Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited on spikes outside the House of Lords. On a cold 30 January, Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, were tied to hurdles—wooden panels—and dragged through the crowded streets of London to St Paul's Churchyard. Digby, the first to mount the scaffold, asked the spectators for forgiveness, and refused the attentions of a Protestant clergyman. He was stripped of his clothing, and wearing only a shirt, climbed the ladder to place his head through the noose. He was quickly cut down, and while still fully conscious was castrated, disembowelled, and then quartered, along with the three other prisoners.
Executions
Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot | Executions
Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited, some were tied to hurdles and dragged through the crowded streets of London, Thomas, Ambrose. Robert and Guy Fawkes were hanged Executed Catesby and Percy - bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited on spikes outside the House of Lords. The discovery of such a wide-ranging conspiracy, the capture of those involved, and the subsequent trials, led Parliament to consider introducing new anti-Catholic legislation.
where did the gunpowder come from in the gunpowder plot
user
They were discovered hidden under piles of faggots and coal.
assistant
what was the main aim of this plot?
user
To kill King James.
assistant
this plot was led by whom?
user
A group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.
assistant
what was to restore by killing the king?
user
Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state.
assistant
did they succeed in killing king?
user
No, it was a failed assassination attempt.
assistant
what was the outcome they faced when failed?
user
The failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a conspiracy among a group of Roman Catholic gentry to re-establish Catholicism in England by assassinating the Protestant King James I and replacing him with a Catholic monarch. To this end, they placed large quantities of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords, which one of the conspirators, Guy Fawkes, would detonate during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. If successful, the explosion would have destroyed the Palace, killing the King, his family and most of the aristocracy. However, the plot was discovered and most of the conspirators were either arrested or killed while trying to evade capture.
Palace of Westminster | Incidents
The following day, Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Guy Fawkes were hanged, drawn and quartered, opposite the building they had planned to blow up, in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster. Keyes did not wait for the hangman's command and jumped from the gallows, but he survived the drop and was led to the quartering block. Although weakened by his torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows and break his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the gruesome latter part of his execution. Steven Littleton was executed at Stafford. His cousin Humphrey, despite his co-operation with the authorities, met his end at Red Hill near Worcester.
Gunpowder Plot | Executions
The Gunpowder Plot was a failed assassination attempt against King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The conspirators' aim was to blow up the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, while the king and many other important members of the aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirator who became most closely associated with the plot in the popular imagination was Guy Fawkes, who had been assigned the task of lighting the fuse to the explosives.
Gunpowder Plot in popular culture | Introduction
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed.
Gunpowder Plot | Introduction
In his "What If the Gunpowder Plot Had Succeeded?", Hutton has considered what might have happened if the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had succeeded in its aims of the death of King James I and the destruction of the House of Lords. He concluded that the violence of the act would have resulted in an even more severe backlash against suspected Catholics than was caused by its failure, as most Englishmen were loyal to the monarchy, despite differing religious convictions. England could very well have become a more "Puritan absolute monarchy", rather than following the path of parliamentary and civil reform.
Ronald Hutton | Seventeenth-Century Britain
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. Gunpowder Plot may also refer to:
Gunpowder Plot (disambiguation) | Introduction
By then, the king knew about the letter. James felt that it hinted at "some strategem of fire and powder", perhaps an explosion exceeding in violence the one that killed his father, Lord Darnley, in 1567. The following day, the Privy Council told him that they had decided to undertake a search of Parliament, "both above and below". The first, headed by Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, was made on 4 November. In the undercroft beneath the House of Lords he noticed a tall man who appeared to be a servant, and a large pile of faggots—far too large to serve the small house Percy had subleased from Henry Ferrers.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure and death
Early the next morning they attended a Mass conducted by Father Nicholas Hart, who also heard their confessions—a sign that in Fraser's opinion demonstrates that none of them thought they had long to live. Riding through pouring rain, the fugitives helped themselves to arms, ammunition and money from the vacant home of Lord Windsor at Hewell Grange. Any hopes they harboured of a larger uprising were dashed by the locals, who on hearing that the party stood for "God and Country", replied that they were for "King James as well as God and Country". The group finally reached Holbeche House, on the border of Staffordshire, at about 10:00 pm.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure
The king only suffered a graze to the forehead, a minor injury, but 18 people were either immediately killed or later succumbed to their wounds. An additional 22 people were injured, and at least four of these had limbs amputated due to the severity of their injuries. When he fired the weapon, Fieschi suffered severe wounds to his head, face, and hand. He fled from his lodgings and was later captured by authorities after they followed the trail of blood from his injuries. It was believed that Fieschi could have successfully escaped had he not been injured by the gun's discharge.
Infernal machine (weapon) | Failed assassination attempt
The survivors were taken into custody and the dead buried near Holbeche, but on the orders of the Earl of Northampton, the bodies of Percy and Catesby were exhumed and their heads displayed on spikes at "the side of the Parliament House".
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure and death
The plot may also have influenced his later work, "Paradise Lost". The Gunpowder Plot was commemorated for years by special sermons and other public acts, such as the ringing of church bells. It added to an increasingly full calendar of Protestant celebrations that contributed to the national and religious life of 17th-century England, and has evolved into the Bonfire Night of today. In "What If the Gunpowder Plot Had Succeeded?" historian Ronald Hutton considered the events which might have followed a successful implementation of the plot, and the destruction of the House of Lords and all those within it. He concluded that a severe backlash against suspected Catholics would have followed, and that without foreign assistance a successful rebellion would have been unlikely; despite differing religious convictions, most Englishmen were loyal to the institution of the monarchy.
Gunpowder Plot | Aftermath
Thus the attempt failed. Both men were able to escape in spite of a huge manhunt.
