The Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder plot was a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605 with King James I inside.

There was still a lot of religious unrest during the 17th century. King James I was Protestant, but his mother had been Catholic, so people expected their new king to be tolerant of both beliefs. They were wrong; James I was very harsh on Catholics and ordered all Catholic priests to leave the country.

A group of thirteen men came up with a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament, which famously became known as The Gunpowder Plot.  They hoped that his Catholic daughter would then become queen. These men rented a cellar that ran beneath the Houses of Parliament and filled it with gunpowder. The scene was set.

Guy Fawkes was one of the men involved in the plot, but he wasn’t the ringleader. He is famous today because he was the one who was caught red-handed with the gunpowder. He eventually confessed and was sentenced to death.