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Gunpowder Plot

conspiracy, England [circa 1603–1605]

Britannica Editors

Nov. 3, 2025 •History
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The true story behind Guy Fawkes DayDescription of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.See all videos for this article

Gunpowder Plot, the conspiracy of English Roman Catholics to blow up Parliament and King James I, his queen, and his eldest son on November 5, 1605. The leader of the plot, Robert Catesby, together with his four coconspirators—Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Guy Fawkes—were zealous Roman Catholics angered by James’s refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics. They apparently hoped that the confusion that would follow the murder of the king, his ministers, and the members of Parliament would provide an opportunity for the English Catholics to take over the country.

Assembling the conspirators

Catesby had conceived of the plot as early as May 1603, when he told Percy, in reply to the latter’s declaration of his intention to kill the king, that he was “thinking of a most sure way.” Subsequently, on or about November 1, 1603, Catesby sent a message to his cousin Robert Winter at Huddington, near Worcester, to come to London, but Winter refused. On the arrival of a second urgent summons shortly afterward, he obeyed, and at a house in Lambeth, probably in January 1604, he and John Wright were initiated by Catesby into the plot to blow up Parliament. Before putting this plan into motion, however, it was decided to try a “quiet way” to obtain the repeal of the Penal Laws, a body of laws that essentially criminalized Roman Catholicism. Winter was sent to Flanders to enlist the aid of Juan de Velasco, duke of Frias and constable of Castile, who was conducting the negotiations for a peace between England and Spain. Winter, having secured nothing but vain promises from the constable, returned to England about the end of April, bringing with him Fawkes, a man devoted to the Roman Catholic cause and recommended for undertaking perilous adventures.

Guy Fawkes Day: A Brief History

Guy Fawkes Day: A Brief History

The British holiday, celebrated with fireworks and bonfires, commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.


By: Jesse Greenspan

Updated: July 25, 2023 | Original: November 5, 2012

Teesside Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images


Observed in the United Kingdom every year on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day—also called Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night—commemorates a failed assassination attempt from more than 400 years ago.

On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes and a group of radical English Catholics tried to assassinate King James I by blowing up Parliament's House of Lords. The plot went awry and all of the conspirators were executed. Soon after, Britons began to celebrate Fawkes' demise and the survival of their king by burning effigies, lighting bonfires and setting off fireworks—a tradition that has continued to this day.

British Parliament


Background to the Gunpowder Plot

Catholicism in England was heavily repressed under Queen Elizabeth I, particularly after the pope excommunicated her in 1570. During her reign, dozens of priests were put to death, and Catholics could not even legally celebrate Mass or be married according to their own rites. As a result, many Catholics had high hopes when King James I took the throne upon Elizabeth’s death in 1603. James’ wife, Anne, is believed to have previously converted to Catholicism, and his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was Elizabeth’s Catholic arch-rival prior to being executed. There were even rumors, inspired by his diplomatic overtures to the pope, that James himself would become Catholic.

It soon became clear, however, that James did not support religious tolerance for Catholics. In 1604 he publicly condemned Catholicism as a superstition, ordered all Catholic priests to leave England and expressed concern that the number of Catholics was increasing. He also largely continued with the repressive policies of his predecessor, such as fines for those refusing to attend Protestant services.

English Catholics had organized several failed conspiracies against Elizabeth, and these continued under James. In 1603 a few priests and laymen hatched the so-called Bye Plot to kidnap James, only to be turned in by fellow Catholics. Another related conspiracy that year, known as the Main Plot, sought to kill James and install his cousin on the throne. Then, in May 1604, a handful of Catholic dissidents—Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, Tom Wintour, Jack Wright and Thomas Percy—met at the Duck and Drake Inn in London, where Catesby proposed a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder. Afterward, all five men purportedly swore an oath of secrecy upon a prayer book.

The Gunpowder Plot Is Hatched—Then Foiled

Eight other conspirators would later join what became known as the Gunpowder Plot. But although Catesby was the ringleader, Fawkes has garnered most of the publicity over the past 400-plus years. Born in 1570 in York, England, Fawkes spent about a decade fighting for Spain against Protestant rebels in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands. He also personally petitioned the king of Spain for help in starting an English rebellion against James. According to writings in the Spanish archives, Fawkes believed the English king was a heretic who would drive out his Catholic subjects. Fawkes also apparently expressed strong anti-Scottish prejudices.

By 1605, Fawkes was calling himself Guido rather than Guy. He also used the alias John Johnson while serving as caretaker of a cellar—located just below the House of Lords—that the plotters had leased in order to stockpile gunpowder. Under the plan, Fawkes would light a fuse on November 5, 1605, during the opening of a new session of Parliament. James, his eldest son, the House of Lords and the House of Commons would all be blown sky-high. In the meantime, as Fawkes escaped by boat across the River Thames, his fellow conspirators would start an uprising in the English Midlands, kidnap James’ daughter Elizabeth, install her as a puppet queen and eventually marry her off to a Catholic, thereby restoring the Catholic monarchy.



