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Gunpowder Plot – 5 November 1605
Four
hundred have elapsed since the memorable Gunpowder Plot; yet so great
was the perversion of circumstances connected with this atrocious act by
religious and political parties, that it is was two centuries before a
true knowledge of the event was uncovered. Indeed, even now some of is
still masked in mystery. It was the policy of
James I, and his
Ministers, to represent the Gunpowder Plot as having been encouraged by
the Pope and approved of by the great body of Roman Catholics in
England.
For this
purpose, before the trial of the conspirators, an artfully concocted,
but dishonest narrative, entitled “A Discourse of the Gunpowder Plot”
was industriously circulated in England and, after translation into
various languages, was diligently spread over every part of Europe. In
the published account of the examinations and trial of the suspected
parties, the evidence is misrepresented in some parts and altogether
suppressed in others. The result of these and similar measures to
deceive the world, has been to leave everything concerning ‘the plot’ by
Roman Catholics to destroy The King, Lords and Commons in doubt and
questionable almost to the present day.
There has
been much research made among documents relating to this plot in the
State Paper and in the Crown Offices. It was well known that upon the
accession of
James I to the English throne the Roman Catholics of the
realm had good reasons for presuming that they would no longer be
subjected to the oppression which they had endured during the reign of
Elizabeth. The new Monarch was born of Catholic parents, and it was
said approved of several ordinances of the Roman Church. Indeed, some
declared that the King had given express assurance before he came to
England of his intentions to tolerate the Roman Catholic religion. One
of the early acts of his reign seemed to confirm this intention. He
arrived in London in the beginning of April, in the July he sent for
many recusants of distinction who were assured by the Lords of the
Privy Council that “it was his Majesty’s
intention to exonerate the English Roman Catholics from the pecuniary
fine of £20 a month for recusancy
imposed by the statute of Elizabeth”. For two years after this
assurance the fines for recusancy appear to have been nearly all
remitted. But the Roman Catholics soon discovered from the treats and
declarations of
James I that he had no intention of granting them
toleration.
An act
passed both Houses declaring that all the laws of
Elizabeth against
Jesuists and Priests were to be re-instated and were duly executed.
Two-thirds of the estates of recusants, and all their movable goods,
were seized in payment of the £20 a month fine. A bill was introduced
to the effect that ‘all persons who had been educated in Roman
Catholic seminaries abroad should be incapable of possessing property
within the King’s dominions’. These and other proceedings of still
greater severity were resented by the Roman Catholics. Among those in
whom these measure rankled most bitterly was
Robert Catesby, a
gentleman descended from an ancient and opulent family in
Northamptonshire. Catesby’s father, who had become a convert to the
Roman Catholic religion in the time of Elizabeth, had been more than
once imprisoned for recusancy. Robert at one time had abandoned
Catholicism and impaired his fortune by a course of gross
licentiousness. However, in 1598 he returned to the religion of his
youth, and devoted himself to the task of making proselytes to the
Catholic faith and to devising means to liberate himself and brethren
from the yoke under which they suffered.
With this
in mind, he engaged in the ill-judged insurrection of the Earl of
Essex.
Catesby was wounded and taken prisoner and only obtained his
freedom by the strenuous exertions of his friends, and at the cost of
three thousand pounds. After his release he became involved in several
seditious plans to prevent the succession of the Scottish King. Failing
in all, desperate of redress and lacking of sufficient foreign aid, he
at length planned vengeance which required no help from abroad and
required the co-operation of a few close associates. His project was
to blow-up the Palace of Westminster with gun powder during the State
Opening thus assassinating The King, The House Lords and The Commons.
