0:00:02 > 0:00:05Every November the 5th, for over four centuries,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09we've celebrated the discovery of Guy Fawkes,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11"The devil in the vault."
0:00:11 > 0:00:15But time has masked the dark truths of the Gunpowder Plot.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18It could have been a turning point.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21I don't think one should really underestimate
0:00:21 > 0:00:23what those 36 barrels of gunpowder would have done.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Fawkes was no lone wolf.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And 5/11 was not the end of the plot.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34The ringleaders were still at large, bent on rebellion.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36You would have me betray my friends.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38I shall not.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39After it was crushed,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41an investigation into this shadowy conspiracy
0:00:41 > 0:00:45would uncover threads running out to the continent,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47and into the King's own bodyguard.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52He was aghast at how close 13 desperate men had come
0:00:52 > 0:00:55to annihilating England's ruling class.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The whole intention of the Gunpowder Plot is to
0:00:59 > 0:01:05do something on a grander scale than has ever been seen before -
0:01:05 > 0:01:08to erase the entire political nation.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12They're literally looking at a clean slate.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16The plot's inner secrets were held by Thomas Wintour,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19their captured military commander.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Vivid accounts of his comrades' conversations, hopes and fears
0:01:23 > 0:01:28are etched still in the detailed records of his interrogation.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31His confession is a remarkable piece of documentary history.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36It's a shocking piece of detailed treason laid bare for everybody.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40This film dramatises the inside story of the conspiracy
0:01:40 > 0:01:43using the actual words of the plotters
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and those of their inquisitors.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49If he will in no other way confess,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52the gentler tortures are to be used unto him.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57He would expose the vengeful intent of a ruthless leader...
0:01:57 > 0:02:02We will blow up the Parliament House, with gunpowder.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06..their violent response to betrayal...
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Which of us had sent that letter to my Lord Monteagle?
0:02:09 > 0:02:11We suspected only one.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17..and their path to self-destruction in the desperate days after 5/11.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21There are none that know of this plot that shall not perish.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25These were dashing, exciting young men
0:02:25 > 0:02:29fighting an autocratic, persecuting government.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33It's easy to find them attractive.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38But beware - these men were killers, let's not forget that.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The most dangerous terrorist ever captured on British soil
0:02:54 > 0:02:58made his confession on November the 23rd, 1605,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02two weeks after he was taken in a bloody last stand.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Such was this prisoner's importance,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, the King's Chief Minister of State,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14attended his so-called "examination."
0:03:14 > 0:03:16No torture was used.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Thomas Wintour was ready to talk.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23I do not speak in the hope of pardon.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25My fault is greater than can be forgiven.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29I will now set out my own accusation
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and tell you how I proceeded in this business.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37I remained in the country with my brother, Robert,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40for the beginning of Lent, in 1604 -
0:03:40 > 0:03:42the second year of the King's reign.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49About that time, Robin, Mr Catesby, sent for me,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51entreating me to come to London,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55where he and other good friends would be glad to see me.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58But I was not well disposed.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03I excused myself and returned the messenger without my company.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06This initial rebuff was probably influenced by Robert,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10a prosperous, more conservative family man.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13He had long watched his adventurous younger brother, Tom,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17fall under the spell of their charismatic cousin.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Four years earlier, Catesby had first drawn Thomas,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27a new convert, into his circle of Catholic gentlemen determined
0:04:27 > 0:04:31to overthrow their persecutor, the heretic, Queen Elizabeth.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37I think there is something about this particular group of people
0:04:37 > 0:04:40that are very frustrated, very disenchanted,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42it's almost as though their Catholicism
0:04:42 > 0:04:46is a badge of disaffection as much as just a kind of religious faith.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47They're all in their early 30s,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50they're all people who've grown to manhood in the 1590s,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53a sort of classic fin-de-siecle generation.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56They don't seem to have the patience of their parents' generation,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59they'll just sit tight, keep their heads low and wait for better times.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Actually, no, they want to do something right here, right now.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Based in the Midlands, a stronghold of Catholic resistance,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13these firebrands belonged to a close-knit family network
0:05:13 > 0:05:16whose grand homes gave painful reminder
0:05:16 > 0:05:18of lost power and privilege.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Now they were enemies within,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27oppressed by recusancy fines for non-attendance at Church,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30under surveillance by watchers,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34their homes riddled with hideaways to protect illegal Jesuit priests.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43In March, 1603, faint hopes of a Catholic successor to Elizabeth,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47the last Tudor queen, were dashed.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51The wily Robert Cecil secured the Crown
0:05:51 > 0:05:54for the Stuart King of Scotland.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57James I of England had a young family,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00promising a long-lasting Protestant dynasty.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Catesby determined to restore a Catholic England by the sword...
0:06:09 > 0:06:11..and began a quest for trusted men.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Thomas Wintour was restless,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19preparing to leave Huddington to rejoin an exile army,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22when Catesby's second messenger came.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26I received another summons...
0:06:27 > 0:06:30..and this time I did go,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and found him with Mr Jack Wright at Lambeth.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Robin.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Mr Catesby knew that I intended
0:06:39 > 0:06:42to leave England to return to Flanders to fight.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Yet he urged me to stay.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Do not forsake our country, Tom.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Surely you believe we must...
0:06:50 > 0:06:53deliver England from the servitude in which she remains?
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Or at least assist her with your uttermost endeavours?
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I've often risked my life for far less.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02I would not refuse any good opportunity
0:07:02 > 0:07:06to serve the Catholic faith, yet I see no means likely to succeed.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09I have a way.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13A way to deliver us from all our bonds without any foreign help,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15and in one instant.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20And so we shall replant the true faith.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22How so?
0:07:22 > 0:07:27We will blow up the Parliament House, with gunpowder.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31For in that place they have perpetrated all their mischief.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Perhaps God designed that place for their punishment.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44I was stunned by this extraordinary idea.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Oh, yes, it struck at the very root.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Yes, it would cause such confusion that all could change.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55If it should miscarry, as most such ventures do...
