The Gunpowder Plot was stopped on this day in 1605.
The scheme was concocted by a number of Catholic men who objected to the harsh treatment of practitioners of their faith under the Protestant King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plan was to blow up Parliament whilst the king was visiting, killing him, his sons and heirs, and other prominent leaders of the land. This would have left a power-vacuum the conspirators hoped to fill with Catholic sympathisers, and place James's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth on the throne instead. She would have had to have a regent to rule for her until she was old enough to take control - by which time, the Catholic sympathisers would have achieved their political goals.
Although Guy Fawkes is the most well-remembered of the men involved, he was not the instigator of the plot. That accolade falls to Robert Catesby, who recruited Fawkes and 11 other men to their cause. Because of his military background, Fawkes was placed in charge of the explosives.
The plot had to be delayed due to outbreaks of plague in London preventing Parliament from meeting, but eventually the date was settled on for the 5th November.
36 barrels of gunpowder were acquired by the group. Gunpowder was supposedly under control of the government at that time, although like many controlled substances then and since, if you knew the right people it was easy enough to obtain. However, this governmental control of the gunpowder has led to a theory that states the plotters were set up in order to either gain sympathy for the unpopular king or so that they could be made an example of by their executions for treason.
The conspiracy theorists point to an anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to stay away from the meeting at parliament that he was supposed to attend. Monteagle was the brother-in-law of one of the conspirators, Francis Tresham, so it is supposed that this was the source of the tip-off; however, this has never been conclusively decided, leaving the possibility that whoever was setting up Catesby's men knew of the connection between Tresham and Monteagle and used this as a convenient way of 'uncovering' the conspiracy.
On the evening of the 4th November 1605, the basements of Parliament were searched, revealing Guy Fawkes guarding the barrels of gunpowder, which had been hidden under piles of firewood. Fawkes was arrested and later tortured into revealing the names of his co-conspirators.
At the news of Fawkes arrest, most of the plotters fled London. The authorities caught up with some of them at Holbeche House near Kingswinford in the West Midlands, and a gun battle took place. Several of the men, including Robert Catesby, were killed during the fighting.
Those that were not killed there were rounded up, probably tortured into confession, tried for treason and sentenced to a traitor's death of being hung, drawn and quartered.
Even those killed at Holbeche House were not spared indignity in death, for they were later exhumed and decapitated, their severed heads put on display was a warning to others.
If the plotters were indeed set up to garner favour for King James, it worked; much of the nation was relieved that the king had been saved from this assassination attempt, and an increase in loyalty from Parliament was evident.
Celebrations for the safety of the king and the thwarting of the plot began shortly after, and the events were remembered on the anniversary of the assassination attempt, initially with bonfires and later fireworks. In Britain, the 5th of November each year is still a time for fireworks displays and bonfires, though less significance is typically placed on the origins of the celebrations nowadays.
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