Details and motives behind the gunpowder plot of 1605.

1. What does the evidence suggest happened in 1605? Year 8 The Gunpowder Plot

19. What were the motives of key people in this story?

25. More about Catesby, Fawkes, Cecil and the Reign of James I England had been at war with Catholic Spain from 1585 to 1604. The Spanish Armada had tried to invade England in 1588. The Spanish had also tried to help Catholic rebels in Ireland in the 1590s. When James became king he made peace with Spain immediately (1604). King James was certain that he always knew best. He constantly reminded those around him that he was king by ‘divine right’ – God had chosen him to be King of England and Scotland. He considered kings to be very special people. Guy Fawkes had gained his knowledge of explosives as a soldier. He had fought for the Spanish army in Holland against the Protestant Dutch. Robert Catesby had been involved in a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. It had been led by the Earl of Essex in 1601. Essex had been Cecil’s main rival at the Queen’s court. He was executed for treason after his rebellion. James I had already faced another plot against him in 1603. Sir Walter Raleigh, a former friend of the Earl of Essex and a rival of Cecil’s had been accused of plotting against the king. There was very little evidence against him, but he had been imprisoned in the Tower of London anyway. James wanted to be on good terms with powerful Catholic countries like Spain & France. He even tried to arrange a marriage with a Spanish princess for his son, Charles (1623). Cecil had been Queen Elizabeth’s chief minister in the last 10 years of her reign. Persecution of Catholics was at its height at that point. It was thanks to Cecil that James took over the throne of England without any difficulty when Elizabeth died. Cecil was then chief minister to James I from 1603 to 1612. James disliked anyone with extreme religious views. Extreme Protestants (Puritans) upset him as much as Catholics. In 1620, to escape persecution in England some Puritans even made the dangerous journey to America, to make a new life there. James wrote several books. One was called Demonology (1597). He explained how people should be on their guard at all times against secret evil schemes, especially those of witches. James was quite a vain man. After 1607 he tended to reward his ‘favourites’ at court generously. These included Robert Carr and the Duke of Buckingham. As a result Cecil’s advice was often ignored by the king in the years up to Cecil’s death in 1612.