Gunpowder Plot

Robert Catesby What became known as the Gunpowder Plot was organized by Robert Catesby, a devout English Catholic whose father had been persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I for refusing to conform to the Church of England. Guy Fawkes, born in York in 1570, was a convert to Catholicism, and his religious zeal led him to […]
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On October 26, an anonymous letter advising a Catholic sympathizer to avoid the State Opening of Parliament alerted the authorities to the existence of a plot. To this day, no one knows for sure who wrote the letter. Some historians have even suggested that it was fabricated and that the authorities already knew of the Gunpowder Plot, only letting it progress as an excuse to further crack down on Catholicism.

Either way, a search party found Fawkes skulking in his cellar around midnight on November 4, with matches in his pocket and 36 barrels of gunpowder stacked next to him. For Fawkes, the plot’s failure could be blamed on “the devil and not God.” He was taken to the Tower of London and tortured upon the special order of King James. Soon after, his co-conspirators were likewise arrested, except for four, including Catesby, who died in a shootout with English troops.

Fawkes and his surviving co-conspirators were all found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death in January 1606 by hanging, drawing and quartering. A Jesuit priest was also executed a few months later for his alleged involvement, even as new laws banned Catholics from voting in elections, practicing law or serving in the military. In fact, Catholics were not fully emancipated in England until the 19th century.
Guy Fawkes Day Becomes a Holiday

After the plot was revealed, Londoners began lighting celebratory bonfires, and in January 1606 an act of Parliament designated November 5 as a day of thanksgiving. Guy Fawkes Day festivities soon spread as far as the American colonies, where they became known as Pope Day. In keeping with the anti-Catholic sentiment of the time, British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic would burn an effigy of the pope.

That tradition completely died out in the United States by the 19th century, whereas in Britain Guy Fawkes Day became a time to get together with friends and family, set off fireworks, light bonfires, attend parades and burn effigies of Fawkes. Children traditionally wheeled around their effigies demanding a “penny for the Guy” (a similar custom to Halloween trick-or-treating) and imploring crowds to “remember, remember the fifth of November.”

Guy Fawkes himself, meanwhile, has undergone something of a makeover. Once known as a notorious traitor, he is now portrayed in some circles as a revolutionary hero, largely due to the influence of the 1980s graphic novel “V for Vendetta” and the 2005 movie of the same name, which depicted a protagonist who wore a Guy Fawkes mask while battling a future fascist government in Britain.

Guy Fawkes masks even cropped up at Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City and elsewhere. “Every generation reinvents Guy Fawkes to suit their needs,” explained historian William B. Robison of Southeastern Louisiana University. “But Fawkes was just one of the flunkies. It really should be Robert Catesby Day.”

Source

Guy Fawkes and the Conspiracy of the Gunpowder Plot

Remember Remember the 5th of November - Guy Fawkes Fireworks Night Poem

Guy Fawkes Day- 5 Things to Know about the UK Celebration of Failed Revolution

Guy Fawkes Day- 5 Things to Know about the UK Celebration of Failed Revolution


Upvoted by: Amal Ben Hadj Mabrouk, Frederike Kipper, Lauren Phelps, Milan Nikolic

Guy Fawkes Day is annually celebrated throughout Britain on November 5. Being known as Bonfire Night and Firework Night as well, this holiday represents perpetual celebration of liberty over tyranny. If you may be wondering who Guy Fawkes was or how is this day celebrated, keep reading this article because here are five things you should know before celebrating the next Guy Fawkes Day.


1.Historical background
On the evening of the 5th of November 1605, a group of men attempted the "gunpowder plot", a failed try to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James the First. The man behind this terrorist act was named Guy Fawkes. Nevertheless, the plan was discovered when one of the conspirators sent a letter to his cousin warning him not to come to the Houses of Parliament. Fawkes was caught just before lighting the fuse which led him to execution.


2.Religion background
Guy Fawkes was one of a small group of Catholics who felt that the protestant government was treating Roman Catholics unfairly. They were not allowed to practice their religion in public because King James 1st, a Protestant, refused to change the laws. They hoped that attack would be the beginning of a great uprising of English Catholics. This plot backfired because it provoked hostility against all English Catholics and led to an increase in the harshness of laws against them.


3. 5th of November Poem
For many centuries the poem about Guy Fawkes's failed revolution has been spreading throughout England. The traditional verse exists in a large number of variations but this version seems the most popular:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,



Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!


Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.
By god's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.


So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.
And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

4.Guy Fawkes mask

In the 1980s graphic novelists Alan Moore and David Lloyd created a comic strip, "V for Vendetta", in which the main protagonist is a cloaked anarchist who wears a grinning Guy Fawkes mask while battling against a fascist authoritarian state. The authors wanted to celebrate Fawkes by turning him into an anti-hero for the modern age.
Since then the image has been adopted by the Occupy movement, and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has also donned a Fawkes mask. It has become a regular feature of many protests. Mr Lloyd has called the mask a "convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny…it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way".


5.Celebration

Today, this event continues to be remembered through the usage of fireworks and bonfire parties, mostly in England but also in places such as Australia and New Zealand. A part of the celebration is burning effigies of the conspirator.

Source

Gunpowder Plot