Qin Shi Huang | Third attempted assassination
Queen Elizabeth, unmarried and childless, steadfastly refused to name an heir. Many Catholics believed that her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, was the legitimate heir to the English throne, but she was executed for treason in 1587. The English Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, negotiated secretly with Mary's son and successor, King James VI of Scotland. In the months before Elizabeth's death on 24 March 1603, Cecil prepared the way for James to succeed her. Some exiled Catholics favoured Philip II of Spain's daughter, Isabella, as Elizabeth's successor. More moderate Catholics looked to James's and Elizabeth's cousin Arbella Stuart, a woman thought to have Catholic sympathies.
Gunpowder Plot | Succession
Two years after the execution of his father (Charles I), 21-year-old Charles II and his men fail miserably to free his kingdom from the tyrannical rule of Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester. The King would rather die trying to restore the monarchy, than sit by and watch the power of the English Commonwealth grown under its corrupt leaders. He decides to disguise himself as a peasant; at his first hiding-place at Boscopel, an estate wherein lived five catholic brothers called Pendrell, the king is dressed in a coarse noggen shirt, with breeches of green coarse cloth and a doeskin leather doublet.
Royal Escape | Plot summary
The carriages didn't stop and continued to the palace. When he arrived in the royal palace, the Grand Marshal was questioned by officials. His uniform was covered in broken glass. The king and members of the royal family were told that they had escaped an assassination attempt. The king asked if anybody had been hurt and then continued his day.
Gennaro Rubino | Assassination attempt
The conspirators' principal aim was to kill King James, but many other important targets would also be present at the State Opening, including the monarch's nearest relatives and members of the Privy Council. The senior judges of the English legal system, most of the Protestant aristocracy, and the bishops of the Church of England would all have attended in their capacity as members of the House of Lords, along with the members of the House of Commons. Another important objective was the kidnapping of the King's daughter, Elizabeth. Housed at Coombe Abbey near Coventry, she lived only ten miles north of Warwick—convenient for the plotters, most of whom lived in the Midlands.
Gunpowder Plot | Plot
The last details of the plot were finalised in October. Guy Fawkes would light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Late on Monday 4 November, Bates set out with Catesby and John Wright for the planned revolt. The following day while at Dunstable re-shoeing Catesby's horse, they were met by Rookwood, who delivered the devastating news that Fawkes had been discovered guarding the gunpowder and arrested. As those conspirators still in London fled the city, the group soon integrated Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy.
Thomas Bates | Failure
Queen Margherita threw a bouquet of flowers in his face and shouted: «Cairoli, save the king!». Cairoli grabbed him by his hair, but the prime minister was wounded in his leg. Passannante was hit in the head with a saber by Stefano De Giovannini, captain of the cuirassiers, and was arrested. He tried to kill the king with a knife with a blade of for which he traded his jacket. The weapon was wrapped in a red rag on which was written, "Death to the King! Long live the Universal Republic! Long live Orsini!"
Giovanni Passannante | Attempted murder
Measuring devices placed in the chamber to calculate the force of the blast were recorded as going off the scale just before their destruction by the explosion; a piece of the head of the dummy representing King James, which had been placed on a throne inside the chamber surrounded by courtiers, peers and bishops, was found a considerable distance from its initial location. According to the findings of the programme, no one within of the blast could have survived, and all of the stained glass windows in Westminster Abbey would have been shattered, as would all of the windows in the vicinity of the Palace.
Gunpowder Plot | Reconstructing the explosion
The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by a small party of provincial English Catholics to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, thereby killing James I and his court, as the prelude to a revolt during which a Catholic monarchy would be restored to the English throne. It was after the failure of the plot that the fugitives took shelter in Holbeche House, owned by Stephen Lyttelton. They had taken supplies from Warwick Castle on 6 November and weapons and gunpowder from Hewell Grange on 7 November, but the powder became damp in the rain.
Holbeche House | Gunpowder Plot
Although Catesby and Percy escaped the executioner, their bodies were exhumed and decapitated, and their heads exhibited on spikes outside the House of Lords. On a cold 30 January, Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, were tied to hurdles—wooden panels—and dragged through the crowded streets of London to St Paul's Churchyard. Digby, the first to mount the scaffold, asked the spectators for forgiveness, and refused the attentions of a Protestant clergyman. He was stripped of his clothing, and wearing only a shirt, climbed the ladder to place his head through the noose. He was quickly cut down, and while still fully conscious was castrated, disembowelled, and then quartered, along with the three other prisoners.
Gunpowder Plot | Executions
The conspirators aimed to cause an uprising in the Midlands to coincide with the explosion in London and at this point secure Elizabeth's accession as a puppet queen. She would then be brought up as a Catholic and later married to a Catholic bridegroom. The plot failed when the conspirators were betrayed and Guy Fawkes was caught by the King's soldiers before he was able to ignite the powder.
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia | Gunpowder Plot
They were tried for attempted regicide, treason, and attempted overthrow of the government. The failed uprising was the first revolt against the House of Chakri from the outside the nobility. Despite their actions, most of the plotters were pardoned or had their sentences lessened by the king himself in 1924. This included the death sentences (the king felt that no one had been hurt). However the lesson was not lost on Vajiravudh, who quickly stepped up vigilance against any such threats in the future.
Palace Revolt of 1912 | The revolt that never happened
Measuring devices placed in the chamber to calculate the force of the blast were themselves destroyed by the blast, while the skull of the mannequin representing King James, which had been placed on a throne inside the chamber surrounded by courtiers, peers and bishops, was found far from the site. According to the findings of the programme, no one within 100 metres of the blast would have survived, and all windows within a large distance of the palace would have been shattered, including the stained glass windows of Westminster Abbey. The power of the explosion would have been heard at least five miles away, and seen from much further.
