WEBVTT - Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November... 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.800 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:07.880 and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey everyone, this is Dana Schwartz, Happy three. Just a 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:19.239 few quick pieces of housekeeping before we dive into this 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.919 week's episode. There are still a few spots available on 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:27.320 the tour I'm co leading to Cornwall next summer. It's 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.800 a tour focused on Daphne du Maurier and the book Rebecca, 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:33.120 which is one of my all time favorites. And we're 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.920 going to be staying at this gorgeous house in Cornwall 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.880 and just spending a few days talking about the book 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.400 and reading and walking and writing. I did one of 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.440 these trips last year about Frankenstein, and it was just 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.800 such a phenomenal experience to like get a break from 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.519 technology and work and you know, in touch with my 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.560 creativity and what I love about talking about books with people. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.520 It's just such a phenomenal opportunity. I immediately begged them 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.520 to let me do another, and so that's how the 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:05.200 Rebecca Pilgrimage came along. So if it's something you're interested in, 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.080 the program is called Common Ground. I'll put a link 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.560 in the bio but it's just phenomenal, and I think 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.920 if you listen to the show you'll get a lot 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:17.560 out of the experience. Also, my novel Immortality, a Love Story, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.839 comes out February, and I know this is the most 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.560 annoying thing in the world, but publishers just tell me 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.240 as not. Their pre orders are like the most important 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.600 thing that books need. It just determines their entire future. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.240 So if you read Anatomy, or you know, even if 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.360 you haven't read Anatomy, which is the first book in 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.880 the series, check out Immortality a Love Story. That link 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.759 is in the bio two. You can support the show 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:46.319 on Patreon for episode scripts and monthly bonus episodes, and 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:51.360 you can get merch also in the episode description. I 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.160 think that's all the housekeeping. It's a holidays here. I'm 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.919 recording this before Christmas, and my kitchen is just filled 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.000 with so many cookies. My brain has fully leaked out 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.520 of my year. So I think that's everything. Thank you 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:05.559 so much for listening. I hope you all are having 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:23.400 a really wonderful new year. On the southern tip of England, 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:28.200 the small county town of Louis in East Sussex sits 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.440 with its charming antique shop line streets, and variety of 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:38.040 local medieval architecture. At a population of just under eighteen thousand. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.120 I once took a train out of there. It was lovely. 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.680 On an average day, the sleepy English hamlet welcomes the 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.240 occasional tourist, those catching a train to London like me, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.600 or those hoping to catch a glimpse of any of 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:57.880 Louis's numerous historical sites like Louis Castle, or for the 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:02.880 more royally inclined, the Anne of Cleave's House, which though 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.920 she never technically lived in, was given to her in 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.240 the settlement following her divorce from Henry the eighth. But 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:15.800 every year, come November five, Louis finds its usually empty 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:22.160 streets suddenly overflowing with a sense of restless anticipation as 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:28.919 the population skyrockets from eighteen thousand to upwards of sixty people, 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.800 some dressed in period costumes, others simply carrying pockets full 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.840 of fireworks, but each and every one of its visitors 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.960 holding the singular intent of watching the town engulfed in 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.200 flame by the night's end. Though I feel it is 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.360 important to note the sudden influx of people are not 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.200 attempting to set fire to the city itself, but rather 0:03:55.520 --> 0:04:00.160 watch as revelers race barrels of tar down in the 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:06.080 high Street, then turn various parade floats into effigies, all 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:11.480 before gathering to witness the main attraction, the attraction for 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:17.120 which the night is named the lighting of the legendary bonfire. 