Cold Open: Fawkes arrested

It’s the early hours of November 5th, 1605, underneath the Houses of Parliament in London, England.

35-year-old Guy Fawkes leans his head back against a cellar wall, listening to the rhythmic drip of water on the stone flagstones. He shuffles his feet and stretches his legs. Although it’s the middle of the night, Guy needs to stay alert.

Several weeks ago, Guy rented this cellar beneath the Houses of Parliament and spent days secretly filling its chambers with barrels of gunpowder. Yesterday evening, he slipped into the cellar and hid before royal guards set up a security perimeter around the building. Later today, King James I is due to open a new session of Parliament. And when he does, Guy intends to blow up the gunpowder and destroy the Houses of Parliament, killing the king and wiping out England’s government.

Guy snaps to attention when he hears footsteps approaching. No one should be wandering the cellars at this time of night. So, Guy’s pulse quickens as he realizes his plot is at risk of discovery.

Hurriedly, he picks up a sack of firewood he was going to use as kindling and empties the contents over the barrels, trying to conceal them.

A moment later, the door bursts open. It’s a search party of armed men.

One of them roughly pushes Guy against the wall. The others fan out across the cellar.

They sweep the firewood out of the way with their swords, revealing the hidden barrels.

Then, one of the men breaks open a barrel. He plunges his hand inside and lifts it out to reveal black gunpowder draining through his fingers. He turns to Guy with a smile and informs him he’s under arrest for treason.

The arrest of Guy Fawkes signals the failure of the “Gunpowder Plot.” His intention was to kill King James I and install a new Catholic regime in London. Instead, Guy’s capture and the defeat of his murderous conspirators will become an annual source of celebration in England when each year the country marks the day the Gunpowder Plot was foiled on November 5th, 1605.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 5th, 1605: The Gunpowder Plot.

Act One: Essex’s Rebellion

It’s February 8th, 1601, in London, more than four years before Guy Fawkes is arrested in a cellar beneath the Houses of Parliament.

Robert Catesby rests his hand on the hilt of his sword as he marches through a crowd of armed men. As the 28-year-old son of a wealthy landowner, at his age, Robert should be seeking a position at the court of Queen Elizabeth. But Robert has a major disadvantage that prevents him from being accepted into royal favor. Robert is a Catholic, and religion is a divisive issue in England at this time.

Nearly 50 years ago, King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and appointed himself as the head of a new Church of England. In the decades since the country has been torn apart by religious conflict and those who wish for it to embrace a new Protestant faith vie for dominance. For the last 21 years, Queen Elizabeth has ruled England as a Protestant, and she’s enacted laws limiting Catholics’ ability to worship freely. But in Rome, the Pope has encouraged English Catholics to remain loyal to their faith and to fight back.

Robert has responded to the Pope’s call. He’s joined a rebellion led by the Earl of Essex, a powerful noble in Elizabeth’s court. Essex isn’t a Catholic, though, and his rebellion isn’t a religious one. Instead, Essex is making a grab for power, trying to force the Queen to replace her chief minister and give him the job instead. Robert just hopes that if enough Catholics join Essex, then any future regime of his will be more tolerant to Catholicism. But Robert’s plan hinges on the rebellion succeeding.

As Robert makes his way to the front of the crowd, he sees Essex himself leading the way. Essex marches purposefully, his head held high, calling on the people to join him. Robert tries to carry favor with Essex by shouting at the onlookers too. But their calls have no effect. Most Londoners watch the rebels march past in silence. A few even turn their backs. Then, Robert feels something wet hit his neck. He turns around to see a rotten apple at his feet, and a group of youngsters jeering from a window above them.

Robert’s confidence in the rebellion is wavering. And it soon becomes clear that he’s not the only person having second thoughts. Essex’s small army dwindles as they march, with more and more men sneaking away down side streets. Within minutes, less than half of the 200 original marchers remain. But Robert doesn’t abandon Essex. Even when Essex himself gives up and retreats to his London home, Robert stays with him.