He
disclosed his horrendous scheme to
Thomas Winter, a young
gentleman of Worcestershire, who was shocked at the proposal. At this
was the moment Velasco, the Constable of Castile, had
reached Flanders to conclude a peace between England and Spain. It was
decided to postpone Catesby’s dreadful plan until they had endeavoured
to obtain the mediation of the Spaniard with
King James I for the repeal
of the penal laws against Roman Catholics. Winter moved to the
Netherlands, but it wasn’t long until word reached him that there was no
hope of obtaining what he sought through Velasco. Passing to Ostend, he
encountered an old fellow-traveller and countryman, one
Guy (or
Guildo) Fawkes.
Of the
early education and history of
Fawkes scarcely anything is known. It is
thought that he spent his inheritance, and down on his heels, enlisted
as a soldier of fortune in the Spanish Army of the Netherlands. It has
been the custom to represent this man as a mercenary desperado, but
those who knew him well describe him as a ‘gentleman of exemplary
temperance, of tried fidelity and dauntless courage, whose society was
coveted by all the most distinguished in the Archduke’s camp’.
Fawkes and
Winter returned to England but was for some time kept in ignorance of
the desperate part he was to play. Before their arrival, Catesby had
made confidants of two other gentlemen,
Thomas Percy and
John
Wright, and a few days afterwards they all met at Catesby’s
lodgings, but he refused to reveal his scheme until every one had sworn
a solemn oath of secrecy. This was agreed to, and the five men again
met at a house in the fields near Clement’s Inn. Here, they swore an
oath ‘never to disclose, directly or indirectly, by word or
circumstance, the matter proposed, nor desist from the execution of it
until the rest should give permission’. For some time they
cherished hopes that
James I would listen to Velasco and grant his Roman
Catholic subjects some remission of their burdens. The King was
inexorable, assuring Velasco that even if he desired to agree a
compromise he dared not grant a concession as this would be repugnant to
the feelings of his Protestant people.
Shortly
afterwards, it is said that the magistrates received fresh orders to
enforce the laws against recusants, and a new commission was appointed
for the banishment of all Roman Catholic missionaries. These
proceedings seem to have extinguished the last lingering ray of hope in
the breasts of the conspirators, and they hastened to the execution of Catesby’s murderous plan.
Their
first step was to hire a house with a garden strategically positioned to
the old Palace of Westminster. This house was taken by Percy, who,
being a
Gentleman Pensioner, pretended it was convenient to him
for the performance of his official duties. From the cellar of this
house a mine was to be made through the wall of the Parliament House,
and a quantity of combustibles was then to be placed beneath the House
of Lords. Operations begun excavating the mine, and four of the party
laboured night and day, in shifts, with short rest periods.
Fawkes, in
the meantime, under the name of Johnson, gave himself out as the servant
of Percy, and kept a constant watch on the outside. After a fortnight
of unremitting work,
Fawkes brought news that the King had
prorogued
Parliament to 7
February. The conspirators agreed to separate, and each went to his own
home with an understanding not to communicate in any manner with each
other, but to meet again in November. In the interval it was thought
desirable to rent a house at Lambeth, and there they gradually
accumulated large quantities of powder and other combustibles, which
they later removed to Westminster by water. The house at Lambeth was
committed to
Robert Keyes, a Roman Catholic and friend of Catesby,
who, after taking the oath had been entrusted with this most dangerous
of secrets, and was readily received into the band.
The
Parliamentary Commission arranging the proposed union of England and
Scotland had appointed to hold their meetings in the very house taken by
Percy. The work was therefore deferred for a month. On the 11 December
1604 the confederates again met at the house. Owing to the great
thickness of the party-wall of the Parliament House they found their
task to be much more difficulty than they had expected and they sent for
Keyes from Lambeth and also enlisted a younger brother of
John Wright to
aid in the work. All day they dug at the mine, carrying the earth and
rubbish at night into the garden and spreading it over the ground. In
this way they laboured without having once shown themselves in the upper
part of the House for some weeks.
Fawkes brought intelligence that
Parliament was again prorogued from the 7 February to the 3 October
1605. Once more they arranged to separate, this time till after the
Christmas holidays, and then to meet and renew their toil. In the
beginning of February 1605 they resumed, and, by great perseverance and
exertion, had pierced about halfway through the wall, when they were
alarmed by a rushing noise in a cellar just above their heads.
