1605: Thirty-Six Barrels of Gunpowder Beneath Parliament: the Plot That Gave England Guy Fawkes Day
Guy Fawkes was discovered around midnight with a lantern, matches and a fuse, guarding thirty-six barrels of gunpowder concealed beneath the House of Lords. The conspirators planned to kill King James I and much of England's political leadership in a single explosion, then seize the king's young daughter and establish a Catholic monarchy. An anonymous letter warning a nobleman to stay away from Parliament had prompted the search that exposed the plot.
Fawkes was arrested in the early hours of 5 November 1605 and initially refused to name his accomplices. Under torture, he eventually confessed, helping authorities uncover the wider conspiracy. Tried for treason, he was executed in January 1606. But the failed plot became an enduring English tradition, commemorated each fifth of November with bonfires and, later, effigies of Guy Fawkes.
