The Gunpowder Plot
Houses of Parliament, London
What happened
Angry about laws against Catholics, a group of plotters planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November 1605, when King James I would be there. They hid barrels of gunpowder in a rented cellar under the building. An anonymous warning letter reached the king, and around midnight on 4 November searchers found Guy Fawkes guarding the gunpowder.
Why it matters
The plot's failure made many English Protestants more suspicious of Catholics, and harsher treatment of Catholics followed. It also started a tradition still kept today: on 5 November, people in England and several other countries light bonfires and set off fireworks.
What came next
The ringleader, Robert Catesby, was killed when government forces surrounded the remaining plotters in Staffordshire on 8 November 1605. The captured plotters were tried in January 1606, found guilty of treason, and executed.
Did you know?
The lantern Guy Fawkes is said to have carried in the cellar is now kept at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Timeline
- 18 August 1604England signs a peace treaty with Catholic Spain, ending plotters' hopes of Spanish help.
- Late October 1605Lord Mounteagle receives an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from Parliament, and passes it on to the king's officials.
- 4–5 November 1605Around midnight, searchers find Guy Fawkes and barrels of gunpowder under Parliament.
- 8 November 1605Government forces surround the remaining plotters at Holbeche House; Catesby is killed.
- January 1606The surviving plotters are tried at Westminster Hall and found guilty of treason.