In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up
the Houses of Parliament. Among them was
Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had
hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after
all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than
Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.

A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action
was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they
would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making
life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or
terrorists.

http://www.bonfirenight.net/images/barrel.gif To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of
36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.

But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed
in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the
plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter
warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the
letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.

Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the
authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.

It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the
Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so
old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to
ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord
for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament
once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and
according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster.
Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set
alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire
Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a
bonfire.

Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are
celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.

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