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When James came to the throne the Catholics, who had not been allowed to worship openly under Elizabeth, thought things might improve. James, although
Protestant, was quite tolerant to Catholics, at least those who didn’t acknowledge the Pope’s power. His wife, Queen Anne of Denmark was a Catholic, a pretty good
sign, and so Catholics thought things might be a lot better. At this time, in both Scotland and England, which were run separately although James was King of both,
Protestants and Catholics lived side-by-side although a little uneasily.
However some English Catholics felt James should go further. Robert Catesby was a devout Catholic and he and his family had suffered under Queen
Elizabeth. His father had been sent to prison for hiding a priest, and Robert had to leave university without a degree as you couldn't get a degree without
taking the Protestant Oath of Supremacy. In 1603, there had been two small Catholic plots against James and by 1604 James had announced that he utterly detested
Catholicism. He rounded up many Catholics and made them pay a big fine.
Catholics now realised there was no chance James would give them
the freedom to worship their religion. Robert Catesby had gone to Spain in 1603 to try to persuade the King of Spain to invade England but he failed. When he
returned he met up with other Catholics and they devised a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th 1605 as they knew the King would be there.
One of the plotters was a bloke called Guy Fawkes (or a guy called Bloke Fawkes, not really) who had been fighting for the King of Spain in the
Netherlands. He managed to buy 36 barrels of gunpowder. At first the plotters had tried to tunnel under Parliament from a nearby house they rented but that didn't
work so then they rented a cellar in the actual Parliament building.
On 26th October 1605, ten days before Parliament was due to meet,
an MP called Lord Monteagle, the brother-in-law of one of the plotters, got an anonymous letter warning him not to go to Parliament when it met. It said that
Parliament would receive a terrible blow but not be able to see who hurt them. Monteagle took the letter to the King and it appears the plotters knew this but
decided to carry on anyway. Don't ask.... yet.
It seems that the government, namely Robert Cecil who was James' first minister and had been an advisor to Elizabeth, may have already known of the
plot, even before the letter. Cecil was the James Bond of the time, or more precisely the “M” as he had spies all over the world who reported to him. Catesby and
Fawkes had both travelled overseas looking for support.
At midnight on November 4/5 a search of Parliament found Guy
Fawkes lurking in a cellar and then the 36 barrels of gunpowder were found. Not being able to use the excuse “I was just getting ready for firework’s night,”
Fawkes was arrested and, after being tortured, he revealed he was a part of a Catholic plot to kill the King and replace him with a Catholic leader. Within
days all the other members of the gang had either been killed or arrested.
In January 1606 Fawkes and his fellow plotters were to be executed by hanging. However, Fawkes either jumped or fell from the ladder he had to
climb in order to be suspended on the scaffold. As the rope was already around his neck, the fall tightened it and he died instantly. The government then declared
that November 5th 1606, one year later, would be the first annual thanksgiving day, which is why, even now, over 400 years later, we still celebrate Guy Fawkes
Night or Bonfire Night on that night.
Following the failed Gunpowder Plot, new laws were introduced that stopped Catholics from being lawyers, serving in the army or navy and being
allowed to vote. Some people wonder if the whole thing was really a plot by the government, and mainly Robert Cecil, to make people think badly of Catholics and
so bring in these new laws.
There are a few questions that make you wonder. Why did the
government wait nine days from getting that letter before they searched Parliament? Why, once the plotters knew they had been discovered, did they continue?
As only the government could sell gunpowder, how did good old Guy get 36 barrels of it. You can't really bring it to the country in your hand luggage.
What do you think? Was the government secretly supporting the plot and trying to turn ordinary people against Catholics by showing how dangerous
they were or were these guys, (well one Guy and 3 called Thomas, 3 called Robert, 2 called John, a Francis, a Christopher, an Everard and an Ambrose), acting on
their own?
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