The Gunpowder Plot: Treason, Terror and the Plot to Blow Up Parliament

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Remember, remember the 5th of November.
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Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot.
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It is a rhyme most of us learned as children, five short lines repeated every November as fireworks light up the sky and bonfires burn into the night.
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But behind those familiar words lies a story considerably darker than the celebrations might suggest.
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A story of religious persecution, political desperation, secret meetings, and men who believed that the only way to change England was to destroy the very heart of its government.
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And beneath the Palace of Westminster, hidden away in a cellar, there were barrels of gunpowder waiting for a king, his family, and an entire parliament to arrive.
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The plan was extraordinary.
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The consequences, had it succeeded, could have changed the course of English history.
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Yet the man whose name became inseparable from the plot was not its mastermind.
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He was the man entrusted with the final, devastating task.
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So who were these men?
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What drove them to such an extreme act?
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And how close did England really come to witnessing one of the most audacious acts of political violence in its history?
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Welcome to the Eclectic.
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Tonight we're going back to 1605, to a kingdom divided by faith, a government fearful of rebellion, and a conspiracy that came terrifyingly close to becoming reality.
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And of course, to the man who has been remembered ever since as Guy Fawkes.
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But before we reach the cellar, we need to understand the country these men wanted to blow apart, because the gunpowder plot did not begin with a fuse.
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It began with religion.
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By the beginning of the 17th century, England had spent decades wrestling with one enormous question: who had the right to decide how people worshipped?
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The answer had changed dramatically over the previous century.
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When Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 1530s, he placed the English Church under the authority of the crown.
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It was a political and religious upheaval that would leave a deep mark on the country long after Henry himself was dead.
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The monarchy changed.
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The official religion changed, and, depending on who sat on the throne, the consequences for ordinary people could change with it.
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Under Elizabeth I, the Church of England was firmly established as a national church.
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Loyalty to the monarch was tied to the loyalty to the religious settlement, and Catholics who refused to attend Anglican services could be punished.
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These people became known as recusants.
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For a Catholic family, practising their faith could mean secrecy, financial penalties, and considerable personal risk.
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Priests continued to minister in England, often in hiding, while those who sheltered them could also find themselves in serious trouble.
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This was not simply a disagreement about what happened during the church service.
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It was bound up with allegiance, authority, and the fear that a Catholic monarch or a foreign Catholic power might threaten the English state.
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And for Catholics who remained devoted to Rome, the situation could feel increasingly hopeless.
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Elizabeth had no children.
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Her closest Catholic rival, Mary Queen of Scots, had been executed in 1587.
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When Elizabeth died in March 1603, the English crown passed to Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.
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For some Catholics, this seemed like a moment of possibility.
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James's mother had been Catholic.
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There were hopes that he might take a more sympathetic approach to their faith, or at least ease some of the restrictions imposed under Elizabeth.
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But the reality was more complicated.
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James did not arrive in England intending to launch a campaign of religious reconciliation, nor did he immediately behave like the relentless persecutor some later accounts might suggest.
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His early attitude towards Catholics was comparatively moderate, provided they remained outwardly obedient to the law.
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For a time, some Catholics hoped this might be enough.
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But those hopes began to fade.
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Priests were expelled, restrictions remained, and the government continued to view Catholicism through the lens of a political security.
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The possibility of a more tolerant future seemed to be slipping away.
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And while many Catholics continued to practice their faith quietly, others began to believe that patience had achieved nothing.
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One of those men was Robert Catesby.
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If the gunpowder plot were a play, Guy Fawkes would be the character standing in the spotlight.
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But behind the scenes was Robert Catesby.
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Catesby was an English Catholic gentleman from a prominent family.
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He was intelligent, persuasive, and deeply committed to his faith.
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He was also prepared to take extraordinary risks in pursuit of what he believed was a religious cause.
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He was no stranger to rebellion.
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He had been involved in the failed Essex Uprising of 1601, an attempt to challenge the authority of Elizabeth I.
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That episode had brought him into contact with the dangerous world of political conspiracy, and it had cost him financially.
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Yet Catesby was not deterred.
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By 1604, he had become convinced that the new king would not deliver the religious change he wanted.
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Rather than continue to wait for the government to offer concessions, he began considering a much more violent solution.
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His plan was not simply to kill James the Father, he wanted to destroy the political establishment gathered around him.
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The state opening of parliament would bring together the king, members of the royal family, the lords and the commons.
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It was a rare opportunity to strike at the centre of the English government in one devastating moment.
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If the King and Parliament were killed, Catesby believed the country might be thrown into chaos.
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That chaos could provide an opportunity for a Catholic uprising, particularly in the Midlands.
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The conspirators hoped to seize the King's young daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and place her on the throne under their influence.
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She was only nine years old.
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The intention was to create a new political order, one in which Catholicism could be restored to a position of power.
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It was an enormous gamble.
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It depended on the King and Parliament being killed, the conspirators escaping, support appearing from elsewhere in the country, and a child being installed as a new monarch, and all of it rested on secrecy.
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Catesby needed men he could trust, men willing to risk their lives, their families, and their fortunes.
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Men who shared his religious convictions and were prepared to turn those convictions into action.