Fawkes
was at once dispatched to ascertain the meaning of the noise, and found
that is was caused by the removal of coal belonging to a man who had the
cellar. Upon surveying the place it proved to be an extremely spacious
vault situated immediately beneath the House of Lords. This cellar was
speedily taken in Percy’s name for receiving his own coal and wood;
about twenty barrels of powder were immediately transported from Lambeth
to the cellar and carefully concealed by faggots and
billets of wood.
The preparations were complete at the beginning of May 1605. The cellar
was sealed, and as Parliament was not to meet till the 3 October 1605
they again parted for some months in order to avoid suspicion.
Shortly
after, Parliament was again prorogued to the 5 November 1605. Catesby
was aware of the importance of having a military force to meet any
opposition. During the Summer, he set about raising a body of horseman
under the pretence that they were to serve in the Spanish force in
Flanders. He collected a large body of discontented gentlemen in this
manner, and cautiously introduced among the officers several of the
sworn conspirators. He managed also to enlist as members of the secret
band three Roman Catholic gentlemen of wealth and station –
Sir
Everard Digby,
Francis Tresham and
Ambrose Rookwood
The 5 November approached, and the
confederates held frequent consultations
at a lone house near Enfield Chase, and another equally desolate on the
Marches near Erith. Here their plan of operations was completed.
Guy Fawkes, a man of tried courage, volunteered to perform the perilous task
of firing the mine. He was to perform this perilous task by the use of
a slow match; this would allow him time to escape to a boat moored on
the Thames to take him to Flanders. A list of all the Peers and
Commoners whom it was thought desirable to save was made and it was
decided that on the morning of the attack each of them should receive an
urgent message to withdraw himself from Westminster.
Tresham
was anxious that a warning should also be given to Lord Mounteagle, who
had married his sister, but Catesby strongly argued against this.
Tresham suggested a further delay on the ground that he could not allow
the possibility that his brother-in-law may become a victim. He
strengthened his argument by threatening to withdraw his funding. The
proposal confirmed the suspicious which Catesby had of Tresham’s loyalty
to the group, but Catesby thought it prudent to remain silent. This was
the start of the elaborate plan’s demise. On Saturday 26 October 1605,
ten days before the intended meeting of Parliament, Lord Mounteagle
ordered a supper to be prepared, not at his residence in town, but at
house belonging to him at Hoxton. While at a table in the evening a
letter was delivered to him by one of his pages, who said he received it
from a tall man whom he did not recognise. Mounteagle opened the
letter, and seeing that it had neither signature nor date, requested a
gentleman in his service, named Ward, to read it aloud.
Quote… “My lord out of the love I beare to
some of youere frends I have a caer of youer preseruacion therfor I
would advyse yowe as yowe tender youer lyf to devys some excuse to shift
of youer attendance at this parleament for god and man hath concurred to
punishe the wickednes of this tyme and think not slightlye of this
advertisment but retyre youre self into youre contri wheare yowe may
expect the event in safti for thowghe theare be no appearance of anni
stir yet I saye they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament and
yet they shall not seie who hurts them this cowncel is not to be
contemned because it may do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for the
dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and I hope god
will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose holy proteccion
I comend yowe” …unquote.
On the
following day the very gentleman who had read the letter at Mounteagle’s
table co-incidentally called on
Thomas Winter. By way of general
conversation he told Winter of the letter the previous evening; adding
that his Lordship had passed the mysterious missive to the Secretary of
State. He ended the conversation by jesting with Winter that if he were
a party to the plot, which the letter hinted at, he should flee at once.
Winter, though alarmed, treated the affair as a hoax. However, as soon
as possible he communicated the intelligence to his colleagues.
Catesby
instantly suspected that
Tresham was the writer.