The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding the Legend | Synopsis
He raised the lute and struck at the king. He missed, and his assassination attempt failed. Gao Jianli was later executed.
Qin Shi Huang | Second attempted assassination
Tired and desperate they spread in front of the fire some of the now-soaked gunpowder taken from Hewell Grange, to dry out. An ember from the fire landed on the powder, and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant and another man.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure
The Plot was the attempted assassination of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack, by exploding the Houses of Parliament. Another Jesuit, Oswald Tesimond, managed to escape arrest for his involvement in this plot.
Society of Jesus | Political intrigue
He was unharmed by a gunpowder accident that injured Catesby and a few of the others, but those who remained resolved to wait for the arrival of government forces, who were only hours behind. Thus at 11:00 am the following morning the house was besieged by the Sheriff of Worcester, Richard Walsh, and his company of 200 men. In the ensuing firefight, Percy and Catesby were reportedly killed by the same musket ball, fired by a John Streete of Worcester. News of the battle soon reached London, rendering superfluous a government proclamation made on the same day and which offered a rich reward for his capture.
Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure and death
On that date, a group of English Catholics (including Guy Fawkes) attempted to assassinate the King and destroy Parliament in the Palace of Westminster. However, the Gunpowder Plot was exposed and prevented, and the convicted plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered. Historians have long debated the curious characteristics of the king's ruling style. Croft says:
Jacobean era | James as King of England
In his speech to both Houses on 9 November, James expounded on two emerging preoccupations of his monarchy: the divine right of kings and the Catholic question. He insisted that the plot had been the work of only a few Catholics, not of the English Catholics as a whole, and he reminded the assembly to rejoice at his survival, since kings were divinely appointed and he owed his escape to a miracle. Salisbury wrote to his English ambassadors abroad, informing them of what had occurred, and also reminding them that the King bore no ill will to his Catholic neighbours.
Gunpowder Plot | Reaction
However, in the darkness and confusion they did not attempt an effective defense. Searching for the royal couple was unsuccessful for nearly two hours. During this time, Captain Jovan Miljković, an aide familiar with the conspiracy but who refused to participate, and Mihailo Naumović (unknown to the conspirators) were killed. The doors to the King's bedroom were shattered with dynamite, but no one was in the bed. Unknown to the others, Apis spotted someone escaping down the stairs into the courtyard. He thought it was the King and ran after him. It turned out to be one of the King's loyal guardsmen and in the gunfight that erupted, Apis was wounded with three bullets to his chest, surviving due to his strong constitution.
May Coup (Serbia) | The assassination
Suffering eight wounds from the king's sword, Jing Ke realized his attempt had failed and knew that both of them would be killed afterwards. The Yan state was conquered by the Qin state five years later.
Qin Shi Huang | First attempted assassination
Both were published in the so-called "King's Book", a hastily written official account of the conspiracy published in late November 1605. Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was in a difficult position. His midday dinner with Thomas Percy on 4 November was damning evidence against him, and after Thomas Percy's death there was nobody who could either implicate him or clear him. The Privy Council suspected that Northumberland would have been Princess Elizabeth's protector had the plot succeeded, but there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Northumberland remained in the Tower and on 27 June 1606 was finally charged with contempt.
Gunpowder Plot | Interrogations
Some Catholic widows tried to ensure their safety by marrying Anglican widowers. The House of Commons was searched – without result – in the expectation of a second Gunpowder Plot. Anyone even suspected of being Catholic was driven out of London and forbidden to be within ten miles (16 km) of the city. William Staley, a young Catholic banker, made a drunken threat against the King and within 10 days was tried, convicted and executed for plotting to kill him. Oates, for his part, received a state apartment in Whitehall and an annual allowance. He soon presented new allegations, claiming assassins intended to shoot the King with silver bullets so the wound would not heal.
Popish Plot | Height of the hysteria
The attempt fails, but Ying Zheng expresses his fury when his associates make no attempt to stop the assassin and he is forced to kill Jing Ke himself. He is further saddened when Lady Zhao returns to Qin only to retrieve Jing Ke for burial.
The Emperor and the Assassin | Plot
Thomas Wintour begged to be hanged for himself and his brother, so that his brother might be spared. Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment. Keyes appeared to accept his fate, Bates and Robert Wintour begged for mercy, and Grant explained his involvement as "a conspiracy intended but never effected". Only Digby, tried on a separate indictment, pleaded guilty, insisting that the King had reneged upon promises of toleration for Catholics, and that affection for Catesby and love of the Catholic cause mitigated his actions. He sought death by the axe and begged mercy from the King for his young family.
Gunpowder Plot | Trials
King Zheng and his troops continued to take over different states. The state of Yan was small, weak and frequently harassed by soldiers. It was no match for the Qin state. So Crown Prince Dan of Yan plotted an assassination attempt to get rid of King Zheng, begging Jing Ke to go on the mission in 227 BC. Jing Ke was accompanied by Qin Wuyang in the plot. Each was supposed to present a gift to King Zheng: a map of Dukang and the severed head of Fan Wuji. Qin Wuyang first tried to present the map case gift, but trembled in fear and moved no further towards the king.
Qin Shi Huang | First attempted assassination
On November 5, 1605, a group of conspirators led by Robert Catesby attempted to destroy the English Parliament on its State Opening by King James I. They planned in secret to detonate a large quantity of gunpowder placed beneath the Palace of Westminster. The gunpowder was procured and placed by Guy Fawkes. The group intended to enact a coup by killing King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament. The conspirators planned to make one of the king's children a puppet monarch and then restore the Catholic faith to England. The conspirator leased a coal cellar beneath the House of Lords and began stockpiling gunpowder in 1604.