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One of the first people he approached was Thomas Wintor, a fellow Catholic gentleman.
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Others would follow.
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And then there was a man who had spent years fighting on the continent, a man who knew his way around weapons and explosives.
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A man who would eventually be discovered beneath Parliament, surrounded by enough gunpowder to make the entire building disappear.
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His name was Guy Fawkes.
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Guy Fawkes was born in York in 1570 into a family with connections to both sides of England's religious divide.
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His father, Edward Fawkes, worked as a proctor in the church courts.
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His mother, Edith, came from a Catholic family, and after Edward's death, when Guy was still a child, she remarried into another Catholic household.
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Guy attended St.
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Peter's School in York, an institution associated with a number of families who remained loyal to Catholicism.
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His religious upbringing would shape the direction of his adult life.
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By the time he was a young man, Fox had embraced Catholicism at a time when doing so could carry serious consequences.
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In 1591, he sold his inheritance and travelled to the European continent.
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There he joined the Spanish forces fighting in the Eighty Years' War against the Dutch Protestant rebels.
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It was a long and brutal conflict, and Fox gained military experience over the years he spent serving abroad.
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He rose to the rank of El Forez, a junior officer, and developed a reputation as a capable soldier.
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He also became known by another name, Guido.
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It was the name he used while serving in Europe, and it is the name that appears in some accounts of his life.
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But history has generally remembered him by the name he was born with.
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Fawkes' time abroad gave him something Catesby needed: experience of warfare, discipline, and the handling of explosives.
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He was not the mastermind of the conspiracy, he did not devise the entire plan, but he was an experienced soldier, and that made him particularly useful to the men who were preparing to carry it out.
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In 1603, Fawkes was involved in an attempt to secure Spanish support for action that might restore Catholicism in England.
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That support did not materialise.
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The prospect of foreign assistance was fading, but Catesby's idea was taking shape, and in May of 1604, the two men would come together with others who were prepared to take the most dangerous step imaginable.
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They would meet in London, swear an oath of secrecy, and begin planning an explosion that would be remembered for centuries.
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The target was Parliament, the date was the opening of the new session, and the man who would be left guarding the gunpowder was Guy Fawkes.
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London, May 1604.
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A small group of men were preparing to swear an oath that would bind them to one of the most audacious conspiracies England had ever known.
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They were not an army, they had no great force at their disposal, no public following, no guarantee that anyone would rise up to support them.
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What they did have, though, was a plan, and at its centre was a simple, devastating idea.
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If they could destroy Parliament at the moment it assembled, they could remove much of the country's political leadership in a single explosion.
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The first meeting took place on the 20th of May 1604 at an inn called the Duck and Drake.
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Those present were Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy, and Guy Fawkes.
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Five men who believed that violence could bring about the religious transformation they wanted.
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They swore an oath of secrecy, committing themselves to the conspiracy.
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The precise details of the oath are described in the historical account, but its purpose was clear.
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No one, outside their circle, was to know what they were planning.
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There was a religious dimension to this meeting too.
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The conspirators reportedly took their oath before retiring to another room to hear mass.
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Their plot was not simply a political scheme in their minds.
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They saw it as part of a struggle for the future of Catholicism in England.
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That conviction would help sustain them as the plan became increasingly dangerous.
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But five men were not enough.
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As the conspiracy developed, Catesby recruited additional men, many of whom were connected through family, friendship, or shared religious loyalties.
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Among them were Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, and Francis Tresham.
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Christopher Wright also became involved, joining his brother John and the others.
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The group eventually numbered about 13.
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They were not all alike.
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Some were wealthy gentlemen with estates and social connections, others had military experience, some were deeply committed to the Catholic cause, others were drawn into the scheme through their loyalty to Catesby or their personal relationships with the men already involved.
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But they shared one thing.
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They were willing to participate in a plan that could end with them being executed for treason.
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And they needed to keep it secret.
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That was going to be difficult.
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Because the plan required something rather substantial, gunpowder, and a great deal of it.
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The target was the House of Lords, where the state opening of Parliament was due to take place.
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The conspirators needed to get their explosive as close as possible to the chamber without attracting attention.
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Their solution was to rent property in the Palace of Westminster and use an underground storage space beneath the House of Lords.
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Thomas Percy played an important role in securing access to the property.
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He had connections that helped him obtain the lease of a cellar beneath the building.
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The arrangement gave the conspirators an opportunity to move their plan forward.
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At first, they considered digging a tunnel towards the House of Lords from a nearby property.
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It was dangerous, laborious work, and the scheme was eventually abandoned when they were able to obtain access to a cellar much closer to the target.
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This was a crucial development.
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Rather than attempting to borrow beneath the building, they could store the gunpowder directly below the place where the King and Parliament would gather.
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The cellar was not some enormous underground cavern, it was a practical storage space, one that could be used without immediately attracting suspicion.
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And that was precisely what the conspirators needed.
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The gunpowder was brought in gradually.
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Barrels were transported and stored with other materials placed around them to disguise their purpose.
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The number eventually discovered was 36 barrels.
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36 barrels of gunpowder hidden beneath the House of Lords.
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Imagine the scene.
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Above them, the ordinary business of government continued.
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Men worked, servants moved through the buildings, officials prepared for parliament.
