Considering all of the videos I’ve made on demonology, you’d be correct in assuming that I’ve
done my research when it comes to the concept of hell and all who dwell there. So take it from me
when I say that the metaphorical hell would indeed be full of murderers, thieves, tyrants and people
who chwe with their mouth open. But you might be surprised to learn that there’s another group of
people who I sincerely hope are being scorched by the flames of Satan: people in London who
light fireworks before the 5th of November. I mean, honestly, it might not sound like
a big deal to those of you across the pond but when you’re trying to record and some
bellend lets off his fifth Catherine Wheel of the evening, it becomes an editing nightmare.
But anyway… before I get anymore off track, we’re here to talk about the culprit
responsible for all this nonsense: Guy Fawkes. You may wish to consider checking out my Guy
Fawkes video, who if you really think about it, kinda only had one job in lighting the fuse.
Essentially, the Catholics were getting sick of how they were being treated by
the Protestant monarchy and so in an effort to overthrow the system, Fawkes,
along with the main conspirator Robert Catesby and his associates Thomas Wintours and Thomas Percy
decided destroy the houses of parliament, sending not only a message of defiance,
but also serving as a gateway for Catholic reform. But what actually ended up happening was the exact
opposite. You see, with such a complex task of blowing up the houses of parliament and
reducing the very system that governed the land into a smoldering mess of ash,
there were bound to be those with loose lips. You see, when you’re trying to start a nationwide
rebellion, you kinda need a lot of people. But with so many individuals being privy to
Robert Catesby’s diabolical plan, it was only a matter of time before someone spilled the beans.
Considering the moral implications that such a plan had (we are talking about the total
decimation of the houses of parliament and the indisputable loss of innocent life), it’s
surprising that those who were privy to it didn’t sing like a canary the moment the coast was clear.
It was believed to be Francis Tresham, a conspirator who was brought into the fold in
the later stages of the plan, who let the cat out of the bag. Supposedly, he had spoken to a peer in
Lord Monteagle, who then went to the authorities and revealed what he had heard. But even if
Tresham hadn’t been so talkative, it’s probable that the plan wouldn’t have been kept under wraps
anyway considering the amount of people who were now in on the plot, or at least had awareness
of it. Another idea proposes that the British government knew of the plot all along and were
only allowing Catesby and Fawkes to proceed so that they could catch them all in one fell swoop.
In fact, the Earl of Salisbury Robert Cecil was believed to have caught a whiff of Guy Fawkes’
tyranny when he became aware of him attempting to gain foreign support for the campaign.
Some even say that Cecil served as an agent provocateur, going as far as to even fund
Catesby and the conspirators, only to betray them at the last second to solidify the King’s rule,
as well as to set an example of what would happen to those who tried anything similar.
But were loose lips, spies and traitors the only things
preventing the gunpowder plot from succeeding? Well, no. In fact it seems like despite the secret
meetings of conspirators and their ‘well thought out’ plans of execution, they really didn’t think
of everything and managed to overlook some grave errors of their own. Take the gun powder itself
for example. When the barrels were moved to the Tower of London and set in place for ignition,
the gunpowder would actually begin to decay as it had been left to sit for too long.
So if Guy Fawkes had managed to light the fuse, it’s possible that the giant explosion he’d hoped
for would’ve actually been merely a dim spark . With untrustworthy allies, secret infiltrators
and explosives that weren’t even potent, the chances of the gunpowder plot of 1605 actually
materializing were pretty slim at best. Indeed, it was an ambitious plan - perhaps exemplary of
the rebelliousness of the men involved, as well as the desperation of the greater Catholic community.
But it looks like it was a plan that was doomed to fail, no matter which way one spins it.
But spin it we shall, and in today’s video, we’ll be playing devil’s advocate when we ask what would
have happened to the world as we know it, if Guy Fawkes had succeeded in lighting the spark.
Without a doubt, the result of the successful gunpowder plot would have been catastrophic. Not
only would the intended targets of King James I, his heir Prince Henry and most essential lawmakers
be blown to smithereens, but the casualties within the blast radius would have been tremendous.
