The Illustrated Guide to Terrorism
Chapter 2: A History of Terrorism
Page 5: Gunpowder Plot Precursors
Ceremonial crosses from the Anglican and the Catholic tradition.
NARRATOR
Let’s back up: Whether you were Catholic or Protestant mattered a LOT.
Back then, church and state were INSEPARABLE. It can be hard to grasp today, but the Church of England and political England were ONE.
Royal Arms of England, as under Elizabeth I (restored arms of Henry IV)
So to be English, you pretty much had to be Anglican. And being Catholic wasn’t just unpatriotic — your faith was a THREAT to the regime in power.
Queen Elizabeth I
Under Queen Elizabeth I, it had been a CRIME to be Catholic.
ELIZABETH
“Crime?” Try treason!
NARRATOR
Penalties ranged from crippling fines, to the loss of all one’s lands, to grisly execution.
Elizabethan stick figures, two civilians and a group of armed guards.
NARRATOR
Not everyone felt so strongly about it, but…
STICK FIGURE 1
All I’m asking is, do we really need to persecute loyal English subjects, merely for thinking “incorrect” thoughts?
STICK FIGURE 2
GAH! Even asking that question is violence! An attack!
GET HIM!
Rider calling to a resting farmer on a country lane near a Tudor farmhouse.
NARRATOR
Every now and then, a few Catholics would conspire to overthrow Elizabeth, but none really got past the planning stages. Any attempt to foment an uprising would have failed, anyway. Most of England’s Catholics simply weren’t INTERESTED in rebellion.
RIDER
Rise up! the Pope calls us to take arms and reclaim England!
FARMER
From the English? I’m English!
Sorry, old chap… I’m not fighting my neighbors to give Rome power.
Walsingham at a desk adding some words at the bottom of a letter, while a worker conceals another letter in the bung of a keg of ale.
NARRATOR
Babington’s Plot of 1586 was notorious, though just as doomed to fail as the rest. The idea was to kill Elizabeth, invade with French and Spanish forces, and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne.
Elizabeth’s spymaster, Walsingham, knew all about it almost from the get-go. Walsingham even devised a way for the plotters to secretly correspond with Mary, Q of S.
Meaning he got to READ all their letters. And when they weren’t quite incriminating enough, he ADDED what he needed!
WALSINGHAM
Please… let me know… the names of… our fellow conspirators… so I know… whom… to… thank!
Signed, Mary.
And that’s how you get evidence!
Men being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn Tree. Smiling local explaining what we’re seeing.
NARRATOR
After torture and confessions, the conspirators were executed.
LOCAL
First we hang you (painfully) ’til you’re nearly dead…
Then we cut off your privates and burn ’em…
Then we draw out your guts and organs (painfully) while you’re still alive…
And finally we chop what’s left of you into quarters!
You committed treason, mate. Were you expecting hugs and kisses?
NARRATOR
Though none of these plots ever came close to succeeding, their notoriety justified ever HARSHER laws against Catholics throughout Elizabeth’s reign.
Robert Catesby
NARRATOR
So now meet ROBERT CATESBY.
His father, though a patriotic Englishman, remained a faithful Catholic. For this, he endured years of prison, persecution, and plunderous asset forfeiture.
Only 13 or so when Babington’s Plot failed, young Robert grew up watching helplessly as Elizabeth’s regime went after his father, family, and friends.
CATESBY
But if you think I’m going to just sit back and let them keep on doing it…
They’re destroying everything.
It’s time to make England great again.
“Not that that’s analogous to anything in OUR world!” I don’t know if you are being sarcastic, or if you are just heading off accusations of both sides-ism or false balance.