Gunpowder Plot 1605 – Terrorism Flashcards
What are the causes of Gunpowder Plot?
Since 1570, there had been strict laws preventing Catholics from worshipping their faith e.g those who failed to attend Elizabeth I’s church were accused of recusancy and fined £20.
James I kept all of Elizabeth’s tough laws against Catholics e.g he passed a proclamation in February 1604 which ordered all Catholic priests to leave the realm (country).
A group of Catholic noblemen plotted to blown up Parliament on 5th November 1605 and put the 9 year old Princess Elizabeth (daughter of James I) on the throne.
What happened in the Gunpowder Plot?
- There were 13 plotters (all Catholic gentlemen) led by Robert Catesby, a Northamptonshire gentleman who came from a family involved in Catholic resistance e.g his father had been imprisoned for hiding a Catholic priest.
Other plotters were Catesby’s cousin Thomas Winter, the wealthy John Wright, Thomas Percy (a royal bodyguard- which allowed the plotters to rent a building next to the House of Lords) and Francis
Tresham (ended up betraying the plot by warning his Catholic brother-in-law Lord Monteagle not to turn up for the opening of parliament). Guy Fawkes had fought as a soldier for the Spanish against the Dutch (who were Protestant). His face was not known in London as he had not lived in England for ten years.
- 36 barrels of gunpowder were stored in cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament.
Why did the plan fail?
On 26th October 1605 a letter was received by the Catholic Lord Monteagle. It warned him to stay away from the opening of Parliament, in a few days as it would “receive a mighty blow”! Monteagle gave the letter directly to Robert Cecil, the Privy Council and the King in Whitehall. HOWEVER NO ACTION WAS TAKEN AT FIRST WHICH COULD MEAN CECIL WANTED TO CATCH THE PLOTTERS IN THE ACT SO CATHOLICS COULD BE PERSECUTED FURTHER.
-At midnight on 4th November 1605, Sir Thomas Knyvett was ordered to carry out a search of the rooms below the hall in which Parliament. Guy Fawkes was arrested (gave his name as John Johnson) and taken to the Tower of London where he was tortured for 12 days. He was later hung, drawn and quartered.
