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EmmaToday we travel to England in 1605. Guy Fawkes was discovered with gunpowder beneath the Houses of Parliament on November 5. This was the Gunpowder Plot, a plan to kill the king and destroy Parliament.

EmmaParliament was where the king and two groups of lawmakers, the Lords and the Commons, met to govern. The State Opening was a formal ceremony that brought them together. The plotters wanted to attack during that ceremony. The Palace of Westminster, where Parliament met, was then a jumble of old buildings. The Lords met in a building first built in the 13th century. The gunpowder was kept in a ground-floor storeroom called an undercroft, often described as a cellar.

EmmaThe plotters were Catholic gentlemen. They were angry because James I’s talks with Spain had not improved the position of Catholics. In May 1604, Robert Catesby proposed blowing up the king, the Lords, and the Commons. The plotters first rented a house and tried to dig a tunnel toward the Lords’ building. The work proved too difficult. In March 1605, they rented the undercroft beneath it instead. By the time the State Opening was set for November 5, 36 barrels of gunpowder were stored there. Fawkes watched over them.

EmmaA warning may have helped expose the plan. On October 26, Lord Monteagle received a letter telling him not to attend the State Opening. He took it to Robert Cecil, the king’s minister. The letter was anonymous. The official account says the warning led to the discovery, but Parliament’s FAQ says it is uncertain whether the letter was genuine or a forgery.

EmmaOn November 4, the Earl of Suffolk, the Lord Chamberlain, inspected the Lords’ building and nearby buildings. After hearing his report, James ordered a full search. Sir Thomas Knyvett, a local magistrate in Westminster, led it. Knyvett found Fawkes with the gunpowder and arrested him. Fawkes gave the name John Johnson. The plan failed before the State Opening.

EmmaThe plot’s effects reached far beyond the men who planned it. When Parliament met in January 1606, strongly Protestant lawmakers called for action against Catholics. James said most Catholics were loyal, but he supported a law requiring them to swear loyalty to the king and reject the Pope’s authority. The UK Parliament says the plot stained Catholics as a group, and Protestant suspicion continued.

EmmaParliament also made November 5 an annual day of thanksgiving. That law stayed in force until 1859. Bonfires and fireworks became part of the remembrance. The failed plot left a lasting mark: it was remembered each year, while Catholics continued to face suspicion.

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