ROMA GYPSY POST

When Queen Elizabeth the 1 died in 1603 who was the last of the children to King Henry the 8th , The Crown passed to the next in line, Queen Elizabeth had no children so the Crown Passed to King James V1 of Scotland. He had already ruled Scotland for over 36 years, He was only 1 years old when he was crowned.

 

He was crowned King James 1 of England, He believed that the King was the  In charge and took no notice of the Members of the then Parliament. At that time England was divided by Religion  Catholics and Protestants and King James made enemies of both,  He continued the persecution of the Catholics in the Country.

 

Two years after James  was crowned King of England  a plot was set to kill him this became know as the "GUN POWDER PLOT"  A group of Catholics which included Robert Catesby, Percy and Thomas Winter and John Wright, Although the best known of the group is "GUY FAWKES" .

 

Guy Fawkes was born in York in 1570, Educated in the faith of a Protestant, but after his father died in  he changed his religion and became a Catholic in 1593, He left England and went to Spain where he became a "Soldier of Fortune" joining the Spanish army in Flanders, He then changed his name to the Spanish form which was Guido Fawkes.

Thomas Winter contacted Fawkes while he was in Flanders and told him of a group who were against the King of England , Fawkes came back to England in 1604 where he became a member of the secret Group.

 

THE PLOT:

 

Now the house next door to the Houses of Parliament was rented , The group hatched a plan to dig a tunnel from the cellar to the HOUSE OF LORDS where they would put barrels of gunpowder where they would lie until the opening of  Parliament , The King and all  the members of parliament would be assembled there  on the 7th February 1605.  This was the time that the stored  barrels would be lit by Guy Fawkes.

 

However things didn't go to plan the digging of the tunnel was slow and by December 1604 they had not reached  the House of Lords, But then came news that the opening ceremony was cancelled until October 3rd . Guy Fawkes then rented a cellar which was directly under the House of Lords, he used the name of Johnson to rent the cellar

Guy Fawkes then worked as a servant while barrels of gunpowder were  brought across the Thames river by boat at night.

 

The barrels were then taken to the cellar where they were hidden by piles of firewood,

Plan were then put in place ready for the Death of the King by Catesby and the other group members, it was decided that once the King was dead the daughter of King James , the Princess Elizabeth was to be Crowned the new Queen of England.

Now they knew that some of the Kings Followers would not agree to this and  expected some resistance so in preparation for that the group had stored arms and ammunition all over the country.

 

As time went on a new member came into the group his name was Francis Tresham,

They needed money to buy more arms and Tresham promised to pay £2,000 to help buy the things they needed. The group gathered in London in September in readiness of the opening of Parliament , However it was once again postponed until the 5th of November, Now one of the  group  it was thought to be Francis Tresham wrote a warning to Lord Mounteagle who was also Tershams  Brother-in-Law, He warned him not to attend the opening ceremony as his life was in danger.

 

Guy Fawkes had stayed in London while the other members of the group  had gone to other parts of the Country to be ready to call their fellow Catholics to arms after the Kings death. Guy Fawkes was to spend the day in the Cellar the day before the ceremony was to take place, A slow burning fuse had already been prepared for the job and was already in its position.

 

While Guy Fawkes sat waiting for the time to light the fuse there was a knock on the door,  When he answered the door he found lord Mounteagle and the Lord Chancellor standing, The Lord Chancellor ask Fakes who he was and what he was doing at the cellar, Guy Fawkes told them he was  a servant of Thomas Percy  the name of the person who hired the Cellar.

 

The men asked to look around and a quick look revealed nothing except stacks of firewood stored ready for the winter, satisfied the two men left.

Guy Fawkes then contacted Thomas Percy and reported the visit of the two men to him. But later that night a Magistrate and a company of Soldiers turned up at the cellar Guy Fawkes was over powered by the soldiers while others searched the cellar  this search uncovered  over 30 barrels of gunpowder, Guy Fawkes was then arrested , on questioning he admitted to plotting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in an attempt to kill King James 1 and the members of Parliament, However he refused to name the other members of the group.

 

No one could get a message to the others of the group to inform them that the plot had been uncovered and Fawkes was now arrested,  Several members of the group had met up at Holbeach but they then realised that no one was willing to support them or take up arms against the Kings or his Soldiers.

 

Eventually  the Soldiers found the house the group were staying in and quickly surrounded it  a fight then started  which left  Robert Catesby dead and the others taken prisoner  some sustained  injuries while others were left too weak to fight on.

 

On the 30th of January 1606 some of the group were  hung , However Guy Fawkes and the remaining members of the group were hung on the  31st, only Francis Tresham escaped the gallows and was place in the Tower of London, Where he died shortly afterwards poison was suspected as his cause of death but was never proved.

 

Today as part of the opening ceremony of Parliament  each year the buildings are search by the Yeoman of the Guards dressed in their Tudor Uniforms and are armed with Pikes.