Remember, remember…
“Remember, remember, the 5th of November…”
“…Gunpowder, treason, and plot”
Every British schoolchild learns that rhyme, and we all know it is linked to spectacular fireworks displays, bonfires, sparklers, and toffee apples. Standing in parks and fields with freezing fingers, noses, and toes, waving sparklers, eating sweets, and enjoying the show.
But where does all this firecracker festivity come from?
Religious tensions
To find out, we have to travel back in time to the early 17th Century – to the 5th of November, 1605. In an undercroft – a kind of cellar – beneath the House of Lords, a man named Guy Fawkes was hiding in the dark, keeping guard over 36 barrels of gunpowder. He was there because the next day, Parliament was due to open, which meant the king, James I, would be in attendance. And Guy planned to set those barrels alight, blowing up Parliament and killing the king in the process. Fawkes was a Catholic, who hated the religious restrictions being imposed by the devoutly Protestant James (commissioner of the famous King James Bible). He wanted to kill the king, and put his more easily manipulated young daughter on the throne in his place.
Alan Cumming as King James
Truth and consequences
Luckily for the king and unluckily for Fawkes, the plot was discovered, as was he. He and his fellow conspirators were caught, put on trial, and executed on 31st January 1606. For their heinous plot, they were sentenced to the most gruesome of deaths – being Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered. Fawkes only “escaped” that fate by falling from the gallows platform and breaking his neck, dying before any further torture could be inflicted upon him. If you aren’t sure what “quartering” involves, think of the scene in Braveheart where William Wallace has his insides removed by force – that will give you an idea.
Penny for the Guy
Our annual firework shows celebrate the fact that Fawkes and co failed to blow up Parliament… by blowing things up! Less common these days, but popular for centuries, was an inclusion of a “Guy” – an effigy of a man, made from wood, straw, fabric, and paper – that would be burned atop the bonfire as well. Local children used to pull the guy around from house to house, much like modern-day Trick or Treaters, asking for “a penny for the Guy”.
Who else?
So, Guy Fawkes is the best-known plotter ,but he wasn’t alone – who else was involved in this fiery endeavour? There were a dozen others, making an unlucky 13 in all, and although we remember Fawkes today, probably the most important at the time was a man called Robert Catesby. Catesby was a devout Catholic – so much so that he never gained his degree from Oxford University because he refused to make a protestant oath that was part of the process – and had previously fought in Spain against the Dutch, fighting on the side of the Catholics in the 80 Years’ War.
A firebrand
He was a firebrand and apparently a charismatic man, who won over the others to support him in his daring plot to kill the monarch. Amongst the others were two sets of brothers, the Wintours and the Wrights, Thomas Percy, who had met Catesby in 1603, and provided much of the finance for the plot; and Francis Gresham, admitted to the conspiracy just weeks before the planned date. Gresham was a cousin of Catesby’s, and probably allowed to join so that the group could ask him for help with money and land – they hand spent a lot in acquiring the gunpowder, renting a house in Lambeth and the cellar under Parliament, and in arranging arms and lodgings for their supporters.
Kit Harrington as Guy Fawkes
Betrayed
Admitting Tresham turned out to be a terrible mistake, as it was almost certainly he who led to the discovery of Fawkes, lurking in the cellar with all those barrels of gunpowder. On the 26th of October, an anonymous letter was sent to a certain Lord Monteagle, Tresham’s brother-in-law, warning him to stay away from the House of Lords on the 5th if he valued his life. Monteagle passed the letter on to contacts in government, who were already suspicious that something was afoot. Sure enough, when Master-at-Arms Sir Thomas Knyvet searched the vaults, he found Fawkes beside a large pile of wood and coal, under which were the barrels. Fawkes attempted to evade justice by giving a false name, but it seems he wasn’t the best at thinking under pressure, as the best he could come up with was John Johnson.
Escape to Dudley
Anbrose Rookwood, another of the gang of 13, heard of Fawkes’s arrest and fled London. He passed the news to the others, and they all fled the city. Seven of them travelled on to the Midlands: Catesby the mastermind; Percy the financer; the brothers Christopher and John (Kit and Jack) Wright; Rookwood; Robert Wintour; and Thomas Bates, who was Catesby’s servant and had only been included in the plot when he found out about it by accident. They holed up at Holbeche House, a mansion about 5 miles outside Dudley, near Birmingham. John Grant, Everard Digby, and Robert Wintour’s half-brother John joined them later.
Gunpowder again
The ride there had been damp, and supplies of further arms they’d looted from Warwick Castle had got wet. The group made the questionable decision to dry out their gunpowder by spreading it out near the fire, with perhaps predictable results: a stray spark ignited it, and Catesby and Rookwood were badly burned, while John Grant was blinded. At this point, Bates decided enough was enough and left them to it, leaving Holbeche along with Digby, and Robert and John Wintour.
Intentional fireworks can be great fun - but always be careful where you put that powder
Last stand
On Friday the 8th of November, the Sheriff of Worcestershire arrived to storm Holbeche – initially in retaliation for their raid on Warwick Castle. A deadly firefight ensued, from which only a few of the conspirators emerged to face trial. Both Wright brothers were killed, along with Ambrose Rookwood. Catesby and Percy were apparently both killed by the same cannon ball. The Sheriff took John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, and Thomas Wintour into custody – the last with a bullet wound in his shoulder.
Torture and confession
Guy Fawkes had been held at the Tower of London all this time, and was tortured to make him give up the others’ names. He held out for three days, before finally submitting under the hideous pain of the rack. Later, Thomas Wintour provided a detailed confession as well – a lot of our information about the details of the plot comes from that document.
A bloody end
In the end, all the conspirators were charged with treason, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. As we heard, Fawkes only escaped by dying in a different way, by falling from the hanging scaffold. The others all met their grisly end, and so concluded the infamous Gunpowder Plot.
A contemporary depiction of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. Guy is shown as “Guido Fawkes”, a nickname he acquired in Spain.
If you would like to hear more about this story, and the many other dramatic tales that have shaped the history of both our Parliament and our Royal Family, come and join me on a walking tour of Westminster - you can find information on my tours by clicking the button below.
