Trying to come an “objective” understanding of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot has proved difficult for historians. From the the outset the facts of the case were distorted to help serve the political interests of powerful English ministers. The details were massaged so that a group of Jesuits could be framed as the masterminds. But, if the authorities were lying about the Jesuits, what else might they have been lying about? Was the Gunpowder Plot actually a false flag operation cooked up by members of King James’ inner-circle? Have revelers on bonfire night been celebrating a lie… or is something more complicated going on? Tune-in and find out how Satan’s imps, English Mardi Gras, and the Guilford Guys all play a role in the story. 

Works Cited

Beardsley, Martyn. The Gunpowder Plot Deceit. Pen & Sword History, 2018.

Call, Lewis. “A is for anarchy, V is for Vendetta: images of Guy Fawkes and the creation of postmodern anarchism.” Anarchist Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, 2008.

Croft, J. Pauline. King James. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Fraser, Antonia. The Gunpowder Plot: Terror And Faith In 1605. Hachette, 2010.

Haynes, Alan. The Gunpowder Plot : Faith in Rebellion. A. Sutton, 1994.

Holland, Nick. The Real Guy Fawkes. Pen and Sword History, 2017.

Jardine, David, and Christopher Wright. A Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot. John Murray, 1857.

Snow Phillipa. “Mask Up: How the Guy Fawkes Mask Became one of the Iconic Design Objects in Recent History.” Pin-Up Magazine, no 29. Fall/Winter 2020/21. pinupmagazine.org

Sharpe, J. A. Remember, Remember : A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day. Harvard University Press, 2005.