The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Sir Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed. His fellow plotters were John Wright, Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Sir Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham. Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience fighting in the Spanish Netherlands in suppression of the Dutch Revolt, was given charge of the explosives.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1338:
Ly Anh Tong was enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two, starting a 37-year reign. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ly_Anh_Tong
1838:
The collapse of the Federal Republic of Central America began with Nicaragua seceding from the union. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Central_America
1854:
Crimean War: Despite being severely outnumbered, and fighting in heavy foggy conditions, the allied armies of the United Kingdom and France defeated the Russians at present-day Inkerman, Ukraine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inkerman
2007:
Chang'e 1 , the first unmanned spacecraft of the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration Program, entered into lunar orbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_1
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
isthmus (n): A narrow strip of land, bordered on two sides by water, and connecting two larger landmasses http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isthmus
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind then that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. --Eugene V. Debs http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs