Gunpowder plot

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The black powder conspirators, drawing by Crispijn van de Passe the Elder . Third from right: Guy Fawkes .

The Gunpowder Plot ( German  powder conspiracy , then known as powder treason , "powder betrayal") was an attempt by British Catholics, during the opening of Parliament on November 5, 1605, the Protestant King of England, James I , his family, the government and all parliamentarians to kill.

The conspiracy was planned by Robert Catesby and carried out by the explosives expert Guy Fawkes (actually Guido Fawkes or Guido Faux ). The other known conspirators were Thomas Wintour (Winter) and his brother Robert, Christopher Wright and his brother John, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rokewood, Robert Keyes, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham and Robert Catesby's servant Thomas Bates.

motive

The motive was revenge on the king, because he suppressed the Catholic population. Since Henry VIII , the English king was the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, which had broken away from Rome . Subsequent monarchs, however, had great difficulty in asserting their authority on church issues, especially since the Roman church was trying hard to regain its influence. Under Elizabeth I , religious tensions were reduced through extensive tolerance. Her direct successor James I, however, was more inclined to Protestantism due to his upbringing in Presbyterian Scotland. Catholic aristocrats and officials feared that they would lose their influence in favor of the aspiring Puritans , who already had some power in the Protestant-dominated parliament.

course

The Gunpowder plot was preceded by several other attempts to assassinate the English king. Fawkes and his fellow conspirators attempted on Tuesday, 1605 (jul calendar.) November 5, during which then held the opening of parliament by the king the assembled in joint session upper - and lower house in the Palace of Westminster to blow up in London in the air. On this occasion, not only all parliamentarians but also the entire royal family were present, all of which would have been wiped out at one stroke. Around 2.5 tons of gunpowder were deposited in the cellars of the building for the detonation (hence the English terms “powder treason” and “gunpowder plot” for the attack).

The Catholic Lord Monteagle received a letter prior to the planned attack advising him to stay away from the opening of Parliament on the pretext that the house would "receive a blow". This letter was forwarded to the authorities. Fawkes and the stored explosives were discovered by Justice of the Peace Thomas Knyvet during an inspection of the cellars under Parliament on the morning of November 5th. Under the torture ordered personally by the king , Fawkes confessed to his crime and reported his co-conspirators, who were immediately arrested. Four of them died in the arrest of Sir Richard Walsh, the High Sheriff of Worcestershire , on November 8, 1605 at Holbeche House : Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Christopher Wright and John Wright. Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy were shot at the same time from the same bullet from the musket of John Streete of Worcester.

On January 30, 1606, Sir Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant and Thomas Bates were executed in front of the west end of St Paul's Cathedral . The delinquents ended up hanged, eviscerated and quartered : they were hanged until they were unconscious, then their bowels were torn out and their bodies quartered . The next day, in the old courtyard of Westminster, Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookewood, Robert Keyes and Guy Fawkes died.

According to calculations by scientists, the accumulated amount of explosives would have been enough to damage all buildings within a radius of one kilometer and in any case to destroy the entire Palace of Westminster.

The role of Lord Monteagle is still unclear. Some historians assume that he was part of the conspiracy and betrayed his accomplices.

effect

The uncovering of the planned assassination prevented a re-emancipation of the Catholic faith in England for another 200 years, until the Catholic emancipation from the late 18th century . The importance of these events should not be underestimated against the background of the further development of Great Britain.

This failed assassination attempt has not been forgotten in Great Britain to this day. Every year on November 5th, the failure of the plot is celebrated with a street parade on Guy Fawkes Night , during which a Guy Fawkes doll is burned and fireworks are lit. It is also called Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night . There is also a popular poem:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

Since people were repeatedly injured when the fireworks were set off, a new law was created specifically for this purpose in 2004, the Fireworks Regulations .

To this day, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars beneath the Houses of Parliament before the reigning monarch's annual opening of parliament.

References in art and culture

  • The BBC produced the three-part television series Gunpowder in 2017 , which was based on the Gunpowder plot and starred Robert Catesby as the protagonist.
  • On November 1, 2005, the British television station ITV broadcast a reconstruction of the attack. The station had spent the equivalent of 1.5 million euros to set up an accurate reconstruction of both the House of Lords and the explosives in its 36 barrels on the test site of the Advantica Spadeadam . After the detonation of the explosives, the replica was completely destroyed, as were the almost 150 dolls that were supposed to represent the royal court .
  • John Lennon's song Remember ends with the line "the fifth of November" and an explosion.
  • The comic series V for Vendetta , like its film adaptation , takes up various motifs of the conflict in the Gunpowder plot; the line of the song "Remember, remember the fifth of November" is also recited here.
  • In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman , Shakespeare and Ben Jonson write the poem together.
  • By Günter Kunert there is the ballad of the Great Gunpowder Plot in the poetry collection under this sky from the year 1955th
  • The television series Highlander mixes the Gunpowder plot with another historical event , the kidnapping of the Scone Stone .
  • For the game Gloire there is a scenario for re-enacting the event.
  • In the 2011 sci-fi comedy Attack the Block, aliens land under the protection of Guy Fawkes' Night in London and are initially unnoticed by most of them when they land because of the many fireworks explosions.
  • In the first episode of the third season of the British series Sherlock , a secret terror network tries to blow up the British Parliament in a bomb attack, also on November 5th.
  • In the sixth season of the television series Game of Thrones , a powerful religious association is similarly wiped out. By hiding and detonating large quantities of liquid explosives in the catacombs, the crown succeeds in asserting itself as the victor in the power struggle with faith.
  • The satirist Jan Böhmermann published the song "BE DEUTSCH" in his Late Night Show NeoMagazinRoyale on March 31, 2016. The beginning of the song, spoken by William Cohn , reads: “Remember, Remember, the 9th of November, broken glass, fire and plot. I know of no reason why our very own treason should be ever forgot. "
  • In the youth novel “Death Knows No Tomorrow” in the Young Bond series, the communist dandy tries to kill King George V. He attends an event at Eton Church. Dandy places an explosive device in the vaulted cellar of the church to blow up the whole church. However, James Bond succeeds in preventing the attack.
  • In Daniel Kehlmann's novel “Tyll”, Doctor Tesimond, an English Jesuit, escaped persecution as a conspirator on the European mainland and, together with Doctor Kircher, was responsible for the execution of Tyll's father, Claus Ulenspiegel.
  • In Ken Follett's novel The Foundation of Eternity , the main character, Ned Willard, reveals the Gunpowder plot and is involved in the arrest of the conspirators.

See also

For a discussion of possible Jesuit involvement, see Henry Garnet .

literature

  • Antonia Fraser : Faith and Treason. The Story of the Gunpowder Plot, Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, New York 1996

Web links

Commons : Gunpowder Plot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bonfire Night . Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  2. ↑ BE GERMAN! Attention! Germans on the rise! . Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  3. ^ Charlie Higson: By Royal Command.