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The city carried on around them.
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And beneath it all, the conspirators were quietly assembling an enormous explosion.
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Fawkes was given responsibility for guarding the explosives.
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His military experience made him a natural choice.
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He had spent years serving in the Spanish Netherlands and understood the use of gunpowder in warfare.
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He was also less well known in England than some of the other conspirators, which may have made him a useful person to place near the cellar.
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His task was to remain close to the explosives and ensure that they were ready when the time came.
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The plan was to wait until the state opening of parliament on the 5th of November 1605.
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The king would attend, members of the Lords and Commons would assemble, the building would be filled with the people the conspirators wanted to eliminate.
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Fawks would ignite the gunpowder.
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Then, while the explosion destroyed the political leadership, the remaining conspirators intended to set their wider plans in motion.
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They hoped to raise support in the Midlands, seize Princess Elizabeth, and establish a new Catholic regime.
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It was a plan that depended on timing, secrecy, and an extraordinary amount of luck, and the conspirators had no way of knowing that the first serious threat to their scheme would not come from a government spy discovering the cellar.
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It would come in the form of a letter.
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A letter his author and perhaps even its precise purpose would become one of the enduring mysteries of the gunpowder plot.
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By October 1605, the conspiracy was approaching its final stages.
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The date of the state opening had been set, the explosives were in place, the men involved were making their preparations, and the plan was beginning to move beyond the point where anyone could easily turn back.
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But there was a problem.
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Not everyone who would be inside Parliament on the 5th of November was an enemy of the conspirators.
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There were Catholics among the members of the House of Lord, people with Catholic sympathies, family connections and friendships.
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Some of the plotters knew that innocent people, including those who shared their faith, would be killed in the explosion.
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This caused unease within the group.
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Several conspirators expressed concern about the safety of Catholics who might be attending Parliament.
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Lord Monteagle, William Parker, was among those discussed.
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He was a Catholic peer, and the thought of killing him and others who had no part in the government's persecution was troubling, but the plot was not abandoned.
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Instead, the conspirators continued towards their deadline.
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And then, on the 26th of October 1605, a letter arrived at Monteagle's home in Hoxton.
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It had been delivered by a stranger to one of his servants.
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The letter was anonymous.
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It did not name the conspirators, explain the exact nature of the threat, or provide any evidence, but its warning was unmistakable.
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It advised Monte Eagle to avoid attending Parliament.
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The writer claimed to have concern for his safety and urged him to retreat to the country, where he could wait for events to unfold.
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There would be no apparent disturbance beforehand, the letter suggested, but Parliament would receive a terrible blow.
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And the writer added something particularly chilling.
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Those who were attacked would not see who had hurt them.
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The letter ended by advising Montigill to burn it once he had read it.
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Naturally, he did not.
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Instead, Montigil travelled to Whitehall and delivered it to Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury, and one of the king's most important ministers.
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The warning had reached the authorities, but who had written it?
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This is where the gunpowder plot becomes even more intriguing.
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The identity of the letter's author has never been reliably established.
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One of the most frequently suspected men is Francis Tresham, a cousin of Robert Catesby, who had only recently joined the conspiracy.
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He was wealthy, connected, and had reason to be concerned about the danger facing Catholic peers.
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Tresham was also related to Monteagle by marriage.
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Some accounts suggest that he may have tried to warn Monteagle without exposing the entire conspiracy.
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Others have questioned whether Monteagal himself knew more than he admitted or whether the letter was part of a government operation.
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The Earl of Salisbury has also been suggested as a possible author, but these remain theories.
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There is no conclusive proof identifying the person who wrote the warning.
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What we do know is that the letter reached Monteagle, and Monteagle took it seriously enough to bring it to the attention of the government.
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Salisbury did not immediately reveal the full extent of his suspicions.
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He shared the information with other members of the government, but the king was away hunting in Cambridgeshire.
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The authorities had a warning, they did not yet have the whole story, and crucially, the conspirators had not been arrested.
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The letter did not remain a secret for long though.
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Monteagle's servant, Thomas Ward, had family connections with the Wright brothers, two men involved in the conspiracy.
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News of the warning made its way back to the plotters.
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Catesby suspected that Francis Tresham might have been responsible.
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He confronted him alongside Thomas Wintour.
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Tresham denied writing the letter and urged the others to abandon the plot, but Catesby was not persuaded that the danger was serious enough to stop everything.
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The conspirators had spent months preparing.
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They had secured the cellar, obtained the gunpowder, and arranged their plans for the uprising that was supposed to follow the explosion.
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To abandon it now would mean giving up everything.
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And so they continued.
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On the 3rd of November, Kate Spee Percy and Wintor met for what would be one of their final discussions.
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Percy reminded them that they should be prepared to face the worst, while the conspirators still had a ship waiting on the Thames.
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Their preparations were continuing.
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Even a suspicion gathered around them.
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On the 4th of November, the day before the planned explosion, the men were making their final arrangements.
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Everard Digby was waiting with a hunting party at Dunchurch, ready to play his part in the planned seizure of Princess Elizabeth.
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Fawkes visited Robert Keyes and received a pocket watch from Thomas Percy, intended to help him time the fuse.
