Michael Fassbender: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

A few black cats are hidding in the dark room of the Gunpowder Plot ...

The first one (the biggest and the most dangerous) –

James I (who reigned in Scotland before that under the name of James VI) who inherited the English throne in 1603 after the death of Elizabeth I who has boded him the crown for a quiet consent to decapitation of his mother Maria Stewart, a disgraced queen of Scotland executed in 1582.
He was perceived in England as the enemy not only by the people, but also by the ministers...
The attitude towards him of the Lords sitting in session in the Parliament gives no rise to doubts...
The hatred towards the parliament's "bucketful of arses" that constantly "putting a spoke" in the wheels of his monarchic wheels and restricting subsides (James I was as poor as a church mouse) blew out the king's brain and was searching for the way-out just in something...

If it were not of these historical facts, perhaps, nobody would talk about the Gunpowder Plot as a fostered child of James I himself... but discrepancy of dates, circumstances and small details comes to light again and again... And the historians have only to rack their brains with regards to the question who could wish that at night of November, 5, 1605 the building of the English Parliament blew up, together with all those who "were lucky" to find themselves in it at the moment of the explosion.

The extremely unfortunate environment which has formed for James I, first of all, confirms the version of "I'm your son, Daddy!"... He hasn't yet got enough power to suppress at his own discretion the disorders which arose in the country every now and then, and less of all he wanted to compromise... The best way out for him could be any event which could cause resonance giving him the right of resolving the problem from the position of strength...

It is also indisputable that the powder kegs laid under the fat sides of the King and the Parliament, stroke not so much the ruling wing, but its opposition.

And James I really managed to use the plot with the maximum advantage for himself: Having obtained the necessary subsidies
Having become a person who cared about the lives of his neighbors (even temporarily)...
Having untied his hands to carry out further repressions with regards of catholic rites and the freedom of this religion.
Having easily wiped up practically all the unwanted nobles arrested on suspicion of any relation or kindred with the main layers of the plot...
Already in a few years he made rather substantial personnel replacements in the government and forced the members of the Parliament to introduce additional restrictions to the rights of the Catholics.
Thanks to his good graces, the catholic disgrace has been prolonged for another two hundred years.

Cat number two - the most fat and experienced:

Robert Catesby was the inspirer and the leader Gunpowder Plot... had the reputation of an irreconcilable fighter against tyrants...
He comes from the influential catholic family. A political adventurer who over and over again joined various groups carrying out the fight against the ruling powers in a varying degree. In 1599, he participated in the complot headed by Count of Essex Robert Devereux, having the objective of overthrowing the Queen Elizabeth I... The attempt was not successful; the absolute majority of the Count Devereux’s adherents was arrested, tortured and dishonourably executed.

Please draw attention to the fact that it becomes darker and darker in the Gunpowder Plot room...

Robert Catesby could not escape arrest, but he was never tortured and executed! It seems quite impossible in the light of cruelty and rancour of Elizabeth, which was known to everybody, who in that very case decided to limit herself with ordinary fine... Certainly, the amounts of financial requital were immense, and Catesby fully lost his family estate and all the lands adjacent to it... But, it hardly could satisfy the Queen... It remains to suppose that, above the recompense for his untouched skin, Robert had to sell also his immortal soul, having become an informer...

It is possible that James I has inherited from Elizabeth, who had a soft spot for him which remained the mother’s spot very much, not only the throne, but also several "worthy" individuals in the enemy's camp, who could render him a number of services in due course...

At the end of 1604, a number of demonstrational executions of the Catholics take place in England, as it should be, with dragging off of puddings, hearts and all that could be found inside of these poor men... The discontent among the people and in the Parliament of James I increases, the frying pan under his ass warms up stronger and stronger, and the rats in the treasury which have to bite the holes in empty corners become more and more...

The moment has come, and Robert Catesby quietly sneaks onstage...