0:07:56 > 0:07:59..the scandal to the Catholic faith would be so great that
0:07:59 > 0:08:03our friends as well as our enemies would, with good reason, condemn us.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08There's something uniquely shocking about Catesby's plan, blowing up
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Parliament with the King and all of the Establishment within it.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13And that isn't just us!
0:08:13 > 0:08:16I mean, Tom Wintour himself says when Catesby first outlined this,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18he was shocked!
0:08:18 > 0:08:21I mean the, country would have had no memory,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24so not only no history, but no memory.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26It would have been a completely blank slate
0:08:26 > 0:08:28on which to create a whole new state.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31But Wintour's protestations of shock
0:08:31 > 0:08:33were overcome by a charge of excitement.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35He was hooked.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Do you give consent to this device?
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Yes, Robin.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48In this, and whatever else you decide upon,
0:08:48 > 0:08:49I will venture my life.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Catesby's friends were known troublemakers
0:08:58 > 0:09:00and no strangers to treason.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05In February, 1601, he had embroiled them in a disastrous coup
0:09:05 > 0:09:09which left him imprisoned and heavily fined.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14The core group have a history of plotting,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16they're practised at their trade.
0:09:16 > 0:09:22The principal plotters have actually engaged in a rebellion
0:09:22 > 0:09:27in 1601 in support of the Earl of Essex, where Catesby and the Wrights
0:09:27 > 0:09:32have actually ridden into the heart of London in arms
0:09:32 > 0:09:35in support of the Earl's doomed rebellion.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Catesby hungered still for revenge and immediately
0:09:40 > 0:09:44despatched his new adjutant to the continent on a dual mission -
0:09:44 > 0:09:47to appeal for diplomatic help from an envoy of Spain,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50the Catholic superpower,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52and to scout out a tough mercenary
0:09:52 > 0:09:54fighting for the Spanish army of Flanders.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Thomas Wintour brings many talents to the core group of plotters.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03He's a soldier,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06he's also experienced in secret diplomacy.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09He's loyal, he's brave.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15In many ways, he's an ideal associate for Robert Catesby
0:10:15 > 0:10:20in building the team that forms the heart of the Gunpowder Plot.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23I crossed the sea and found the Constable of Castile
0:10:23 > 0:10:26near Dunkirk, where I delivered our appeal.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31I was helped by the intelligencer, Mr Hugh Owen, who, for his part,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34felt himself bound in good conscience to help us.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Hugh Owen was a veteran Welsh spymaster and Catholic middleman
0:10:39 > 0:10:41well placed to interpret the shifting priorities
0:10:41 > 0:10:43of his Spanish paymasters.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49I asked Owen if the Spanish would faithfully help us.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51The answer was no.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53The Spanish sought peace with England.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56They held us Catholics in small account.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58No plot would now be encouraged.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02And so I began to enquire of Mr Fawkes.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07A school friend of Jack Wright
0:11:07 > 0:11:10who had left England over a decade before,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Captain Guido Fawkes was well known amongst fellow volunteers
0:11:14 > 0:11:18for his fierce piety and hatred of the Scots.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21There's a natural hostility between English and Scots.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25There has always been and it's increasing now.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28Even if there were one religion,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33it will never be enough to reconcile our two nations for too long.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36The Scottish King is a heretic
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and the peers are unhappy with those miserable Scots
0:11:38 > 0:11:40for their crudity and ceaseless quarrels in court.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Guy Fawkes wasn't part of this tight family group,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49he was the one that wasn't known to the authorities.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51But he did have a series of skills
0:11:51 > 0:11:53that Catesby needed for this plot to work.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56He's deliberately recruited because he's a clean face,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58he's not known to the authorities,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01but also he's got a lot of technical expertise in laying mines,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05siege warfare, ballistics and he also seems utterly loyal.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Wintour's recruitment of Fawkes was subtle and effective.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Some good friends of yours desire your company back in England.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16We have not yet fully resolved our plan
0:12:16 > 0:12:19but, if Spanish peace does not help our cause,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21we are determined to do something.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26So, if it pleases you, meet me at Dunkirk in two days' time.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Fawkes and I sailed back together to Greenwich.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41We took a pair of oars and rowed to Mr Catesby's lodgings at Lambeth.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Catesby welcomed Fawkes to England and asked me,
0:12:44 > 0:12:49"What news of the Constable and the Spanish?"
0:12:49 > 0:12:54"Sweet words," I said. "But I fear their deeds will not answer."
0:12:56 > 0:13:00That summer, Lord Salisbury dealt these Catholic malcontents
0:13:00 > 0:13:01the reversal they had feared,
0:13:01 > 0:13:07successfully ending England's 19-year war with Spain.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10The Constable of Castile, to whom Wintour had appealed,
0:13:10 > 0:13:11renounced Spain's commitment
0:13:11 > 0:13:14to restore Roman Catholicism in England.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16It was time to abandon the plot...
0:13:18 > 0:13:19..or to go it alone.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24A vengeful dream turned to practical reality
0:13:24 > 0:13:26at the Duck and Drake Inn,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30as Catesby summoned the core cell of four
0:13:30 > 0:13:32and introduced a powerful new member.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37It was May.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Whether sent for by Catesby or on his own business,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45up came Mr Thomas Percy and into our company.
0:13:45 > 0:13:46The first words he spoke were,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50"Shall we always, gentlemen, talk, and never do anything?"
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Catesby took him aside, spoke to him about what could be done.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Yorkshireman Thomas Percy would become the de facto number two.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Catesby valued the older swordsman's aggression and fiery spirit.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Married to Jack Wright's sister, Martha,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Percy was also extremely well connected to power.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14His patron was Henry Percy, the mighty Ninth Earl of Northumberland,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17who had made him steward of his vast Northern Estates.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Thomas Percy was about same age as the Ninth Earl -
0:14:21 > 0:14:24I think there was a year or two between them -
0:14:24 > 0:14:26but they were very different characters.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31The Ninth Earl was a very powerful magnate but he was also an academic.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37Percy was belligerent, rough, intelligent, he was a born leader.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42They looked to him as probably the loudest Catholic in the group.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47I swear by the Blessed Trinity never to disclose the matter
0:14:47 > 0:14:50that shall be proposed to me, nor desist from the execution...