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The plan was still alive, but the king had returned to London, and he had finally been shown the letter.
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James I saw the letter on the 1st of November.
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One particular word caught his attention.
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Blow.
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The King believed it might refer to an explosion involving fire and gunpowder.
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He had reason to understand the danger of such an attack.
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:43.519
His father, Lord Darnley, had been killed in an explosion at Kirker Field in Scotland in 1567.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:47.519
James suspected that the warning might refer to something similar.
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.720
The government now had a more specific concern.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.519
A search of the Houses of Parliament was arranged.
00:20:53.759 --> 00:21:00.400
The Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, was to examine the buildings, both above and below ground.
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:07.519
The search would take place on Monday, the 4th of November, but the conspirators were already making their final preparations.
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.640
The first search found something suspicious.
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:16.240
Beneath the House of Lords in the Undercroft, there was a large quantity of firewood and other material.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.599
It was accompanied by a man who appeared to be a servant.
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.240
That man was Guy Fawkes.
00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.160
He explained that the wood belonged to his master, Thomas Percy.
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:32.559
The searchers did not arrest him, they left the building, but the mention of Percy's name raised further suspicion.
00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.720
Percy was already known to the authorities as a Catholic agitator.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.920
The discovery was enough to prompt another search.
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.400
This time he would be more thorough.
00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:52.559
Late that night, a party led by Thomas Canivet returned to the Undercroft, and there, among the wood and other materials, they found the man who had been guarding the explosives.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.240
He was dressed in a cloak and a hat, wearing boots and spurs.
00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.039
His name, he said, was John Johnson.
00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.599
But this
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.960
This time he would not be allowed to walk away.
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.079
The searchers found more than a suspicious servant.
00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:11.440
Hidden beneath the piles of wood and other materials were thirty six barrels of gunpowder.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:19.680
They also discovered that the man calling himself John Johnson was carrying a pocket watch, slow matches, and touchwood.
00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.720
There was no longer any doubt about what was happening.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.319
The gunpowder was intended to destroy the House of Lords.
00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.039
The man standing beside it was Guy Fawkes.
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:31.440
He was arrested and taken into custody.
00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:35.200
The plot had been discovered before the King and Parliament could assemble.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:42.880
And the explosion that might have killed the King, his family, and much of the country's political leadership would never happen.
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.359
But this was not the end of the story.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:46.720
Far from it.
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.079
The authorities had captured the man guarding the gunpowder.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:58.480
They now needed to discover who else was involved, where the remaining conspirators were, and whether the planned uprising would still take place.
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:04.079
Fawkes, meanwhile, was taken before the king in the early hours of the 5th of November.
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:08.160
When questioned, he continued to use the name John Johnson.
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:13.119
He initially revealed little beyond his Yorkshire origins and the name of his mother.
00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:15.920
He did not attempt to deny his intention.
00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:19.119
He said that he had wanted to destroy the King and Parliament.
00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:25.839
His composure made an impression on James, who described him as possessing a Roman resolution.
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:31.680
It was an extraordinary description of a man who had been caught in the act of preparing to commit mass murder.
00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:34.480
But Fawkes' resolve was about to be tested.
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:41.839
He had been captured, the gunpowder had been found, and the authorities were beginning to identify the men who had planned the attack.
00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:48.559
Some of them were already fleeing London, others were preparing to make a desperate attempt to continue the rebellion.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.200
The government had stopped the explosion.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:24:01.759
It had not yet caught the conspirators, and for Robert Catesby, the man who had set the entire scheme in motion, the next few days would end in fire and bloodshed.
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:07.440
The arrest of Guy Fawkes had prevented the explosion, but it had not brought the conspiracy to an end.
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:12.720
Across London, the authorities were beginning to piece together the identities of the men involved.
00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:22.640
Meanwhile, those conspirators still at liberty faced a choice: surrender, disappear, or attempt something that might yet rescue their cause.
00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:25.359
Robert Catesby chose the third option.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.599
As news of Fox's arrest spread, the fugitives began leaving London.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:36.000
They travelled northwest along Watling Street, desperate to get away from the capital before the authorities could close in.
00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.960
Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy left together.
00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:43.359
Ambrose Rookwood followed, travelling a remarkable speed on horseback.
00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:49.759
He covered around 30 miles in two hours, catching up with Robert Keyes before eventually joining the others.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.720
The group gradually came together around Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas Bates.
00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:59.839
Their destination was Dunchurch, where Sir Everard Digby had arranged for a hunting party.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.720
A hunting party might attract less suspicion than a band of armed men fleeing the capital.
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:08.799
But the conspirators were no longer simply preparing a secret operation.
00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:14.480
They were now fugitives, and every mile took them further into a situation they could not control.
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.640
Thomas Wintle, meanwhile, had initially remained in London.
00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:27.440
He even went to Westminster to see what was happening before finally fleeing to his sister's house at Norbrook and continuing towards Huddington Court.
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:30.799
The authorities were already responding.
00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:38.160
The gates of London were guarded, ports were closed, and the Spanish ambassador's residence was protected from an angry crowd.
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:44.480
A warrant was issued for Thomas Percy, while the Earl of Northumberland was placed under house arrest.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.240
But Catesby was still determined to press on.
00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:49.440
At Ashby St.
