Gunpowder Plot
- When
- 1605
- Where
- House of Lords; Interrogation site
- Episodes
- 2
On the evening of 4 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested in the House of Lords while guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder. This foiled a Catholic plot led by Robert Catesby to assassinate King James I, with the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November serving as the intended occasion for the explosion.
Episodes
- Discovery of Gunpowder
Guy Fawkes was arrested on 4 November 1605 while guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder in the House of Lords.
- Fawkes Interrogation
On 7 November 1605, Fawkes revealed his true identity and told interrogators that five people were involved in the plot to kill the king.
Background and detail
Background. Disappointed by the lack of religious tolerance under King James I, a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby planned a regicide. The scheme aimed to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament to trigger a popular revolt in the Midlands.
Discovery and Arrest. On the evening of 4 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was discovered in the House of Lords guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder. The quantity was sufficient to reduce the building to rubble, leading to his immediate arrest.
People involved
- Guy Fawkes · Conspirator and gunpowder guard
- Robert Catesby · Leader of the plot
- King James I · Target of the regicide
Sources
- Gunpowder Plot Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-12
- Guy Fawkes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-15
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.