The Gunpowder Plot

EVER since the 1605 bid to destroy Parliament and kill the king, people have marked November 5 with fireworks, bonfires and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes.

But the gunpowder plot was not the work of one man. In total 13 conspirators took part and, despite popular belief, Fawkes (pictured) was not at the helm of the operation.

In fact it was a man called Robert Catesby who planted the seeds for the attack, plotting a bloody rebellion against King James I.

The aim was to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the day of the state opening on November 5, 1605.

The whole of Parliament would be sitting and, more importantly, the king would be there too.

Catesby, a devout Catholic, wanted revenge against the king who, despite a short spell of acceptance, had turned on Catholics and expressed his utter detestation of them.

It had taken King James just a year of his reign to reintroduce fines and punishment to any Catholic caught practising their faith.

Catesby was not one to take things passively and, in today's terminology, he may have fitted the description of a religious extremist.

Determined not to take the persecution of his faith lying down, he set about recruiting fellow Catholics willing to conspire with him in the Gunpowder Plot.

On May 20, 1604, Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Robert Keyes and Fawkes met with Catesby at the Duck and Drake public house in the Strand to make their plans.

While there they swore an oath on the Bible to blow up King James I and the Houses of Parliament.

Fawkes was recruited for his expertise with gunpowder and had previously spent 10 years fighting in the Low Countries under the Spanish flag in the regiment of English Exiles.

By March 1605, Fawkes had been tasked with the job of securing 36 barrels of gunpowder enough to obliterate anyone in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament.

The conspirators stored the ammunition in a cellar under the House of Lord and Fawkes, under the alias John Johnson, was assigned to look after the stash.

Over the ensuing months other Catholic conspirators joined the Gunpowder Plot, to bring the total to 13.

Everything seemed to be running to plan as the days got closer to November 5.

But on October 26, an anonymous letter was sent to the Catholic Lord Monteagle warning him to avoid the state opening of Parliament.

It was this which led to the foiling of the carefully-contrived plot.

On November 4, near to midnight, Fawkes was found near to the cellar under the House of Lords along with the barrels of gunpowder.

He was arrested and in the early hours of November 5 was brought before the king and Robert Cecil, who was the Earl of Salisbury and the King's first minister.

Fawkes maintained a scornful attitude and refused to answer questions about his co-conspirators, which led to him being subjected to extreme torture.

Most of the conspirators had managed to escape from London to the Midlands on horseback but the High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Sir Richard Walsh, led 200 men and found the plotters at Holbeche House, Staffordshire.

Ringleader Catesby died from wounds sustained in the battle which followed, as did John Wright, his brother Christopher and Thoman Percy.

The other conspirators were taken to the Tower of London to await trial. They were all found guilty and sentenced to death in January 1606.

The executions were attended with all the bloody barbarity the punishment for high treason demanded.

Fawkes was hanged at Old Palace Yard at Westminster until he was half dead, before having his genitals cut off and burned in front of him.

The heads and other portions of the conspirators were set up at points across Westminster and London for all to see.

A great tradition

November 5 has been remembered for 400 years now.

On this date in 1605, Londoners celebrated the saving of their King with fires and festivities.

An Act of Parliament was passed to appoint the date as a day of thanksgiving for the "joyful deliverance of James I".

This act remained in force for 254 years, until 1859.

Soon it became the custom to place an effigy of Guy Fawkes on bonfires. Then fireworks were added to the celebrations.

Some children still follow tradition and walk the streets with the effigy, asking for a penny for the Guy.

The tradition has spread beyond the UK and established itself in former British colonies including New Zealand and Newfoundland, Canada.

Who can forget the famous nursery rhyme which begins: "Remember, remember the fifth of November ..."