0:14:50 > 0:14:54'We five met again that Sunday in a chamber behind St Clement's Inn.'
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Mr Catesby, Mr Percy, Mr Jack Wright, Mr Guy Fawkes and myself.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And, upon a primer, each solemnly gave each other our oath of secrecy.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09That summer, the plotters enjoyed two major breakthroughs.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Thomas Percy became a Royal bodyguard.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16He was enrolled into the so-called Gentleman Pensioners
0:15:16 > 0:15:19by Northumberland, who was commander of this force.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23The plotters had infiltrated the very heart of Royal power.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And Percy then secured a greater prize still,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34a small house directly adjoining Parliament.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36These were times of hope.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Thomas Percy had been tasked with taking possession of a house
0:15:44 > 0:15:47beside Parliament occupied by a Mr Ferris.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Mr Fawkes then adopted the role of Percy's servant,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57taking the name John Johnson and the keys to the house.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00His face was the most unknown to the authorities.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05A fortnight before Christmas, we finally entered the lodgings,
0:16:05 > 0:16:06late in the night.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Only Fawkes, our sentinel, was ever seen.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12We brought baked meats to avoid sending out for food,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14and tools to dig a mine under the Upper House.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19As they struggled to tunnel the mine,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22the group had time to consider the aftermath of the blow.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Plans for an uprising
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and the kidnap of a future puppet queen were forged.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Now we began to shape our plans, for money, for war horses,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and for all that we would do after the deed was done.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42First, how we might kidnap the next heir.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Prince Henry would hopefully be in Parliament with the King,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46so how would we then kidnap
0:16:46 > 0:16:49the young Prince Charles, the next in line?
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Thomas Percy, now a Royal bodyguard, was given this task,
0:16:53 > 0:16:54as few would suspect him.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57He was to enter the Prince's chamber after the blow
0:16:57 > 0:16:59and he would carry the Prince away on horseback
0:16:59 > 0:17:02with several confederates.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05And what of the King's third child, Princess Elizabeth?
0:17:05 > 0:17:08The Princess we felt would be easy to surprise in the country,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10at Coombe Abbey.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13We would draw together our friends nearby,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16under the pretence of a local hunting party.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20What foreign princes did you acquaint with the plot,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22before or after?
0:17:22 > 0:17:25We agreed not to solicit any foreign princes, even under oath.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29We did not know if they would approve our plot or dislike it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Yet hatred of the foreign prince who now held the English crown
0:17:34 > 0:17:36was widespread.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It encouraged Catesby to hope that disaffected Englishmen,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43hostile to the Scots, might approve of their murderous deed.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46It was no accident that the plot coincided
0:17:46 > 0:17:48with the King's controversial effort
0:17:48 > 0:17:52to create a union between England and its old enemy.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57Anti-Scottish feeling was certainly a component in the Gunpowder Plot.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58There was a verse that became popular
0:17:58 > 0:18:04when the Scots arrived in London in 1603 and it ran,
0:18:04 > 0:18:09"Hark, hark the dogs do bark, the beggars have come to town
0:18:09 > 0:18:14"Some in rags and some in tags and some in velvet gowns."
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And these poverty-stricken Scots, as they were viewed,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19did very well immediately out of James' accession.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24They were given English land, they were given English money
0:18:24 > 0:18:28and, to the extreme irritation of many English Catholics,
0:18:28 > 0:18:34they collected the recusancy fines that James reintroduced.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38The plotters' chosen instrument of vengeance
0:18:38 > 0:18:42was safely transported to their base within the Parliamentary precinct.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Over time, gunpowder was bought and conveyed over at night by boat
0:18:49 > 0:18:53from Lambeth, as we were willing to have all our danger in one place.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56We had shot and powder
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and we resolved to die in that house before we would yield or be taken.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Yet their iron resolution did not extend to casual assassination.
0:19:09 > 0:19:10In late December,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14King James hosted a lavish Cecil family wedding in Westminster.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21Among the society guests, close by with sword in hand, was Guy Fawkes.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26I assume that he came as a servant,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29rather than as a principle guest,
0:19:29 > 0:19:35and that perhaps at weddings of this kind you suspend hostilities,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38if he was feeling hostile at the time.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Or perhaps he was anyway just a hireling,
0:19:43 > 0:19:44a captain from Flanders
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and he hadn't got his riding instructions yet.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51But it is rather a delicious irony, at the very least,
0:19:51 > 0:19:52that he was there.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01Guy Fawkes resists the temptation to assassinate the King
0:20:01 > 0:20:06when he stands close to him at a society wedding
0:20:06 > 0:20:10because the game is bigger than mere assassination.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15Mere King-killing is something that an early modern state
0:20:15 > 0:20:18can just about cope with.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21The Gunpowder Plotters' intention is to erase
0:20:21 > 0:20:26the entire political nation, to destroy the buildings
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and the monuments that symbolise the power of the state,
0:20:30 > 0:20:35so while it might have been tempting to stab the King and see him die,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39it would not have actually achieved the grander ends.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Yet terror on this scale was an expensive business.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Already the indebted Catesby had drawn in two more plotters.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54At his mother's Northamptonshire home,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Catesby realised he needed more money and more men.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The burden of maintaining all of us, the hire of the many houses,
0:21:03 > 0:21:09the cost of the gunpowder, all weighed heavily on Catesby alone.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Jack Wright called in his younger brother, Kit.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14But it was now necessary to recruit others,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17fit and willing to ease his charge.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19To this we all agreed.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Wintour himself recruited the ninth and tenth conspirators,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28both close to home.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Letters reveal that John Grant of Norbrook,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36his sister Doll's husband, had been assiduously groomed.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40With my sister's good leave, let me entreat you, brother,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43to come over next Saturday.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45I can assure you of kind welcome
0:21:45 > 0:21:48and your acquaintance with my cousin, Catesby.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50I would wish Doll here, too,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53but our life is monastical, without women.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01The tenth conspirator was his elder brother, Robert.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05He was deeply troubled by the lack of foreign support
0:22:05 > 0:22:07and high risk of failure.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09But his Huddington home became another link
0:22:09 > 0:22:12in a chain of plotter bases clustering close
0:22:12 > 0:22:16to their kidnap target, readying for rebellion.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22The London unit next made a decisive breakthrough.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Percy had secured the lease to a vault
0:22:26 > 0:22:29ideally located for their crime.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Near Easter, we suddenly had opportunity to hire a cellar
0:22:33 > 0:22:35directly under the Upper House.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38We could abandon the mine.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Mr Fawkes laid into the cellar 1,000 billets, 500 faggots,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and covered the gunpowder with them.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Meanwhile, our company being yet so few,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Catesby was authorised to call in more confederates.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56So he went to recruit Sir Everard Digby,
0:22:56 > 0:22:57though at what time I know not.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02And last of all, his cousin...
