Gunpowder Plot

Contemporary sketch of the terrorists by Crispijn van de Passe

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605 was a plan to assassinate King James I of England and VI of Scotland. Other names for the plot are The Powder Treason or The Gunpowder Plot.[1] A group of Catholics wanted to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. This would have killed the king, and most of the Protestant aristocracy.

The conspirators also planned to kidnap the royal children,[2] and lead a popular revolt in the Midlands.

  1. Antonia Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605, London, 2002, Author's Note, pg. xv. ISBN 0-7538-1401-3
  2. Alice Hogge (2005), God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot HarperCollins p.344

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