Gunpowder, treason and plot: Three things to remember on 5th November
Posted on 2 November 2018
Gunpowder
Credit: Photo by Robert Viglasky. Courtesy of BBC
Dr Hannah Greig, from the University of York's Department of History and historical consultant to the BBC's 2017 television series, Gunpowder, said: "At this time of year, when we are reflecting on the gunpowder plot of 1605, there is a distance that often reveals itself between popular and academic perceptions of the past.
"It seems that despite a high profile afforded to Tudor and Stuart history in the UK’s cultural landscape – in terms of dramas, exhibitions, historic houses, and the school curriculum – many people have cauterised their historical memory and forgotten the bodily brutality of the age.
"The gunpowder plot is a historical event that has been told and retold in many forms over many years and as such the line between fact and fiction is not easily drawn. The much discussed opening scene of last year's BBC Gunpowder series is a good example of this.
"The brutal death of one of the female characters in the story was a fiction, and yet she does represent real women of this period – most famously Margaret Clitherow of York. She was slowly, painfully and publicly crushed to death in 1586 for her refusal to testify when accused of harbouring Catholic priests."
Treason
Professor Jim Sharpe, from the Department of History and author of Remember Remember: a Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day, said: “Robert Catesby was the originator of the Gunpowder Plot, with Guy Fawkes brought in in early 1604 on the assumption that his military expertise from his time fighting in the Spanish army had given him familiarity with handling explosives.
“Fawkes has ended up as the person we place on top of the bonfire on 5 November because he was the one who was dramatically discovered under the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. This is the moment that has gone down in history.
“The plotters decided to blow up Parliament and bring about a catholic restoration because they were being very badly treated, but of course to the authorities at the time and modern observers it was an attempt to commit a substantial act of terrorism. Had they been successful, it would have been equivalent to the Twin Towers attacks.”
Plot
The team at York's Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture have produced a 3D visualisation showing St Stephen's chapel (built by King Edward I, c1360), and the later Christopher Wren remodelling of the House of Commons (1692 to 1707).
Dr John Cooper, from the University of York's Department of History, and historical consultant on the BBC's 2017 television series Gunpowder, said: "At the time that the gunpowder plot was being formed, the intended target - the Palace of Westminster - would have looked quite different than it does today.
“St Stephen’s Chapel was built by King Edward I to be a show-case of English royal splendour. When the Chapel was dissolved during the Reformation, it became a meeting place for politicians to debate the issues of the day.
“Members of Parliament had previously met in a number of different locations. Once they took occupation of St Stephen’s, however, they never left, even though there was never a grand plan for a new home for the House of Commons.
“The move into St Stephen’s was a by-product of the Reformation, but it had profound consequences for the future of British politics.
“The thwarted gunpowder plot meant that the Parliament building survived, but many years later the original home of the Commons was destroyed in a serious fire.”