History of terrorism | Gunpowder Plot
Once the King and his Parliament were dead, the plotters intended to install Elizabeth on the English throne as a titular Queen. The fate of her brothers, Henry and Charles, would be improvised; their role in state ceremonies was, as yet, uncertain. The plotters planned to use Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, as Elizabeth's regent, but most likely never informed him of this.
Gunpowder Plot | Plot
When their boat reached the capital two weeks later, they found Aung lying at the bottom of the boat tied in chains. King Bodawpaya gathered his people to witness the execution. He ordered the executioners to throw Aung into a deep ditch and buried him alive. Later that evening, when Bodawpaya was meeting with his ministers, Bo Bo Aung appeared. He told the king that he was a false friends and reminded him that they had sworn eternal friendship to each other. He told him that he did not want to take over his kingdom. He wrote a circle in chalk on the palace floor and presented a challenge to the king.
Bo Bo Aung | Attempted assassination
In the confusion Jing Ke began to close in on the king, who struggled to get away from the assassin by circling behind a pillar. Seeing the king in grave danger, a royal physician named Xia Wuju (夏無且) grabbed his own medicine bag and hurled it at Jing Ke, which slowed down the assassin just enough to allow King Zheng to recover some distance. Reminded by cries from other officials, the king managed to shift his longsword behind his back and unsheathe it over the shoulder. Now armed, he immediately turned back and struck Jing Ke in the thigh, effectively immobilizing him.
Jing Ke | Assassination attempt
Catholicism became marginalised, but despite the threat of torture or execution, priests continued to practise their faith in secret.
Gunpowder Plot | Religion in England
When he realised the plot had been uncovered, he took his horse and made for his sister's house at Norbrook, before continuing to Huddington Court. The group of six conspirators stopped at Ashby St Ledgers at about 6 pm, where they met Robert Wintour and updated him on their situation. They then continued on to Dunchurch, and met with Digby. Catesby convinced him that despite the plot's failure, an armed struggle was still a real possibility. He announced to Digby's "hunting party" that the King and Salisbury were dead, before the fugitives moved west to Warwick. In London, news of the plot was spreading, and the authorities set extra guards on the city gates, closed the ports, and protected the house of the Spanish Ambassador, which was surrounded by an angry mob.
Gunpowder Plot | Flight
English Catholics had hoped that the persecution of their faith would end when the apparently more tolerant King James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth I, but Robert Catesby, a Catholic zealot from Ashby St Ledgers, remained unimpressed by the new royal dynasty. He therefore planned to kill James by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, following which he would help incite a popular revolt to install James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, as titular Queen. His role being to guard the gunpowder and other items stored at Catesby's house in Lambeth, Keyes joined the conspiracy in October 1604. The Jesuit priest John Gerard described Keyes as "a grave and sober man, and of great wit and sufficiency".
Robert Keyes | Gunpowder Plot
Garnet wrote to a colleague in Rome, Claudio Acquaviva, expressing his concerns about open rebellion in England. He also told Acquaviva that "there is a risk that some private endeavour may commit treason or use force against the King", and urged the pope to issue a public brief against the use of force. According to Fawkes, 20 barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by 16 more on 20 July. The supply of gunpowder was theoretically controlled by the government, but it was easily obtained from illicit sources. On 28 July, the ever-present threat of the plague again delayed the opening of Parliament, this time until Tuesday 5 November.
Gunpowder Plot | Undercroft
His defence was in vain; his arguments were rebuked by Coke and Northumberland, and along with his seven co-conspirators, he was found guilty by the jury of high treason. Digby shouted "If I may but hear any of your lordships say, you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." The response was short: "God forgive you, and we do."
Gunpowder Plot | Trials
James received an envoy from Albert VII, ruler of the remaining Catholic territories in the Netherlands after over 30 years of war in the Dutch Revolt by English-supported Protestant rebels. For the Catholic expatriates engaged in that struggle, the restoration by force of a Catholic monarchy was an intriguing possibility, but following the failed Spanish invasion of England in 1588 the papacy had taken a longer-term view on the return of a Catholic monarch to the English throne. During the late 16th century, Catholics made several assassination attempts on Protestant rulers in Europe and in England, including plans to poison Elizabeth I.
Gunpowder Plot | Early reign of James I
His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies" (Catholic practices). Weakened by torture and aided by the hangman, Fawkes began to climb the ladder to the noose, but either through jumping to his death or climbing too high so the rope was incorrectly set, he managed to avoid the agony of the latter part of his execution by breaking his neck. His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered and, as was the custom, his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.
Guy Fawkes | Trial and execution
Most of the conspirators fled from London as they learned of the plot's discovery, trying to enlist support along the way. Several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House; in the ensuing battle, Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Gunpowder Plot | Introduction
Jing Ke approached King Zheng and politely presented the map scroll. When the King Zheng unrolled the map, Jing Ke immediately seized the revealed dagger, grabbed the king's clothes and attacked him, who somehow managed to back away from the initial thrust by tearing off a sleeve in the process. While King Zheng fled from his attacker on foot, he attempted to draw his own sword hanging from his belt, but was unable to do so while running desperately as it was a very long ceremonial sword. None of the other Qin officials within the vicinity were armed and able to stop Jing Ke, and the guards were all stationed outside the palace and were unable to immediately reach the scene.
Jing Ke | Assassination attempt
Jing Ke continued to advance toward the king, while explaining that his partner "has never set eyes on the Son of Heaven", which is why he is trembling. Jing Ke had to present both gifts by himself. While unrolling the map, a dagger was revealed. The king drew back, stood on his feet, but struggled to draw the sword to defend himself. At the time, other palace officials were not allowed to carry weapons. Jing Ke pursued the king, attempting to stab him, but missed. King Zheng drew out his sword and cut Jing Ke's thigh. Jing Ke then threw the dagger, but missed again.