The plotters had no clean-cut action plan... Commotion and difficulties...
Catesby, in the critical moment, unexpectedly forces the events, offering to other plotters to commit the explosion in the Parliament building on the 5th of November, during the King’s last visit there, thus killing the monarch himself and the majority of Parliament members.

There’s no doubt about the person who has to take tha main part in preparation and organization of the action...
Catesby, practically, disqualifies himself and brings his direct participation to the minimum, giving the reasons that the guards already know him due to his prior participation in the attempt on the Queen’s life.

In course of preparation of the explosion, the plotters start to doubt on too great number of victims, including those innocent...
Catesby confirms his brothers-in-arm that the majority of the victims are enemies of the Catholic Faith, one way or another, and offers them to save only one, the most care person for everybody who participates in the action. That’s a good move which eliminates the last doubts...

To carry out the explosion the plotters have acquired 36 kegs with powder (which made about 800 kilos nor 1 763.7 English pounds), as well as have freely rented the room beneath Parliament...
How they could place all that immense powder stock warely guarded place – there is no explanation

On the eve of the explosion, Lord Montigle, the Member of the Parliament, receives an anonymous letter of extremely vague contents about the undesirability of his presence at the tomorrow meeting...
He immediately reached the King, which illuminates with the flash of insight, guesses at once about the explosion and sends soldiers to carry out search in the Parliament Building where the powder was found, as well as arrests the main incendiary, Guy Fawkes, directly at the moment of the arson.

The news about the attempt spreads around the country, as if flies at the speed of jet liners which will be available for the mankind only several hundreds years later...
With the speeds at which the news of those times spread, it would seem quite unexplainable, if we don't take into account the fact of timeliness of preparation by the government both the news itself and the people who will carry it on their wings...

The evidences from Guy tortured up to the last limit were never obtained; however, the authorities manage to faultlessly identify the conspirators and carry out a number of successful arrests...

In spite of the strictest King’s order to take the criminals “live and only live”, Robert Catesby has been accidentally shot at the arrest...

How it's easy to find the black cat in the dark room, if you were brought inside by the person who surely knew where she was hiding...

Sitting in the dark with "Marion" helmets decorated with scarlet feathers slapped onto the heads, and armed with two really hand-made crosses, we reflected: "And how would we call the biggest and the most dangerous cat from the secret corner... Not "kitty-kitty", really?"... It remained to call her a la Russe: "Iakov-Iakov!", or to choose the insular variant: "James - James!"... A couple of minutes later we understood that the investigation was going on...

The name Iakov (James) comes from the same root as Jacob, which means "keeping by the heel" (Jacob, according to the Bible, was the twin of Esau and was born keeping the heel of the elder brother). This name came to the English language in its French variant of the late-Latin name of Iacomus, a dialect variant of Icobus, from the Greek New Testament.

By the way, everything is not quite easy with the name Guy...
Everything started from the celebration of the Bonfire Night, when year after year, the effigy of Guy is solemnly burnt down accompanied by joyful cries of the drunk mob... But, as the time passes, the name ceased to be the name: at first it was used to designate just every effigy, and after that - to depict a poorly dressed man, and, finally, simply a guy.

"Gunpowder, Treason and Plot"- is a line from the poem-ballade, which is being annually read – already for more than 400 years – at the holiday in honour of capture of the good guy Guy Fawkes:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
It was his intent —
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God’s mercy he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa, boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa, boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

Also, the motif of the Gunpowder Plot can be traced in the song "Remember" John Lennon, which terminates with the words: "the fifth of November" and the sound of an explosion.

Guy Fawkes character has been used in the graphic novel by Alan Moore "V means vendetta" (and the cognominal screen version). The main hero in the mask of Guy Fawkes, protests against the totalitarian regime of the future, exploding important municipal buildings of London, including the Parliament.

Yeap, like russians said, "there's a powder in powder flask still!" it means "there's life in the old dog yet"...