But as night falls, the Queen’s troops surround the house and demand that the men inside surrender. Essex offers a few last words of encouragement. Then, he opens the door of his house and walks outside, putting up no resistance as the Queen’s men arrest him. Soon, they round up the rest of Essex’s rebels too and Robert’s hands are tied and he’s dragged through the streets to the Tower of London.

The Queen’s justice is swift. Seventeen days after his arrest, the Earl of Essex is found guilty of treason and beheaded. But not all the rebels are executed. Robert escapes with his life, although he must pay a heavy fine, the equivalent of over $1 million today. So within a few weeks, Robert is back home—but now angrier than ever. Rather than dissuade him from rising up against the crown, his punishment has only deepened Robert’s determination to bring an end to the Protestant domination of England.

But it won’t be Queen Elizabeth he’ll be fighting. In 1603, the Queen dies. Unmarried and with no children to inherit the throne, Elizabeth passes the English crown to a cousin - King James VI of Scotland. He journeys south to London and takes the title of King James I of England. And although James is a Protestant, his mother was Catholic, so Robert Catesby briefly hopes that King James will usher in a new era of religious tolerance. But Robert’s hopes are soon dashed. Under James, the anti-Catholic laws not only continue, they get harsher.

Soon, Robert concludes that only radical, violent action can win freedom for England’s Catholics. He knows that if he’s caught plotting against the monarch again, his life will not be spared. But this time, Robert won’t just follow the lead of a disgruntled Protestant like the Earl of Essex. Instead, he’ll devise his own plot to put a Catholic on the throne of England—and the only way that will happen is if he kills King James I.

Act Two: Organizing the Gunpowder Plot

It’s May 20th, 1604, at the Duck and Drake tavern in London, three years after the failure of the Essex Rebellion.

Guy Fawkes takes his tankard of ale and approaches a table in a dark corner of the tavern. A huddle of half a dozen men whisper to each other in the shadows. They fall silent and look at Guy suspiciously as he approaches, until one of them suddenly recognizes Guy and, with a smile, introduces him to the small group’s leader: Robert Catesby.

Guy has recently returned to England after spending more than a decade fighting abroad. But Guy was not a soldier in the English army. As a devout Catholic, Guy had decided to join the King of Spain in his war against Protestants in the Netherlands. A few months ago, though, Guy met with another English Catholic who’d heard rumors of a plot to kill King James I. Guy felt compelled to help, that he traveled back to England for the first time in years. And now, he’s here to find out more about Robert Catesby’s plan.

When the introductions are complete, Guy takes a sip of his ale and leans forward as Robert quietly outlines the details of his breathtakingly ambitious plot. Robert wants to blow up the Houses of Parliament during its opening session in February 1605. King James and all the leading members of the nobility will be in attendance, giving the conspirators the chance to wipe out the country’s government in one fell swoop. Once the king and his lawmakers are all dead, Robert and the rest of the plotters will then lead a Catholic uprising in the chaos that will inevitably follow and install a new monarch on the English throne.

Guy glances around the table, trying to read the expressions of the other men. It’s an audacious, risky plot. But no one balks. Instead, they nod along with solemn and determined expressions. Guy watches, as Robert takes a leather bound Bible and pushes it to the center of the table. Glancing around to make sure no one else in the tavern is watching, he makes a vow to see the plot through and to free English Catholics from religious tyranny. Then, each of the other men makes his own vow. Guy is the last to swear his oath.

In the months that follow, the plotters rent a small property close to the Houses of Parliament and begin excavating a tunnel under the building. But their plan soon unravels. They find it impossible to dig through the tough rock quickly enough. Then, the scheme comes to a complete stop when London is struck by an epidemic of the plague. King James and his nobles flee to the clean air of the countryside for months, and the opening session of Parliament is postponed indefinitely.