Qin Shi Huang | First attempted assassination
The Jesuit Juan de Mariana's 1598 "On Kings and the Education of Kings" explicitly justified the assassination of the French king Henry III—who had been stabbed to death by a Catholic fanatic in 1589—and until the 1620s, some English Catholics believed that regicide was justifiable to remove tyrants from power. Much of the "rather nervous" James's political writing was "concerned with the threat of Catholic assassination and refutation of the [Catholic] argument that 'faith did not need to be kept with heretics'".
Gunpowder Plot | Early reign of James I
The details of the plot were finalised in October, in a series of taverns across London and Daventry. Fawkes would be left to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of the King's daughter, Elizabeth. Fawkes would leave for the continent, to explain events in England to the European Catholic powers. The wives of those involved and Anne Vaux (a friend of Garnet who often shielded priests at her home) became increasingly concerned by what they suspected was about to happen. Several of the conspirators expressed worries about the safety of fellow Catholics who would be present in Parliament on the day of the planned explosion.
Gunpowder Plot | Monteagle letter
The early modern period in Britain saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the recusancy that emerged in opposition to it. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I, and to blow up the Palace of Westminster, the English seat of government. Although the modern concept of religious terrorism, or indeed terrorism at all, had not yet come into use in the seventeenth century, David C. Rapoport and Lindsay Clutterbuck point out that the Plot, with its use of explosives, was an early precursor of nineteenth century anarchist terrorism.
Christian terrorism | Gunpowder Plot
Fawkes left the country for a short time. The King, meanwhile, spent much of the summer away from the city, hunting. He stayed wherever was convenient, including on occasion at the houses of prominent Catholics. Garnet, convinced that the threat of an uprising had receded, travelled the country on a pilgrimage.
Gunpowder Plot | Undercroft
He was stripped of all public offices, fined £30,000 (about £ in 2020), and kept in the Tower until June 1621. The Lords Mordaunt and Stourton were tried in the Star Chamber. They were condemned to imprisonment in the Tower, where they remained until 1608, when they were transferred to the Fleet Prison. Both were also given significant fines.
Gunpowder Plot | Interrogations
The programme explores through partial dramatization the plot itself, and the persons involved. It also answers the question of whether the plot would have actually worked: the Houses of Parliament would have been completely obliterated, and most of the windows in nearby Westminster Abbey would have been shattered. The first hurdle to overcome was the actual recreation of the 17th-century Houses of Parliament. As the buildings were demolished to expand the current structures, Simon Carter, the Parliamentary Curator provided drawings of the original structures for the recreated structure to utilise using 650 tonnes of concrete. Explosives expert Sidney Alford helped to determine that thirty-six barrels containing one cubic ton of gunpowder were used in the plot.
The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding the Legend | Synopsis
The co-operation between monarch and Parliament following the Gunpowder Plot was atypical. Instead, it was the previous session of 1604 that shaped the attitudes of both sides for the rest of the reign, though the initial difficulties owed more to mutual incomprehension than conscious enmity. On 7 July 1604, James had angrily prorogued Parliament after failing to win its support either for full union or financial subsidies. "I will not thank where I feel no thanks due", he had remarked in his closing speech. "... I am not of such a stock as to praise fools ... You see how many things you did not well ...
James VI and I | King and Parliament
In the Bye Plot of 1603, two Catholic priests planned to kidnap King James and hold him in the Tower of London until he agreed to be more tolerant towards Catholics. Most dramatic was the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. It was discovered in time with eight conspirators executed, including Guy Fawkes, who became the iconic evil traitor in English lore.
Elizabethan era | Plots, intrigues and conspiracies
He told the king to erase the chalk drawing from the floor. The King, full of shame and anger, rubbed out the circle but then two more appeared. He continued to try to erase the chalk circles until the whole palace floor was covered with hundreds of them. Aung again chided the king, who begged him to protect his family. Aung vowed to do that and then vanished.
Bo Bo Aung | Attempted assassination
Early the next morning Huddington's occupants went to confession and took the Sacrament at Mass—in Fraser's opinion, a sign that none of them thought they had long to live. They collected further arms and munitions from Hewell Grange, but trying to recruit more people to their cause they were met with disdain; while the conspirators considered themselves to stand for "God and country", the men of Hewell Grange replied that they were for "King James as well as God and Country". Late that night, pulling a sodden cart full of weapons and armour behind them, they arrived at Holbeche House, near Kingswinford in Staffordshire.
Robert and Thomas Wintour | Failure and capture
Between 1533 and 1540, King Henry VIII took control of the English Church from Rome, the start of several decades of religious tension in England. English Catholics struggled in a society dominated by the newly separate and increasingly Protestant Church of England. Henry's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, responded to the growing religious divide by introducing the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which required anyone appointed to a public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. The penalties for refusal were severe; fines were imposed for recusancy, and repeat offenders risked imprisonment and execution.
Gunpowder Plot | Religion in England
The injured Jing Ke, out of a desperate last attempt, threw his dagger towards King Zheng, only to miss the target. The king then proceeded to stab Jing Ke eight more times, mortally wounding him. Knowing it was hopelessly over, the dying Jing Ke sat with his legs wide open (which was considered a very uncourteous posture) and used the last of his strength to taunt King Zheng with abuses. At this point, the guards had arrived at the scene to finish off both Jing Ke and the fleeing Qin Wuyang.
