The Gunpowder Plot: Terror & Faith in 1605

‘Antonia Fraser has written an excellent book which unravels the whole story of the plot, exploring the background, keeping close to the evidence, and, above all, bringing the characters to life… a judicious and very readable account’

Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Literary Review

‘Every few years a work of history appears that succeeds in connecting its subject to the deeper questions troubling modern society. This is one such book’

Amanda Foreman,
Independent

‘It has a fine narrative flow, for Antonia Fraser recognises that history is essentially a story, and a gripping one at that. She writes with verve and imagination’

Kenneth Baker,
Daily Telegraph

‘Fraser’s meticulously researched book is an excellent read… Antonia Fraser has shed much light on one of the most controversial episodes in English history’

Martin Jacques,
Observer

The Gunpowder Plot

Terror & Faith in 1605

ANTONIA FRASER

History to the defeated
May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon –

W. H. AUDEN
, Spain, 1937

FOR
Edward
who would have defended them
Lucy
who would have hidden them
Paloma
who would have succoured them in exile

Contents

Cover

Praise

Title

Dedication

List of Illustrations

Family Trees

Map of the conspirators in the Midlands

Author’s Note

PROLOGUE
:
Bountiful Beginnings

PART ONE
:
Before the Fruit Was Ripe

1 Whose Head for the Crown?

2 The Honest Papists

3 Diversity of Opinions

PART TWO
:
The Horse of St George

4 A King and his Cubs

5 Spanish Charity

6 Catesby as Phaeton

PART THREE
:
That Furious and Fiery Course

7 So Sharp a Remedy

8 Pernicious Gunpowder

9 There Is a Risk…

10 Dark and Doubtful Letter

PART FOUR
:
Discovery – By God or the Devil

11 Mr Fawkes Is Taken

12 The Gentler Tortures

13 Fire and Brimstone

14 These Wretches

PART FIVE
:
The Shadow of Death

15 The Heart of a Traitor

16 The Jesuits’ Treason

17 Farewells

18 Satan’s Policy?

Notes

Reference Books

Index

Illustrations

About the Author

By Antonia Fraser

Copyright

List of Illustrations

Elizabeth I with Time and Death
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

James I
(National Galleries of Scotland)

Accession medal of James I
(British Museum, London)

Anne of Denmark, Marcus Gheerhaerts,
c.
1605–10
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

Henry Prince of Wales and Sir John Harington, Robert Peake, 1603
(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Charles Duke of York (the future Charles I), Robert Peake
(City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery)

The monuments in Westminster Abbey to Princesses Mary and Sophia
(Dean and Chapter of Westminster, London)

Arbella Stuart, anon., 1589
(National Trust Photographic Library, London/John Bethell)

Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, Franz Pourbus the Younger,
c.
1599
(Royal Collection, Windsor © Her Majesty the Queen)

Princess Elizabeth, Robert Peake
(National Maritime Museum, London)

Engraving of the conspirators
(Bodleian Library, Oxford)

Ben Jonson
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

William Shakespeare
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, Van Dyck
(National Trust Photographic Library, London / Roy Fox)

Robert Cecil, Ist Earl of Salisbury, (attrib.) John de Critz
(National Portrait Gallery, London)

Sir Everard Digby
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

Thomas Wintour’s two signatures
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

Thomas Habington of Hindlip and his wife
(British Library, London)

Vestment embroidered by Helena Wintour
(Stonyhurst College, Lancashire)

The Browne Brothers, Isaac Oliver
(Burghley House, Stamford)

Life in a recusant household, illustrated by a scene from the childhood of Mary Ward

Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Hindlip House, Worcestershire
(British Library, London)

Baddesley Clinton
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Coughton Court
(Coughton Court, Warwickshire)

Huddington Court
(Huddington Court, Worcestershire)

Map of Westminster
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive)

Tower of London,
c.
1615, Van Meer
(Edinburgh University Library)

Ashby St Ledgers
(Ashby St Ledgers, Northamptonshire)

The Cellars of the House of Lords
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Guy Fawkes entering Parliament
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

A contemporary Dutch print of the Gunpowder Plot
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

The anonymous letter delivered to Lord Monteagle
(Public Record Office, London)

The delivery of the Monteagle letter to the Earl of Salisbury
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

Garnet’s straw
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Father Henry Garnet, SJ, by Jan Wiericx
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

St Winifred’s Well, Holywell, Clwyd
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Father Garnet’s last letter to Anne Vaux
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson Archive, London)

Sir Edward Coke
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

The entry in the Commons’ Journal for 5 November 1605
(House of Lords Record Office, London)

Letter of King James authorising the torture of Guy Fawkes
(Public Record Office, London)

Instruments of torture at the time of the Gunpowder Plot
(Royal Armouries, HM Tower of London)

Guido Fawkes’ signatures before and after torture
(British Library, London)

A late eighteenth-century print of the execution of the conspirators
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Embroidered cushion depicting the defeat of the Armada and the Gunpowder Plot,
c.
1621
(Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Engraving of Father Garnet on the scaffold, C. Screta
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

The Powder Plot from ‘A Thankful Remembrance of God’s Mercie’, George Carleton, 1630
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Victorian impression of Guy Fawkes being taken to the scaffold
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

Etching of Guy Fawkes laying his sinister trail, 1841
(Hulton Getty Collection Ltd, London)

The Papists’ Powder Treason
(Henry E. Huntingdon Library and Art Galley)

A monument to the Plot’s discovery, Tower of London, 1608, Sir William Waad
(Historical Royal Palaces © Crown Copyright)

The search of the cellars of the House of Lords
(Times Newspapers Ltd, London)

Bonfire Night, 1994, Lewes, Sussex
(Sussex Express, Lewes)