00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:53.519
Ledgers, the fugitives met Robert Wintour and brought him up to date.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:58.079
They then travelled to Dunchurch, where they joined Digby and members of his hunting party.
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.240
Catesby persuaded Digby that an armed uprising remained possible.
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.480
He went further, telling the hunting party that the King and Salisbury were dead.
00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:07.599
They were not.
00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:15.279
It was a desperate lie, intended to persuade those around him that the rebellion had already begun and that there was no turning back.
00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:19.839
The conspirators then moved westwards towards Warwick.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.559
Back in London, Guy Fawkes was being questioned.
00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:26.880
At first he revealed very little.
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:31.039
He maintained that he had acted alone and continued to use the name John Johnson.
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:37.759
A letter addressed to Guy Fawkes had been found on him, however, and he eventually acknowledged that Johnson was an assumed name.
00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:45.680
His composure impressed King James, but the government wanted names, connections, and above all, the identities of the men who had planned the attack.
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.079
Fawkes was moved to the Tower of London.
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:54.079
James authorised the use of torture, initially directing that the gentler methods should be tried first.
00:26:54.400 --> 00:27:02.640
The historical account indicates that Fawkes was almost certainly subjected to the rack, although the precise sequence of his treatment is not established.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.000
On the 7th of November, his resistance broke.
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:10.319
He began to confess, and further information followed over the next two days.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:22.240
The man who had entered the undercroft intending to ignite the gunpowder was now providing the authorities with the information they needed to hunt down the rest of the conspiracy, and those men were running out of time.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:28.319
The fugitives raided Warwick Castle for supplies before continuing to Norbrook to collect weapons.
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.640
From there they travelled to Hudding.
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.440
The group was shrinking, and the support Catesby had expected was not materializing.
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:43.200
Thomas Bates was sent to Court in Court, carrying a letter from Catesby to Father Henry Garnett and other Catholic priests.
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.759
The message explained what had happened and asked for help in raising an army.
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.640
Garnett's response was not what Catesby wanted.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:54.559
He urged them to abandon their actions, describing them as wicked.
00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:00.319
He then fled, although the authorities would eventually catch up with him and other priests connected to the affair.
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:05.440
The conspirators continued to Huddington Court, arriving early in the afternoon.
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:07.839
They found little sympathy or assistance.
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:11.920
Even people connected to them were frightened of being associated with treason.
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:20.319
The consequences of helping these men could be catastrophic, and the prospect of an armed rebellion was no longer looking like a realistic route to victory.
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:24.720
From Huddington, they travelled to Holbeach House on the border of Staffordshire.
00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:30.240
It belonged to Stephen Littleton, one of the few remaining supporters willing to offer them shelter.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:39.680
Thomas Wintor and Lyttleton made another attempt to secure help, travelling to Pepper Hill in Boningale, the home of John Talbot, Robert Wintor's father-in-law.
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:41.759
Once again, they failed.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.039
The conspirators were exhausted, increasingly isolated, and running out of options.
00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:53.119
And then, in a moment of extraordinary carelessness, they brought danger directly into the house.
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.400
Some of the gunpowder they had been carrying had become wet.
00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:00.079
They spread it out in front of a fire in an attempt to dry it.
00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:06.480
Gunpowder does not explode unless it is physically contained, but that did not make the situation safe.
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.519
A spark from the fire landed on the powder.
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:17.920
The resulting flames engulfed Robert Catesby, Ambrose Rookwood, and John Grant, and a man named Morgan who was part of the hunting party.
00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:26.319
Thomas Wintor and Littlington were still travelling back from their unsuccessful attempt to find support when a messenger told them that Catesby had died.
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:32.640
When Wintor reached Holbeach House, however, Catesby was still alive, although badly scorched.
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.200
Grant had been blinded by the fire.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:37.119
It was a grim irony.
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:43.759
The men who had planned to destroy Parliament with gunpowder had now been injured by the very substance they had carried with them.
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:46.640
Several of the conspirators had already left.
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:52.000
Digby, Robert Wintel, his half-brother John, and Thomas Bates were no longer at the house.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:57.519
Those who remained were Katesby, Grant, the Wright brothers, Rookwood, and Percy.
00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:03.039
Rather than continue their flight, they decided to stay and wait for the king's forces.
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.839
Perhaps they believed there was nothing left to do.
00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:09.279
Perhaps they were simply too exhausted to run any further.
00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:12.880
Whatever their reasoning, the end was approaching.
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:18.880
On the morning of the 8th of November 1605, the authorities arrived at Holbeach House.
00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:25.119
Leading the force was Robert Walsh, Sheriff of Worcestershire, accompanied by around 200 men.
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:27.200
The fugitives were surrounded.
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:29.440
There would be no escape this time.
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:35.599
As the attacks moved against the house, Thomas Wintor was struck in the shoulder while crossing the courtyard.
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.039
John Wright was shot, followed by his brother Christopher.
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.359
Ambrose Rookwood was also shot.
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.279
Catesby and Thomas Percy were reportedly killed by a single shot.
00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:49.680
The attackers rushed the property and the surviving conspirators were taken.
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:54.160
Grant, Morgan, Rookwood, and Wintor were among those arrested.
