Gunpowder has played a major role in human history, but in Britain it's heavily associated with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 - an event still celebrated on the 5th of November each year. Let's take a closer look at...
- A Brief History of Black Powder
- How Gunpowder Works
- The Gunpowder Plot
- The Ghostly Rider of Holbeche House
- Mandatory Celebration and a Penny for the Guy
Black powder redefined warfare... (Learen)
A Brief History of Black Powder
The story of gunpowder begins in China, where scholars and alchemists had been searching for an elixir to lengthen lives. They experimented with various chemicals and mixtures, and as it happens, saltpetre (potassium nitrate) was one of the ingredients used in many of their medicines. Sometime around 850 A.D. the scholars stumbled upon a mixture of saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal that, when ignited, would burn quickly and emit clouds of smoke. Writing from the time suggests that the scholars involved in this first experiment found themselves singed and minus a house!
This discovery was quickly put to use against the invading Mongols, with contraptions like explosive spears and arrows vying for space against rudimentary cannons and bombs. Presumably, the psychological effects of this loud new weapon would have been terrifying as well!
Sometime around the 13th century, gunpowder filtered down the silk road and into Europe and the Middle East. Cannons soon became a fixture of warfare, bringing with them the ability to pound previously steadfast fortifications into submission.
European scholars experimenting with the powder found that adding liquid (wine, or something else flammable) to the mixture to form a paste allowed gunpowder to be dried and formed into tiny pellets. This new "corned powder" was easier to use and more reliable. It also removed the problem of powder settling out, since it was dried in place. Soon long-guns became the weapon of choice for rank-and-file troops of the battlefield.
Being the new hot commodity meant that the ingredients for gunpowder spiked in desirability. India proved to be an amazing source of saltpetre, and the infamous East India Trading Company was heavily involved in its export!
How Gunpowder Works
Gunpowder (or to be more precise, black powder) tended to consist of 75% saltpetre, 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur. The sulfur serves as an accelerant in black powder - it ignites at a lower temperature than charcoal and helps heat the other ingredients. The saltpetre acts as an oxidizer - when heated (say, by being near a flame) it releases oxygen, which helps the charcoal burn more intensely. These reactions result in the production of hot gasses - and plenty of them.The same principle applies with bombs and grenades - the casing around them traps the high-pressure gas released by the reaction, until it shatters due to the difference in pressure inside and outside. As a side note, something similar can happen with dusty flour mills as well - when finely sifted flour drifting in the air ignites, you can say goodbye to the building!
The Palace of Westminster has endured fires and explosions, with much of being replaced since 1605... (NIR HIMI)
The Gunpowder Plot
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I lay dying and the Catholics of England rejoiced. Elizabeth I had been a staunch protestant (a stance only strengthened by her excommunication by the Pope and the Catholic Spanish armada) and to be Catholic was to invite persecution under her reign. It looked like her successor would be James VI of Scotland, who had a decidedly more mellow view of the Protestants.
When James took the throne of England, he did seem to ease off the Catholics - fines for avoiding Protestant services were removed, and some prominent Catholics were placed in positions of power. This honeymoon period didn't last though - their growing power (combined with a couple of treasonous plots amongst their faction) soured the King's attitude towards them. Soon the fines were reintroduced, and priests forced into exile.
A small group of conspirators led by Robert Catesby (a man embittered by the imprisonment of his father for harboring a priest) decided to take action. They leased property including a cellar that went beneath the House of Lords, and loaded it with 36 barrels of gunpowder - enough to permanently disrupt any parliamentary session. Guy Fawkes (an ex-soldier who knew how to handle explosives) was put in charge of the powder.
Despite their efforts, the plot didn't go unnoticed. The conspirators attempts to rally support (or at least, acceptance) overseas were spotted by British spies - and even worse, an anonymous letter was delivered to Lord Monteagle, warning him to stay away from the opening of Parliament.
The authorities decided to bide their time, which possibly lulled the conspirators into a sense of security. They were mistaken. In 1605 (between the late hours of November 4th and early hours of the 5th) a search revealed Fawkes and his barrels.
Other than boldly declaring his intention to blow up the king, Fawkes refused to talk for several days. Eventually he was tortured into a confession in the Tower of London on the authority of King James.
Fawkes was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered... but he managed to jump from the gallows and break his neck, avoiding the excruciatingly drawn out end he'd been promised.
The Ghostly Rider of Holbeche House
When the gunpowder plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes was caught, some of his fellow conspirators fled London in the hope of raising rebellion further north. It may seem like a desperate plan, but these were men facing torture and execution for their crime - what did they have to lose by making the attempt?Besieged by the king's forces, a last stand by the demoralized, wounded and ill-equipped conspirators ended with them either fighting to the last (in the case of Catesby) or being captured and taken to London for execution.
That brings us to the fate of an unfortunate bystander. Gideon Grove was a groom or stable hand employed by Stephen Littleton, and is said to have fled the siege on horseback... but some royalist horsemen assumed he was a conspirator and gave chase, driving him into Himley Wood. Grove met a sticky fate, becoming bogged down in a swamp and being raked with musket fire.
It's said that a phantom rider occasionally careers through the lanes of the area before vanishing in Himley Wood... and one sighting reported the figure to be dressed in a blue velvet cloak and cocked hat. There are two folkloric theories about this figure - one claims that the horseman is the ghost of Gideon Grove reenacting his last ride, but another is that the shade is that of Robert Wintour (one of the gunpowder conspirators) who fled the siege but was captured and executed in London.
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| Fireworks displays still mark late October and early November in Britain... (Mario La Pergola) |
Mandatory Celebration and a Penny for the Guy
In 1606 Parliament passed the Thanksgiving Act, which meant that churches had to hold a special service on each November 5th to commemorate the plot's failure.
It soon became something of a tradition to mark the day with bonfires and fireworks. It's thought that the tradition of burning an effigy (model) turned up a few decades later during the reign of King Charles I, with the effigy representing the Pope or devil. The tradition continued to evolve with the years, with the effigy coming to represent Guy Fawkes himself in the 1800s.
Though it's less common these days, children would often make a "Guy" to parade around town, soliciting small donations as a reward for their efforts - traditionally by saying "penny for the Guy?" The funds collected could end up as a charitable donation, a bit of extra pocket money or even be spent on fireworks. The Guy, of course, would meet its demise on a bonfire!
The Thanksgiving Act mentioned above was repealed by the Anniversary Days Observance Act of 1859. That said, it's still a popular tradition in Britain - though it does face stiff competition from Halloween. There's actually another tradition that's a little less obvious - before a State Opening of Parliament, the Yeomen of the Guard (the royal bodyguard) search the Westminster Palace cellars for explosives!
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