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:23.159 In Great Britain, Bonfire Night, otherwise known as Guy Fox Knight, 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:28.560 is the annual commemoration of the discovery and eventual thwarting 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:33.280 of the Gunpowder Plot or the plan to blow up 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:38.200 Parliament on November five, six oh five. If you are 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.400 a UK listener, you likely grew up hearing all about 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:48.120 Guy Fox and his co conspirators failed plot to essentially 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:53.480 overthrow the Protestant led crown and establish a reigning British 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.680 Catholic government in instead. But on this side of the pond, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.640 knowledge pertain meaning to the real life man behind the 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:07.720 now infamous Guy Fox Mask typically begins and ends with 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.640 the poem for which this episode is named. Remember remember 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.520 the fifth of November, the gunflowder, treason and plot, which 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:20.880 really only came into general public consciousness following the release 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:25.840 of the graphic novel and subsequent anarchy fueled film V 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:31.080 for Vendetta, but before Bonfire Night became an excuse to 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:37.400 exhibit impressive arrays of pyrotechnics. The holiday was originally a 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.159 motion passed through Parliament called the Observance of Fifth November 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:47.880 Act six oh five, otherwise known as the Thanksgiving Act, 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:53.960 which decreed quote Ministers in every cathedral and parish, church 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.760 or other usual place for common prayer shall always upon 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.480 the fifth day of no member, same morning prayer and 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:07.320 give unto Almighty God thanks for this most happy deliverance 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.800 end quote, which basically translates into a government sanctioned church 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:17.240 service that forces citizens to remember the failed attempt to 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:22.159 overthrow the government. Hardly a call to anarchy as laid 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.880 out in V for Vendetta, but V for Vendetta aside. 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.400 The festivities that have been taking place in Louis on 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:34.520 November five every year don't exactly scream government sanctioned day 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.960 of prayer and remembrance either, though burning in effigy of 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:43.200 Guy Fox and throwing firecrackers at a man dressed as 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.560 the Pope are well arguably problematic in their own right, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.400 admittedly somewhat on brand for the occasion, having parade goers 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.680 dressed in costumes running the gambit from British suffragists to 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:01.720 frankly racist portrayals of Native amor Amricans and Zulu warriors 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:06.479 make it clear that somewhere in the last four hundred years, 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:12.400 celebrations of the holiday seem to have lost the part 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:18.480 in my pun plot. Even outside some of the questionable traditions, 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:22.120 the current form of the holiday holds between the pro 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:27.240 anarchy sentiments of VFA Vendetta and the growing popularity of 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:32.200 the guy Fox masks use in popular culture, particularly on 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.360 the Internet. It seems as if the words remember remember 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.800 the fifth of November have almost begun to take on 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:44.440 a meaning of their own, one that glorifies rebellion in general, 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:49.720 rather than in a way attached to one specific, very 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:55.400 Catholic plot, which begs the question, on a holiday which 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.880 prides itself on lighting bonfires and setting off intricate fire 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:04.160 works displays to commemorate the day Parliament did not go 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.320 up in flames, what exactly is it that were meant 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:14.480 to remember on the five of November. I'm Dana Schwartz 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:31.320 and this is noble blood. In the over four centuries 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:35.240 since the Gunpowder Plot, was foiled. People are quick to 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.319 remember Guy Fox and the thirty six barrels of gunpowder 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.120 he laid under the floors of Parliament, but they often 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:47.920 forget the reasons why Fox and his co conspirators even 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.760 orchestrated their attack in the first place. So in that vein, 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.199 we need to take a step back from the failed 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:58.359 plot in six five and instead look to the events 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.000 that would eventually in fire their inception, the first of 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:06.000 which took place in fifteen twenty seven, when King Henry 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.320 the Eighth sought permission from the Pope to annul his 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.120 marriage from his first wife so he could pursue the 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:16.160 woman who would become his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.560 Pope's ultimate refusal to grant King Henry's annulment would go 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.240 on to act as the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.240 in England, or King Henry the Eighth's decision to leave 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.440 the Catholic Church and attempt to convert the whole of 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.079 England to Protestantism and declare himself Supreme Head of the 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:40.319 Church of England. Now, obviously, the Protestant Reformation and the 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.960 subsequent decades and centuries of strife between British Catholics and 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.720 Protestants is not something I confeasibly cover in the brief 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.120 time we have today in this episode in which it's backstory. 