0:23:03 > 0:23:05..Mr Francis Tresham.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Francis Tresham was Catesby's childhood companion
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and a fellow Essex plotter.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15The death of his father in late September
0:23:15 > 0:23:17saw him inherit substantial wealth.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Soon after, with indecent haste, Catesby swooped.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27It was a stormy encounter.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Sir Tresham's interesting.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32On the face of it, he's one of this very closely-knit family group.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35But one should always be a little wary about assuming that just
0:23:35 > 0:23:37because one's closely related to people that you share
0:23:37 > 0:23:40the same political outlook or the same commitments.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41It's very clear that, from the outset,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Tresham is pretty appalled by this prospect.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46He swears an oath of secrecy before he's told about it
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and then feels immediately compromised.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50He's recruited primarily
0:23:50 > 0:23:53because he's just come into a large fortune on succeeding his father,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56and he looks as though he can bankroll some of the plot.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59But he does everything he can then to buy the plotters off.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01To try and not only save the King and the country
0:24:01 > 0:24:03from this terrible catastrophe
0:24:03 > 0:24:05but actually just to send them overseas.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Tresham's queasiness was not shared by the other 12 plotters.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Well-versed in continental Jesuit works on tyrannicide,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18they were comfortable with the idea
0:24:18 > 0:24:20of the mass murder of an unjust regime.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24They were warrior monks,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27fighting for God and country.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Any early 17th-century Catholic believed that it was
0:24:32 > 0:24:38the first duty of governments to protect the truth,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43and to foster the interests of the Church, the Catholic Church.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48And governments which didn't do that were, to that extent, illegitimate.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Most moral theologians would have thought
0:24:52 > 0:24:56that there were circumstances in which you could consider
0:24:56 > 0:25:00blowing up a Protestant regime as an act of war.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Yet many were troubled by the fate of the innocent Catholic Lords
0:25:06 > 0:25:09due to take their place in Parliament.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15One of their circle, Lord Monteagle, was now openly loyal to the King.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18But he had employed Wintour
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and was a close kinsman and friend to Tresham.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24At a Middlesex safe house, the thorny topic
0:25:24 > 0:25:30of which Lords might be spared, and how, was finally aired.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Thomas Percy is bound to his near kinsman, Northumberland,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34and loath to see him harmed.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Assure yourselves such of the nobility that is worth saving
0:25:37 > 0:25:38shall be preserved.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41I shall play tricks upon them. They will know nothing of the matter.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44But as for, say, Lord Mordaunt, I would not for a chamber
0:25:44 > 0:25:47full of diamonds acquaint him with a secret he could not keep.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Mr Tresham is exceedingly earnest that we do not
0:25:49 > 0:25:52sacrifice Lord Stourton and Lord Monteagle.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54I would rather they all were blown up,
0:25:54 > 0:25:55even those as dear to me as my own son,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58rather than this project not take effect.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Atheist fools and cowards sit there.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Now, Thomas, what news of Prince Henry, will he be in Parliament?
0:26:04 > 0:26:06We may need more men.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08Catesby's response to Wintour
0:26:08 > 0:26:11is almost quite astonishing in its coolness.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Tresham's, I think, exceedingly worried
0:26:13 > 0:26:17that Monteagle should go and Catesby says,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20"Oh, I will try some tricks, but I'm not going to make Essex's mistake
0:26:20 > 0:26:23"and reveal too much of the plot. I will try and send hints
0:26:23 > 0:26:25"to some of these people that they shouldn't be there."
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Of course the poor people who do make arrangements not to be there,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31like Lord Mordaunt, thereafter fall under immediate suspicion
0:26:31 > 0:26:33they must somehow have been part of the plot.
0:26:34 > 0:26:40Preparations for the uprising after the blow were now well-advanced.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44New recruit Sir Everard Digby had secured a base in Warwickshire
0:26:44 > 0:26:46to oversee the Royal kidnap.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Hidden stores of pikes and armour were stashed,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55ready for the Catholic militia force they hoped to raise.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59And the stables of war horses at nearby Warwick Castle
0:26:59 > 0:27:01were secretly reconnoitred.
0:27:06 > 0:27:07As the countdown reached
0:27:07 > 0:27:10just ten days before the State Opening of Parliament,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13the mood was one of confidence.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Then everything changed.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22There was a traitor in their ranks.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Lord Monteagle is sitting down to supper
0:27:32 > 0:27:39when he receives a letter from an unknown man, a man disguised.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44The letter is in an obviously contrived hand,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47it's deliberately disguised handwriting.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50It is of course unsigned, it's of course anonymous,
0:27:50 > 0:27:56and it warns him to stay away from Parliament on the 5th of November.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00My Lord, I have a care of your preservation,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04therefore I would advise you as you tender your life,
0:28:04 > 0:28:09devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this Parliament,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16they shall receive a terrible blow.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20The danger is passed as soon as you have burnt this letter.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I hope God will give you the grace to make use of it.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Monteagle raced out to alert the authorities in Whitehall.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31But, shortly after, one of his Catholic servants
0:28:31 > 0:28:33at the supper also left -
0:28:33 > 0:28:36to tip off Thomas Wintour.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39A friend rushed to my chamber.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41He told me that a letter had been given
0:28:41 > 0:28:43the night before to my Lord Monteagle.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48The author wished His Lordship to be absent from Parliament,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51because a blow would be given there,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53and he told me that the letter
0:28:53 > 0:28:56had been carried forthwith by Monteagle...
