Thirteen Catholic conspirators smuggled 36 barrels of gunpowder under Parliament to blow up the King — and were caught because one of them sent a warning letter.
In 1605, a group of English Catholics hatched a plan to kill King James I by detonating gunpowder directly beneath the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. The plotters were furious that James — who had given Catholics some reason for hope — had continued the anti-Catholic policies of his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth I.
The operation was led by Robert Catesby, a charismatic Catholic gentleman, but it's Guy Fawkes who became famous. Fawkes was recruited specifically because he had military explosives experience from fighting in the Spanish Netherlands. His job was to guard and detonate 36 barrels of gunpowder hidden in a rented cellar directly beneath the House of Lords.
The plot began to unravel when an anonymous letter was sent to Lord Monteagle, a Catholic peer, warning him not to attend Parliament on opening day. Monteagle showed the letter to the government. Authorities searched the cellars on the night of November 4th and found Fawkes standing watch over the gunpowder with a lantern and slow fuses.
Fawkes refused to name his co-conspirators under initial questioning. He was tortured on the rack — King James personally authorized it — and only then gave up the names. His signature on his confession, compared to his earlier firm handwriting, shows a barely legible scrawl, suggesting the severity of what he endured.
The other conspirators fled London and attempted to raise a Catholic revolt in the Midlands. It failed completely. Several were killed in a standoff at Holbeche House; the rest were captured. Eight men, including Fawkes, were convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Guy Fawkes managed to cheat the most gruesome part of his execution. As he climbed the scaffold, he jumped, breaking his own neck — dying quickly rather than enduring the full ordeal. His body was still quartered and the parts displayed around the country as a warning.
The failed plot led to intensified persecution of English Catholics and became the origin of Guy Fawkes Night — Bonfire Night — still celebrated in Britain on November 5th each year. Ironically, the effigy burned on bonfires is the man who failed to do something, not the man who ordered the executions.