HISTORY

Assassination stories are popular in history subject, Gunpower plot was one of such event. It was a failed assassination attempt against King James VI of Scotland and I of England that was meant to happen on the day of State opening of Parliament on 5^th November 1605.

IN THE BACKGROUND

The spread of Reformation had spread and the Catholics were constantly trying to reestablish the previous status of Catholic Churches. The dispute between Protestant and Catholics Roman began long before King James VI came to power. It intensified over the years with beginning of the dispute in 1517 when Martin Luther published Ninety-five thesis criticizing the Church.  

The royals became the target when Queen Elizabeth I, introduced Act of Uniformity in 1559 and Elizabeth Religious Settlement in 1581 which changed the structure of power of the organizations. Queen Elizabeth meant to balance the both sides but instead this earned her the anger of Catholics as the penalties were extreme, ranging from fines, imprisonment to execution.

When James became the monarch he did not try to do anything excessive and had a neutral attitude but this attitude changed towards the Catholics changed when the protest intensified, effected by the Protestant Reformation during his reign. 

DISCOVERY OF PLOT

The plan was to kill King James on 5^th November 1605 by blowing up House of Lords during the State opening of Parliament. The English Roman Catholics led by Robert Catesby wanted to kidnap King James’s child, Princess Elizabeth who was nine-years old and install her as the monarch.

Nine days before the opening, on 26^th October 1605, William Parker, 4^th Baron of Monteagle received an anonymous letter of warning. William hurried to the authorities with the letter.

The day before the opening search was conducted in House of Lords. By that time the plan was in set up and Guy Hawkes, one of the conspirators was guarding the gunpower. The authorities arrested him and found 36 barrels of gunpowder under the vault of the building which was enough to destroy the building.

Guy confessed the other conspirators’ names under torture. On hearing the news of Guy’s arrest, many conspirators realized the plan had failed and escaped. The conspirators did not want to fail as the final act, an explosion took place on the morning of the November 8 with the remaining gunpowder.

They believed it would ignite fear in the conspirator’s heart and serve the justice they deserved. In this way their plans may have failed but they achieved their purpose. In their final moments, sheriffs came began firing on the house they were hiding and Catesby, Percy, and Wright were killed.