0:28:57 > 0:29:00..to you, my Lord Salisbury.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Wintour rushed to tell Catesby of the crisis.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08The next morning, I went out to Enfield Chase
0:29:08 > 0:29:10and I there told Catesby,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"The plot is uncovered. Leave the country now."
0:29:13 > 0:29:15But he wanted to proceed.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17He ordered me to send Fawkes back to Parliament
0:29:17 > 0:29:19to reconnoitre the cellar.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Which of us had sent that letter to my Lord Monteagle?
0:29:23 > 0:29:24We suspected only one.
0:29:27 > 0:29:28Tresham.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Catesby and Wintour summoned their cousin to a forest clearing.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37They recalled his fervent opposition and planned to kill him.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Tresham said, "Nothing but a bad cause can make me a coward.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45"A damnable act," his words.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47He's a King's man.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53'Catesby and I met Tresham on Thursday at Barnet and questioned him
0:29:53 > 0:29:57'as to how this letter got sent to my Lord Monteagle.'
0:29:57 > 0:29:59I did NOT betray you.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01'But he maintained his innocence.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03'He swore he was not our accuser.'
0:30:03 > 0:30:07The suspicion of all hands had put us into such confusion.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11- ..cut your tongue out, you traitor. - I did not, I'm not a traitor.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16The Gunpowder Plotters are now in a very difficult position.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18Of course, the delivery of the letter
0:30:18 > 0:30:22has, to some extent, compromised all their plans.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26At the same time, this is an anonymous letter.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32Governments, authorities get this kind of warning,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35often an apocalyptic warning, almost every day.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39How much credence do they put in it?
0:30:39 > 0:30:44Is there actually going to be any action following the warning letter?
0:30:46 > 0:30:51So Catesby has to decide what to do.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54Tresham somehow convinced the pair to spare his life,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56begging them to flee.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Wintour now sensed the game was up.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04On Saturday, I met Tresham again at Lincoln's Inn Walks.
0:31:05 > 0:31:06And he said that Lord Salisbury
0:31:06 > 0:31:09had surely reported the project to the King
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and I gave it up as lost a second time.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Robin, you must see sense.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16'I repeated Tresham's warnings to Catesby
0:31:16 > 0:31:18'but he wanted Percy's counsel.'
0:31:18 > 0:31:21He wanted Percy's consent.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26There are those fatal junctures, the opportunities to abandon all this.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29So many people now seem to know about the secret.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Catesby seems desperately to need Percy's sanction.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Percy seems to be the one person who can control Catesby
0:31:35 > 0:31:37and Wintour later says he needed his counsel,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40he needed his consent to go ahead with it and when everyone else
0:31:40 > 0:31:42was saying, "The secret's out, we need to abandon it,"
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Catesby keeps going.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Percy finally arrived from the north and gave his resolution,
0:31:49 > 0:31:54"No, nay, we persevere, we must abide the uttermost trial."
0:31:58 > 0:31:59And so we did.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10November the 4th saw Guy Fawkes ready
0:32:10 > 0:32:12and waiting all day in the vault.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16But the authorities were on high alert.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19That afternoon, he'd been clearly spotted lurking
0:32:19 > 0:32:23beside the cellar by a search party, including Lord Monteagle.
0:32:25 > 0:32:26It was now a trap.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32A second raiding party was sent back just after midnight.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Four hours later,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39Fawkes was dragged to a palace bed chamber for interrogation...
0:32:39 > 0:32:40by a King.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44Who are you?
0:32:47 > 0:32:48I'm John Johnson.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52Servant to Mr Thomas Percy.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55And your intent, John Johnson?
0:32:55 > 0:32:58My intent was to kill a heretic King
0:32:58 > 0:33:02and to blow you Scots back over the mountains.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04Do you not seek our mercy?
0:33:04 > 0:33:09No. The Devil and not God was the discoverer.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12How could you contemplate so hideous a treason
0:33:12 > 0:33:14against the queen and Royal children?
0:33:14 > 0:33:17A dangerous disease requires a desperate remedy.
0:33:19 > 0:33:20Take him.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23You have no authority over me.
0:33:23 > 0:33:24You have no authority!
0:33:25 > 0:33:32Here you see Fawkes' own determination, stubbornness,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35but also you pick up on the xenophobia,
0:33:35 > 0:33:41the anti-Scots sentiment, which also fuels the Gunpowder Plot.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45He turns round to the King and says,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47"You, I would have blown you and your courtiers
0:33:47 > 0:33:49"back to your Scottish mountains."
0:33:50 > 0:33:55That's the nature of the Yorkshire talk that we get from Guy Fawkes.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57He's determined to go down fighting.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Wintour was stationed in his lodgings on the Strand,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05close by Parliament.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09Street noise had alerted his soldier's instinct for danger.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Soon came news of disaster.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18The young Wright, Kit, came to my chamber.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21He had just heard a nobleman call out to Monteagle
0:34:21 > 0:34:24in the Strand, "The matter is discovered!"
0:34:24 > 0:34:26I told him, "Go.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29"Find Percy - it is him they seek. Bid him be gone.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31"I myself will stay."
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Seeking confirmation of Fawkes' capture,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Wintour coolly headed right into the lion's den.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46The court gates were strictly guarded.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48So I went down towards Parliament.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51In the middle of King Street,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54I found guards who stopped me and would not let me pass.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57As I turned back, I heard someone say,
0:34:57 > 0:34:58"There is treason discovered
0:34:58 > 0:35:01"in which the King and Lords would have been blown up."
0:35:02 > 0:35:04All was known.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08So I rode out to join Catesby and the others in the country.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13As Wintour sped northwards to the Midlands,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15the planned uprising was fast unravelling.