00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.559
The rebellion had collapsed.
00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:04.480
The men who had imagined themselves bringing down a government had been reduced to a handful of wounded fugitives in a besieged house.
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:09.039
Catesby was dead, Percy was dead, the Wright brothers were dead.
00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:12.319
And the authorities now had the names of the men they wanted.
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.519
The remaining fugitives were captured over the following days.
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:19.279
Thomas Bates and Robert Keyes were taken shortly after the siege.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:23.519
Digby, who had apparently intended to surrender, was caught by pursuers.
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:29.039
Francis Tresham was arrested on the 12th of November and taken to the tower three days later.
00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:30.960
The investigation widened.
00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:35.839
People connected to the conspirators, their households and the Catholic community were questioned.
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:40.880
Homes were searched, hidden passageways discovered, and servants interrogated.
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:49.279
The authorities were determined not simply to punish the men who had planned the explosion, but to establish whether anyone else had known about it or helped them.
00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:52.559
The consequences reached far beyond the original group.
00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:58.720
The home of Anne Vaux at Enfield Chase was searched, revealing trapdoors and concealed passages.
00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:03.279
The authorities also pursued priests who had been associated with some of the conspirators.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:10.160
Catholic households came under suspicion, and the possessions of Mary Digby were ransacked, leaving her destitute.
00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:15.759
The discovery of the plot had created a wave of relief that the King and Parliament had survived.
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.599
It also gave the government an opportunity to strengthen its position.
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:24.880
In his speech to Parliament on the 9th of November, James made an important distinction.
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:31.759
He insisted that the plot had been the work of a small number of Catholics rather than English Catholics as a whole.
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:39.920
He also presented his survival as an act of divine protection, reminding those assembled that kings were appointed by God.
00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:43.200
But the distinction did not prevent suspicion spreading.
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:49.200
The government was now in possession of a conspiracy that could be used to justify tougher measures against Catholics.
00:32:49.440 --> 00:33:01.119
The question was no longer simply how the plot had been discovered, it was how many people might have been involved and how far the authorities could go in preventing anything similar from happening again.
00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:04.720
The interrogations continued at the Tower of London.
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:09.680
Sir Edward Coke was in charge of questioning those implicated in the conspiracy.
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:17.119
There is no clear evidence that torture was used during the first round of interrogations, although the threat of it was certainly made.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:23.119
Coke later acknowledged that in many of the cases, the threat alone was enough to obtain confessions.
00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:31.920
Guy Falk's confession, dated the 8th of November, and Thomas Wintor's dated the 23rd of November were among the few published in full.
00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:35.920
Wintor's testimony was particularly valuable to the authorities.
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:43.039
Unlike Fawkes, he had been involved from the beginning and could provide information about the planning and the other conspirators.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:51.200
The government published these accounts in an unofficial narrative known as the King's Book, which appeared in late November 1605.
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.759
But the investigation was not without complications.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:34:02.960
Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, had been closely connected to Thomas Percy and had met him on the 4th of November.
00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:05.440
This placed him in a difficult position.
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:16.480
The authorities suspected that he might have been intended to act as protector to Princess Elizabeth if the plot had succeeded, but they lacked sufficient evidence to convict him of involvement.
00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:21.119
He remained imprisoned in the tower and was eventually charged with contempt.
00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:28.079
He was stripped of his public offices, fined£30,000, and remained in the tower until 1621.
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:35.440
Other men were also questioned or detained, including Lord Montague, Lord Mordaunt, and Lord Staughton.
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:40.400
Some were eventually released, others received fines or periods of imprisonment.
00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:43.519
The investigation also turned towards the Jesuits.
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:48.639
Thomas Bates, one of Catesby's servants, made a confession on the 4th of December.
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:53.199
His information helped the authorities connect Catholic priests with the conspiracy.
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:58.639
He described meetings and journeys involving Father Garnett and Father Oswald Tesimond.
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:03.599
Garnett, who had been trying to maintain his innocence, had moved to Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire.
00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:08.480
The authorities were searching for him, and his position was becoming increasingly dangerous.
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:12.639
The pursuit of the priests continued into January 1606.
00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:17.039
Robert Wintor and Stephen Littleton were captured after hiding at Hagley.
00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:23.440
Their hiding place was eventually betrayed by a servant who had become suspicious of the amount of food being sent upstairs.
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:29.920
The authorities also searched Hindlip Hall, where priests were concealed in hiding places built into the property.
00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:38.320
Two lay brothers, Nicholas Owen and Ralph Ashley, eventually emerged after several days, weakened by hunger and confinement.
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:45.360
Henry Garnett was finally discovered on the 27th of January, having emerged from his hiding place with another priest.
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:51.360
The surviving conspirators were now in custody, and the government was ready to bring them to trial.
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:56.880
The trial took place at Westminster Hall on the 27th of January 1606.
00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:02.480
Seven prisoners were brought from the tower, while Thomas Bates was brought from the Gatehouse prison.
00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:06.559
Among those watching were the king and his family, hidden from view.
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:13.280
The proceedings were overseen by senior figures of the law and government, including Sir John Popham and Sir Edward Koch.
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:16.559
The accusations were presented in forceful terms.
