[C-Kokos]

I believe that most non Britons will not be familiar with the name.

Anyway, for those who are, do you have any ideas as to what were the motives behind the Gunpowder plot?

[Smilin' Dave]

I believe that most non Britons will not be familiar with the name.

I'll have you know that not all that long ago they still burnt effigies out in the country.

what were the motives behind the Gunpowder plot?

Based on my limited understanding (and memory) Fawkes and his group planned to blow up parliament for its anti-Catholic measures. They may have intended to blow up the king (which again going off memory, was James I at the time) at the same time.

[Thunderhawk]

Wasn't he the scape goat, whose death/execution/failure_to_assassinate is celebrated with fireworks?

If I remember it right, the plot was organized and run by some one else (minor nobility I think?), and dispite the evidence that Fowkes was just a hand (not the leader) in the plot, the British people decided he was the main character anyways.

[Mikolaj]

I remember skimming a textbook and seeing an old print of a timeline of the incident and what the authorities did to the perpetrators once they got caught-very grusome!

[The Immortal Goon]

Yeah, from my memory it was the whole Protestant/Catholic thing still.

Guy Fawkes was awesome.

-TIG

[Mikolaj]

About the plot:
http://www.britannia.com/history/kaboom.html

...and its causes:
http://www.britannia.com/history/gunpowder1.html

...And this is why separation of church and state is a good thing.

[Maksym]

I was touring the Tower of London last September and they had a small section about Guy Fawkes since it was the 400th anniversary. The conspiracy was advertised as England’s first terrorist plot, which was attempting to destroy parliament, plus causing an uncontrollable fire to destroying the rest of London.

[Nicktheconfucianist]

I believe that most non Britons will not be familiar with the name.

Change that to most people who don't study history.
He's a very important person in english history.

If I remember it right, the plot was organized and run by some one else (minor nobility I think?), and dispite the evidence that Fowkes was just a hand (not the leader) in the plot, the British people decided he was the main character anyways

Any evidence?

Also it would't have worked anyway,the gunpowder could'nt explote,
at least thats what I heard.

I think this is an important anti-Catholic/english peace of history.

[redstarline]

He's a very important person in english history.

well he is the name associated with the plot but i dont think he was very important within the plot, he was left holding the fuse next a pile of gunpowder hardly the job the head of a terrorist organisation would do!
He was called "a very bad and desperate fellow" by the people who found him. maybe he was the first suicide bomber, he wanted to blow the Scotsmen back to Scotland.

"Last of all came the great devil of all, Guy Fawkes, alias Johnson, who should have put fire to the powder. His body being weak with the torture and sickness he was scarce able to go up the ladder, yet with much ado, by the help of the hangman, went high enough to break his neck by the fall. He made no speech, but with his crosses and idle ceremonies made his end upon the gallows and the block, to the great joy of all the beholders that the land was ended of so wicked a villainy".

ah the good old days...

[motojackal]

Also it would't have worked anyway,the gunpowder could'nt explote,
at least thats what I heard.

There was a test done on TV recently. They built a replica of parliament using the same materials as the original and the same building technques as far as possible. They even went to Spain to get the gunpowder nearest to that which was used. They filled parliament with dummies and had loads of cameras and sensors installed.
They set the gunpowder barrels off and the results were devastating. The destruction was far worse than any of the experts had predicted. I think it was to do with a timber framed building on top of masonry walls. Forced the explosion up and out, nobody would have survived.
Guy Fawkes was an ex soldier and probably had experience in the use of gunpowder for demolition, so may have known about the effects discovered in the programme.

[C-Kokos]

he wanted to blow the Scotsmen back to Scotland.

That doesn't make any sense, considering that he was Catholic, and the anti-catholic measures taken by the King were largely the motive behind the plot.

[Thunderhawk]

@ Nicktheconfucianist

http://www.britannia.com/history/kaboom.html


Seema to be a rather good link explaining it.

Fawkes has an experianced hand, but just a hand.
.. how appropriate that he was a professional mercenary

[redstarline]

That doesn't make any sense, considering that he was Catholic, and the anti-catholic measures taken by the King were largely the motive behind the plot.

all the more reason to send the Scots back to Scotland.

[Nicktheconfucianist]

There was a test done on TV recently

Really???
I didnt see that one.
Anyway thanks for the info,I don't know where I got this idea,
maybe on some internet page,or on tv but I knew nothing of a test,thanks.

well he is the name associated with the plot but i dont think he was very important within the plot

Well I only tried to say he's an important english historical figure:he's
very famous.I never talked about his contributions to the way the
gunpowder plot developt.

Oh thanks for the link thunderhawk.

[Potemkin]

he wanted to blow the Scotsmen back to Scotland.

That doesn't make any sense, considering that he was Catholic, and the anti-catholic measures taken by the King were largely the motive behind the plot.

James I was Scottish. He started out as James VI of Scotland and inherited the throne of England as well when Elizabeth I died. He therefore became King James VI of Scotland and I of England. The unification of the Crowns of Scotland and England was the first step to the their political union in the 'United Kingdom'. The British national flag is even named after James I, the 'Union Jack'.

And James' Scottish favourites, whom he brought with him from Scotland, were deeply unpopular in England. Many Englishmen would have liked to have seen them blown back to Scotland. But the Gunpowder plot was not just against the Scottish King James, it was against all the ruling institutions of England. The entire elite of the country would have been gathered for the state opening of Parliament. If it had worked, this would have been the 9/11 of Jacobean England, but multiplied by a factor of 100.