0:35:18 > 0:35:19The kidnap target, Elizabeth,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22was hurried from Coombe Abbey to safety.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27The fake "hunting party" of Catholic gentlemen,
0:35:27 > 0:35:28assembled in ignorance nearby,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32dispersed in panic as they discovered Catesby's real intent.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37And the ill-judged raid for war horses on Warwick Castle
0:35:37 > 0:35:39had triggered a massive manhunt.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49Yet, back in London, the authorities were groping in the dark.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Only Percy's mysterious servant, "John Johnson",
0:35:52 > 0:35:56now in the Tower of London, could provide information.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59King James, estimating that 30,000 people
0:35:59 > 0:36:01would have been killed by the blast,
0:36:01 > 0:36:06was both appalled and fascinated by his defiant prisoner.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09He provided a list of questions for his interrogation
0:36:09 > 0:36:13and a legal sanction for the use of torture.
0:36:13 > 0:36:14'What is he?
0:36:14 > 0:36:18'For I do not hear of any man that knows him.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22'How has he received those wounds in his breast?
0:36:22 > 0:36:27'How came he in Percy's service, by what means and at what time?
0:36:27 > 0:36:32'Was he ever a papist and, if so, who brought him up in it?
0:36:32 > 0:36:35'If he will in no other way confess,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39'the gentler tortures are to be used unto him
0:36:39 > 0:36:43'and so, by degrees, until the ultimate is reached.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46'And so God speed your good work.
0:36:47 > 0:36:48'James R.'
0:36:51 > 0:36:54How did you come by your scars, John Johnson?
0:36:54 > 0:36:55Are they a soldier's wounds?
0:36:57 > 0:37:01No. They are from the healing of pleurisy.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Why did you travel to Flanders?
0:37:04 > 0:37:08I went there but once, just to see the country and pass the time.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And when you were there, did you have conference with one Hugh Owen?
0:37:14 > 0:37:16I had no conference with Owen,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19just ordinary salutations in open company.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Which gentlewoman wrote the letter found upon you?
0:37:27 > 0:37:29A gentlewoman married to an Englishman in Flanders
0:37:29 > 0:37:31by the name of Bodstock.
0:37:31 > 0:37:36And why did she address this letter to a Mr "Fawkes"?
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Because "Fawkes" is the false name that I used.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Guy Fawkes is, of course, the only plotter to have been arrested
0:37:46 > 0:37:49and he wants to give his colleagues every chance
0:37:49 > 0:37:53to put some part of their plan into effect.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58So he insists on the rather unconvincing alias, John Johnson.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02He tells them nothing of consequence.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06As this deadly duel was unfolding in the Tower,
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Thomas Wintour finally arrived back at his family home.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15His brother, Robert, always more sceptical of Catesby's grand plans,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18gave a bleak report of events.
0:38:19 > 0:38:20What news of Catesby, brother?
0:38:20 > 0:38:25Yesterday he sent for me in the fields, outside his home at Ashby.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27He told me plain,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30"Mr Fawkes is taken and the whole plot discovered."
0:38:31 > 0:38:34What would he do?
0:38:34 > 0:38:36He will not submit.
0:38:36 > 0:38:37I argued that the raid on Warwick Castle
0:38:37 > 0:38:40would only create huge uproar in the country.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42All would rise against us.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44That if we all throw ourselves on his mercy,
0:38:44 > 0:38:49then perhaps the King will yield some favour to the least deserving.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51But he will not let it alone.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Robert, some of us may not look back now.
0:38:54 > 0:38:55So said Robin.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59"Have you hope, Robert?" he asked.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01"Because I assure you there is none."
0:39:03 > 0:39:07There are none that know of this plot that shall not perish.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Shunned by loyal villagers and weakened by constant desertion,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Catesby would now play a desperate last card
0:39:19 > 0:39:22to try and draw in Sir John Talbot,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25the leading Catholic nobleman in the region.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28It was a calculated and bullying ploy.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33Sir John's daughter, Gertrude, was Robert Wintour's wife.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38You must draw Sir John Talbot into our cause.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42If true Catholics now stir, our fortunes will yet turn!
0:39:42 > 0:39:46You do not know my Father Talbot as well as I.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49If I sent a messenger to him, he would surely stop him.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Nothing in this world will draw him from his allegiance to the Crown.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56So satisfy yourselves, gentlemen. I will not write to him!
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Well then, Robert, you shall write to Sir John's steward.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09And what of my poor wife, Gertrude?
0:40:09 > 0:40:14And of my children? Sir John alone would look after them if I am gone.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18"Good sir...
0:40:20 > 0:40:24"..pray use your best endeavours to stir my father, Talbot.
0:40:27 > 0:40:33"Send to me as many friends as you have, and pray for me."
0:40:37 > 0:40:43Well, sirs, this letter itself is enough to have me hanged.
0:40:43 > 0:40:44And he that should conceal it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49I will deliver it, brother.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58In the Tower of London that same day,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01the patience of Fawkes' inquisitors was at breaking point.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07The resort to torture in the dungeons below was now imminent.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Where did you stay on Wednesday last?
0:41:15 > 0:41:16I have forgotten.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Your courage is unwavering.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21And where did you stay on Thursday last?
0:41:21 > 0:41:23I have forgotten.
0:41:23 > 0:41:24And on Friday?
0:41:24 > 0:41:26I don't know.
0:41:26 > 0:41:27Saturday?
0:41:30 > 0:41:33You seem a man devoid of all trouble of mind.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36I have prayed every day since the action that
0:41:36 > 0:41:38I only do that which advanced the Catholic faith
0:41:38 > 0:41:39and preserved my soul.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44You would have me betray my friends.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45I shall not.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50You have held your resolution to be silent.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Our resolution is now to proceed with the greatest severity.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00Therefore I will you, John Johnson, prepare yourself.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06On November the 7th, the die-hard plotters left Huddington
0:42:06 > 0:42:11and drifted slowly westwards before arriving at Holbeche House,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13scene of their last stand.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Two rival county militias were fast closing in.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Early the next morning,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Thomas Wintour arrived at Sir John Talbot's home
0:42:22 > 0:42:25to deliver Robert's letter.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29As anticipated, he was rebuffed like a plague carrier.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34But worse news was to come.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36I was still out early that Friday morning
0:42:36 > 0:42:38when I saw a messenger racing towards me.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42A terrible accident at Holbeche House.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49Some gunpowder, laid out to dry, had caught fire, severing our company.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53The sight of burnt and scorched men had led many to disperse.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Would I, too, now flee?