But the extra time gives the plotters an opportunity to come up with an alternative plan. Rather than dig a tunnel, they rent a nearby cellar that extends underneath the Houses of Parliament. By night, they then row dozens of barrels of gunpowder across the River Thames. As the most experienced military man, Guy is given responsibility for the explosives, and he takes great care as he stashes them away in the cellar. All that’s left to do is then wait for the plague to pass and Parliament to be recalled.

In July 1605, the plotters receive the news they’ve been waiting for. The opening session of Parliament will take place on November 5th, 1605. So throughout the summer and into the early weeks of the fall, the plotters recruit more disgruntled Catholics to join their ranks—but not all of the newcomers are able to keep their mouths shut. As November nears, prominent Catholic noble Lord Monteagle receives a cryptic letter at his home. It warns him to miss the opening session of Parliament, and asks Lord Monteagle to burn the message after reading it. But although Lord Monteagle is a Catholic, he’s also a loyal Englishman. And rather than setting fire to the letter, he takes it straight to the king.

King James and his advisers immediately recognize the danger they’re in and order a search of the Houses of Parliament. And it's in the early hours of November 5th, that the king’s men discover Guy Fawkes in the cellar. He claims to be a servant by the name of John Johnson. But he doesn’t fool anyone. Matches and fuses are discovered in his pockets, and it’s not long before 36 barrels are uncovered in the cellar, containing more than 2000 pounds of gunpowder - more than enough to obliterate the Houses of Parliament and everyone inside.

Guy Fawkes is bundled away to the Tower of London to be tortured for information. And he will soon confess his part in the conspiracy, be found guilty of treason, and be executed. But the authorities will have no intention of making his death a quick or easy one. Instead, Guy Fawkes is to be publicly killed in the most gruesome way imaginable.

Act Three: Drawn and quartered

It’s January 31st, 1606, in Westminster, London, less than three months after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot.

Guy Fawkes hobbles onto a wooden stage before a jeering crowd. He’s exhausted, malnourished, and in pain. But most Londoners here today have no sympathy for him - to them, Guy deserves to suffer, because he tried to kill King James I and plunge England into civil war.

Soon after Guy was arrested underneath the Houses of Parliament, news filtered out that the assassination attempt had been thwarted. Guy’s fellow plotters immediately fled London—but they weren’t running away. They intended to proceed with their attempted revolution as planned. But since the King was still alive along with all his ministers, they had little chance of success. The plotters took refuge at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, over a hundred miles north-west of London. But there, they were soon hunted down by royal troops. In the firefight that followed, most of the plotters were killed, including their leader, Robert Catesby. That meant Guy was the most senior figure in the conspiracy left to face justice—and today, his execution is due to be carried out in public.

Guy stands as upright as his battered body will allow, while the executioner ties a noose around his neck. But Guy knows he won’t die on the gallows. Instead, Guy will be left to dangle in agony for a few moments, before being taken down. He will then be opened up and his entrails pulled out before his eyes. Only then will the executioner cut off Guy’s head, before administering one final indignity by chopping his body into quarters. It’s a brutal method of execution designed to dissuade any other potential rebels from plotting against the crown.

But although he’s incredibly weary, Guy’s determined to avoid that fate and take control of his life for one final time. He wobbles as he climbs a ladder on the gallows, but with a last surge of strength, he throws himself from the top step. The jerking of the rope breaks Guy’s neck and kills him almost instantly. That doesn’t stop the executioner from carrying on as planned and hacking apart his dead body. But Guy is long gone by then.

In the aftermath of Guy’s execution, Londoners will celebrate by letting off fireworks and burning his effigy on bonfires. It’ll begin an annual tradition in England that will become known to many as Guy Fawkes Night. But while he is remembered even to this day, in contrast, the principal architect of the Gunpowder Plot, Robert Catesby, will largely be forgotten, despite being the driving force behind the conspiracy to kill the king, one that was uncovered in the early hours of November 5th, 1605.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 6th, 1860. Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States, setting America’s North and South on the road to Civil War.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Ruben Abrahams Brosbe.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.