On Nov. 5, as Americans absorb the results of the midterm elections, those in the UK will be celebrating Bonfire Night (or Guy Fawkes Night) with firework celebrations. The day marks the 409th anniversary of the 1605 â??Gunpowder Plotâ? to blow up the British Parliament and assassinate King James I.
Elizabeth I of England had died without an heir in 1603. Since King James VI of Scotland â?? son of Mary, Queen of Scots â?? was the great grandson of Henry VIIIâ??s sister, Margaret Tudor, he was considered to be most fit to be heir to the English Crown. With his coronation, James united the Kingdom of England and Ireland with the Kingdom of Scotland, proclaiming himself, â??King of Great Britain and Ireland.â? The Protestant Elizabethâ??s succession is rather ironic as she had her cousin and Jamesâ?? mother, the Catholic Queen Mary, beheaded after Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth! Although the son of Catholics, James was raised as a Protestant.
James was more moderate toward Catholics than his predecessor, who had declared all Catholic priests to be guilty of treason, but after he discovered that the pope had sent James Iâ??s wife a rosary, James denounced the Roman Catholic Church, ordered its priests to leave the country, and reimposed fines on those guilty of not attending Anglican services.
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