were then read aloud, and finally the prisoners were allowed to speak. Rookwood claimed that he had been drawn into the plot by Catesby, "whom he loved above any worldy man". Thomas Wintour begged to be hanged for himself and his brother, so that he might be spared. Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment. Keyes appeared to accept his fate, Bates and Robert Wintour begged for mercy, and Grant explained his involvement as "a conspiracy intended but never effected."^[130] Only Digby, tried on a separate indictment,^[128] pleaded guilty, insisting that the King had reneged upon promises of toleration for Catholics, and that affection for Catesby and love of the Catholic cause mitigated his actions. He sought death by the axe and begged mercy from the King for his young family.^[131] His defence was in vain; his arguments were rebuked by Coke and Northumberland, and along with his seven co-conspirators, he was found guilty by the jury of high treason. Digby shouted "If I may but hear any of your lordships say, you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." The response was short: "God forgive you, and we do."^[132][133]

Garnet may have been questioned on as many as 23 occasions. His response to the threat of the rack was "Minute ista pueris (Threats are only for boys)", and he denied having encouraged Catholics to pray for the success of the "Catholic Cause". His interrogators resorted to the forgery of correspondence between Garnet and other Catholics, but to no avail. His jailers then allowed him to talk with another priest in a neighbouring cell, with eavesdroppers recording every word. Eventually the weight of evidence forced Garnet to admit the extent of his knowledge of the conspirators, and the plot.^[134] Garnet was charged with complicity in early March. His trial began in the Guildhall on 28 March, and lasted from 8 am until 7 pm.^[135] According to Coke, Garnet was the instigator of the plot: "[Garnet] hath many gifts and endowments of nature, by art learned, a good linguist and, by profession, a Jesuit and a Superior as indeed he is Superior to all his predecessors in devilish treason, a Doctor of Dissimulation, Deposing of Princes, Disposing of Kingdoms, Daunting and deterring of subjects, and Destruction." Garnet refuted all the charges against him, and explained the Catholic position on such matters, but he was nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to death.^[105]

Executions

Print of the members of the Gunpowder Plot being hanged, drawn, and quartered

Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited on spikes outside the House of Lords.^[103] On a cold 30 January, Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, were tied to hurdles and then dragged through the streets, which were lined with people, to St Paul's Churchyard. Digby, the first to mount the scaffold, asked the audience for forgiveness, and refused the attentions of a Protestant clergyman. He was stripped of his clothing, and wearing only a shirt, climbed the ladder to place his head through the noose. He was quickly cut down, and still fully concious was castrated, disembowelled, and then quartered, along with the three other prisoners.^[136] The following day, Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Guy Fawkes were hanged, drawn, and quartered, opposite the building they had planned to blow up, in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster.^[137] Keyes did not wait for the hangman's command, and jumped from the gallows; however he survived the drop and was led to the quartering block. Fawkes, although weakened by torture, was luckier and managed to cheat the executioners: when he was to be hanged until almost dead, he jumped from the gallows, breaking his neck and killing himself, thus avoiding the gruesome latter part of his execution.^[138][139]

Steven Littleton was executed at Stafford. His cousin Humphrey, despite his cooperation with the authorities, met his end at Red Hill near Worcester.^[140] Henry Garnet's execution took place on 3 May 1606, but unlike the conspirators, he was not drawn and quartered. On the King's express instructions, Garnet was left hanging from the gallows until he was dead.^[141]

Aftermath

Greater freedom for Roman Catholics to worship as they chose seemed unlikely in 1604, but the discovery of such a wide-ranging conspiracy, the capture of those involved, and the subsequent trials could only force Parliament in one direction—greater intolerance of Catholics. New anti-Catholic legislation was soon considered; in the summer of 1606, laws against recusancy were strengthened.^[142] The Popish Recusants Act returned England to the Elizabethan system of fines and restrictions, and included a sacramental test, and a new Oath of Allegiance.^[143] Catholic Emancipation took another 200 years, but many important and loyal Catholics retained high office during King James I's reign.^[144]

The playwright William Shakespeare had already used the family history of Northumberland's family in his Henry IV series of plays, and the events of the Gunpowder Plot seem to have featured alongside the earlier Gowrie conspiracy in Macbeth, written some time between 1603 and 1607.^[145] Interest in the demonic was heightened by the Gunpowder Plot. The King had become engaged in the great debate about other-worldly powers in writing his Daemonology in 1597, before he became King of England as well as Scotland. Inversions seen in such lines as "fair is foul and foul is fair" are used frequently, and another possible reference to the plot relates to the use of equivocation; Garnett’s A Treatise of Equivocation was found on one of the plotters.^[146]

The Gunpowder Plot was commemorated for years by special sermons and other public acts, such as the ringing of church bells. It added to an increasingly full calendar of Protestant celebrations that contributed to the national and religious life of 17th-century England,^[147] and has evolved into the Bonfire Night of today. In What If the Gunpowder Plot Had Succeeded? historian Ronald Hutton considered the events which might have followed a successful implementation of the plot, and the destruction of the House of Lords and all those within it. He concluded that a severe backlash against suspected Catholics would have followed, and that without foreign assistance a successful rebellion would have been unlikely; despite differing religious convictions, most Englishmen were loyal to the institution of the monarchy. England might have become a more "Puritan absolute monarchy", as "existed in Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, and Prussia in the seventeenth century", rather than following the path of parliamentary and civil reform that it did.^[148]

