O
n the evening of 26
October 1605, Lord
Monteagle received a
startling letter. An
anonymous
correspondent advised
the English nobleman against attending
the upcoming session of parliament, due to
begin a few days later. The letter warned:
“They shall receive a terrible blow this
parliament and yet they shall not see who
hurts them”. It was a chilling message.
Monteagle raced from his home in Hoxton
to Whitehall where he passed the letter to
Robert Cecil, the secretary of state and
second most powerful man in the land.
Cecil’s investigations led to a cellar under
the Palace of Westminster and the
discovery of the most audacious terrorist
attack ever attempted on British soil.
It was a plot that had its origins back in
the reign of Elizabeth I. Henry VIII and
Edward VI laid the foundations of the
English Reformation, but Elizabeth took it a
stage further, ensuring the country was
firmly Protestant. As the 16th century drew
to a close, the country’s remaining Catholics
faced increasing levels of persecution. Fierce
regulations included the death penalty for
those found to be sheltering priests. It was a
grim time to be a Catholic in England.
Hopes rested on the mortality of
Elizabeth and the likely choice for the Virgin
Queen’s successor, James VI of Scotland.
Though himself a Protestant, James was the
son of Catholic martyr Mary Queen of
Scots and his own wife was also a Catholic.
Furthermore, prior to his succession to theEnglish throne, he had hinted that his reign
would bring greater toleration for the
country’s Catholic minority.
When he became king in 1603, James did
indeed limit the restrictions on Catholicism
in England. However, within a year he had
reversed this policy after opposition from
English Protestants. Furious at being let
down, a small group of young Catholics
began plotting a violent act of revenge. The
head of this band was Robert Catesby, a
rebellious member of the minor gentry.
In May 1604, this group gathered in
London and started to hatch out its plan.
The idea they settled upon was to ignite a
huge cache of gunpowder underneath
Westminster on the opening session of
parliament. The resulting explosion would
wipe out almost the entire EnglishIn 1605 , a small group of disaffected
Catholics came within a whisker of
blowing the king and parliament to smithereens. Rob Attar
uncovers nine places associated with this bloody scheme
THE
GUNPOWDER
PLOT
ALAMY