gunpowder plot

English - English

Definition of gunpowder plot in English English dictionary: A failed plot, in 1605, to kill the Protestant king of England; {i} conspiracy plotted to blow up the English Parliament and King James I of England on November 5th 1605 (date set for the king to open Parliament); a plan by English Catholics led by Guy Fawkes to kill King James I and destroy Parliament by blowing it up with explosives on November 5th 1605. The plan failed when one of the Catholics warned a relative not to attend Parliament that day and all the people in the Plot were caught and killed. People in the UK remember the event every November 5th on Guy Fawkes' Night. (1605) Conspiracy by English Roman Catholic zealots to blow up Parliament and kill James I. Angered by James's refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics, a group of conspirators led by Robert Catesby (1573-1605) recruited Guy Fawkes to their plot. One member warned his brother-in-law Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on the appointed day (November 5, 1605), and Monteagle alerted the government. Fawkes was arrested in a rented cellar under the palace at Westminster, where he had concealed 20 barrels of gunpowder. Under torture, he revealed the names of the conspirators, and they were all either killed while resisting arrest or executed in 1606. The plot bitterly intensified Protestant suspicions of Catholics; a conspiracy in 1605 in England to blow up James I and the Houses of Parliament to avenge the persecution of Catholics in England; led by Guy Fawkes