0:42:59 > 0:43:01No.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05I wanted to see the body of my brother, Catesby,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07and bury him, whatsoever the risk.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15The report of Catesby's death was premature.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18But despair had taken hold.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Among those who had vanished into the hills that morning
0:43:20 > 0:43:24was Wintour's brother, Robert.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26It is a supremely ironic moment
0:43:26 > 0:43:28when the gunpowder explosion occurs at Holbeche,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31and there is a sense that this is the moment when Catesby
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and some of the others begin to think,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35"Is this a sign of divine displeasure?"
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Some of them are very badly injured, one is blinded,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41this is a sense that perhaps we should actually just take
0:43:41 > 0:43:43the gunpowder now and just finish the job off.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Interestingly, Wintour himself doesn't see it
0:43:45 > 0:43:46in those sort of apocalyptic terms.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49He just thinks it's what logically happens sometimes
0:43:49 > 0:43:51if you put damp gunpowder near an open fire.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54But it really does focus the minds that God may not be on their side,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57that this is now where they're all going to die together.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07When I arrived at Holbeche,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11I found Catesby, Percy and the Wrights alive,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13and reasonably well.
0:44:15 > 0:44:16Robin...
0:44:19 > 0:44:21What do you intend to do?
0:44:23 > 0:44:24We mean here to die.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32I take such part as you do, brothers.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38He goes back to Holbeche, to the 13, 14 remaining men
0:44:38 > 0:44:41holed up in this country house.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50Thomas says, "If that's what you're going to do, I'll share your fate."
0:44:50 > 0:44:52And, of course, he does.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56He faces up to the end with Catesby and the Wrights and Percy.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00Whatever you think of their mission,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03whatever you think of their intentions, they are brave men.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17The Sheriff's men arrived at 11 o'clock.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21They besieged and set fire to the house.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29I fear we have offended God by this bloody act.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35I have prayed to Our Lady for forgiveness.
0:45:39 > 0:45:40HE SIGHS
0:45:40 > 0:45:43But I will not have them take me.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48Against that only will I defend myself with this sword.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57I went out first into the courtyard...
0:46:05 > 0:46:07GUNSHOT ..and was shot in the shoulder.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09I lost the use of my right arm.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17The next shot felled the elder Wright.
0:46:17 > 0:46:18GUNSHOTS
0:46:18 > 0:46:21And the next took Kit, his brother.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30Then I turned to see Catesby standing by the door and he said,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33"Stand by me, Tom, and we will die together."
0:46:38 > 0:46:40So we stood close together.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Then Percy and Catesby were hit,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51as far I could guess, with one bullet,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and the Sheriff's men stormed in.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Even as the bodies of dead and dying plotters
0:47:05 > 0:47:08were being stripped for trophies at Holbeche,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Fawkes was broken on the rack.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16'I confess that a practice in general was first broken unto me
0:47:16 > 0:47:20'against His Majesty for relief of the Catholic cause,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22'and not invented or propounded by myself.'
0:47:22 > 0:47:25A faint, scratchy signature of his chosen name
0:47:25 > 0:47:29bears witness to the suffering of "Guido" Fawkes.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Yet his endurance had been in vain.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36It's one of the great ironies of the plot that
0:47:36 > 0:47:39the torture of Guy Fawkes need never have happened.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44When he was being tortured on the 8th and 9th,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48the siege of Holbeche was petering out
0:47:48 > 0:47:52and the State had in its hands, in Worcestershire,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56a man who could tell them an awful lot more than Fawkes ever could.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58THUNDER CRACKS
0:48:00 > 0:48:05Wintour's arrival in the Tower set the stage for a climactic chapter
0:48:05 > 0:48:07involving the pursuit of hidden accomplices,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10trial and bloody retribution.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15All the energies of the Jacobean state
0:48:15 > 0:48:19were devoted to the investigation of the so-called "Powder Treason".
0:48:19 > 0:48:24Information from spies and informants flooded in.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27'These gentlemen under-named supped
0:48:27 > 0:48:29'at William Patrick's hostel, The Irish Boy,
0:48:29 > 0:48:33'with one other unknown to Mr Patrick or any of his house.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38'Thomas Wintour, Lord Mordaunt, Sir Jocelyn Percy, John Grant,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40'Christopher Wright...'
0:48:40 > 0:48:43A sickly Francis Tresham was arrested,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45vehemently protesting his innocence.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49'Neither my hand, purse or head was involved in the acting
0:48:49 > 0:48:53'or contriving of this plot, but being lately and unexpectedly...'
0:48:53 > 0:48:59Tresham died that December in the Tower, despised by both sides.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04The key prize was the identity of a suspected "General Head",
0:49:04 > 0:49:07an arch-traitor within the ruling elite.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Who would have been the mastermind?
0:49:09 > 0:49:11Who would have been the Protector of the Realm?
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Who would have actually had power?
0:49:13 > 0:49:16The Gunpowder Plotters themselves were country gentlemen.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21It was a status-conscious society, there had to be somebody higher up.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24So went the thoughts of the Government.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Northumberland was the prime suspect.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31The Earl had made Percy a Royal bodyguard
0:49:31 > 0:49:35and had been visited by the plotter on November the 4th.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38He wrote to fellow peers, "None but Percy can show me
0:49:38 > 0:49:42"clear as the day or dark as the night."
0:49:43 > 0:49:46But Percy's exhumed head was on a spike,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49rotting on Parliament House.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Everything hinged on Thomas Wintour,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55how much or how little he was willing to disclose.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59There is a motivation for him to come up with a narrative
0:49:59 > 0:50:02that's compelling, that's plausible, but that doesn't shift blame
0:50:02 > 0:50:05onto people who, you know, might still be harmed.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07He doesn't mention his own family members in the confession.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11He doesn't mention priests, he puts a lot of the blame onto Catesby.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14There is also a sense that this is being written for a bigger audience.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20Mr Wintour, tell us the name of your general head.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23My Lords know there was no general head.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Give us the name of the noble head of your faction.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30No.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35Of our company, Catesby and Percy alone were the chiefs.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Northumberland was taken to the Tower and held there for 16 years,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46but proof of a mastermind was never found.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49They had hit a wall.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56On November the 23rd, Wintour signed his famous confession,
0:50:56 > 0:51:02declaring himself "a poor, humble and penitent prisoner."
