The Gunpowder Plot
-Chrissie
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The Gunpowder Plot was a conspiracy by English Catholics to kill King James I and replace him with a more Catholic-friendly monarch. Their plan was to blow up Parliament during its opening on 5 November 1605. They would use the confusion created by the disaster as an opportunity for a Catholic take-over, returning the country to the Roman Church, as it had been before Henry VIII removed it.
James I came to the throne at the death of the Elizabeth I on 24 March 1603. The government of Elizabeth I (Henry’s daugther with Anne Boleyn) maintained official toleration of all Christian sects, but self-identified Catholic plots against her prompted the institution of anti-Catholic laws. Because Elizabeth had no children, the succession moved to the line of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret, who had been married to James IV of Scotland in 1503. James I of England was also James VI of Scotland and was the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor. He was Protestant, but his mother had been Catholic, and his wife was sympathetic to Catholics, so it was hoped that he would get rid of some of the anti-Catholic laws instituted under Elizabeth and her father. This was not to be; James’ advisors were largely Protestant and there was a fear of plots against him and his government by Catholics.
Leaders in the English Catholic community spoke and negotiated with James, but to little effect. The plot was initiated by the staunchly Catholic Robert Catesby, who had a personal grudge against English Protestantism because his father had been prosecuted for non-conformity in the reign of Elizabeth I. He allied with four others, Robert Winter, Thomas Perry, John Wright, and Guy Fawkes. As time went on, others were added to the conspiracy to fill needed roles: Thomas (brother of Robert) Winter, John Grant, Sir Edmund Bayham, Ambrose Rokewood, Robert Keyes, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham (Catesby’s cousin), and Thomas Bates (servant to Catesby). They rented a house next to the building in which the House of Lords met, with a plan of tunnelling below it. They also rented an undercroft, a storage area leftover from earlier buildings, which was directly underneath the chambers for the House of Lords. In this, they placed 36 (or so) barrels of gunpowder, which were hidden behind other materials.
Once the arrangements were made, the conspirators moved to place themselves in useful positions for the aftermath of the plot. Fawkes went to Flanders to collect support; Bayham was sent to Rome in order to correctly frame the issue to the Pope on news of its success. Digby planned a hunt at Coughton Court in Warwickshire to coincide with the opening of Parliament, to which he invited influential members of the gentry who were Catholic. The plan was to let them in on the secret after its success; they would then form the core of the new government. The conspirators in London were to kidnap the royal children, Elizabeth and Charles, then put the eleven-year-old princess on the throne as a puppet queen.
In the weeks ahead of November 5, some of the men began to have doubts. The overall loss of life troubled them, as well as the fact that there would be Catholic members of Parliament killed alongside the hated Protestants. They wanted to warn their coreligionists, but Catesby forbade it; the more people who knew, the more likely they would be found out. One of the conspirators disobeyed: on 26 October, William Parker, Lord Monteagle, received a letter warning him away from attending the opening of Parliament. This prompted exactly the situation Catesby feared: he showed the letter to his colleagues and an investigation was begun. A servant of Monteagle’s told a servant of Thomas Winter that they’d been found out, information Winter gave to Catesby to persuade him to call off the plot. Catesby refused. The cellar with the gunpowder had not been disturbed, so the conspirators could hope that the warning was not being taken seriously.
The warning was heeded, but the investigators waited until the last possible minute to reveal themselves, hoping the plot would be further exposed. The storage space was investigated on the night of 4 November and the gunpowder was found. Fawkes, who had been guarding the cache, was arrested. On hearing this, the rest of the conspirators fled, meeting at Coughton Court as planned. Catesby explained that the plot had failed but, curiously, claimed that James had been killed anyway, likely with the idea of salvaging the situation. They travelled toward Wales, hoping to make common cause with anti-English rebels. In the meantime, Fawkes was being tortured for information, on the orders of the king. He gave up the names of some, but not all, of his fellows.
The conspirators stopped to rest at Holbeche House, where the king’s sheriffs found them. They shot into the house, killing Catesby, Percy, and Wright immediately. The rest of the men were taken and imprisoned in the Tower to await trial. One, Francis Tresham, died in this time. The rest were tried and convicted on 27 January 1606. Digby, Robert Winter, Grant, and Bates were executed on 30 January. The others, Fawkes, Thomas Winter, Rokewood, and Keyes, were executed the next day. The conspirators acted with the idea of improving the conditions of Catholics living in England, but their actions led to more, and more severe, anti-Catholic laws and fueled the hatred of Catholics among the people.
Parliament voted to commemorate 5 November as a day of public thanksgiving in recognition of the discovery of the plot and the king’s life being saved. This stayed on the books as a state holiday until 1859. It was celebrated in a way that recalled the conspirators’ plans, with bonfires, as well as the burning of effigies of Fawkes. Over time, the holiday shifted away from the particulars of its creation to a more generalized celebration of the end of warm weather, the harvest, and an acknowledgement of the oncoming winter.