A conspiracy formed in England in 1604, the second year of the reign of James I., by some Roman Catholics, to blow up the king and parliament in order to be revenged on the government for its severities against their religion. The time ultimately fixed for the plot was the 5th of November, 1605, when parliament was to be opened by the king in person. It was to be followed by a national Catholic uprising and seizure of power.

The plot originated with Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, and John Wright, and was at once made known to Guiodo Fawkes, a zealous Catholic, who had served in the Spanish army in Flanders, and to Thomas Percy, a relation of the Earl of Northumberland. These five were the original conspirators, the plot was subsequently communicated to Sir Everard Digby, Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham, Thomas Keyes, Christopher Wright (a brother of John), and to some Jesuit fathers and others, who saw violent action as the only way to gain toleration for English Catholics.

The plot vulgarly associated with the name of Guy Fawkes, though Robert Catesby was its principal organizer, was the result of the failure of James to carry out the complete suspension of the Penal Laws, as the Catholics expected him to do.

The peace with Spain had also rendered them desperate, by depriving them of foreign help.They were subsequently disowned by the majority of their fellow religionists, who had little sympathy for the conspiratorial tradition established by Roberto Ridolfi, Francis Throckmorton, and Anthony Babington. It has been suggested that Robert Cecil manufactured the plot, in order to discredit the Catholic cause.

The Plot was not prepared by the leading Catholics, nor by the authority of the Church. The conspirators were either ruined men, or men with little to lose, with the exception of Digby and Tresham, and the latter probably betrayed them.

		The conspirators took a house next to Parliament House, and their original plan was to dig under and undermine the House of Parliament. They latterly discovered, however, that there was a cellar right under the chamber of parliament, which was occupied by a coal-dealer. They at once hired this cellar, and filled it with powder, faggots, and billets.

The plot was discovered by means of the famous letter sent to Lord Mounteagle, a Catholic peer in favour with the court, who laid it before the secretary of state Cecil, it was a warning written in mysterious terms, not to be present at the approaching meeting of parliament Cecil showed it to some of the council, and did nothing till the return of the king from a hunting party. It was probably a device by moderate Catholics, who wished neither for the consummation of the crime nor for the arrest of the criminals, to give the latter notice that they were discovered, and so induce them to leave the country.

On hearing the letter James at once instigated an investigation and the arrest of Fawkes in the cellar, where a hogshead and thirty-six barrels of powder were discovered. The other plotters were overcome after brief resistance, Catesby, Percy, and the two Wrights were killed in defending Holbeach House, in which they had taken refuge, against the sheriff, Fawkes and seven others, including Sir Everard Digby were tried before Coke, Sir Everard Digby was tried and executed at Northampton, Tresham died in prison. Fawkes, Rookwood, Winter, and others were tried at Westminster on 27th Jan. 1606, and executed on the 30th and 31st.

Immediately afterwards, the penal laws against Catholics were stiffened, and an Oath of Allegiance imposed, but enforcement of the new legislation soon became sporadic.

It is now very generally thought that Tresham, the reputed author of the letter to Lord Mounteagle, had previously informed his lordship of the plot, and that the sending and publication of the letter were merely intended as blinds. It seems also that Cecil, knowing the kings vanity, was desirous of making him the discoverer of the plot.