Gunpowder Plot

The main conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Robert Catesby was the leader of the plot, while Guy Fawkes was the explosives expert. Their disaffection with James I arose from his failure to implement tolerance measures for Catholics as had been widely anticipated.

In British history, the Catholic conspiracy to blow up James I and his parliament on 5 November 1605. It was discovered through an anonymous letter. Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar beneath the Palace of Westminster, ready to fire a store of explosives. Several of the conspirators were killed as they fled, and Fawkes and seven others were captured and executed.

In 1604 the conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, took possession of a vault below the House of Lords where they stored barrels of gunpowder. Lord Monteagle, a Catholic peer, received the anonymous letter warning him not to attend Parliament on 5 November. A search was made, and Guy Fawkes was discovered in the vault and arrested.

The event is commemorated annually in England on 5 November by fireworks and burning ‘guys’ (effigies) on bonfires. The searching of the vaults of Parliament before the opening of each new session, however, was not instituted until the Popish Plot of 1678.