Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, Why gunpowder treason, Should ever be forgot.
The greatest of British holidays is upon us (more or less); the 5th of November, otherwise known as Bonfire night or Guy Fawkes night. A night where the British let off fireworks, burn effigies, and watch V for Vendetta. It’s like the 4th of July but without the benefit of independence.
It’s a tradition that commemorates, rather bizarrely, a failed attempt by a group of Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament during its official opening. The event guaranteed not only the attendance of the majority, if not all, of the country’s leading political figures. This included King James I of England, the primary target of the plot. The plan failed when one of the conspirators, Guy Fawkes, was discovered and arrested. The plot collapsed and those involved were tried for treason. Inevitably, they were executed.
This was hardly the first time a group had organised against the monarch. James’ predecessor, Elizabeth I, had faced a number of named plots intent on deposing her in favour of her royal cousin, incidentally James’ mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. But this was a conspiracy that threatened not just the person of the king, but the entire government and anyone connected to it. The scope was incredible and the implications so profound as to capture the public imagination for centuries. As demonstrated by the continued observation of Bonfire Night. (And the aforementioned V for Vendetta).
why gunpowder treason?
Tensions between Protestants and Catholics was hardly new to the reign of King James. The European wars of religion had been waging for some time (and would continue for the next couple hundred years). England had managed to avoid the worst of the actual war by dint of being separated from the landmass of Europe but that isn’t to say it hadn’t faced the conflicts. The Protestant Queen Elizabeth had faced numerous Catholic threats and before her, her father, Henry VIII, had faced widespread revolts when he’d broken with the Church in Rome.
When James I ascended the English throne, there was speculation that, although a Protestant, he would be more sympathetic to his Catholic subjects. His mother had been Catholic and initially James was indeed fairly moderate in his treatment of them. However, when he discovered that his own wife had converted to Catholicism in 1604 (some years after she’d actually converted) his attitude hardened and with it, anti-Catholic legislation. He denounced the Catholic church and more rigidly enforced fines on recusants (those who refused to attend Church of England services).
There were thirteen conspirators involved in the plot, all of them Catholic, naturally. With one exception, the plotters were all drawn from the provincial nobility/upper echelons of the gentry. They were mostly members of prominent Catholic families who had suffered imprisonment and other punishments under Elizabeth I. The majority of them also had personal experience with English penal laws and been imprisoned at various points. Sometimes this was a precaution such as during the Spanish Armarda and the death of Elizabeth I whereby it was feared they might incite rebellion. A number of them were no strangers to plotting and had been involved with the Essex Rebellion against Elizabeth I in 1601. While they likely didn’t share the Earl of Essex’s view that the government needed to be overthrown but Elizabeth preserved, they took any opportunity to either change the monarch or force more sympathetic legislation.
gunpowder, treason, and plot
Although Guy Fawkes is synonymous with Bonfire Night, he was not the brains behind the operation or even one of the lead conspirators. The plot began with one Robert Catesby. He had been born into a prominent Catholic family and his father had frequently been imprisoned for his faith. Catesby was also related to the Throckmortons, another prominent recusant family who had been involved with plotting against Elizabeth I for the sake of her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.
When King James seemed to turn against his Catholic subjects, Catesby decided that a regime change was in order. He had the idea that the king could be assassinated during the State Opening of Parliament and started gathering like minded gentlemen around him in order to execute his plan. One of his early conspirators, Thomas Wintour, travelled to the Netherlands to scout for Spanish support in the event of a Catholic revolution. He found support unlikely but returned with a handful of interested supporters. Among them was one Guy Fawkes, an English Catholic who had left the country to fight alongside the Protestant Dutch in their wars of independence.
In May 1604, the first conspirators met for the first time and committed to the plan. They would blow up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. This would kill not only King James, their primary target, but wipe out the majority of the English government. From there, they would take custody of, or kill, the king’s sons. They would install the king’s ten year old daughter, Elizabeth, as queen with the Earl of Northumberland as regent. Northumberland was not a Catholic himself but was extremely sympathetic to their plight as well as being the cousin and patron to one of the plotters. He also had absolutely no idea that there was a conspiracy or that he stood to play a part in it if it were successful.
The plot was to have blown up the King at such time as he should have been set on his Royal Throne, accompanied with all his Children, Nobility and Commoners and assisted with all Bishops, Judges and Doctors; at one instant and blast to have ruin'd the whole State and Kingdom of England.
The conspirators rented an undercroft beneath the Houses of Parliament and filled it with gunpowder while they figured out their movements in preparation for the opening. Originally, the State Opening of Parliament was scheduled for February 1605 but was delayed due to fears of the plague. Good thing too, Remember, Remember a date in February doesn’t rhyme nearly as well. Parliament was eventually scheduled for the 5th November 1605 and the conspirators finalised their plans.
should never be forgot
On the 26th October, William Parker, Baron Monteagle (incidentally the brother-in-law of one of the conspirators) received a letter warning him not to attend the opening of parliament. Monteagle immediately brought the letter to the attention of the king who ordered a complete search of the parliamentary building. Several other Catholic nobles were also noted to have stayed away from parliament though it’s impossible to say if they were also forewarned.
The first searches yielded nothing but a follow up uncovered Guy Fawkes within the rented undercroft, complete with gunpowder, and everything he needed to light said gunpowder. He gave his name as John Johnson and was taken to the king. His co-conspirators scattered while “Johnson” was taken to the Tower of London to be tortured with special dispensation from the king. While Fawkes refused to give up his friends, various servants were being interrogated and gave the authorities several names. The other plotters were on the run, desperately trying and failing to raise an army against the king. The authorities caught up to them on the 8th of November where they were either killed or captured. By now Fawkes had succumbed to extensive torture and confessed everything several times over. Meanwhile, the people of England were lighting bonfires to celebrate the blessed preservation of their king.
The conspirators who had not been killed were questioned but they would confess before torture was employed. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered, a sentence which was carried out on the 30th January 1606. Catesby and another plotter who had been killed during their apprehension did not escape this fate. Their bodies were exhumed and beheaded alongside their comrades.
Unsurprisingly but ironically, the discovery of the plot made things significantly worse for English Catholics. In the summer of 1606, harsher and broader legislation was passed against Catholics. The first time parliament met after November 5th saw them pass the ‘Observance of 5th November Act of 1605’ which required the people to attend services of thanksgiving for the failure of the plot. By the 1620s the day had become known as ‘Gunpowder Treason Day’ and was celebrated as a festival in market towns and villages. The significance of the day changed as the years progressed. During the interregnum, the night became a celebration of democracy. Following that, it was again celebrating the preservation of the monarchy and during the 1700s the night was used as an excuse for rioting.
Towards the 1800s however, the night was hardly associated with thanksgiving for either parliament or king. Instead, it was an entertaining holiday featuring fireworks and revelry. By the turn of 1900, organised displays were becoming more common and the celebration became one of communities coming together to make a big fire and set off fireworks. This tradition has remained largely unchanged to the present day although the release of the film V for Vendetta in 2005 popularised Guy Fawkes style masks which became a common fixture of bonfire night celebrations for a time. Today, the celebration has nothing to do with celebrating democracy or the preservation of the king. Ironically, in many places, they choose to burn effigies of politicians instead of Guy Fawkes who has become something of a folk hero.
If you’d like to join me for more fun and games in picking apart history, and other behind-the-scenes tangents, you can support me via my Patreon. We’re going to be looking more in depth at the conspirators and how they came to be involved in the gunpowder plot.