Some days
later, Tresham received a letter suggesting that he meet Catesby and
Winter in Enfield Chase. Tresham was accused of treachery, but he
dismissed the charge with such spirit, and maintained his innocence with
so many oaths that although they had decided beforehand to murder him
they spared his life. They sent
Fawkes to examine the cellar, he found
all safe. Only on his return did they tell him of the new intelligence
and they apologised for sending him on so dangerous an errand.
Fawkes,
with characteristic coolness, declared he should have gone with equal
readiness had he known of the letter; he revisited the cellar once every
day till the 5 November.
On 31
October the King, who had been hunting, returned to London and the
letter was shown to him. He read it repeatedly, and spent two hours in
consultation with his Minister. On 3 November the
conspirators were
advised by Ward that the letter had been shown to the King. Some
proposed to flee; others refuted to credit the story; finally, they
decided to await the return of Percy. Percy exerted all his powers to
reassure his colleagues, and after long discussion,
Fawkes undertook to
keep guard within the cellar, Percy and Winter to superintend the
operations in London, and Catesby and John Wright departed for the
general rendezvous at Dunchurch.
On Monday
afternoon, 4 November, the Lord Chamberlain, whose responsibility it was
to ascertain that preparations were made for the opening of the Session,
visited the Parliament House and in company with Lord Mounteagle,
entered the vault. Casting an apparently casual eye, and fixing his
eyes on
Fawkes, who pretended to be Percy’s servant, he observed there
was a large quantity of fuel for a private house and asked who occupied
the cellar. He then retired to report his observations to the King, who
upon hearing that the man was “a very tall and desperate fellow” gave
orders that the cellar should be carefully searched.
Fawkes in the
meantime had hurried to inform Percy, and then, such was his
determination, returned alone to the cellar.
About two
in the morning of 5 November 1605
Fawkes opened the door of
the vault and came out, booted and dressed for a long journey. At that
instant, before he could stir, he was seized by a party of soldiers,
under the direction of Sir Thomas Knevit. Three matches were
found in his pocket, and a dark-lantern behind the door. He at once
admitted his plan, and declared that if he had been inside the cellar
when they took him he would have blown all up together. The search
began, and the removal of the fuel, two hogsheads and thirty-two
barrels of gunpowder.
 It
was nearly four o’clock before the King and Council had assembled to
interrogate the prisoner.
Fawkes was then carried to Whitehall, and
there, in the Royal bedchamber, underwent examination. Though bound and
helpless, he never for an instant shrank in fear. He answered every
question put to him with perfect coolness. His name, he said, was John
Johnson, his condition that of a servant to Mr Percy. He declined to
say if he had accomplices, but declared his object was, when the
Parliament met that day, to have destroyed all there assembled. Being
asked by the King how he could plot the death of his children and so
many innocent souls, he answered, “Dangerous diseases require
desperate remedie”. A Scottish nobleman asked him for what end he
had collected so much powder, “one of my ends” said he “was to
blow Scotchmen back to their native place”. After, several hours
spent in questing him he was conveyed to the Tower of London.
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Edited article in the Irish
Times (The Arrest of Guy Fawkes on the Eve of 5th Nov 1605) Printed on 9
Nov 1861 |
My lord
out of the love I beare to some of youere frends I have a caer of youer
preseruacion therfor I would advyse yowe as yowe tender youer lyf to
devys some excuse to shift of youer attendance at this parleament for
god and man hath concurred to punishe the wickednes of this tyme and
think not slightlye of this advertisment but retyre youre self into
youre contri wheare yowe may expect the event in safti for thowghe
theare be no appearance of anni stir yet I saye they shall receyve a
terrible blowe this parleament and yet they shall not seie who hurts
them this cowncel is not to be contemned because it may do yowe good and
can do yowe no harme for the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have
burnt the letter and I hope god will give yowe the grace to mak good use
of it to whose holy proteccion I comend yowe
The Battle
of Agincourt was fought
during the Hundred years war. At the end of the English Invasion
of 1415 by