John Gerard - What was the Gunpowder Plot? The Traditional Story Tested by Original Evidence

Goodman says: "And certainly they [the Catholics] had very great promises from him." ( Court of King James , i. 86.)

"The Penal Laws, a code as savage as any that can be conceived since the foundation of the world." – Lord Chief Justice Coleridge. ( To Lord Mayor Knill , Nov. 9, 1892.)

Gardiner, i. 100.

Jardine, Gunpowder Plot , 18.

Ibid . 20.

Gardiner, i. 166.

Green, History of the English People , iii. 62. Mr. Green adds: "Rumours of Catholic conversions spread a panic which showed itself in an Act of the Parliament of 1604 confirming the statutes of Elizabeth; and to this James gave his assent. He promised, indeed, that the statute should remain inoperative." In May, 1604, the Catholics boasted that they had been joined by 10,000 converts. (Gardiner, Hist . i. 202.)

Catholique Apology , 404.

Salisbury, in reward of his services on this occasion, received the Garter, May 20th, 1606, and was honoured on the occasion with an almost regal triumph.

Of the proceedings subsequent to the Plot we are told: "In passing these laws for the security of the Protestant Religion, the Earl of Salisbury exerted himself with distinguished zeal and vigour, which gained him great love and honour from the kingdom, as appeared in some measure, in the universal attendance on him at his installation with the Order of the Garter, on the 20th of May, 1606, at Windsor." (Birch, Historical View , p. 256.)

This belief is so notorious that one instance must suffice as evidence for it. A paper of informations addressed to Cecil himself, April, 1604, declares that the Catholics hoped to see a good day yet, and that "his Majesty would suffer a kinde of Tolleracyon, for his inclynacyon is good, howsoever the Councell set out his speeches." (S.P.O. Dom. James I. vii. 86.)

Mr. Gardiner ( Hist. i. 229, note) says that arrears were never demanded in the case of the fine of £20 per lunar month for non-attendance at the parish church. Father Gerard, however, a contemporary witness, distinctly states that they were. ( Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot , ed. Morris, p. 62.)

Court of King James , i. 100.

Narrative , p. 46.

Stonyhurst MSS., Anglia , iii. 103.

Of the Prince of Wales it was prophesied:

Concerning this letter see Appendix B, Digby's Letter to Salisbury .

R.O. Dom. James I. xvii. 10.

Hallam, Constitutional Hist. i. 392 (3rd ed.).

See Appendix C, The Question of Succession .

Agriculture and Prices , v. 5.

Jardine, Gunpowder Plot , p. 17.

Gardiner, Hist. i. 84.

Trial of Father Garnet (Cobbett's State Trials , ii. 243).

Camden, the historian, to Sir R. Cotton, March 15th, 1596. (Birch, Original Letters , 2nd series, iii. p. 179.) Various writers erroneously suppose this transaction to have occurred in March, 1603, on occasion of Elizabeth's last illness. The correct date, 1596, given by Sir Henry Ellis, is supplied by a statement contained in the letter, that this was her Majesty's "climacterick year," that is, her sixty-third, this number, as the multiple of the potent factors seven and nine, being held of prime importance in human life. Elizabeth was born in 1533.

From Garnet's examination of March 14th, 1605-6 ( Dom. James I. xix. 44), we learn that Catesby was at large at the time of the queen's demise.

For Cecil's description of the men, see Winwood's Memorials , ii. 172.

Catesby purchased his life for a fine of 4,000 marks, and Tresham of 3,000. Mr. Jessopp says that the former sum is equivalent at least to £30,000 at the present day. ( Dict. Nat. Biog., Catesby .)

But see Appendix D, The Spanish Treason .

Father Gerard says of him that "he paid them [the pursuivants] so well for their labour not with crowns of gold, but with cracked crowns sometimes, and with dry blows instead of drink and other good cheer, that they durst not visit him any more unless they brought store of help with them." ( Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot , p. 86.)

Ibid. , p. 57.

Catholique Apology , p. 403.

E.g. , by Mr. Talbot of Grafton, father-in-law of Robert Winter, who drove their envoys away with threats and reproaches (Jardine, Gunpowder Plot , p. 112), and by Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill, cousin to Sir Everard, who assisted in taking prisoners. (R.O. Gunpowder Plot Book , 42.)

History , i. 263.

Gunpowder Plot , p. 151.

Ibid. , p. 38.

Life of a Conspirator, by one of his Descendants , p. 150.

English Protestants' Plea and Petition for English Priests and Papists. The author of this book (published 1621) describes himself as a priest who has been for many years on the English mission. His title indicates that he draws his arguments from Protestant sources.

P. 56.

November 25th, 1605, Stowe MSS. 168, 61.

Gunpowder Plot Book , 129. Printed in Archæologia , xii. 202*.

R.O. Roman Transcripts (Bliss), No. 86, December 10th, 1605 (Italian).

Mr. Jardine writes ( Criminal Trials , ii. p. 235), " The True and Perfect Relation … is certainly not deserving of the character which its title imports. It is not true , because many occurrences on the trial are wilfully misrepresented; and it is not perfect , because the whole evidence, and many facts and circumstances which must have happened, are omitted, and incidents are inserted which could not by possibility have taken place on the occasion. It is obviously a false and imperfect relation of the proceedings; a tale artfully garbled and misrepresented, like many others of the same age, to serve a State purpose, and intended and calculated to mislead the judgment of the world upon the facts of the case." Of the Discourse he speaks in similar terms. ( Ibid. , p. 4.)

R.O. Dom. James I. xix. 94. Printed by Jardine, Criminal Trials , ii. 120 (note).

Answere to certaine Scandalous Papers, scattered abroad under colour of a Catholic Admonition. (Published in January, 1605-6.)