The Gunpowder-Plot of 1605

The trial of Guy Fawkes and others

The full transcription of the trial of the conspirators in the Gunpowder-Plot, from the Complete Collection of State-Trials, London 1776 is included here. The prosecution case describes the politicisation of late sixteenth century English Catholicism by the Jesuits and details the horrendous plot set into motion by their agents. Some modern historians (notably the Catholic Antonia Fraser) have doubted whether the prosecution case was not perhaps fabricated, which would allow the unfortunate Mr Fawkes and his confederates to claim probably the most resounding show trial of all time, suggesting perhaps that Beria and Dzherzhinsky were truly the heirs of Cecil rather than Robespierre.

The transcription of the trial of Guy Fawkes


A note about the transcription

Spelling and grammar have been retained from the original, but the format has been changed through the addition of paragraph breaks and hypertext links to make it easier to follow. A conversion to XML is in progress, and hopefully, improved page formatting.

Philip Allen


Guy Fawkes today

New South Wales