It should be noted that Guy Fawkes, who served in the Spanish army, was something of a demolitions
expert (hence why he was chosen), but experts have since debated over whether he went for
overkill when amassing the gunpowder. It is said that 36 barrels of gunpowder (about 2500 kilograms
worth) was accumulated, which as you can imagine wouldn’t have just blown the roofs off the houses
of parliament, but also destroyed the surrounding society. Remember, back then, Westminster,
where the houses of Parliament were built, was a closely knit complex of pubs, houses, brothels and
other small businesses. So it’s certain that many of these innocent structures (as well as
the people inside of them) would’ve been caught in the blast radius. Even those outside of the blast
radius may have succumbed to the roaring inferno that would’ve been left in the explosion’s wake.
An approximation suggests that everything with a 40 meter radius would have been
razed to the ground and hundreds, Catholic and Protestant both, would have perished.
The plotters (who revealed their plan during their capture) would make their way to the Midlands to
kidnap the now dead king’ s daughter Princess Elizabeth Stuart. At the time, the princess was
just nine years of age, but the conspirators believed that she would be an ideal candidate,
at least, amongst the available options, to succeed as a Catholic monarch. It had already
been decided that Prince Henry would be killed along with his father, whilst Prince Charles and
Princess Mary were too young to ascend the throne and wouldn’t serve as well in the grand scheme.
Princess Elizabeth Stuart though already had some experience with certain political formalities and
was therefore the best of, arguably, a bad bunch. The idea was that immediately after
the explosions in London, the conspirators would descend upon the princess during an uprising in
the Midlands - one that was loosely put together by Catesby - whereby they would kidnap her, raise
her as a catholic and serve thereafter as sort of a puppet queen for them and their catholic ideals.
The logistics of this weren’t actually quite ironed out and if the plan seems optimistic or
otherwise uncanny, it’s because it really was. In fact, beyond a few hunting parties in the
midlands that Catesby had correspondence with, there wasn’t much in the way of support when it
came to the kidnapping - nor a clear plan of just how they were going to pull this off. So indeed,
if Guy Fawkes had succeeded, it is probable that Catesby and the rest of the Conspirators would
have run into a dead end here and would’ve been nothing more than fugitives on the run.
Interestingly, it is said that when Catesby and the conspirators arrived at the Midlands,
they had to lie about the king being dead and pretend that their plan had succeeded
in an effort to gain support. History shows that even under the guise of liberators,
they gained very little allegiance, even amongst their own Catholic people.
Fawkes meanwhile was not instructed to reunite with his brotherhood in the Midlands considering
that his role in the destruction would no doubt have earned him the contention of much of the
country. Whilst many of the Catholics would have been glad to see the back of King James,
regicide was not something that many would have condoned - something that
Robert Catesby would come to understand when he sought refuge in his final days.
Instead, Fawkes was instructed to head to the continent where he would explain to
the Catholic powers of what he had done in the name of Catholisicm and that regicide - or mass
murder even - had been his holy duty in order to preserve their beliefs. Realistically, Guy Fawkes
would have been shunned after the devastation in London and it would have been unlikely that
he would have achieved any sympathy or praise from the Catholic Powers he sought refuge with.
With both Protestant and Catholic communities appalled with the Gun Powder Plot, it’s likely
that even if the conspirators were able to capture the royal children, they ultimately
would not have been able to inspire any sense of emotional rapport with the people.
Instead, the conspirators would probably have seen a rebellion themselves, and in some essence,
you might say that the pain and carnage caused in the wake of their ungodly plan had the power to
unite Catholics and Protestants against a common enemy. Alternatively, the knowledge that Catholics
were responsible for the devastation would lead to hate crimes and there would be bloody
conflicts between both groups on a national scale. Protestant militia groups could have possibly been
formed to bring the conspirators to justice and fuelled by a new sense of hatred and loss,
mass waves may have descended upon the Midlands. There, Robert Catesby and his men would have no
choice but to flee, but ultimately would have been hunted down and probably brutally executed.