Accusations of state conspiracy

Many at the time felt that Salisbury had been involved in the plot to gain favour with the King and enact more stridently anti-Catholic legislation. Such theories alleged that Salisbury had either actually invented the plot or allowed it to continue when his agents had already infiltrated it, for the purposes of propaganda. These rumours were the start of a long-lasting conspiracy theory about the plot. Yet while there was no "golden time" of "toleration" of Catholics which Father Garnet had hoped for at the start of James's reign, the legislative backlash had nothing to do with the plot: it had already happened by 1605, as recusancy fines were re-imposed and some priests expelled. There was no purge of Catholics from power and influence in the kingdom after the Gunpowder Plot, despite Puritan complaints. The reign of James I was a period of relative leniency for Catholics, and few were subject to prosecution.^[149]

This did not dissuade some from continuing to claim Salisbury's involvement in the plot. In 1897 Father John Gerard of Stonyhurst College, namesake of a Jesuit priest who had performed Mass for some of the plotters, wrote an account called What was the Gunpowder Plot?, alleging Salisbury's culpability.^[150] This prompted a refutation later that year by Samuel Gardiner, who argued that Gerard had gone too far in trying to "wipe away the reproach" which the plot had exacted on generations of English Catholics.^[151] Gardiner portrayed Salisbury as guilty of nothing more than opportunism. Subsequent attempts to prove Salisbury's responsibility, such as Francis Edwards's 1969 work Guy Fawkes: the real story of the gunpowder plot?, have similarly foundered on the lack of positive proof of any government involvement in setting up the plot.^[152]

Bonfire night

Bonfires are lit in Britain every 5th of November to commemorate the plot.

In January 1606, during the first sitting of Parliament since the plot, a "Thanksgiving Act" was passed, making services and sermons commemorating the event an annual feature of English life;^[153] the act remained in force until 1859.^[154] The tradition of marking the day with the ringing of church bells and bonfires started soon after the plot's discovery, and fireworks were included in some of the earliest celebrations.^[153] In Britain, the 5th of November is variously called Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or Guy Fawkes Night.^[154] The Houses of Parliament are still searched by the Yeomen of the Guard before the State Opening of Parliament, although the ritual is now retained as a picturesque custom rather than as a serious anti-terrorism precaution.^[154]

It remains the custom in Britain, on or around 5 November, to let off fireworks. Traditionally, in the weeks running up to the 5th, children made "guys"—effigies supposedly of Fawkes—usually formed from old clothes stuffed with newspaper, and equipped with a grotesque mask, to be burnt on the 5 November bonfire. These effigies were exhibited in the street, to collect money for fireworks, although this practice has become less common.^[155] The word guy came thus in the 19th century to mean an oddly dressed person, and hence in the 20th and 21st centuries to mean any male person.^[154]

November the 5th firework displays and bonfire parties are common throughout Britain, in major public displays and in private gardens.^[154] In some areas, particularly in Sussex, there are extensive processions, large bonfires and firework displays organised by local bonfire societies, the most elaborate of which take place in Lewes.

According to Esther Forbes (a biographer), the Guy Fawkes Day celebration in the pre-revolutionary American colonies was a very popular holiday. In Boston, the revelry took on anti-authoritarian overtones, and often became so dangerous that many would not venture out of their homes.^[156]

Reconstructing the explosion

In the 2005 ITV programme The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend, a full-size replica of the House of Lords was built and destroyed with barrels of gunpowder. The experiment was conducted on the Advantica Spadeadam test site, and demonstrated that the explosion, if the gunpowder was in good order, would have killed all those in the building.^[157] The power of the explosion was such that the 7-foot (2.1 m) deep concrete walls (made deliberately to replicate how archives suggest the walls in the old House of Lords were constructed) were reduced to rubble. Measuring devices placed in the chamber to calculate the force of the blast were themselves destroyed by the explosion; the skull of the dummy representing King James, which had been placed on a throne inside the chamber surrounded by courtiers, peers and bishops, was found a considerable distance from the site. According to the findings of the programme, no-one within 330 feet (100 m) of the blast could have survived, and all of the stained glass windows in Westminster Abbey would have been shattered, as would all of the windows in the vicinity of the Palace. The explosion would have been seen from miles away, and heard from further away still. Even if only half of the gunpowder had gone off, everyone in the House of Lords and its environs would have been killed instantly.^[157]

The programme also disproved claims that some deterioration in the quality of the gunpowder would have prevented the explosion. A portion of deliberately deteriorated gunpowder, of such low quality as to make it unusable in firearms, when placed in a heap and ignited, still managed to create a large explosion. The impact of even deteriorated gunpowder would have been magnified by its containment in wooden barrels, compensating for the quality of the contents. The compression would have created a cannon effect, with the powder first blowing up from the top of the barrel before, a millisecond later, blowing out. In addition, mathematical calculations showed that Fawkes, who was skilled in the use of gunpowder, had used double the amount of gunpowder needed.^[158]

Some of the gunpowder guarded by Fawkes may have survived. In March 2002 workers cataloguing archives of diarist John Evelyn at the British Library found a box containing a number of gunpowder samples, including a compressed bar with a note in Evelyn's handwriting stating that it had belonged to Guy Fawkes. A further note, written in the 19th century, confirmed this provenance, but in 1952 the document acquired a new comment: "but there was none left".^[159]

See also

• Popish Plot
• Nicholas Owen (martyr)

References

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Gunpowder Plot Sermon

• The Gunpowder Plot (Website exploring the history of the plot for younger users)
• The Gunpowder Plot (House of Commons Information Sheet)
• What If the Gunpowder Plot Had Succeeded?
• A contemporary account of the executions of the plotters
• Interactive Guide: Gunpowder Plot Guardian Unlimited
• Website of a crew member of ITV's Exploding the Legend programme, with a photograph of the explosion