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.560 But for the sake of this episode, you should know 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.800 that just over thirty years after that, when King Henry 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.280 the Eighth's daughter, Queen Elizabeth, ascended to the throne in 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.959 fifteen fifty eight, she was still very much actively dealing 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:11.520 with the repercussions of her father's actions. Elizabeth was fresh 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.600 off the heels of her Catholic half sister Mary Tudor's reign. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.920 Elizabeth sought to reinstate the Church of England that their 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.679 father had established, and she had to take decisive action 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.400 to denounce all of the crowns ties to the Roman 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.920 Catholic Church. This took the form of what we now 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:36.600 call the Elizabethan Settlement, which in broad terms, essentially made 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:41.959 Protestantism the official religion of England, with no room for arguments. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:46.520 Of course, it wasn't that simple. Queen Elizabeth may have 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.000 been the governor of the Church of England, not the 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.480 head as her father had been, because you know, she 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.040 was a woman, but even she couldn't just snap her 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:02.240 fingers and will Catholicism out of Great Britain. For the 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:07.120 largely uneducated lower classes in England, the loss of a 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.800 religion that heavily relied on a working knowledge of Latin 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:16.680 was not sorely missed, especially considering the substantial finds that 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.600 were now enacted. Should they decide not to attend the 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:26.960 mandatory Protestant church services every Sunday, and after over a 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:32.559 decade of back and forth between Protestant versus Catholic rulers 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.840 since the death of Henry the Eighth, following the rules 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.679 laid out by the Church of England and not the 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.240 Pope was a sure way to prove their loyalty to 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:47.120 the Queen Elizabeth the First. However, as you may have guessed, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.000 there were also those less than thrilled with the new 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.120 let's say, changes in management. In spite of the find 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.559 and possible jail time even death that might have awaited 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:05.280 those unwilling to convert to Protestantism, there still remained a 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:10.520 sub section of mostly upper class citizens who firmly held 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.920 onto their ties to the Catholic Church. They were called recusants, 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:21.240 and following Pope Pious, the fifth Papal Bull excommunicating Queen 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.800 Elizabeth from the Catholic Church in fifteen seventy, Recusants were 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:31.080 essentially given free reign to disregard any of her laws, or, 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:36.320 depending on one's interpretation of the Pope's words, even kill 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:42.319 the quote pretended Queen of England. And though the bull 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:47.000 gave recusants the green light to continue there now technically 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:52.640 illegal religious practices in England, the bulls language also carried 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:57.520 something ominous in it. For Catholics, the threat was simple, 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:03.280 should they obey any laws presented by the pretended Queen 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:09.000 of England, they too would face the same excommunication and 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:14.280 therefore damnation that their queen had. And so, stuck between 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:19.360 treason and a hard place, recusants were forced to stay 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.840 out of the Crown's line of fire enough to continue 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:27.520 practicing Catholicism, but not so much as to be misconstrued 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:32.160 as obeying the laws set forth by England's pretended Queen. 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:38.320 Just a casual, decades long stroll along a razors sharp 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:44.120 knife's edge, no big deal, at least until March six 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.640 o three, when the British Crown could no longer afford 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.720 to ignore the imminent change that had long threatened to 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:58.040 crest over the horizon after forty four years on the throne, 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:03.120 and now year old Queen Elizabeth was succumbing to what 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.320 would be her final bout of sickness before her reign 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:12.720 would come to its inevitable end, similar to her modern 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:17.840 day namesake, Queen Elizabeth the Second. After such a lengthy 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:24.000 tenure as Sovereign Elizabeth the First, death, while of course unavoidable, 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:29.040 seemed almost more unthinkable than the idea of someone new 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.880 on the throne. Of course, it didn't help that the 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:37.200 line of succession was once again left in a state 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:43.400 of limbo. The famed Virgin Queen obviously had no heirs 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.400 for which to leave the throne, and even speculating as 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.520 to who would succeed Elizabeth had led one prominent Puritan 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.920 leader to be imprisoned in the Tower of London in 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:01.120 until he died three years later for treason. When Elizabeth 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.720 finally lay on her deathbed in sixteen o three, it 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.640 seemed as if she was no closer to naming her successor. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:15.640 Elizabeth's reticence to officially name her successor was no doubt 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:20.440 partially informed by the inevitable repercussions The choice would have 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.280 on the state of the Church of England after her death, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:26.920 which is why it came as somewhat of a shock 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.800 that following her death, March twenty four, sixteen o three, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.720 it was confirmed that King James the sixth of Scotland, 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.680 son of the infamous Catholic martyr Mary, Queen of Scots, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:45.320 had officially been given the title King James the First 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:51.200 of England. For the recusants, news of King James's ascension 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.760 to the English throne was a welcome beacon of hope 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.720 after over forty years of persecution at the hands of 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:05.120 Protestant Queen Elizabeth. British Catholics believed James would show practicing 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:10.080 Catholics more leniency than his predecessor, and in the beginning 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.520 it seemed like their hopes weren't unwarranted. The execution of 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.840 Catholic priests had become something of a common practice, but 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:24.000 a letter written by King James records him wishing for 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.760 their exile as an alternative, with him stating quote, I 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.000 would be glad to have both their heads and their 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:38.160 bodies separated from this whole island and transported beyond seas unquote. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.640 And while the keeping of heads attached to bodies is 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:46.520 no doubt a heartwarming sentiment. Sentiments alone do little to 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:52.800 stop the harsh realities of religious persecution. British Catholics had 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.600 held such high hopes that their new king would be 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.400 the one to reign in a new era of religious 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:04.840 tolerance in England, but by February sixteen o four, the 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.760 actions of the new king were starting to outweigh their 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:16.080 fondness for his beheaded Catholic martyr mother. Following his coronation 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:20.000 in July sixteen o three, King James sought to curry 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:24.040 some goodwill with the British Catholics and declared his intent 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:28.520 to pardon the finds against recusants for the whole of 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.880 the following year. But after only a few short months, 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.000 in late February sixteen o four, King James made a 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:44.400 public declaration of his quote utter detestation of Catholicism, which 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.359 was quickly followed up with the repeal of his order 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:53.959 to pardon recusant finds. After almost half a century bearing 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.600 the brunt of religious persecution in Great Britain, recusants did 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:03.119 not take kindly to having the carrot of religious tolerance 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.040 King James head, so lacked, basically waved in front of 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:13.240 their cage suddenly ripped away, arguably worse than the strict 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.920 ordinances enacted by Queen Elizabeth. The first British Catholics felt 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.600 betrayed by King James, a figurehead they had after so 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:28.119 long without deemed worthy enough of putting hope into. In 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:33.680 the wake of their new King's deception, most recuissants simply 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:38.320 went back to practicing in secret, accepting the loss for 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:43.160 what it was. But on the night of May sixteen 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:49.240 o four, a group of men decidedly not in this majority, 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:53.639 sat at a small table at London's Duck and Drake 0:18:53.800 --> 0:19:02.880 in finally desperate enough to take matters into their own hands. Now, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:08.800 contrary to popular belief, Guy Fox was not the sole perpetrator, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.640 or even the leader of the Gunpowder plot. He may 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.399 have been sitting at that small table at the Duck 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:19.679 and Drake that May evening, But like any good heist movie, 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.639 the plots conception was the product of a team of 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.639 very specific individuals, each of whom had their own roles 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:31.880 to play. Starting from the top, we have our ringleader, 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:38.520 the charismatic radical Robert catesby young, handsome and equipped with 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:43.879 a larger than recommended dose of theological fanaticism. Katesby had 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:49.760 an immediately likable magnetic personality, even after his death, when 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.040 