Jing Ke | Assassination attempt
Tipped off by an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, late on Monday night the authorities had made a search of Parliament. There they had discovered Fawkes guarding the gunpowder the plotters had placed in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords. Catesby and the others, "en route" to the Midlands, had been alerted to his arrest by those conspirators who had since fled London, and together had rode to Dunchurch to meet Digby and his party. By Wednesday 6 November the government was busy searching for Fawkes' accomplices, and towards the end of the day Grant's name appeared on the list of suspects drawn up by the Lord Chief Justice.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Failure
Salisbury exploited this to extract higher subsidies from the ensuing Parliament than any but one granted to Elizabeth. Fawkes and others implicated in the unsuccessful conspiracy were executed.
James VI and I | Gunpowder Plot
On 16 July 1936, as Edward VIII rode through Hyde Park, following the Colour ceremony, McMahon produced a revolver. Bystanders – including a Mrs Alice Lawrence, who was standing next to McMahon – and members of the Metropolitan Police reportedly subdued McMahon, after a struggle, during which the unfired revolver fell near the king's horse as it continued down Constitution Hill. McMahon later stated in a 40-page document entitled "He Was My King" that he was hired by the Italian embassy in London to kill the King, but he deliberately botched the assassination attempt. His attempts to contact the security service and the Home Office had failed.
George McMahon (failed assassin) | 1936 incident
Queen Mary I's plan to marry Philip II of Spain was greeted with widespread opposition, not just among the populace but also among Members of Parliament and privy councillors. Thomas Wyatt's rebellion in early 1554, in which the Duke of Suffolk took part, was a result of this dislike. It was not the intention of the conspirators to bring Jane Grey to the throne again. Nevertheless, the government, at the height of the military crisis around 7 February, decided to execute Jane and her husband, possibly out of panic. It was also an opportunity for removing possible inspirations for future unrest and unwelcome reminders of the past.
Lord Guildford Dudley | Execution
At about the same time, Lord Cobham, Lord Grey de Wilton, Griffin Markham and Walter Raleigh hatched what became known as the Main Plot, which involved removing James and his family and supplanting them with Arbella Stuart. Amongst others, they approached Henry IV of France for funding, but were unsuccessful. All those involved in both plots were arrested in July and tried in autumn 1603; Sir George Brooke was executed, but James, keen not to have too bloody a start to his reign, reprieved Cobham, Grey, and Markham while they were at the scaffold. Raleigh, who had watched while his colleagues sweated, and who was due to be executed a few days later, was also pardoned.
Gunpowder Plot | Early plots
Bromley was not able to return to parliament until early March, well into the next session. He was initially fairly active and was a member of the committee dealing with the attainder of the Gunpowder plotters. Thereafter, his parliamentary activity steadily lessened.
Henry Bromley (died 1615) | The Gunpowder Plot
Nervous because of the failure of the search, the approaching dawn, and the disappearance of Apis, who was lying wounded in the basement of the palace, the conspirators believed that the plot had failed. They had soldiers bring the King's first aide-de-camp, General Lazar Petrović, who had been captured as soon as the conspirators entered the courtyard. He was ordered to reveal whether there was a secret room or passageway, under the threat of being killed if he failed to comply within ten minutes. Petrović waited in silence for the expiration of the deadline.
May Coup (Serbia) | The assassination
By coincidence, on the same day that Garnet was found, the surviving conspirators were arraigned in Westminster Hall. Seven of the prisoners were taken from the Tower to the Star Chamber by barge. Bates, who was considered lower class, was brought from the Gatehouse Prison. Some of the prisoners were reportedly despondent, but others were nonchalant, even smoking tobacco. The King and his family, hidden from view, were among the many who watched the trial. The Lords Commissioners present were the Earls of Suffolk, Worcester, Northampton, Devonshire, and Salisbury. Sir John Popham was Lord Chief Justice, Sir Thomas Fleming was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and two Justices, Sir Thomas Walmsley and Sir Peter Warburton, sat as Justices of the Common Pleas.
Gunpowder Plot | Trials
Despite being successful in murdering the king, the plot failed to place Pentawer on the throne. It is possible that other members of the royal family loyal to the future Ramesses IV reacted quickly to outmaneuvre the conspirators. Ramesses IV selected twelve magistrates to investigate and judge the case across five trials. In addition to the chief conspirators named above, those who had knowledge of the conspiracy but did not report it were arrested, tried, and punished. Twenty-eight people were executed. These included Pebekkamen, Mastesuria, Panhayboni, Panouk, Pentua, and Pairy, in addition to other harem officials, scribes, and army officials.
Harem conspiracy | Trial and outcome
This failed assassination took place in 1712, targeted at the British Lord Treasurer, Robert Harley. A hat box containing three pistols tied to the lid so that when opened they would fire, was sent to Harley. Jonathan Swift was with him and saw the attached string, so the men cut the string then opened the box to find the loaded pistols inside.
Early-18th-century Whig plots | Bandbox Plot
The list of traitors' names was read aloud, beginning with those of the priests: Garnet, Tesimond, and Gerard. The first to speak was the Speaker of the House of Commons (later Master of the Rolls), Sir Edward Philips, who described the intent behind the plot in lurid detail. He was followed by the Attorney-General Sir Edward Coke, who began with a long speech—the content of which was heavily influenced by Salisbury—that included a denial that the King had ever made any promises to the Catholics. Monteagle's part in the discovery of the plot was welcomed, and denunciations of the 1603 mission to Spain featured strongly.