Another idea proposes that the conspirators might have used the royal children in their
possession to bargain for their safety, or that under the pressure, they might’ve killed the
royal children as one last middle finger to the Protestant community. Both scenarios still point
to the death of the conspirators, for even if they were able to ransom the children for safe passage,
it would only be a matter of time before someone else found them and exacted justice.
From this standpoint, the landscape of British politics would take a rather different turn.
First of all, with the explosive deaths of King James I and his son Prince Henry, the four year
old Charles I would have been ushered in as king (twenty years earlier than he would have
otherwise done). It’s reasonable to believe that with the death of his family, and with the now
overwhelming negative attitude towards Catholics in the wake of the explosion, that Charles I would
adopt the very same hatred. This might have made him lean into more Protestant ideals than he was
known for and ironically, it might’ve actually made him a more popular king, considering he
chose to adopt more Anglo-Catholic policies in his actual rule. With Charles I choosing a more
definitive side to align himself with, he may have avoided being beheaded himself and possibly
could have spared the country a civil war. Interestingly, what we might’ve had in a
Protestant Charles I in the wake of the gunpowder explosion was a more unified and stronger crown.
It’s plausible that with the backlash that Catholics faced, Protestantism became the more
popular religious choice and with many sickened by the acts of the conspirators, many may have
jumped ship. As a result of the ‘anti-Catholic’ rhetoric, Protestants would soon make up the
majority of society and with a Protestant king, a certain societal morale would have been achieved
whereby the ‘survivors’ of the catasprophe would come together to produce an emotionally supportive
front. In this sense, the objective of the conspirators to destroy a ruling Protestant
system would actually only strengthen it and do more to kill off Catholicism than anything else.
But in the unlikely event that conspirators did gain control of the throne, the damage
caused in the explosion may have been irredeemable, both socially and financially.
It may have also lit up England like a beacon for invaders, who may have come from overseas
to pick the bones of a ruined capital and taken advantage of the political madness.
Indeed, with all the lawmakers now dead, a huge power vacuum presented itself. A four year old
king could only inspire so much confidence amongst the people and the older princess Elizabeth Stuart
who would have been hostage at this point might very well have refused the conspirators. She
was said to be strong willed and intelligent and it’s possible that even within the captivity of
the conspirators, the people would want to rebel and free her. It’s also possible that a foreign
ruler may have stepped in to pluck the kingdom out of the hands of the conspirators, who would
have been outmanned, out-resourced and completely outwitted by those who bolstered entire armies.
With Britain at its absolute weakest at this point, a successful decimation of parliament via
the gunpowder plot almost encouraged invasion. Another idea suggests that territories including
Scotland would have ditched England and declared its independence. It was James I who had conceived
the concept of a united Great Britain, and with him blasted into the atmosphere by the explosion,
it’s possible that his vision for the United Kingdom would never have taken shape.
It’s quite amazing to think that one man’s ability to light a fuse could have changed the course of
history as we know it. One single moment in the 1600s could have altered the tapestry of our
very human existence and whilst we can gauge how this would affect the immediate lives of
those in the 1600s, who knows how it could have affected us? One idea is that America
would not have been colonized by the British, who were too busy settling matters after the
destruction and that the French or the Spanish may have had the opportunity to annex it first.
Another suggests that the sheer magnitude of the explosion would have triggered the Great
Fire of London sixty years earlier, with no one being able to put out the inferno that consumed
the densely packed wooden houses of the city. But all in all, I suppose we can never truly
know what would have happened if Guy Fawkes succeeded… and maybe that’s a good thing.
Whether or not Guy Fawkes and the conspirators should have succeeded is a
different question altogether, but I think it’s safe to say we’re better off now.
On second thoughts, gee I dunno! As always guys, if you’ve enjoyed
today’s episode then don’t forget to give this video a like and don’t forget to
subscribe for more content just like this Until next time