his name was all but synonymous with treason. One man 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.399 described him as his quote loving kinsman and the only 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:02.200 son that must ripen our harvest. In essence, the deadly 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:07.520 combination of Katesby's charm and his penchant for radical action 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.760 made him exactly the type of person your parents probably 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.840 would have used as an example to lecture you on 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:19.199 the dangers of caving to peer pressure, as in, just 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.840 because Robert Catesby decides to jump off a cliff, you're 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.160 going to jump off after him. In this case, the 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:30.440 cliff in question was the House of Parliament, and Kateesby 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.560 wasn't planning to jump off it so much as he 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:37.720 was plotting to set off enough gunpowder underneath its floors 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:43.439 to blow every living lawmaker and politician inside, including the 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:50.600 King himself, to Kingdom. Come and between Katesby's beguiling charisma 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.520 and the sense of poetic justice in taking the lives 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.640 of the lawmakers responsible for their suffering in the very 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.280 place the laws again them were made, it didn't take 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.920 much for other men to jump after him off the 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:11.959 metaphorical cliff. Sitting next to the fearless leader was a 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.120 man who would come to be known as his second 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:21.359 in command, Katesby's cousin, Thomas Wintour. Wintour would first hear 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:26.000 of Katesby's plans in February six four, upon a visit 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.879 to his cousin's house in Lambeth, where he went to 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:32.600 Or would stumble into a meeting with yet another person 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.960 who ended up at the Duck and Drake that may, 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:42.879 a renowned swordsman named Jack Wright. But when Katesby first 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.480 relayed the plan to his cousin, win Tour was not 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.720 so quick to fawn over the idea of drastic action. 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:56.320 Rightfully so win to Or feared the negative repercussions that would, 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:01.920 no doubt plague English Catholics should the plot fail. If 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:06.679 life for accusance was already a mine field of fines 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.159 and warrants for arrest, what would their lives look like 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.760 should the quote stroke at the root that win Tour 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:20.600 characterized the gunpowder treason as fail. In spite of his 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:26.800 initial misgivings, Catesby's tenacity would win out, and within weeks 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:29.679 wind Tour would be on a ship to the continent 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.080 in hopes of recruiting aid from the Spanish to further 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:39.040 their Catholic agenda in England, and though wind tours request 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.679 for support from Spain would ultimately be shot down, the 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:48.600 trip had the unintended consequence of introducing Catesby's second in 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:52.320 command to none other than the fourth man at the 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:57.720 Duck and Drake that evening the Gunpowder plots inevitable poster boy, 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:02.360 Guy Fox, or as he was better known back then, 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:07.680 Guido Fox, was perhaps the least connected to the actual 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:12.399 plot itself, but that heartily means his role was inconsequential. 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:17.600 In the heist movie adaptation, Fox would be the quiet, 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:22.200 unassuming man in the back, who, when questioned about his involvement, 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:26.960 would suddenly open his jacket to reveal pockets lined with grenades, 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:31.480 machine guns, and enough AMMO to take down a small army. 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:36.920 In short, Guy Fox was the firepower, a role borne 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:43.280 out of years as a soldier fighting for Catholic interests abroad. Unsurprisingly, 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:47.960 unlike wind Tour, Fox had little to no qualms with 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.399 the violent action set forth by Catesby. In fact, he, 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:56.119 like the final man at the Duck and Drake that 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.639 evening was ready to take drastic action for the sake 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:04.800 of Catholic life in Great Britain. The fifth and final 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.520 seat at the Inn was taken by a gentleman named 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:13.560 Thomas Percy. Percy found his way to the table through 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:17.719 his connections to Catesby and Right, but it would be 0:24:17.800 --> 0:24:22.000 his connections to the Earl of Northumberland that would make 0:24:22.080 --> 0:24:29.159 him indispensable to the gunpowder conspirators. He, like Fox, was 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:32.560 tired of waiting for the lives of British Catholics to 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:38.359 improve on goodwill alone. Upon sitting down with the four 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:42.600 other men that evening, Percy's first words to the group 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:47.440 took the form of a simple question, Shall we always, 0:24:47.600 --> 0:24:53.080 gentlemen talk and never do anything? It was with that 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:59.120 question in mind that the original conspirators began to formulate 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:05.240 the beginning of what would eventually become the infamous Gunpowder plot. 