Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot, a plot formed by a party of Roman Catholics early in James I.'s reign to blow up the King, Lords, and Commons with gunpowder. The conspirators were Robert Catesby, who had taken part in Essex's conspiracy, John Wright, and Thomas Winter. Guy Fawkes, a soldier in the Spanish army, was sent for from Flanders. Other members were Thomas Percy, John Grant, Winter's brother Robert, and Catesby's servant Bates. Three rich Catholics, Sir Everard Digby, Ambrose Rookwood, and Francis Tresbam, were later admitted to the confederacy. The attempt was to be made on November 5, 1605, the day on which Parliament would meet. Tresbam sent a letter to Lord Monteagle, warning him of the danger, which was shown to Robert Cecil. The Lord Chamberlain found a pretext for visiting the cellar with Monteagle on the afternoon of the 4th. There Fawkes was found. He was seized about midnight as he was returning to his post. The remaining conspirators fled, but within a few days Catesby and others had been killed, and the rest were tried and executed.