Gunpowder Plot | Trials
English Catholics hoped that the years of persecution they had suffered during Elizabeth's reign would end when James I came to the throne, as his attitude appeared moderate, even tolerant towards Catholics. In Robert Catesby's view however, James had reneged on his promises, and he quickly lost patience with the new dynasty. He therefore planned to kill James by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the throne. Catesby enlisted the help of six fellow Catholics, and by 25 March 1605 he had recruited three others: Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, and Grant.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Plot
Fawkes, using the pseudonym "John Johnson", took charge of the building, posing as Percy's servant. The building was occupied by Scottish commissioners appointed by the King to consider his plans for the unification of England and Scotland, so the plotters hired Catesby's lodgings in Lambeth, on the opposite bank of the Thames, from where their stored gunpowder and other supplies could be conveniently rowed across each night. Meanwhile, King James continued with his policies against the Catholics, and Parliament pushed through anti-Catholic legislation, until its adjournment on 7 July. The conspirators returned to London in October 1604, when Robert Keyes, a "desperate man, ruined and indebted", was admitted to the group.
Gunpowder Plot | Further recruitment
They all failed. The King relented and allowed them to live after a floging of seven hundred strokes.
Charitar 373 | Synopsis
On 15 January a proclamation named Father Garnet, Father Gerard, and Father Greenway (Tesimond) as wanted men. Tesimond and Gerard managed to escape the country and live out their days in freedom; Garnet was not so lucky. Several days earlier, on 9 January, Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton were captured. Their hiding place at Hagley, the home of Humphrey Littleton (brother of MP John Littleton, imprisoned for treason in 1601 for his part in the Essex revolt) was betrayed by a cook, who grew suspicious of the amount of food sent up for his master's consumption. Humphrey denied the presence of the two fugitives, but another servant led the authorities to their hiding place.
Gunpowder Plot | Jesuits
Around 20 January, Bromley was ordered to search Hindlip Hall for Catholic priests: “to pull down the wainscoat, bore the ground, drill the boards and chimney corners, examine the attics and roof, &c., in search of concealed hiding-places.” He was having great difficulties when two of concealed men, Nicholas Owen and Hall, broke out and were captured. It was another week before Henry Garnet and Edward Oldcorne emerged, and even then the priests were misidentified. He took the prisoners to London, after a suitable delay to allow Garnet to recover his strength: Garnet later reported the kind treatment he had received at Bromley's hands throughout the stay and the journey, although he was on his way to brutal execution.
Henry Bromley (died 1615) | The Gunpowder Plot
England might have become a more "Puritan absolute monarchy", as "existed in Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, and Prussia in the seventeenth century", rather than following the path of parliamentary and civil reform that it did.
Gunpowder Plot | Aftermath
When he was taken into custody at the police station he asked if the Queen was hurt; he was informed she was unharmed. When he was asked if the pistols had been loaded, he said they were. After his arrest, his lodgings were searched and a locked box was found containing a sword and scabbard, two pistol-bags, powder, a bullet-mould, five lead balls, some of the percussion caps bought from Gray, and the intricate rules and proceedings of an imaginary military society called "Young England" (not to be confused with the later conservative political group of the same name), complete with a list of made-up officers and correspondence.
Edward Oxford | The assassination attempt
In the 2005 ITV programme "", a full-size replica of the House of Lords was built and destroyed with barrels of gunpowder, totalling 1 metric tonne of explosives. The experiment was conducted on the Advantica-owned Spadeadam test site and demonstrated that the explosion, if the gunpowder was in good order, would have killed all those in the building. The power of the explosion was such that of the deep concrete walls making up the undercroft (replicating how archives suggest the walls of the old House of Lords were constructed), the end wall where the barrels were placed by, under the throne, was reduced to rubble, and the adjacent surviving portions of wall were shoved away.
Gunpowder Plot | Reconstructing the explosion
The foiling of the Gunpowder Plot initiated a wave of national relief at the delivery of the King and his sons, and inspired in the ensuing parliament a mood of loyalty and goodwill, which Salisbury astutely exploited to extract higher subsidies for the King than any (bar one) granted in Elizabeth I's reign. Walter Raleigh, who was languishing in the Tower owing to his involvement in the Main Plot, and whose wife was a first cousin of Lady Catesby, declared he had had no knowledge of the conspiracy. The Bishop of Rochester gave a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, in which he condemned the plot.
Gunpowder Plot | Reaction
Such a mini-invasion ultimately took place and was successful; simply put, Russell did not time his meetings correctly. He resigned himself rapidly to accept his fate with dignity while still stating his innocence, but was disappointed in the justice he had received, as laid out in his last letter before his death. Russell was later pardoned as having committed no part in a directly treasonous plot, casting the evidence as hearsay. The pardon remains as an official document. Whigs later commemorated him as a mistreated martyr, supposedly put to death in retaliation for his efforts to exclude James from succession to the crown.
William Russell, Lord Russell | Execution
He claimed Sulayman and others were plotting to assassinate King Ghazi. The evidence was speculative and in all likelihood false, yet they were found guilty and sentenced to death (but their terms were commuted to life).
Jaafar Al-Askari | Assassination and Aftermath
Following the arrest of Guy Fawkes the plotters fled to Huddington Court and arrived at about 2.00 p.m. on Wednesday 6 November. They left early the following morning in the pouring rain and made it as far as Holbeach House in Staffs where following a shoot out they were killed or arrested. Some had fled and were picked up later, including Robert Wintour who evaded capture for two months. Thomas had been wounded and their half brother, John, surrendered his sword at Dudley Castle. They were all executed. Huddington Court was confiscated along with all their estates. However, it was back in family ownership by 1607, most probably via the payment of large fines by the Talbot estates.
Huddington Court | The Gunpowder Plot
Can said that he represented the families of those who were executed and wanted a court hearing again, and added that they would bring the executed people's bodies to the Monument of Liberty, where they deserved to be. In the days when the announcement was made, it found its place in the printed media of the period, but it later lost its importance and the attempt failed before reaching the legal authorities.