00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:24.400
Coke described the conspiracy as an act of extraordinary wickedness and placed particular emphasis on the involvement of the Jesuits.
00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:34.079
He argued that the plot had been driven by Catholic clergy and condemned the possibility of the king, his family, and parliament being destroyed in one explosion.
00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:38.960
The prosecution also described the punishment awaiting those convicted of high treason.
00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:46.960
It was to be one of the most brutal sentences available under English law: hanging, drawing, and quartering.
00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:56.000
The condemned men would be dragged to the place of execution, hanged, cut down while still alive, disemboweled and dismembered.
00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.280
Their remains would then be displayed as a warning to others.
00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:04.880
It was a punishment designed not only to kill, but to humiliate and terrorize.
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:08.159
The prisoners were given the opportunity to speak.
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:16.639
Ambrose Rookwood claimed that Catesby had drawn him into the conspiracy, describing his affection for him as greater than for any other man in the world.
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:23.440
Thomas Wintell asked that he and his brothers be punished together, rather than his brother being spared at his expense.
00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:29.519
Fawkes explained his not guilty plea by saying that he did not understand every aspect of the indictment.
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:35.440
Robert Keyes appeared to accept his fate, while Bates and Robert Wintell asked for mercy.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:39.920
Everard Digby, who was tried separately, pleaded guilty.
00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:48.800
He argued that the king had failed to honour promises of religious toleration and that his loyalty to Catesby and the Catholic cause had influenced his actions.
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:54.400
He asked to be executed by the axe and appealed to the king for mercy for his young family.
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:56.639
His arguments were rejected.
00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:00.320
The jury found the conspirators guilty of high treason.
00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:04.960
Henry Garnett faced a separate trial at Guild Hall on the 28th of March.
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:09.519
He denied the charges against him but was found guilty and sentenced to death.
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:12.559
The government had secured its convictions.
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:15.119
Now came the executions.
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:20.559
The executions took place over two days at the end of January 1606.
00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:30.719
On the 30th of January, Everard Dickby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates were dragged through the streets of London on wooden hurdles to St.
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:32.079
Paul's churchyard.
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:34.880
Digby was the first to face the scaffold.
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:39.840
He asked the crowd for forgiveness and refused the offer of a Protestant clergyman.
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:43.679
The punishment was carried out according to the sentence for high treason.
00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:50.480
The men were hanged, cut down, and subjected to the brutal process of disembowelment and quartering.
00:38:50.639 --> 00:39:01.840
The following day, Thomas Wintor, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Guy Fawkes were taken to Old Palace Yard at Westminster, close to the very building they had intended to destroy.
00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:05.360
Keys jumped from the gallows before the hangman gave the command.
00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:08.079
He survived the fall and was taken to the block.
00:39:08.400 --> 00:39:12.800
Fawkes, weakened by his imprisonment and torture, also jumped.
00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:17.760
This time he broke his neck, avoiding the remainder of the execution.
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:23.119
It was a grim ending for the man whose name would become synonymous with the entire conspiracy.
00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:28.639
Catesby and Percy, who had died at Holbeach House, were not spared the public humiliation.
00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:35.119
Their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads displayed on spikes outside the House of Lords.
00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:39.519
Henry Garnett was executed on the 3rd of May 1606.
00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:45.199
The men who had planned to destroy Parliament had been killed, imprisoned, or publicly condemned.
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Their attempt to change the religious and political direction of England had ended in failure.
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But the consequences of the gunpowder plot would last far longer than the lives of the conspiratives.
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The discovery of the conspiracy brought immediate relief to the government and a renewed determination to strengthen laws against Catholics.
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In the summer of 1606, Parliament passed legislation that increased restrictions on recusance.
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The measures reinstated fines and introduced an oath of allegiance requiring Catholics to reject the idea that a monarch excommunicated by the Pope could lawfully be deposed or assassinated.
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The hope of greater religious tolerance had been dealt a severe blow.
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Yet the historical picture was not entirely straightforward.
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Although the plot intensified suspicion and persecution, James's reign was still described as a period of relative leniency for Catholics, compared with some of their earlier periods.
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There was no golden age of toleration, but neither did every Catholic face the same fate.
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The plot also entered the cultural imagination.
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William Shakespeare's Macbeth, written sometime between 1603 and 1607, appears to reflect the atmosphere surrounding the gunpowder plot, alongside an earlier conspiracy known as the Gowrie Affair.
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Its references to equivocation and the uncertain boundary between truth and deception have often been considered in the context of the events of 1605.
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The plot had made people think about treachery, hidden intentions, and the possibility that evil could disguise itself behind respectable appearances.
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And then there was the annual commemoration.
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In January 1606, Parliament passed the observance of the 5th of November Act, making services of thanksgiving for the failure of the plot an annual feature of English life.
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The Act remained in force until 1859.
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The tradition of marking the date with church bells and bonfires began soon after the conspiracy was discovered.
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Fireworks were included in some of the earliest celebrations.
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The occasion became known as Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or Guy Forks Night.
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Children traditionally made effigy of forks from old clothes stuffed with newspapers, often adding a crude mask.
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These figures, known as guys, were displayed to collect money for fireworks before being thrown onto the bonfires.