0:51:03 > 0:51:07He was burdened with guilt over the fate of his brother, Robert.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Wintour knew that the plot had failed.
0:51:11 > 0:51:17He knew that in all likelihood he would die a traitor's death.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21But his conscience pricked him about family members
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and others that he had helped draw into the plot.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30Robert was on the run for two gruelling winter months.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32But he did not escape.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35In early January, he was betrayed
0:51:35 > 0:51:37and became a captive in the Tower.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40There, Salisbury had a final trick to play.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Unseen "listeners" were installed beside the cell of Robert,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48seemingly the most detached of the conspirators.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Yet they eavesdropped on talk of occult visions,
0:51:51 > 0:51:57premonitions of the Holbeche explosion and martyrdom.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59These words would cause a sensation at his trial.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05The night before Holbeche, I had a strange dream.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11I saw church steeples standing awry.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14St Paul's coated black.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Stones ready to fall.
0:52:17 > 0:52:23And within those churches, strange, scorched, unknown faces.
0:52:25 > 0:52:26After our powder blew...
0:52:28 > 0:52:33..I recognised those scorched faces as those of our injured brothers.
0:52:33 > 0:52:34Strange matter.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40It is rumoured that a good while after Thomas Percy was buried...
0:52:42 > 0:52:43..they exhumed his body.
0:52:45 > 0:52:46His head was cut off...
0:52:48 > 0:52:50..and he bled afresh
0:52:50 > 0:52:52and very abundantly.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Some of us here should not die.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00They offended only an intention, not action.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03It is for God's cause.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08Our deaths shall be a sufficient justification of our doings.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13And our God will raise up seed to Abraham out of the very stones.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22The State turned now to unleash its "pursuivants",
0:53:22 > 0:53:25the priest hunters, to capture the shadowy Jesuits
0:53:25 > 0:53:31who had been confessors to, and protected by, Catesby's circle,
0:53:31 > 0:53:34and a fearful majority of law-abiding Catholics
0:53:34 > 0:53:37braced themselves for retribution.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42James himself is very gracious
0:53:42 > 0:53:45when he addresses Parliament on the 9th of November.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49He accepts that this is probably the work of a small fanatic minority,
0:53:49 > 0:53:51it's not representative of all Catholics
0:53:51 > 0:53:54but it clearly is very difficult for the Catholic community
0:53:54 > 0:53:58thereafter to portray themselves as loyal, obedient subjects.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05No mercy was shown by the Attorney General, Sir Edward Coke,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08to the eight surviving plotters during their one-day trial.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17'We hereby indict as false traitors who sought to kill
0:54:17 > 0:54:23'the King, queen, and Princes, to stir rebellion and to change
0:54:23 > 0:54:27'and subvert the established religion
0:54:27 > 0:54:31'Thomas Wintour, Robert Wintour,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35'Guy Fawkes, otherwise called John Johnson,
0:54:35 > 0:54:42'men perniciously seduced, abused and corrupted, Jesuited!
0:54:42 > 0:54:44'A treason intending
0:54:44 > 0:54:48'the destruction of the frame and fabric of the nation.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51'The greatest ever plotted,
0:54:51 > 0:54:57'this is Gunpowder law, fit for the justice of Hell.'
0:54:59 > 0:55:02Robert Wintour was executed first on January the 30th,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05outside St Paul's Churchyard.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12Bring him out!
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Guy Fawkes and Thomas Wintour were taken to execution the next day.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26They would die within sight of the Parliament House
0:55:26 > 0:55:29they had intended to obliterate.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34All would suffer the ordeal of ritual dismemberment
0:55:34 > 0:55:37the State reserved for traitors.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42De profundis clamavi ad te Domine, de profundis.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51'You will be put to death halfway between heaven
0:55:51 > 0:55:56'and Earth as you are unworthy of both.
0:55:58 > 0:56:04'Your privy parts will be cut off and burnt before your faces,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07'since you are unworthily begotten
0:56:07 > 0:56:10'and in turn unfit to leave any generation after you.
0:56:12 > 0:56:18'And the head which had imagined the mischief cut off.'
0:56:21 > 0:56:28The plot is born of revenge and resentment and despair.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32It was a desperately long shot, the odds were stacked against them
0:56:32 > 0:56:34almost at every stage,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37even when there was a chance of destroying Parliament.
0:56:37 > 0:56:43But it was not quite the completely hopeless plan
0:56:43 > 0:56:45that some people suggest.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51English Catholics were spared violent pogrom.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55But the black stain of this reckless act would linger for centuries.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58It was the icons of their faith
0:56:58 > 0:57:01that were whitewashed from national memory.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05The plot was devastating for Catholics.
0:57:05 > 0:57:06It cemented into place
0:57:06 > 0:57:13what had been a major theme of anti-Catholic propaganda
0:57:13 > 0:57:16for the previous 40 years.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Catholics, above all Jesuits, could not be trusted
0:57:19 > 0:57:24and that gets enshrined in a religious Service of Thanksgiving
0:57:24 > 0:57:26which would commemorate, year upon year,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30the deliverance of the nation from the bloody,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33murderous, demonic religion of Catholicism.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36So it gets cemented into the English psyche.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43Deliverance over four centuries ago from the "devils in the vault"
0:57:43 > 0:57:46helped to forge the nation's new Protestant identity.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56But this tale of faith and fanaticism,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58loyalty and persecution,
0:57:58 > 0:58:00espionage and betrayal,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03resonates in a new century darkened by terror,
0:58:03 > 0:58:05perpetrated in the name of God.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09It's time to rediscover
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and to remember the tragedy of England's greatest terror plot.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16They hold their secrets.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19There are lessons still to learn.