Attempted assassination of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | Later events
On July 28, 1835, Fieschi attempted to assassinate King Louis Philippe I using the infernal machine. The gun was positioned on the windowsill in Fieschi's three-room lodging on the third floor of N. 50 Boulevard du Temple in Paris, overlooking the street on the route that the king and his convoy were expected to take as part of the yearly Paris National Guard inspection. When the convoy was passing directly below, Fieschi, waiting in ambush, fired the infernal machine. The gun fired a volley of approximately 400 projectiles, even though four barrels misfired, four barrels burst, and one of the 25 barrels was not loaded as it did not have a touch hole and could not be fired.
Infernal machine (weapon) | Failed assassination attempt
One or two of the conspirators drew back; but Watson and his remaining colleagues arranged to assemble at Greenwich on 24 June 1603, and under the pretence of presenting a petition to carry out their object. The plot was a complete failure; Henry Garnet and other Jesuits betrayed it to the authorities, and its principal authors were seized, Watson being captured in August at Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh border. They were tried at Winchester and found guilty; Watson and Clark were executed on 9 December 1603, and Brooke suffered the same fate a week later. Grey and Markham were reprieved.
William Watson (priest) | Life
However, on the eve of the planned explosion, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the plotters had positioned in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and arrested. As the government searched for Fawkes's accomplices, Grant and the others engaged in a futile mission for support for the uprising. They stole horses from Warwick Castle, and further supplies from Hewell Grange, before stopping at Holbeche House. The plotters laid in front of the fire some of the gunpowder they had collected, to dry out, but a stray spark ignited the powder, and in the resultant conflagration Grant was blinded.
John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) | Introduction
His defense being unsuccessful, Herold was convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged in Washington City on July 7, 1865. The fall from the gallows did not break his neck; he struggled for nearly five minutes, slowly strangling to death.
David Herold | Assassination plot
The house where he was born was burned down, his father, wife and daughter were banished from France, and his brothers and sisters were required to change their name. The King recovered physically very quickly, but the attack had a depressive effect on his spirits. One of his chief courtiers, Duford de Chervrny, wrote afterwards: "it was easy to see that when members of the court congratulated him on his recovery, he replied, 'yes, the body is going well', but touched his head and said, 'but this goes badly, and this is impossible to heal.' After the assassination attempt, the King invited his heir, the Dauphin, to attend all of the Royal Council meetings, and quietly closed down the chateau at Versailles where he had met with his short-term mistresses."
Louis XV | Assassination attempt
Robert Keyes(1565 -1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. He was the sixth man to join the plot. Unlike several other conspirators Keyes was not a particularly wealthy man. He was trusted by Robert Catesby, the plot's author, with guarding the explosives stored at the latter's lodgings in London. When the plot was uncovered he fled the city, and was captured several days later in Warwickshire.
Robert Keyes | Introduction
The failure of the plan resulted in a massacre, about 1,500 Gotlandic farmers and other local inhabitants being killed by the Danish invaders.
Mästerby | The Battle
In 230 BC, the state of Qin had defeated the state of Han. A Han aristocrat named Zhang Liang swore revenge on the Qin emperor. He sold all his valuables and in 218 BC, he hired a strongman assassin and built him a heavy metal cone weighing 120 jin (roughly 160 lb or 97 kg). The two men hid among the bushes along the emperor's route over a mountain. At a signal, the muscular assassin hurled the cone at the first carriage and shattered it. However, the emperor was actually in the second carriage, as he was travelling with two identical carriages for this very reason.
Qin Shi Huang | Third attempted assassination
The Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air". Fawkes's and Tresham's testimony regarding the Spanish treason was read aloud, as well as confessions related specifically to the Gunpowder Plot.
Guy Fawkes | Trial and execution
On 20 January the local Justice and his retainers arrived at Thomas Habington's home, Hindlip Hall, to arrest the Jesuits. Despite Thomas Habington's protests, the men spent the next four days searching the house. On 24 January, starving, two priests left their hiding places and were discovered. Humphrey Littleton, who had escaped from the authorities at Hagley, got as far as Prestwood in Staffordshire before he was captured. He was imprisoned, and then condemned to death at Worcester. On 26 January, in exchange for his life, he told the authorities where they could find Father Garnet. Worn down by hiding for so long, Garnet, accompanied by another priest, emerged from his priest hole the next day.
Gunpowder Plot | Jesuits
Greater freedom for Roman Catholics to worship as they chose seemed unlikely in 1604, but the discovery of such a wide-ranging conspiracy, the capture of those involved, and the subsequent trials, led Parliament to consider introducing new anti-Catholic legislation. The event also destroyed all hope that the Spanish would ever secure tolerance of the Catholics in England. In the summer of 1606, laws against recusancy were strengthened; the Popish Recusants Act returned England to the Elizabethan system of fines and restrictions, introduced a sacramental test, and an Oath of Allegiance, requiring Catholics to abjure as a "heresy" the doctrine that "princes excommunicated by the Pope could be deposed or assassinated".
Gunpowder Plot | Aftermath
It was not, as he had been told, preceded by an advanced guard; however he prepared to execute his plan. At that moment the horse of a grenadier drove him against the wall and deranged him. He returned, and set fire to the machine; but the powder not being good, its effect was two or three seconds too late, otherwise the First Consul must inevitably have perished.The explosion killed the horse, young Marianne, and as many as a dozen bystanders. Some 40 others were wounded, and several buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Assassination attempts on Napoleon Bonaparte | Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise
The attack, however, had dissipated by morning. The failure was the result, says Candlin, of "poor coordination, coupled with bad weather and mere bad luck"; Jacobs describes the operation as "bungled". The British lost 27 men dead and 57 wounded.
Fédon's rebellion | May 1795