Gunpowder Plot

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I was not a catholic but because his mother Mary Queen of scots had been many Catholics hoped that James would support them. James didn’t support them and made all Roman Catholic priests live England in 1604. This angered many Catholics and a group of 13 men decided to do something about him.  
The group was led by Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was needed. The thing to do was to blow up the House of Lords on the official opening day of parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics.  
Catesby and his friends Thomas Percy, John Wright and Thomas Winter decided they needed an explosives expert Guy Fawkes was an explosives expert and joined the group of men. Francis Tresham provided the money for the plot. Percy rented a house beside the House of Lords and the men started to dig a tunnel to place 36 barrels of gunpowder but they were faced with two problems. Firstly because they were so close to the river Thames the tunnel began to flood. Secondly because the walls of the House of Lords were so thick they couldn’t break through them. It was clear this plan would not work.        
But then the plotters had a stroke of luck, a cellar room became available to rent under the House of Lords. The plotters rented it and moved the barrels to the new cellar were they were hid behind a pile of wood. Guy Fawkes was given the job of guarding the gunpowder and lighting it when parliament opened on November the 5th  
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. Francis Tresham was...