 The tale often repeated over the years is that Catholics were looking to murder King James I in 1605. They were annoyed at the continued suppression they were facing in the years after the Reformation — the 16th century event when the Church of England was set up and the country became Protestant, splitting from the Roman Catholic Church. Guy Fawkes, a Catholic and former veteran mercenary of the Spanish army, was said to have been found with barrels of explosives in tunnels under the House of Lords. Some historical documents suggest he was ready to ignite the Palace of Westminster during the opening of Parliament, with the King potentially due to be in attendance. Met Office Bonfire Night weather forecast for London fireworks and events Following a tip-off, an inspection of the cellars by Parliament guards caught Fawkes — whose real first name was Guido — with){kind=link}
The story of how Guy Fawkes tried to blow-up Parliament and the King on November 5 has been immortalised through 400 years of Bonfire Nights. But what if the whole thing was trumped up?
The story of how Guy Fawkes was found in the cellars underneath Parliament with barrels of gunpowder, ready to blow the whole thing to smithereens, is told to every British school child.
But what if the charges of a gunpowder plot thought up by dissident Catholics in 1605 are at best trumped up, and at worst fabricated by the highest echelons of society?
That is what two historians – including a former Oxford professor – have argued in both writing and their popular podcast.
Penelope Middelboe and Jon Rosebank, hosts of the History Cafe podcast, say the evidence of a plot to blow-up Parliament and the king on November 5 that year is “vanishingly thin”.