Gunpowder Plot Conspiracy

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Call it terrorism or not, giving one's life for a cause can affect all those around them. Those that are in authority can markedly influence the decisions that people make. When that influence takes hold there is no telling what might happen. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 has been thought of as a terrorist act. The people associated with the Gunpowder Plot were influenced by their history and the leaders of their time. Catholicism had been reigning the country until Henry VIII decided he wanted to divorce his wife but keep the church's wealth. The kingdom split from the Roman Catholic Church and became the Church of England. Henry's son, Edward VI, became the first Protestant king ushering the Protestant Reformation into England. After Edward's …show more content…

Catesby's intention was “...to blow up James and his Parliament by packing the building with gunpowder and detonating it when the nation's elite assembled.” Their idea was to have James I's daughter Elizabeth on the throne. Being that she was only eight years old, her Protector would be chosen from the Catholic contemporaries. One of the conspirators, Thomas Percy, rented a small house next to the House of Lords. Guy Fawkes, taking the name John Johnson, become his manservant. Space became available under the House of Lords which was promptly rented by Percy. The conspirators smuggled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellar and hid them under piles of hay. Being sympathetic to their Catholic peers in Parliament, a letter was sent anonymously to Lord Mounteagle telling him not to attend Parliament on a certain day. The letter was confusing so Lord Mounteagle took it straight to court. On November 5th while searching Parliament's cellar, the gunpowder and Guy Fawkes were found. He was tortured until he gave up the names of the other conspirators who had fled to Holbeach House. Several traitors were killed and the others were “...found guilty of treason, all were to die grisly, traitors' deaths.” “The desperation that drove Catesby to attempt to blow up Parliament was about more than just persecution and politics – it was about the fate of the eternal soul. And for that cause, the conspirators willingly gave up their

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