"Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble." I know what you’re thinking. “Halloween was last week so why is Helena still talking about witches?” Well, did you know that witchcraft contributed to The Gunpowder Plot? No? Then I suggest you read on. Most, if not all of you here will know at least a little about the events surrounding November 5th, 1605 – the infamous attempt by Guy Fawkes and his associates, to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the reigning King, James I. School teachers will boil the story down to the simple feud of Catholics v Protestants – but another catalyst influencing the main players of this tale was witchcraft. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, to the throne of England – styling himself as James I, King of Great Britain and Ireland. James was the son of a lady of tragic fate; Mary Queen of Scots, who abdicated her throne when she fled Scotland to exile, life imprisonment and finally execution in England, during the reign of her cousin, Elizabeth. Mary had been a staunch Catholic but after she was chased out of her land, the regents and protectors of both James and Scotland would ensure he was raised a firm Protestant – God-fearing and deeply opposed to Catholicism and the Papacy. His fascination and disdain for witchcraft almost certainly piqued during a trip to Denmark is 1589, where he would meet his wife-to-be, Anne of Denmark. Whilst abroad he met with a number of intellectuals and philosophers who discussed with him the witch hunts taking part in the country at the time, so much so that when his sea journey back to Britain with disrupted by rough storms, he concluded that witches were to blame and trials were held to find those responsible. This was the start of what would become a lifelong obsession for James, molding him in to one of the foremost Witch Hunters of the age and inspiring him to write his own book named Daemonologie – a dissertation on necromancy, divination and black magic. His conviction in the existence of witches and sorcery leaked in to his hostile opinions surrounding aspects of Catholicism – the Latin mass, the sacrament, and the worshiping of idols - and in his mind the two soon became inextricably linked. Whereas his cousin, Queen Elizabeth, had largely turned a blind eye to Catholic practices (provided they were not public, and not aimed at manufacturing her downfall), James refused to be so lenient and simply denied any freedom of worship for Catholics in England. I’m pretty sure you know the rest from here... This persecution would not be tolerated and just two years after his accession to the English throne, a group of provincial English Catholics led by one Robert Catesby designed an assassination attempt of grand proportions. With his twelve co-conspirators – one of which was Guy Fawkes who is arguably more famed within this tale – he rented a room under the Houses of Parliament in Westminster and began to fill it with barrels of gunpowder. After several delays, the date of the next sitting of Parliament was set for November 5th, by which time 36 barrels of gunpowder were stored underneath, ready to be set alight and decimate the building above as soon as the King was in residence. But the night before, following the receipt of a letter (known as the Monteagle letter) which revealed the plot, James instructed for the undercroft to be searched – and the man we all hold synonymous with these November 5th celebrations was caught. Guy Fawkes; so near and yet so far. Fawkes was immediately arrested and admitted to the plot – though through his interrogations he maintained that he was working alone. Others were not so tight-lipped and two days later the names of most of the accomplices were known by the Privy Council. Let us skip ahead now – through the months of imprisonment and grievous torture, to the executions. On a cold January 31st, Fawkes and three of his accomplices – Wintour, Rookwood and Keyes – were dragged to Westminster to meet death opposite the building they had conspired to destroy. Fawkes watched whilst his fellow plotters were then hung, drawn and quartered – being hung until *almost* dead, then cut down, cut open whilst still alive, castrated, their organs removed and finally, cut into 4 pieces. Sickened and horrified by what he had witnessed, and what was to be his own fate, as he climbed the scaffold to be hung, Fawkes ran and jumped from the gallows; breaking his own neck. Whilst he managed to avoid the agony of the latter part of the execution, his body was still cut in to four pieces to be distributed to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning to other would-be traitors. So now you know. James I’s unhealthy obsession with witchcraft and its perceived links to the Papacy inspired a group of young men to attempt the most daring assassination attempt in British history, which we still celebrate the thwarting of today. It also inspired a man you may have heard of – one William Shakespeare – to write a rather well known play based on witches, prophecy and treason; my favourite, Macbeth. So, like the saying goes, “Remember, remember the 5th of November; Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.”
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Author - Helena ChristieLittle Welsh Sprite. A Manager of people. A wearer of heels. A drinker of gin. A disciple of musical theatre and medieval history. You can find me on Twitter under @HistoryWithHelz and @HelenaChristie4 Archives
July 2018
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