'That heavy and doleful tragedy which is commonly called the Powder Treason.'
Sir Edward Coke, prosecuting counsel at the trial of the plotters.

On the night of 4 November 1605, the earl of Suffolk, lord chamberlain of the household of James I, led a search of the maze of cellars and basements that lay under the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster. Here the search party discovered a man claiming to be John Johnson, a manservant standing guard over his master's winter fuel supply. In fact, Johnson was a professional soldier and explosives expert named Guy (or Guido) Fawkes, and the casks and wood faggots he was guarding concealed 36 barrels of gunpowder.

Fawkes' mission had been to blow up the Houses of Parliament where, the next day, James I – accompanied by his queen Anne of Denmark and heir Henry, prince of Wales – was to open the new session. A handful of men had threatened to change the course of history.

Why didn't the plot succeed? And what would have happened if it had?

• Why the plot could not have succeeded

• What if the plot had succeeded?

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Anonymous letter warning Monteagle not to attend Parliament
(Public Record Office)

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