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The word guy eventually ended in everyday language, first referring to an oddly dressed person, and later becoming a general term for a man.
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There's an extraordinary legacy.
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A failed attempt to destroy Parliament became the basis for one of Britain's most familiar annual celebrations.
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Every year, fireworks recreate the spectacle of an explosion that never happened.
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Bonfires burn, effigies are thrown onto the flames, and the old rhyme is repeated.
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Remember, remember the 5th of November.
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Gunpowder, treason, and plot, for I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
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But the history behind the rhyme is more complicated than the familiar image of one man with a beard and a bundle of explosives.
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And there are still questions that have never been answered.
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One of the most persistent questions surrounding the gunpowder plot concerns the anonymous letter sent to Lord Monteagle.
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Who wrote it?
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Francis Tresham has frequently been suspected, but no conclusive proof has established that he actually was responsible.
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Other theories have suggested that Monteagle himself or Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, may have been involved in some way.
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There have also been accusations that the government knew more about the conspiracy than it admitted.
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Some people at the time suspected Salisbury of allowing the plot to continue or even helping to engineer its discovery so that he could gain favour with the king and strengthen anti Catholic legislation.
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These theories have endured and later writers attempted to build a case against him, but the historical account records that attempts to prove his involvement have not produced clear evidence.
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It is important to separate suspicion from proof.
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The fact that the government Benefited politically from the discovery.
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Well, it doesn't by itself demonstrate that it created the conspiracy.
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There is no evidence that Salisbury actually invented the plot.
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The most reasonable conclusion is that the conspiracy was real, the men involved were real, and the plan to destroy Parliament was genuine.
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But the precise circumstances surrounding the warning letter and what certain government figures knew before the final search remained subject to debate.
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There is another question worth considering.
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What would have happened if the plot had succeeded?
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Historian Ronald Hutton had argued that a successful explosion would probably have produced a severe backlash against Catholics.
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Without foreign assistance, a successful religion would have been unlikely.
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Rather than creating the Catholic regime Catesby imagined, the plot might have led to an even more repressive political settlement.
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In other words, the conspiracy may have been preparing to unleash consequences they could never have controlled.
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And there is one final detail that brings us back to the physical reality of the plan.
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In 2005, an ITV programme, the Gunpowder Plot, Exploding the Legend, attempted to establish what the explosion might actually have done.
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A full-size replica of the House of Lords was constructed, and one tonne of gunpowder was used in the experiment.
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The results were devastating.
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The blast destroyed the replica chamber.
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The end wall beneath the throne was reduced to rubble, while the surviving sections of the structure were pushed outwards.
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A piece of the dummy representing King James was thrown a considerable distance from where it had been placed.
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The experiment concluded that nobody inside the chamber would have survived if the powder had been in good condition.
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It also suggested that people within around 100 meters of the explosion would have been killed, with windows in Westminster Abbey shattered by the force.
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Even deteriorated gunpowder produced a substantial explosion during the test.
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The wooden barrels would have helped contain the blast, magnifying its destructive force.
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The experiment demonstrated something that can become lost beneath centuries of firework rhymes and familiar images.
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The gunpowder plot was not simply a theatrical scheme involving a man with a match.
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It was a plan for mass murder on an extraordinary scale.
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Had it succeeded, the people inside Parliament would have been killed, including the King, his family, and members of both houses.
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The political consequences could have been enormous, and the lives of countless people beyond Westminster might have been changed by the violence that followed.
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Guy Fawkes was not the mastermind.
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He was the man assigned to guard the gunpowder and light the fuse.
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But it was his arrest in the Undercroft that gave the conspiracy its most recognizable face.
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When the fireworks begin and the bonfires are lit, that face returns.
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Because the story of the 5th of November is not just about a plot that failed.
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It is about religious persecution, political desperation, secret loyalties, betrayal, and a group of men who believed that the destruction of their country's government was justified by the cause they served.
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They came close enough to make the authorities fear what might have happened.
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But they did not succeed.
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And that is why, more than four centuries later, we still remember.
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And so, as November rolls around each year, we drag out the fireworks, light the bonfires, burn a rather unfortunate-looking effigy of Guy Fawkes, and remind ourselves to remember, remember, the 5th of November.
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Although, spare a thought for poor Guy.
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More than 400 years after his arrest, he's still being dragged out once a year, set on fire, and blamed for the whole thing.
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Meanwhile, Robert Catesby, the actual mastermind, has largely escaped the annual celebrity treatment.
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Not quite fair, is it?
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But perhaps that's the strangest part of this story.
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A plot involving religious persecution, political ambition, secret meetings, betrayal, and enough gunpowder to turn Parliament into a rather expensive pile of rubble has somehow become a family night out involving sparklers and toffee apples.
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History does have a peculiar sense of humour, so next time you're standing beside a bonfire, watching a guy go up in flames, remember that beneath the fireworks and the familiar rhyme lies a much, much darker story.
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One of desperation, fantasism, and a plan that came frighteningly close to changing the course of British history.
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And if you happen to hear a strange noise beneath the houses of Parliament, don't panic.
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It's probably just the ghosts of the conspirators wondering why, after all that planning, they never even got to light the match.
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This has been the eclectic.
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Stay curious, stay questioning, and as always, stay eclectic.