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1603Sir Walter Raleigh's notes
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1604First English dictionary
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1605Letter about Guy Fawkes
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1605Gunpowder Plot conspirators
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1608Shakespeare's King Lear
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1610The Globe Theatre
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1611King James Bible
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1617Surgeons' tools
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1623Chinese globe
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1623Shakespeare's First Folio
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1636Lotus Sutra
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1640Witch hunting
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1643English Civil War scenes
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1644Agreement of the People
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1649Execution of Charles I
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1649Charles I's executioner
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1650Early A - Z of London
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1650Advert for a quack doctor
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1660Oliver Cromwell as the Devil
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1665A cure for the Plague
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1665Robert Hooke, Micrographia
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1666Great Fire of London map
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1666Great Fire of London
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1666Wren's plans after the fire
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1669Theatrical figures
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1674Games and pastimes
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1679Habeas Corpus Act
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1679Map of the moon
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1684A London Rhinoceros
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1685Henry Purcell
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1690Locke's Two Treatises
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1693East India Company
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1693Account of a shipwreck
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1698Map of South America
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Intro
In 1605, a group of Catholic conspirators, including the now infamous Guy Fawkes, devised a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Their aim was to overthrow the government, kill King James I, and make James’s daughter a Catholic head of state. This illustration shows the Gunpowder Plot conspirators about to break into the Houses of Parliament. The image was published in 'Mischeefes mysterie London' several years after the Gunpowder Plot in 1617.
Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Catholics suffered terrible persecution, but they had high hopes for better treatment after James came to the throne in 1603. In reality, the situation failed to improve. In March 1605 the group rented a ground floor cellar directly beneath the House of Lords, filling it with 36 barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes, who had years of munitions experience after serving in the Spanish Army, was chosen to light the fuse. However, Westminster was searched and the gunpowder was discovered before it could be ignited by Fawkes. He was arrested and tortured, before he and seven other conspirators were hung, drawn and quartered for high treason. The rest fled to the Midlands, where they were either captured or died fighting. The repercussions for Catholics were felt for centuries, in a series of repressive laws introduced against them
Shelfmark: G.11429
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