Publication Date
2024
Subject Area
Section 6: Frescoes, Fireworks, and Faith
Abstract
The Gunpowder Plot has remained, since its failure in November 1605, a topic of fierce debate until the present. While tensions surrounding the nature of its planning, motives, or even its authenticity as a plot organized by Catholics have settled comparably to where they were in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, discussion of the Gunpowder Plot and its legacy continues to pervade when talking of James I’s reign. The insight brought by the maturation of historical research methods disarmed the hitherto fierce discussion of the Gunpowder Plot. While the late 1800s brought scathing mutual criticism between Samuel Gardiner and John Gerard, who debated the historical reliability of James I’s official report of the plot, the 1900s ushered in a general understanding among scholars regarding the centrality of Robert Catesby, rather than the Earl of Salisbury, in the masterminding of the plot. As further research was undertaken, all operating under Gardiner’s decisive thesis, and Catesby’s character in the plot was unveiled, historians have been able to uncover aspects of the plot previously hindered by the binary narrative established within the first three centuries of debate on the topic.