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:09.679 Tucked away at their inconspicuous table in the Duck and 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:14.040 Drake in a small prayer book was passed through each 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:17.919 of their hands as they swore oaths of secrecy in 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:23.199 hushed tones, promising death and destruction for the sake of 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:28.520 building a better world from its ashes, and as if 0:25:28.560 --> 0:25:32.720 they needed further proof of their good intentions, in the 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:37.360 next room, a priest had just finished holding a secret 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:42.720 Sunday Catholic Mass. So, with their secret plot for the 0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:48.880 greater good woven intricately between them, together, the five men 0:25:49.480 --> 0:25:54.280 took the sacrament of Holy Communion, a sure sign that 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:59.640 God himself was blessing the violent means by which they 0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:06.080 saw to achieve their righteous ends, especially as Catesby rationalized 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:10.159 his plot to kill all the government leaders in Parliament, 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:17.920 saying quote perchance God hath designed that place for their punishment. 0:26:20.040 --> 0:26:24.280 After departing from the Duck and Drake in May sixteen 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.520 o four, each of the men had vague plans set 0:26:27.520 --> 0:26:30.600 in place to help the plot move forward, but it 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:35.280 wouldn't be until Thomas Percy received a promotion from the 0:26:35.320 --> 0:26:39.480 Earl of Northumberland that any real progress would begin to 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:43.920 be made. In June sixteen o four, Percy was given 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:49.159 the title Gentleman Pensioner, which essentially made him one of 0:26:49.200 --> 0:26:54.720 about fifty bodyguards for the Earl of Northumberland. More importantly, though, 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:59.480 this new position gave Percy an excuse to find permanent 0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:04.240 logic in London, and thereby secure a base of operations 0:27:04.359 --> 0:27:10.840 for the gunpowder conspirators. As Catesby continued to recruit more 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:14.960 recuissants to their cause, Percy made the first steps towards 0:27:15.000 --> 0:27:18.679 planting boots on the ground by hiring Guy Fox as 0:27:18.720 --> 0:27:24.120 a servant under the alias John Johnson, which frankly sounds 0:27:24.240 --> 0:27:28.240 like a name made up under Darress. Then one carefully 0:27:28.320 --> 0:27:31.520 chosen to help conceal the identity of a man attempting 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:34.920 to carry out a government coup. But I digress. With 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:41.160 John Johnson under the employee of Thomas Percy. In March five, 0:27:41.720 --> 0:27:45.280 enough funds were finally pulled together for the group to 0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:49.920 lease out a storage space close to Percy's London home, 0:27:50.520 --> 0:27:55.480 a storage space which just so happened to lay directly 0:27:55.600 --> 0:28:00.920 beneath the Palace of Westminster. Now, the idea of a 0:28:01.000 --> 0:28:04.840 private citizen being able to gain access to a storage 0:28:04.880 --> 0:28:08.840 space so close to a government building, let alone the 0:28:08.880 --> 0:28:14.359 House of Parliament, might seem peculiar by today's standards, But 0:28:14.480 --> 0:28:19.160 in sixteen o five the Palace of Westminster was by 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:23.360 no means the space we associated with today. Back then, 0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:28.520 the building was an assortment of private apartments, taverns, and 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:33.400 other businesses that all coexisted within walking distance of each other. 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:37.080 So while the idea of renting out a storage space 0:28:37.200 --> 0:28:42.800 underneath Parliament might seem completely infeasible today, in sixteen o 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:49.080 five it was likely costly but not impossible, and so 0:28:49.320 --> 0:28:54.200 with the seller secured, the definitely not suspicious at all 0:28:54.280 --> 0:29:00.920 Servant John Johnson then spent the following months sourcing gunpowder 0:29:01.280 --> 0:29:05.320 to fill the storage space, and by the end of 0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:11.080 July he had managed to gather thirty six barrels of 0:29:11.160 --> 0:29:17.560 explosive ammunition and hidden it discreetly under piles of firewood, 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:22.640 more than enough to, if not blow the roof off Parliament, 0:29:23.320 --> 0:29:30.240 then at least condemn everyone inside to a fiery grave. Initially, 0:29:30.760 --> 0:29:34.440 Parliament was set to go back in session in late July, 0:29:35.080 --> 0:29:38.480 but an outbreak of the plague set back the date 0:29:38.720 --> 0:29:43.360 to the fifth of November, at which point the gunpowder 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:48.120 conspirators could do nothing more but sit and wait for 0:29:48.160 --> 0:29:54.760 their plan to finally come to fruition. Come October, the 0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:59.080 final pieces of the plot had fallen into place. The 0:29:59.200 --> 0:30:03.920 plan was simple. A November five, Guy Fox would light 0:30:03.960 --> 0:30:06.960 the fuse to set off the thirty six barrels of 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:11.520 gunpowder beneath Parliament, then flee to the continent to alert 0:30:11.560 --> 0:30:16.600 the Catholic leaders in Europe to the success of their coup. Meanwhile, 0:30:16.920 --> 0:30:20.840 Catesby and his followers would begin a rebellion in the 0:30:20.880 --> 0:30:25.720 Midlands with the purpose of capturing King James's daughter Elizabeth, 0:30:25.920 --> 0:30:29.520 who they would then make the new Catholic leader of England. 0:30:30.200 --> 0:30:33.760 After over a year and a half of planning, the 0:30:33.840 --> 0:30:38.560 Gunpowder Plot was just days away from forever altering the 0:30:38.680 --> 0:30:43.960 lives of English Catholics across the country, altering history forever. 0:30:45.040 --> 0:30:49.960 That is, until the night of October twenty six, when, 0:30:50.600 --> 0:30:57.160 unbeknownst to Catesby, a mysterious figure moved swiftly through London 0:30:57.320 --> 0:31:01.800 streets with a letter burning a hole in his pocket, 0:31:02.520 --> 0:31:08.040 a letter that would effectively cut their bombs fuse before 0:31:08.240 --> 0:31:11.400